Self Employed Blacksmithing?

Along with what Kentucky stated. I've got a friend locally here that does 70+K a year as a
farrier. He was trained in Pheonix and I'd call him as much a Blacksmith as anything.
Ken.
 
I've been blacksmithing as a one man shop for about fifteen years, I'd be happy to talk, message me if you have questions.
 
I was surprised to find out how many ABS mastersmiths and journeyman smiths have a real job and just make knives on the side. Would have been a useful piece of information to have prior to becoming a full time knifemaker. :rolleyes: But I don't know that it would have changed my mind.

I spent six years in college, largely undecided, before getting a degree in English with a minor in education. I was interesting in forging and did some work in it during high school, and worked part time at a metal artist blacksmith shop in college. After graduation, I taught high school for a couple of years until I decided I didn't want to wake up with my stomach hurting for three more decades. I ended up working at a couple more artist blacksmith shops, working on my own blades in my off hours, and eventually got enough interest to make it worth looking into setting up my own shop.

I probably would have been better off from a practical standpoint having taken forging and knifemaking courses, maybe working in a small production shop. College was good for me for other reasons, largely getting me out of my usual surroundings and letting me meet new people (and not be stuck with the same small handful of people that I graduated with from my tiny town). But if I had realized that I would be trying to make a living with metalworking, rather than have it as a hobby, I might have chosen a different educational path.

Some observations:

1. You can't pay bills being the low man on the totem pole in a blacksmith shop. Not where I worked, at any rate. You can learn a lot, though.
2. I've made enough scrolls to last a lifetime. :)
3. Working for a shop lets you have access to tools without having to invest a lot of money yourself before finding out you aren't any good or you don't like it as much as you thought.
4. The knifemakers who expand enough to hire on help are almost all in the stock removal side of things. There are aspects of that kind of production that are easier to hand off to a worker bee than it is on the forging side of things. Forgers who end up being full time often making the higher-end, fancier knives. Keep that in mind if you are primarily thinking of knifemaking as your area of focus.
5. It doesn't happen overnight, but if you build up enough of a reputation as a quality craftsman who delivers, you can get enough work to stay busy. It's up to you to make staying busy translate into getting ahead. In the meantime, you might want a day job to put beans in your belly.

I'd say take the classes and see how you do. It might be an interesting experiment that doesn't go any further than that, or it might be a career. Far more practical than a lot of what goes on in a college, though.
 
Good farriers are in demand around here. But, you would need to travel to you work. Your initial investment would be high as you would need to carry your tools and living quarters with you. Also, you might have so much work that you wouldn't have much time for knifemaking.
 
I'm a farrier, and I make knives too. They compliment each other nicely. It pay pretty good, but it is hard work and ~70% of the people who go to school for it are not doin it a year later. A strong back, good horse sense, good poeple skills, and then the skills to shoe the dang thing are needed to be successful. If you fail in any one area, you are done. There is a great need for farriers, and there is a reason for it.
 
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