Blogsmithing

Again, it’s been a while since I posted anything on here. That’s basically because I’ve been far too busy! Or that’s the first reason anyway.

The second reason is I don’t have much to say for myself, and rambling on about this and that probably isn’t at all interesting for anyone who might stumble across my blog.

Then it dawned on me – why don’t I write about some blacksmithing stuff?! It was a proper lightbulb moment, until I thought more about it and remembered that was half the point of this blog anyway.

So! I’ll remember to take pictures while I work, make some notes, and then cast the combined words and pictures out into the internet in blog form.

Hopefully that might be interesting for you as a reader, and it will serve to document my blunders and successes!

It’s been a while…

It’s been a while indeed! I haven’t posted on the blog lately as work has been pretty busy!

I still feel I’m scraping by, earning just enough to pay the bills and nothing more, but I’m happy and busy doing it, which to me is important! I’ve worked on another well cover, some security bars, some lawn edging, and even a replica zombie-smashing baseball bat. I’ve also been doing some carpentry and decorating.

When I first made the decision to work for myself, I was pretty confident I would be successful doing it. Then the world ground to a halt and I was worried I’d made a bad decision. I’ve really doubted myself and my abilities, struggled with anxiety and stress, and I’ve had a really tough time!

That being said, my wife has been incredibly supportive and motivating. She’s very level headed and knows a lot about working for oneself. I don’t feel like I’m stumbling about because her advice works! And when you have a positive mindset, positive things happen.

This month is the first time I’ve been able to pay the bills solely with blacksmithing and fabrication, which is an incredible position to be in considering how unstable the economy might be. I’m determined to keep the ball rolling and make this work!

Into the Unknown

So a lot has changed this year.

I finally had a bit of time in the forge! This might not sound very interesting, but If you’ve read my last post you’ll know that this is a big deal to me.

I also had some much needed time away with my wife three weeks ago, which was amazing. We were sat in a van, right by the sea, gin and tonic each, when I sent an email to my boss saying I was leaving my job.

Fast forward to today and there’s a global toilet paper crisis going on and everyone is losing their minds!

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not making light of the seriousness of Covid-19, as time goes on things seem to be deteriorating rather rapidly.

Work is going to be weird for a lot of people for a while. Some are working from home, some are self isolating, some have lost their jobs altogether. Did I choose to leave my job at the wrong time?

I left work to focus on doing more of what I love, and to manage my own time. Aside from blacksmithing and fabrication work I have also started my own renovation and refurbishment business, focusing on making people’s houses nicer. There’s not much call for that at the moment with social distancing and self isolation, as well as people’s financial situations being unstable.

That being said, I don’t believe there’s a wrong time to make the decision to be more self sufficient when it comes to making a living. If that’s what you want to do, you just have to do it! And look on the bright side, I get to spend even more time doing what I love now!

Look after yourselves and each other!

Living The Dream

A while back, I worked in a distillery. One of the guys there had a kind of catchphrase. You would ask him how he was in the morning, and his reply was “livin’ the dream!”

Now I’m not really sure if he was living the dream or not, it was a shit job. If you told anyone that you made gin for a living, they could be forgiven for thinking that it’s a pretty cool job, but I can tell you from first hand experience that it’s a shit job.

Anyway, back to my point. His voice has been going around in my head for a few weeks now – “Livin’ the dream!” In his cheerful black country tone. This is because I’m becoming fixated with living my dream, and this is a subject I’ll touch on every now and again when I write one of these.

Ever since I began blacksmithing, I’ve wanted to work on gates and railings. Big ones, small ones, ornate ones, boring ones! I’ve never cared as long as I’m turning my hand to something that serves a purpose, and looks lovely at the same time. So when a customer got in touch with me asking me to make him a handrail, naturally I jumped at the opportunity. “This is it!” I cried out in my head, “I’m ‘livin’ the dream’!”

Nothing could be further from the truth I assure you. This job caused me so much stress and anxiety, bouts of depression and anger. It caused me nothing but problems and grief and cost me a small fortune. Caused me to doubt my own abilities and took up so much time. Time which is invaluable to me as a person who has very little of it to spare. I haven’t swung a hammer this year, and that makes me incredibly sad.

I finally finished this job a couple of weeks ago. It took a great deal of energy to persist with getting it finished, but I’m glad I did! I learned so much during the making process, and hindsight is a wonderful thing. I’m feeling like myself again and I’m looking forward to doing some actual blacksmithing again!

Introduction: A Blacksmith’s Blog.

Hello!

This is the first blog I’ve ever written. so bear with me while I fumble through what could either be a disaster, or totally pointless!

I’ve tentatively named it ‘A Blacksmith’s Blog.’

Whether you have an interest in blacksmithing or not, I’d really appreciate it if you would follow me on this journey, engage in conversation if you like, and help me out when I have questions!

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