[TheForge] TheForge Digest, Vol 213, Issue 2

Sun Apr 21 21:43:23 EDT 2024

In Cali there is the CBA.  California Blacksmith Association.   They run a
great learning program and I'm sure there is at least a person or 2 in CA
that could give you a hand to setup a working program.

The CBA has one of the best Blacksmith programs currently and the
instructors as well as the foundlings are super involved.

They just had their spring meet IIRC..

I suggest you look them up.
JLP Services Inc
6 Kenwood Dr
Rutland, MA 01543-1215

1 (508) 667-5498

On Sun, Apr 21, 2024 at 7:09 PM JERRY FROST <akfrosty at mtaonline.net> wrote:

> First off I'd like to say thanks for breaking the stream of sad posts.
> I've resisted adding my own to the list. I took a look at the map of the
> retreat and it looks well thought out and in nice country. I grew up in the
> San Fernando valley in the town of Sylmar which at the time surrounded the
> mission on 3 sides.
>
> I believe blacksmithing would be an outstanding addition to the
> curriculum. Not so much for the real world skills it holds, finding a
> livelihood as a blacksmith is a matter of luck and determination, it is
> very much a niche with a limited market.
>
> What it really offers is learning control. You can't start a fire without
> understanding what is required and the control to do it properly.
> Blacksmithing is not about strength as it is controlling the hammer, the
> temperature of the steel, the fire that heats it and amount of time best
> for the particular process. Controlling hand tools, the material itself
> either directly in hand or with tongs, hold downs.
>
> On and on. Every step a blacksmith makes is about control. A little
> knowledge and a lot of practice will start developing the required skills
> sets. Once you reach a competent level, I can take you to a beginner's
> level in about 4 hours instruction and another 4-6 practice. Once you reach
> a level the craft becomes very meditative soon it is just you and the
> steel. You never lost awareness of the world around you but you are focused
> on the process.
>
> To get there you have to learn to control the tools of the craft. More
> importantly, to control the others you have to control yourself. Only then
> can you get in the zone and have THE conversation with the steel. A while
> ago a friend on another blacksmithing forum posted a link to Cistercian
> Monastery Blacksmiths. The article that comes up in a web search describes
> what I'm talking about well.
>
> Our club has a number of vets who suffer PTSD and time at the anvil and
> self control required has taught several to maintain when PTSD rears it's
> ugly head. Most have taken up blacksmithing as therapy and turn to it as
> refuge on bad days.
>
> The more proficient you become the more spiritual blacksmithing becomes.
> Not the craft or product so much as the process. If that makes any sense.
>
> Anyway, I believe a religious retreat is a perfect place for a blacksmith
> shop and school.
>
> You might contact some of the commercial blacksmithing tool makers you
> might get a sponsor for no more than talking about the donation. Hmmmm?
>
> Frosty
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ed Eccleston" <edeccleston at att.net>
> To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Sunday, April 21, 2024 10:10:42 AM
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] TheForge Digest, Vol 213, Issue 2
>
> Gentlemen,
>
>        I’ve been a lurker here for quite a while and have had a (mostly)
> unrequited passion for smithing for decades. As Andrew aptly points out,
> our lives in general have become rather more complicated over the last few
> decades than at any time in history…things that seem to demand more and
> more time, allowing less for the things we, in our hearts, know we really
> need to do for pure sanity if nothing else. I am certainly guilty of this,
> coupled with the fact that here in Southern California, there seems to be a
> dearth of places to go to learn. Years ago I found a shop/school in a
> county park in Orange County (as best I can remember), and I did go a few
> times which was wonderful. An older gentleman was on site watching over us,
> but there was no real teaching/demonstration/explanation….just a number of
> bowl/coal forges, a good number of tongs, tools and anvils. I thoroughly
> enjoyed playing with everything and did manage to produce some of the
> basics such as hooks and a couple of decorative tchotchkes. (Full
> disclosure, I’m a 40 year licensed contractor who owned a custom cabinet
> shop for 30 years, so quite familiar with tools and fabrication).
> Yet the rather long drive to a place only open a couple of times a month
> for beginners was tough, and I haven’t returned. This was also long before
> COVID and I don’t even know if the shop still exists.
>     So this long personal lament seems to be additional testimony to what
> I read here so often, but with maybe a thought towards a solution to the
> lack of younger interest?
>
>     Through a series of fortuitous events, at 71, I find myself a full
> time employee and trade instructor at a brand new Trade School started last
> September at the Santiago Retreat Center in Orange County, Ca.  Trade
> schools are flourishing across the country as an alternative (and
> antidote?) for those who have no interest in college and want to learn the
> hands on trades. The location we have is ideal, our plan is a two year
> curriculum with the ultimate goal of giving in depth instruction with loads
> of hands on work on site, culminating in not only real time experience, but
> direct schooling in prep for a California Contractor’s license exam. (One
> of the hardest in the country).
>     When I signed on, one of the first things I thought of was setting up
> a blacksmith’s shop and having that be part of the curriculum, just as
> carpentry, plumbing, electrical, etc. are. We already have an older “barn”
> type building with a great outside shed roof perfect for the shop location.
> I can’t think of a better setup to introduce a new generation to probably
> what can be considered the first “trade” of the metal age. And I’ve got a
> captive audience as all the men (our ages run from min. 18 to at most late
> 20’s) live on site and are given a food budget with which they go shopping
> as a class group and do all their own cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc.
> while also being responsible for jobs around the retreat center in addition
> to classroom and real work instruction.
>    Another full disclosure, the Retreat Center is a non-profit Faith based
> Catholic organization, but privately owned and operated.  We do take our
> Faith as seriously as our commitment to teaching real trades and work
> ethics to our students.
>     So all that being said, and apologies for the long winds, these trade
> schools may be a real source of fresh interest in smithing, and I can
> promise that if you can find one and communicate both interest and
> hopefully even some hardware (I’m certainly starting from scratch with
> minimal funds), you’ll get not only a bona fide tax write off, but fresh
> youngsters who will be exposed to the trade you all love and then pay it
> forward.
>
>     Thanks for listening.
>
> Regards,
>    Ed Eccleston
>    Santiago Trade School
>    Santiago Retreat Center
>    Orange County, Ca.
>
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