Dirty Smith®

Part 2!

Excluding the time as a kid, I’ve been working for/with my dad since I was 15. Easily 22 years working along side with him. After the “great dump truck” incident of 1997 which landed me an opportunity to work at the shop to pay back the damage done since no one local would hire me (I’ll share the story sometime if you haven’t heard it. It’s a good one.) But a #familybusiness is a hard thing to describe as it’s a different dynamic than that of a common employee/boss role. Through the years our relationship as father and son has evolved as there were plenty of bad/good times. There are some perks in this situation as I can ask him really what ever questions I have as there’s a level of respect and trust between us. That #respect and #trust goes the other way as I’ve put in my time here to do what needed to happen to get the job done. Work ethic. I do know that what we have built as a #family and as a business wouldn’t have existed if I had gone somewhere else. Glad I ignored those that put doubt in my way and tried to discourage this path. And those curious about wtf is going on here, we are twisting this large #Damascus billet 3 complete revolutions. And even after all this time, he still makes me laugh. #dragonforgeltd #dirtysmith #blacksmith #timelapse #dumptruckThug

Bachelor party at Dragon Forge Ltd!

Interesting day. Got to use the 125lb #powerhammer in tandem with the 75lb #patternwelding this #billet. This is for a decorative part of a project, not a blade. Started with 4” x2.25” long billet of mild steel and a203e. Did not use any flux and have not seen any delamination. For my first go at it, this went really well. Surprising easy as the prep was important, getting it to the proper heat, squishing out the material. But the grinding...gah. I could do with out it. But drew out this material 22”x1/8+. I’ll do another tomorrow with mild and 15n20 material. Thanks to those that hung out for the live stream! Sorry for the noise...it’s noisy here.

Round 2 forging a billet of 15n20 and mild steel. Sample pieces for a bid.

Zombie weapon challenge! (Results)

Forgot to share the progress of the tattoo! Third session. Fire will go up under the Celtic work on my upper arm and some reworking on my shoulder next year

Teaching blacksmithing in Rochester, NY

Latest video! Enjoy 🖤