After graduating from high school I dismissed going to college and decided to just go to work. I always thought it would be temporary..you know..until I made it big as a musician. I was working a dead end job at a electric motor repair shop when I had a bad day and left my position as parts washer. I immediately looked in the paper and found an ad for a blacksmith/welder position for $7.50 an hour. I didn’t know much about it. I was around machine shop machines as well as working a weekend job as a welder, so I felt confident it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to figure it out.
I was hired on the first interview and started learning the craft from a co-worker who didn’t know much about it. He just wasn’t that interested. The instant I made the metal move under my hammer I was hooked…it was a great combination of interests. I was an artist and an avid admirer of historical items and architecture. I felt myself becoming expressive through my work and very curious how all those before me made the utilitarian items and the beautiful ironwork such as the large gates of the cliff walk mansions in Newport, RI.
I decided to start taking intensive workshops whom I will credit the now retired master blacksmith William Senseney from Williamstown, MA, for his many years of mentoring and teaching a dying craft that was swallowed up by the Industrial Revolution in the 1800's. His teaching and being able to work 40 hours a week for 4 years swinging a hammer put more experience then some would have in 20 years of weekends. I left that position in 1997 to become a printing press operator. By then I had several clients keeping me busy on the side in my small 10x12 shop. But it wasn’t enough to sustain a full time status.
A turning point in my career was when I left the printing world and went back to iron in a small shop in North Orange, MA. There I was exposed to the enormous wealth in architectural ironwork working around the Boston area. Homes in the millions, sparing no expense on detail, further honed my experience as an artisan. Numerous complicated curved, helixed and multi angular surfaces that required hand crafted railings made me say to myself " anything is possible, there cant be anything harder than this".
I have a wealth of experience but feel like I only know a small percentage of my craft and will forever be a student on every project. There hasn’t been one project that I havent walked away with at least one new skill…or technique. I love what I do, I am always eager for a challenge and look forward to whatever comes my way.
As an incubator product, I put my bottle opener that I designed using a 10 inch bright nail. It is a start to see how the Etsy experience will treat me. I have so many other products in mind and hope to post them as I feel my way through this new chapter.
thanks to everyone who visits my page and giving my shop a moment of consideration. I hope we can do business together. Sincerely-Scott Wolfram, owner of Wolfram Metal Works.