Forging in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virgina
A bit on how it started. . .
A few years ago (2005), my family and I took a tour of the local artisans' studios around Rappahannock County. One of the artisans on the map was Nol Putnam of White Oak Forge. Nol is a well-known artist-blacksmith, author of several books, and sculptor of three gates in the Washington National Cathedral.
That day Nol demonstrated some blacksmithing techniques and then he allowed my son, Jacob, who was nine at the time, to take the hammer and smack some metal. Nol showed Jacob how to hammer out a small piece of metal and then how to stamp his initials in the hot metal. Next, he showed Jake how to separate the worked piece with the hardy tool. It was only a few minutes at the forge, but Jacob was hooked.
Fast forward a couple of years to October of 2008. Jacob and I attended a blacksmithing course at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts in Floyd, Virginia. Jessie Ward was the instructor and both Jacob and I gained a good knowledge of many of the basic techniques, along with the creation, care and feeding of a forge fire. During the weekend I became hooked, too. Actually, it was probably within the first five minutes. :-)
Inspired by our hands-on experience gained from the workshop, we started researching and gathering the materials to build our own forge. By July 2009 we had our coal forge fired up for the first time!
At this point, we had a working forge and a very small anvil, but needed real tongs. We started looking around for a decent anvil, not an easy task. We searched for months to find a good anvil that did not cost a fortune before we finally got an incredible break.
A few weeks before Jake's thirteenth birthday our good neighbor, Erwin Lesh, told me about a friend of his, Phil Drevas, he thought might be looking to part with an anvil. I went over to Phil's house and not only did he have a beautiful anvil, but he also had a post vice and a few tools! He offered them for an amazing price. We presented the serendipitous treasure to Jake for his birthday a few days later.
Since then, we have experimented with various forms of blacksmithing, from blades to dinner bells, but have found a passion for the creation of art pieces and jewelry. Other family members have joined in on the fun, daughter Julia and wife Kendra. Due to the great interest in some of our pieces, we decided to make them available to everyone. Who knows what areas are next, but for now we really enjoy the creation of the pieces you will find on our site.
