I miss you buddy....... | EVERYTHING ELSE OFF TOPIC | Forum

First off I got to say that the motivation to pen this came from a conversation I had with Brent Bailey and his desire to do something very similar to post on his website…. I in no way am intending to rip off Brent’s idea and I ask him to forward me a copy of his Grant writings to post on the site once he has it put together…. But during the conversation I just felt like it was time to say a little something about our lost friend, something I had been meaning to do but had a hard time actually sitting down to type it out. There is a lot that can be said about Grant. He could be difficult to deal with, frustrating and goofy…. He had a strange sense of humor that some found hilarious and others offensive… But one thing that no one could argue is Grant was the real deal. At least for me he took a long time to warm up to… I tried for several years to get him help me with some mechanical projects that where over my head with no luck. He blew me off kind of like you would any kid asking silly questions but I kept at it. Finally one day I got him to come by and look at something I was working on and basically like the flick of a switch he opened up and started to share his knowledge.. I think a big part of this was he saw that I was trying, that I was doing and making mistakes… I was not just talking about these things to talk about them but I was spending the time to work through it. From that point on Grant taught me many lessons, many of which I didn’t want to learn but he thought I should…. Often I would call up and ask how he had done something in the past and he would reply “I don’t remember”… So I would try and fail and call back up and tell him what happened and he would start right in… Well what I did was this and this and you need to change that…. He knew all along what I need to do but he wanted me to try and learn something before he gave the answers… I think there is a lot of wisdom and respect in that.. Grant had my back…. Sometimes he would complain, bitch and whine about how much time something took he had quoted me $500 to build for me, some die or tool, and how it should have cost double that … And then not accept any money when it came time to settle up…. One time I really needed some help figuring out some industrial production forging process and he told me it would cost $500 for him to come show me… In the big picture having the “pro” come and help me out $500 was a small price to pay… But after we worked it out he more or less demanded that we spend the next 8 hours tearing down and repairing a hammer that had issues just for the fun of it…. Grant really was a funny guy… He was very giving in his own way while sometimes seeming otherwise…. He was very open with some knowledge and very protective of other bits… Grants heart I think was always in the right place no matter how stand offish he might act… I really miss the guy… We talked often and honestly I got to where I sometimes wouldn’t answer when he called, not because I didn’t want to talk to him but because I knew I would likely have to spend an hour before I could get off the phone and back to work.. Some might think its strange for guys who had 25 years between them to be friends but we shared a lot , laughed a lot and I can’t speak for Grant but I sure enjoyed being around him. I don’t know all of Grants history but I have very little problem saying that Grant may be the most influential American blacksmiths to lived in the last 100 years. Some would say that Francis Whitaker, Samuel Yellin or one of many other great smiths…. But let me ask you this… Who as a single man has had a direct hand in creating and furthering the craft… Grants tools have been used to create thousands and thousands of works of art, Grant will not have books written about his work, He doesn’t have fancy scrolled bits hanging in prestigious places in the way more recognized blacksmiths might… But Grant has had a bigger impact and influence than any of them ever will to the actual creation of forged iron. You would be hard pressed to enter any modern blacksmith shop anyplace in the country that does not have at least one of Grants tools in it…. And if you can find one I would bet that at least one of the tools that is there was influenced by one of Grants products… As far as I am concerned Grant perfected modern tongs…. He made them everything they should be and nothing they don’t need to be… he brought mass produced textures and swages to beginners and experts alike allowing people to both have more fun and make more money as a blacksmith… Grant took industrial scale forging process only profitable for big business and perfected them to make incidental things for a niche market in a little shop with equipment he built and modified. We will probably not see another Grant in our lifetime in the blacksmithing community…. His influence will and innovation will carry on long after his departure because every time you pick up a tool he made a piece of his soul is put into that work…. All I hope is now and again you stop and give a bit of respect and thanks for our friend. When you pick up that pair of tongs you thank Him for all he has done for the blacksmithing community… You see him for what he was… A good person who did good work that helped every last one of us in some way….