Larry's Blacksmith Shop

The original barn
The barn dates from the early 70's. When he and Nancy bought their original two acres and this was the first thing he built. At first it was a real barn with dirt floor and livestock stalls but he later added a floor, insulated it, and turned it into a workshop. The wood came from a nearby sawmill that had been in operation for as long as I can remember. (Parker's sawmill) Looking closely you can see the door he made with a little bit of carving on it. Behind the double doors sits a huge, 24" wood planer. It weighed so much we left it where it was. How he ever got it there is a mystery. The blacksmith shop is to the right, out of the picture. It was added about 10 years later. The extension is actually larger than the barn. I'll try to get a better picture at some point. He planted bamboo all around the barn. Giant Gray Henon in the back, Yellow Groove on the driveway side, and Black bamboo right outside the forge area. The blacksmith shop is located at the far end of the barn extension. The next picture shows this from outside the blacksmith shop.

The forge and equipment
There is an extension to the barn that was added later and at the very end of this is the actual blacksmith shop. You can see better pictures of the forge further down but this gives you a rough idea of what it looks like from the outside. This is where lots of scrap steel was stored and where we sat while relaxing or waiting on a furnace to heat up. We both enjoyed melting and casting brass and copper and this is where we would set the furnace and molds. To the right is a concrete block wall and behind this is where Larry stored coal used for forging. He had a huge amount of coal stockpiled and his friends and I called it his coal mine as it was much larger than you realized. Bottom left in the picture is a log splitter that Larry built. (more about that later)

This is the forge. The dark rectangle in the middle of the steel hearth table is the firepot. Air is forced in from the bottom and coal or charcoal gives a fire hot enough to bring steel up to a cherry red glow, perfect for bending and forging. The round "tank" in the top left is a propane furnace used for knifemaking. The second tubular looking item in the lower center is another propane forge (vertical) also used for knifemaking. The slightly smaller tubular structure directly avove that is an oil bath for tempering. The large rack above it all holds the various tools and 150 pounds. We found two other anvils while moving all the equipment but this was the largest and the one he used regularly. The anvil sits on a large piece of oak tree trunk. The iron band around the stump holds different hardy tools for the anvil.

This is the "automatic" hammer Larry built. I remember going to see Don Fogg once with Larry in order to see some type of hammer he had. I guess he looked at a couple more here and there and then built this hammer. He poured a massive concrete footing for it and the anvil weighs over 100 lbs. The first time I saw it in action it was definitely scary. Seeing the massive hammer going up and down at full speed it was hard not to back away. Later when we worked on a project together I learned how to use it with respect but not too much fear. I can't swing a hammer for long without elbow problems. The second picture is after we moved it outside to load it up. This is the hammer with motor and anvil detached. From where I took this picture behind me is a grove of giant Moso bamboo. I gave this to Larry years ago and over the next several years he planted dozens of other bamboo species.