The Memory Box #3 : My Day as a Blacksmith
I have always liked learning new skills.
Before I joined Steem in 2017 I had a hobby of going on courses around the country as often as I could.
Over a three year period I went on almost a hundred courses learning everything from sword making to sniper training, and breadmaking to bee-keeping.
One of the last courses I did was blacksmithing.
The Memory Box #3 : My Day as a Blacksmith
Blacksmithing was something quite new to me.
It is a specialist skill that needs special equipment so not something you can readily try at home.
I was always surfing the net looking for new courses and one evening in September 2016 I spotted a new blacksmithing course only a couple of hours away from where I lived.
The course at Will Holland's recently established Phoenix Forge was taking place in just a couple of days.
I booked my place on the Blacksmiths Experience Day with a day to spare.
I must admit I don't remember that much about the course so writing this post is good for my memory preservation.
It was a cold day and it was very hard physical work.
If I recall there was supposed to be a couple of other people on the course but only one was able to make it in the end.
We started with the basic techniques, and then moved on to make some hooks and a fire poker.
I think I still have them somewhere in the barn.
Will Holland who owned the forge is a very accomplished blacksmith and metal craftsman. He was also very friendly and very patient.
Blacksmithing did not come naturally to me !
Over lunch Will showed us some of the swords and other weapons he made for historical re-enactors.
That impressed me but that was a long way beyond my limited blacksmithing skills.
If you are anywhere near south west Wales Phoenix Forge still runs these blacksmithing courses...
They have gone up in a price a little since 2016.
I only paid £85 (110 USD). Now they are £130 (170 USD) - but that is not bad considering the expert tuition and materials costs.
Since I started on Steem, I have rather dropped out of doing these practical skills courses.
However I see Phoenix Forge is offering an Axe Making course which is quite tempting especially as one of my friends has just started giving axe throwing classes !
This was a fun dip into the Memory Box.
I really use to enjoy going on these courses - horse logging, wind turbines, sheep, pigs, chickens, bread, game pies, bees, steps, herbal medicine, compost toilets, hurdles, chocolate, cheese...
So many memories are coming flooding back.
If you want to hear more about any of the courses let me know.
Pennsif
[ images and graphics by @pennsif ]
thats a great story sir. Learning new good things is the best
Sometimes we take a training course that has to cost a lot. Because the knowledge given is expensive and they teach us until we can. I love reading articles from you Mr @pennsif
In our place there are many blacksmiths, and this is also a homework for some families.
You have a lot of experience, there must have been so many obstacles that you have faced and become memories for now and in the following years, especially you have attended blacksmithing and only one person passed, there must be many who want to join, I want to hear the continuation regarding "horse logging"😊
Thanks very much sir🙏
Nice memory box bro. Can I hear the next course on hurdles, because I'm interested in that one course? :)
Learning a skill is always a good thing, with the blacksmith your learned, i am prety much sure you can make use of it anywhere you find your self.
And those ones you learned are really relevant.
May i know please, what was the duration you covered to learn this? Because over here in Nigeria, anything about metal takes 2years of training and it's going to be intensive.
And am glad to hear that you did winding of turbine too😊, i would have loved to explore that if phoenix forge was here. Was that expensive too?
Of course, we will be very much looking forward to the various courses, but I personally really like the welding course, because in my previous lectures I also studied welding courses, and that's very interesting.
Thank you for sharing your interesting experience about the blacksmith course.
Thank you for telling us about the course you took before joining the steemit platform. I am very motivated by some of the ongoing courses.
so i am now a 6th semester student and before i started college in 2019. i also took natural hydroelectric power generation course and so on. By running lectures from semester 1 to semester 5 I have to work on holidays, the job I run is a construction worker to be able to pay tuition and pocket money for college. but in my 6th semester or now i stop working because my dad is sick and i have to take care of him during my college holidays.
Thank you
Skills are not superfluous! :)
P.S. Thanks for support! 🤝
Thanks for the interesting post! Blacksmiths can make such forged ones - real masterpieces! Just fall in love!)))