Studio Tour

A lot of people and especially other knifemakers and blacksmith friends ask my why I call my building a “studio” and not a “shop”. In fact a few friends thought I was getting kind of snotty with the Studio reference. But there is a method to my madness….. In this day and age of gentrification of the country (and I mean rural as well as other areas) things have gotten a bit tighter about what one can and cannot do on one’s own property. If you’re new to town so to speak and you go to the Town Hall office and tell them you’re going to build a “shop” and need to pull a building permit, the term “shop” can raise some eye brows and questions with the Town Elders (or whomever) like; what are you making in your shop? is it a business? are you employing other people? Do you have machinery? etc. etc.
If you answer these questions with responses such as- “I have a forge”, “I use a power hammer”, “it’s sort of a business” you’re heading for some deep water. A lot of areas define machine shops as “light industrial” and a lot of areas don’t allow that use. At least “not in my neighborhood” sort of mentality.

However if you go and ask for a permit for a Studio and answer questions with responses that “I’m an artist”, “I make metal sculpture” “I work by myself in a “studio” then you’re coming on as a “cottage” industry and not a shop that they all might want to classify your endeavor as as light industrial. They’re going to welcome you a whole lot more if your are an artist in a “studio” rather than a guy with noisy grinders and hammers burning up steel in his “shop”. And you know what? We are artists making sculpture. It just happens to be sharp and pointy.

This is a Kuhn KB-1 air hammer. It has a 75 lb. ram and can deliver 220 blows a minute. German made, I bought this new in 1992. At the time it seemed pretty expensive. It was either this or a new pickup truck. I went with the hammer and have never regretted it. They don’t make power hammers like this anymore. Really. This thing is built like a Panzer Tank and Kuhn no longer is selling these in North America. I love this hammer.

I bought this anvil for my wife’s birthday present a number of years ago. She lets me use it and I in turn let her borrow the very expensive saddle she bought me a few months later for my birthday.

This is my 24 ton Hydraulic Press. Made by Tommy McNabb in North Carolina it’s a great unit put together really well and very rugged.

I use two forges. The one on the right is a “Don Fogg Style” vertical blower type. This si the real work horse for welding up damascus steel. It gets hot. The forge on the left is a “Chile” forge (http://www.chileforge.com) made in Arizona. It’s an atmospheric forge which does not require a blower. I can weld in it and use it when I’m not using flux or just forging and not welding. It’s a great forge and very efficient.

to be continued…..