My plans for the future of Halfpine Forge

How it all started

I was stumbling upon a documentary on the Discovery channel back in 2013, on a lazy Saturday afternoon, that was highlighting the process of melting down gold into molds in the soil to create the currency for an ancient civilization. I loved the idea of manipulating metal to form whatever I wanted, and thus started down a rabbit hole that I've been delightfully stuck in ever since

I later found a job at a drop-forging plant and, though I was entranced by the awesome power of drop forging, my favorite part was when I had to heat up and beat on the steel tongs with a hammer to contour them around the stock that formed that company's products. From the first day I fitted my own tongs, I was absolutely hooked.

Where it went

Over the years (and many job changes), I slowly gathered the tools and equipment to start working hot steel on my own. I even found a local blacksmith to take me on as an apprentice. When I asked Claar "The Wild Scotsman" Butcher if he could teach me how to move hot steel, he gave me a chuckle that made me wonder exactly what it was I was asking of him. 3 Hours into my first lesson, and I wanted to both quit and devote my life to the trade at the same time. Claar had a way of teaching that was similarly frustrating and mysterious to the "wax on, wax off" routine of the karate kid movies. I almost didn't come back the next week, and he later told me that he was surprised I did. Little did he know, I was just as surprised as he was.

Today

After many years of standing with my foot halfway in the door, I've finally pulled the trigger on starting this business and hit the ground running on my professional blacksmithing journey, and couldn't be happier or more optimistic with where it could carry me. Making my contributions to the art has thus far been one of the most fulfilling and meaningful things I've ever done.

Tomorrow

With no grand illusions of being some sort of a legend in the trade, but filled more so with a humble optimism, I'll continue to put videos out to entertain, I'll soon be making my contributions vis-a-vis my videos to teaching future generations what I've learned so far and what I continue to learn on an increasingly regular basis, I'll certainly keep expanding on inventory in both quantity and variety, and some day I'll be taking my blacksmithing on the road to do live demonstrations wherever I can. If there's anything I've learned about the art of smithing, it's that we're only limited by our imaginations (and the occasional 2nd degree burn)