What are y'all doin. how ya making a living??? | EVERYTHING ELSE OFF TOPIC | Forum

First off the bit deal is not all gravy... you have to hump to make it work... It barely makes me anything over my normal shop rate and it costs me around $4000 a month to cover basic shop expenses... It will never make me rich... the only thing its got going for it is cash flow which at the moment even thats not going for it..

There is one rule that will guarantee you can make it... And that is do what ever it takes.... If what it takes is digging ditch part time then thats what it takes.. If it means welding mufflers on cars then thats what it takes.... If it means eating ramen noodles for weeks on end then thats what it takes.. (Ive done all those things) Unless your a established exceptional smith with 20-30 years of business building under your belt its virtually impossible to survive on just forge work and make a liveable living

when I quite my job in 05 to start monster metal I put adds on craigslist and I did some crazy stuff to make it work... including building sex swings and repairing wheel chairs... Not to mention building fences and diggin a few ditches.... But I did what ever it took... And thats what it takes...

did anyone else see "sex swings?" were those hand forged?

Currently slightly less than half of my work is forging and half is patternmaking. I would like to increase the forging work as most of my repeat forging jobs are more profitable than the patternmaking. However some of my least profitable jobs(disasters) have also been forging jobs.

A significant part of the forging work I do is for the steel companies here in town. I started making tongs for them and still do although there seems to be less and less call for tongs. I do lots of custom hand tools and the odd link or hinge type piece and some short run(1-200) custom bolts . Most of this work is for large machine shops often there is machining or welding done to the pieces I make by my customers. I enjoy making tools, there is less guessing what the customer wants because they usually provide a drawing. The remainder of my forging work is other industrial forgings. I am gradually getting better at figuring out which jobs to take on and which I need to charge enough for that I probably won't get them but if I do I can make good money at them.

While I do enjoy artist blacksmith work I prefer making things I want to make rather than commissions as it allows me to make changes on the fly. I also find it hard to figure out what a customer wants and I have often spent hours/days making up drawings only to have the job go nowhere. I have never had the confidence to say you have to pay me for drawings before I quote the job. As well I am not that good at drawing good presentation drawings.

I work in a deli at Fred Meyer's 25 hours a week and am about to start getting my aa in automotive mechanics to try and pay for my habit... also rail road spike weapons seam to be my specialty... make about $20 a piece on those... and the occasional repair of 100 year old equipment... and of course specialty tools that no one else has thought of yet or no one but one person would use... just trying to fill a niche in my community as best i can and get by...

p.s. also want to see a picture of the swing!