YGuide Learn To Blacksmith

I have been operating The Hammer and Tongs blacksmithing business in Ontario, Canada, since 1987, and I have taught courses in blacksmithing and knife making as well as performed many demonstrations for the public. These blacksmithing classes are well received by all participants.

The Fundamentals of Blacksmithing

Artist Blacksmith

My name is David Robertson. I first discovered the art of the blacksmith, some 20 years ago. I am ready to teach you

The Art of Blacksmithing

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I have also started an educational blacksmith video series. These blacksmithing videos include Gas Forge Construction, and, soon to be released, a series on blacksmithing techniques.

Featured Article

Making Money at Blacksmithing: 3 Tips and 1 Secret
by Artist Blacksmith David Robertson

Tip #1
Business Cards
One of the lowest cost and most effective advertising venues is the lowly business card. You can have a 1000 printed for less than $50.00. There are places on the internet where you can get free business cards. Yes it is nice to have it flashy in full color but is not necessary.

If you can afford a photo printed on the card, which clearly shows the type of work you do then by all means do this. If not then use your logo and information.

You must have:

your business name,
your name,
phone/fax number,
email address,
website, and
your postal address.

You should have one or two lines of text explaining what your specialty is. The rest can be graphics and layout.

The business card is used when ever you meet someone face to face. This is the strongest impact you can make for your blacksmithing business. Meeting you in person and experiencing your enthusiasm for the craft will affect people much stronger than any other form of advertising.

You should have business cards on you at all times. You will meet people who are interested in your work in all kinds of unexpected places. If you can give them a business card they can contact you for more information or pass it along to a friend. No business cards and a chance meeting can not turn into an order. I have had people order from me years later just because I was able to give them a business card.

Years ago when I was starting out I did quite a number of craft shows. This is an opportune chance to give your customers your business card. You can staple one to every receipt that your write out, and give them to everyone that comes into your booth. These can pay off years down the road.

Many of the business cards that you hand out will not return sales but if just one or
two do then it has been more than worthwhile. Usually people will get back to you
with larger custom work that they want done.

Tip #2
Get back to Customers with in 48 hours.
Whether we like it or not our society is conditioned to expect a response to a question instantly. The age of the internet has made this possible, although not realistic. With a business like blacksmithing your customers may allow a bit more time. Try to target a maximum of 48 hours from when you receive a message. If you can reply in 24 hours this is best.

If it is an email, your reply may not have to be be detailed. A simple response such as I got your message and am working on the answer, or I will get back to you shortly, will usually be enough for the moment. Phone calls we often have to play telephone tag, but be persistent and leave messages.

Some things need to be researched and this takes time. Try to give the person who wants to get a hold of you a time frame. They are busy too and are trying to fit things into their schedule. Customers want to feel that they are important to you and an easy way to do this respond to them quickly.

If you take a few days to respond to a question about your products, they will have lost their initial enthusiasm for what they had in mind. If you can capture this enthusiasm early on you have a better chance of making a sale to them.

Tip #3
Constantly source cheaper suppliers.
I have been amazed at the number of people that find the first supplier for an item and stick with them. The time spent on the phone could save you hundreds of dollars. Here's an example. I build air hammers for the smithing community. These air hammers have two dies as the hammering surfaces, made from special die steel. At the time I was using H13. I called one one supplier and he quoted me $133.00 for the two pieces of die steel I needed. I wasn't pleased. I decided to dig around.

I found another company that would sell me the two blocks of H13 I needed same quality for $36.00. These two companies are in the same city about 15 minutes apart. For the 1/2 hour of seaching around I saved $100.00.

Do source the best possible deal on your raw materials. Don't become complacent with your suppliers. Keep you eyes open for other suppliers and do price comparisons, there can be vast differences on identical items.

1 Secret
Before you give a quote to your customer double it.
We fall in to a trap of trying to give our customers the best deal we can afford. Don't do this. You are in the blacksmithing business to make money. There will always be delays in a larger project. Small problems can cost you many hours. This is part of what your customer is paying for.

A good rule of thumb is that I work a quote out with a reasonable estimate of my production speed, materials etc. etc. If I take this number and multiply by 2 it will be more accurate for the actual cost. If this scares you too much multiply by 1.5 until you are confident.

Think of it this way if you work your quote to bare bones you are essentially selling your final product at a wholesale price. Standard markup on wholesale is 100% or multiplying by 2. You are selling to the final customer so you should be charging retail!

It is hard to do this at first. That fire poker you just made, and had a ton of fun in process and you think $10.00 is too much should at least be $20.00. The people buying your work can't make it themselves. You have invested in tools and skills you need to be paid well so you can keep doing this craft, and keep learning.

The other thing to remember on larger projects if you find you complete the project ahead of schedule and you had major savings you can pass these on to your customer. The customer is always happy if the final bill is a bit less than what was estimated.

So to sum up.

Use business cards as your cheapest most effective form of advertising.
Return calls or emails of your customers within 48 hours and 24 hours is best.
Constantly be on the look out for cheaper suppliers.
Do not undercharge on your work which is truely one of a kind and should be priced as such.

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David Robertson has been an artist blacksmith for over 20 years. He makes his living creating custom artwork, teaching blacksmithing, and supplying tools and information to the smithing community. For more information on blacksmithing and free monthly blacksmithing newsletter visit his website www.artistblacksmith.com.

How to Be
Successful At Your Craft Business
By David Robertson

I certainly have made many mistakes along the way. The school of hard knocks they call it. Well, with this Ebook I help crafts-people avoid some of the hard knocks.

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Metal Shop Profit Secrets
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Increase production and reduce costs and losses
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