Welcome to the Ridge Line Forge
Newport, Virginia 24128
This page is currently under
construction...as is most everything around here
Well, one of my dreams has come true. I now have a blacksmithing shop. After two years of evening and weekend labor, I have a workshop. It is, as Tim “the Toolman” Taylor says, a Man’s Zone. Blacksmithing, woodworking, reloading, tinkering, relaxing…it’s my place, and if it’s messy, so what! AR AR AR AR AR AR
This is a picture of me that someone snapped at a blacksmithing class at Cedar Lakes in Ripley, West Virginia. It was HOT. Great class...thanks Mel !!! I highly recommend the Cedar Lakes classes, they are really good.
This is my forge right after I finished building it...nothing to brag about, but functional. You don't want to look at the welds very close...it was my first attempt at stick welding, without any prior instruction. Thank goodness for angle grinders!
This is the "hot" end of the workshop - my blacksmith shop...Ridge Line Forge....complete with a door. All it needs is a blacksmith!!!
This is a view of the inside of the shop. The side draft hood is awesome. It's made of 1/8-inch steel, so it should last for quite some time. It was made by the late Ed Stutler - a blacksmith from Lost Creek, West Virginia. I welded up the table in the foreground and mixed and poured the concrete in the bus brake drum a week or so after shoulder surgery. I found out that you can get a lot of work done "single-handed" if you take your time and be creative with levers, clamps, handtrucks, and other gadgets. Makes for a pretty nice mount for the post vise. The floor is gravel...because I couldn't afford anything else!
In October 2000, I got everything put together. The instant the side draft hood was in place and tack-welded to the forge, I fired it up. It was one of those moments that I had dreamed of for a long time....to have a blacksmith shop under roof where I could tinker around anytime I felt like it!!!! Work slowed down a bit between December and March because of torn rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder. Like I said above, the shop is ready, all it needs is a blacksmith!
My first "real" attempt at a knife. Car spring blade, osage
orange handle.
Not real pretty, but holds one heck of an edge!
This page will be slow to develop, but we'll see what happens. Stop back in from time to time and see what's happening. I plan on adding more things the near future.
LINKS
Tom Butrum is a great guy I met during a blacksmithing class at Cedar Lakes, Ripley, WV. He's good! Take a look at his Eagle Creek Forge webpage.... Tom Butrum-Blacksmith
One of my favorite webpages is Anvilfire . The iForge blacksmithing demonstrations are awesome. This webpage has a wealth of information on it. The Guru is one heck of a blacksmith and cybersmith.