I was born and raised in western Pennsylvania, the son of a steel worker, and my grandfather was a coal miner, so steel and associated trades run in the family. After a tour in the U.S. Coast Guard I moved out here in 1982. While stationed aboard ship in Seattle I made the trip to Portland twice for Rose Festival, and fell in love with the mountains here.

While I'm still a relative newbie to faires, blacksmithing is something I ken well, having been at it off and on almost twenty years. I got started as many do, seeing something I wanted but could not afford. Being a jack of all trades, and master of a couple, I decided to try making what I wanted. Been hooked ever since.

I'm not a rabid environmentalist, but I try to do my part. All of the wares made by me are constructed of 95+% recycled materials (excluding welding wire and the odd bit of hardware). My current faire forge uses a hand cranked blower that was a rusted bit of junk when bought, but has been refitted to near new condition. I've just rebuilt a belt driven blower, and am scrounging parts to complete a forge for it. You got to love this old cast iron stuff. Give it a little attention and it's good for another 30 years.

When I first put up this page I'd mentioned my intent to fashion a travelling smithy out of a utility trailer. Well, here she is!

Basic construction is a 2 X 4 frame with plywood sides, roof, and fold down "porch" roofs to either side. At the front of the trailer is a 3-piece plywood cover which serves to hide the trailer tongue and makes a handy storage area.

The posts and beams are hinged together at the fold down roof edge and bolt into brackets on the trailer sides. The fold down roofs are pretty trick. The section nearest the camera folds flat onto the section adjoining the trailer roof, then both panels flip up to lay against the sloped roof. Setup time for both sides is about 1 hour from the time I get the trailer leveled.

That's about it for now. Drop by the smithy when I'm at faire and jaw awhile.

Enjoy viewing my wares and send all comments to alasdayr@hotmail.com