The Abstract Blacksmith

Added 23 stickers to the wall tonight. The NOFX one is probably my favourite just because I've been a fan of them for 20 something years now and finally saw them live on what is most likely their final tour. At least that's what they are saying eh. I'm also absolutely pumped on others like










Saw last night and when they played Bob I definitely felt the words. So damn stoked I went to see them and all to the credit of my buddy Paul for snagging the tickets.

Met this cool dude and his awesome lady the other day. We forgot to take a pic in the excitement of finally meeting each other so I did up this superimposed beauty eh.

Was great to meet you in person man. Much love

Been working on this for what seems like forever. Way too many things happening this summer to have allowed me to work solid on this from day one, but it's finally all welded up.
The legs unbolt from the frame as does the center beam. The top will be a live edge piece done by my buddy
I'm really looking forward to seeing this fully finished and put in place.

The flower I donated to the garden in Snow Lake and the lovely lady that has built/maintains the garden. Thank you Bev for giving Snow Lake such a beautiful garden for the public to enjoy.

Laroquez got his cupping swage all fitted up today. Let's see them flowers come to life bud!

On the latest episode of we chatted about some steel I had recently picked up. 3-1/2" mild steel bars in 9' lengths. Approximately 2000lb of steel.
What am I going to do with it? Gonna have to wait and see yah hosers😘

Dragonfly is starting to show some oxidation where the copper was fused into the steel. Wondering how that's going to look long run. Feel like maybe I should have oiled it up real good. Maybe beeswax. Maybe I'm overthinking it.

Little froggy hanging out on one of the flowers I made.

Handmade copper rose. Lasts a lifetime.
Carefully crafted in Canada.

Get some pieces laid out for a friend. Gonna be a massive corporate table with a beauty live edge river epoxy table. These will be the legs. Almost wish I was using 4x4 tubing for this instead of 3x3. Can't wait to see this thing come to life.

By laying it out like this I can cheat a bit. No math to figure out the angles or lengths I'll need. It also gives me the chance to actually visualize things to make sure it'll all work out. And dang good thing I did because as I write this and look at the table I realize I need to make some adjustments.

Not quite a fixture table, but it gets me by eh.

Got my latest copper rose cleaning up from the welding process.
Almost done and ready to ship out.
These aren't as simple as they may seem. Yes I could cut corners and make them faster, but then I wouldn't be happy with the end product. I never feel right about letting something leave that I'm not happy with, but in the long run it's always up to the person getting it if they are happy with it.

There is a downside to that though. The more you chase happiness the more it drifts away. Sometimes it's best to accept things for what they are. In art that process can be beyond difficult. Finding a spot where we are happy with our product can be an endless endeavor. What we are happy with now can be completely different in a few years. As our skills grow and our taste changes we evolve to a new person. But as we grow we face new challenges. If we don't face new challenges things become stagnant. Challenging ourselves is what tends to keep us sane. It gives us purpose. Just don't over do it as that is a scary place to be as well. Balance is a hard thing to find in life. Don't lie to yourself.

Lundar beach camp fam jam. Took our nephews for a long weekend of hot weather on the beach. Always a good time out there, but this year was the first time I was sober for it. Much different experience. While I was tempted to have a few drinks I'm glad I didn't and just enjoyed the moments for what they are. Watching the kids having a blast the whole time made me think a lot about how things used to be fun before drugs and alcohol. So I got in there and went swimming, paddle boarding, sand castle building and played some games. Went golfing for an early morning round and wasn't hungover nor did I act like a complete fool. Just foolish enough to smile and laugh a bit. Highlight of the weekend was probably when one of the boys stepped on what we are pretty sure was a fish bone and started freaking out cause it was stuck in the bottom of his foot pretty good. Total freak accident! We also found an abandoned commercial fish net that had a dead pickerel stuck in it. Hauled it to shore and got the CO's to come clean it up. All in all another great family adventure!

He's a handsome lad eh. This dog can be a handful at times, but hes turned out to be a pretty great little buddy.

Finally got the kids bed finished and put in her room. Been so busy juggling projects lately, but this one should have been done a good while ago already. We were telling her about how this used to be her crib at one point and she actually remembered that as a crib we had eventually taken the front part down(that's the foot board now) and it was a bed for her prior to her getting a bunk bed. The bunk bed was cool because it had a desk/play area underneath, but was a pain to crawl into and out of. It was also impossible for her to snuggle her dog on a bunk bed.
I'm definitely not giving up my day job to work with wood. I realized while making this that steel is definitely something I prefer to work with. Adding on the little textured panels(they hide the bolt holes that were used to make it a crib and also lock in the beams) was my favourite part. Well, aside from seeing how happy she was to go and jump on it.
I dunno about you, but I can't say I've even known anyone whos bed used to be their crib as a baby. I also dunno why that felt important to me to do for her, but it was and kinda makes me proud as a dad.

Added another mini anvil to my shelf. 70lb at the bottom and a couple ounces on the top. This is a collection I can actually hold onto vs my vices as these don't take up much room compared to a 200lbs vice.







Collection in order from bottom up.

They say money doesn't buy happiness. Or that it buys stupid amazing happiness.
Most of us would just like a happy medium where we aren't stressed about making sure things aren't falling apart on us. Maybe we live beyond our means. Perhaps we should be happy with less? Or maybe we just aren't trying hard enough.

Being a part of the maker community has made me realize just how many people are out there trying to find happiness in what they love to do. Maybe that's where true happiness lies.

The struggle is real and in today's market/economy it's gotten very real. I've seen a lot of people closing shop lately and it bugs me to see that as I strive towards making my side hustle more than a side hustle. I've also seen many people growing their side hustle into a full time and striving business.

Why do you think people have been closing shop?

What strategies do you think are taking makers into that striving market?

Finally starting to see the end of this project as I fit it all together. I think the forged elements will really give this a cool look. Just hope that my daughter likes it once it's all done. Knowing her she will want the metal to be painted some crazy colour like teal or hot pink. Teal might actually look good on it though. Think I'm gonna get some stainless hardware for it. Black hardware would actually be pretty nice too eh.

I was out on Vancouver Island for the weekend and stopped to see my buddy while he was set up at Art in the Garden Nanoose Bay.
I absolutely love David's art and had to get one of his squish fish. My daughter picked this one out and David insisted we take it as a gift from his family to ours.
I've met some amazing people through blacksmithing and I wish I had more time to spend with them. Really looking forward to going and visiting David and spending time with him in his shop one day as I didn't have time with this trip.

Thanks Trent
Love the stickers bud. Hope you enjoy mine as well.

If anyone else is interested in a sticker swap hit me up in the dms.

Calgary airport and someone is after my heart.

Texturing away tonight. Weather wasn't the greatest. Drizzly day out there, but it made for a good day in the shop.

Went to Lac Du Bonnet for the evening to enjoy the carnival and some fireworks. It's been a pretty solid stop for us over the years. Some amazing fireworks 🎆🎇
Happy Canada day all yah hosers. Keep your stick on the ice eh!

Self explanatory

Picked up this hammer from at the hammer in yesterday.
He had messaged me previously letting me know he was going to be bringing some hammers he made to the hammer in and asked if I thought his price was fair. " Yessir! I'll take that big leafing style hammer bud!" Was my response.
Showed up at the hammer in and pulled my wallet out before he had a chance to say hi.
But why would a blacksmith that can make his own hammers buy a hammer from another smith?
Not only is Jordan making some amazing hammers, he is also doing some super sweet engraving on them and honestly I'd like to add tools from a few other smiths I know. I kinda have this thought that not only am I helping support the trade, but there is a piece of a smiths love attached to the work he/she does. Every time I look at a tool made by another smith that I own I think of them.
Very glad to add this badass hammer to my arsenal!
Thanks again my good man! Stay handsome eh!

Some photos from the WestMan hammer in out in Brandon yesterday.
Always a good time hanging out with

Gotta love them sunsets eh!
Honestly west coast sunsets are probably the only sunsets I prefer over those in the prairies.
Only getting darker earlier from here on till the winter solstice. Still lots of summer to enjoy though. It's gonna get hawt in here booiiiii!

Ok. Good day eh.

So my last post might have been slightly misconstrued. I have this bad habit of not fully putting my thoughts into words properly when it comes to social media.
This first pic is the step by step I found online and the remaining pics are what I ended up with. I actually went back at it some more because I couldn't handle looking at where I left it. Still far from happy, but I did learn a bit from this project so I'll take that as a win.
Trying to shape the antlers was super tough and the legs... Well, I started this cold. Should have lit the forge right away, but yah. Shouldn't have wasted that time eh.

Last night was full of frustrations. What was supposed to be some sort of mind resting work ended up not being so. Which sucks because I honestly should have been doing other stuff instead, but figured some mental health time was in need. Been a good while since I lit the forge and just wanted to give it a try. I was attempting to make a deer that I had found some process pics of. Starting with a piece of 10g plate plasma cut out and then hammered to shape. Well... I'm not sure if maybe I could have used some different tooling or maybe I just didn't follow the steps right, but holy smokes my deer turned out to look like it had been hit by a car. Oh well. That's how she goes sometimes. Learn from the failures right.

Thanka Pat
Gonna get a couple in the shop and one on the toolbox at work.