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Post by beowoulf90 on Jul 28, 2016 18:00:38 GMT
Quality blacksmithing is like buying oats. If you want nice clean fresh oats, you must pay a fair price; However if you can be satisfied with oats that have already been through the horse, that comes a little cheaper!
Just a sign I saw a while back at a blacksmith shop..
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Jul 29, 2016 2:41:51 GMT
There's a place not far from here called Bakers Creek that has festival every spring. We missed it this year, but in previous years we've bought several garden implements from a guy who makes them on his forge in the area. What a pleasure to use tools made with care and pride. Sure, a furrowing hoe cost $45, but it will most likely outlast any tool I've every bought at Home Depot.
Another saying I've always like is a variation of the old saying "you get what you pay for", it's "you don't get what you don't pay for". To my thinking the second saying tells the story better.
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Post by joebill on Aug 14, 2016 19:03:11 GMT
I took up some blacksmithing late in my business life, and enjoyed it, but the body was not up to doing a lot of it.
I did learn one thing that applied to most artisan activities and business, which is one can turn a decent profit early on in most manual trades by developing a few items that your available skills, tools and materials can do very well, make them and sell them, but don't accept custom orders early on. One can hardly imagine the things folks will ask for, and expect to turn out dandy in spite of design errors by the customer and all kinds of other crazy factors having to do with lack of experience on the part of the artisan.
I have greatly admired the work of some artist/blacksmiths who do decorative gates and railings and other large projects, but I knew my limitations. Made knives, tools, household goods, had good sales and nice profits, never disapointed a customer, because everything was made prior to the sale and people only bought because they liked the stuff, NOT because I had already gotten a deposit from them, because I never sold anything before it was completed or even showed it to anybody.
Anybody wants to try some blacksmithing, I can direct you to online resources, tell you about some really nice finishes for formal work, recall a few profitable items, etc.... I'm done heatin' and beatin' much of anything in this life....joe
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Post by beowoulf90 on Aug 15, 2016 11:14:54 GMT
Good Advice! joebill
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Post by oldvet on Nov 21, 2016 3:54:56 GMT
I learned to sharpen plow for a cultivator a few years ago. It was hard work and I didn't get much done. But I found out that my body wasent up to that much work but I enjoyed it.
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