Nine Ways to Make A Living as A Blacksmith

This all began as a conversation with the infamous Caitlin from Miss Caitlin’s School of Blacksmithing about the various ways blacksmiths have found to make a living. I created a TikTok video that garnered a good amount of interest, and I thought the information was too good not to share in a more accessible format. If you are a blacksmith and don’t see your niche represented here, let me know, and I’ll consider adding you.

So here it goes, in no particular order.

9. Create Public Art

While I have not personally ventured into public art, some of the most successful creative artists I know specialize in large-scale projects funded by cities or private organizations. The budget for such ventures can vary from thousands of dollars to millions of dollars. For example, think of the lights on the Bay Bridge. I am fortunate to rent studio space from the owner of Engineered Artworks, a business specializing in large-scale works of art for Burning Man, corporations, museums, and other public places. Their success has allowed them to purchase property in the SF Bay Area. Engineered Artworks sometimes employs blacksmiths but is not primarily comprised of smiths.

Albert Paley and Tom Joyce are two of the most successful artist blacksmiths I can think of, and they create a lot of public art. Many successful architectural blacksmiths also take on works for public art projects. Public art often requires a lot of money upfront, large shop spaces, industrial equipment, and long lead times. There is also the potential for projects to be subject to public criticism and alterations by public councils. Though finding the cash flow and resources for such projects can be a challenge, there are great rewards that come with it.

8. Teach Classes

Miss Caitlin Morris

In honor of Miss Caitlin being the catalyst for this post, I’ll start with her chosen profession, teaching blacksmithing. She told me she struggled to learn blacksmithing when she started out and couldn't make a taper for over a year. No one worked with her to help her understand the concepts, so she became the blacksmithing teacher she never had. Miss Caitlin is poised, calm, entertaining, and thoroughly competent as an educator. She runs her own school and travels the country teaching. Ellen Durkan of Iron Maiden Forge also makes her living from traveling the country conducting classes and teaching at her local university in Delaware.

My first blacksmithing job was also as a blacksmithing instructor. I worked twenty hours per week at The Crucible while I experimented with blacksmithing and learned further fabrication from the lead instructor Chris Niemer. I made simple items to sell and scouted for small commissions to make additional income..

7. Create Product for Consumers

A couple of people come to mind when I think of blacksmiths who have succeeded in creating a repeatable product that allows them to make a living as a blacksmith. These people are both skillet makers: McMurry Handforged, which creates hand-forged skillets, and Northwest Skillet Company, which makes the most beautiful lathe-turned skillets you’ve ever seen. Both are made in the United States, primarily by a single artist. There are a lot of challenges when trying to create a product manufactured in the United States. Even with exceptional quality and the reality of earning a living wage in the United States, I believe consumers are always mindful of price in relation to the pricing of items created in the mass-produced overseas market. It can be incredibly difficult to compete. And there is the cost and time involved in finding the right market that appreciates and wants to support the handmade market.

I have tried for some time to create bronze hardware produced in Richmond, CA. While I’ve struggled to find my market, I’ve made some inroads with interior designers and will have some exciting information to share on that front in the near future.

6. Become a Bladesmith

This is probably the most common dream for people new to the profession. So many new students take their first class with the hope that one day they can craft gorgeous knives and swords, retire from their desk job, and live in their cabin making blades for the public.

The reality is that while there has been a surge of new professional bladesmiths, it is a very saturated market. On Etsy and online, bladesmithing is often best represented as a race to the bottom. Bladesmiths are selling at lower and lower prices, sometimes cutting corners and often compromising their living to be able to live out their dreams. While this problem isn't unique to bladesmithing (I think it’s an issue with Etsy overall), I think it is something a new bladesmith has to be very mindful of.

The very best bladesmiths, such as Nick Anderson, can charge a premium price. The rest will have to find other ways to distinguish themselves, communicate their value, and optimize their processes.

5. Create Architectural Ironwork

I think this is the most common way I’ve seen blacksmiths make a living. Probably about 90% of my revenue comes from creating railings and occasionally gates. Tables and curtain rods currently make up the remainder of my revenue.

There are people like Jody Bliss who use a combination of CNC-cut parts, hammering, and welded fabrication to create beautiful and often intricate masterpieces, combining welding with some traditional blacksmithing techniques. And there are people like Shawn Lovell who are fully committed to using traditional blacksmithing for nearly every aspect of their project. I am more like Jody. Though I envy Shawn’s ability to find the time and budget to create her exquisite, skilled masterful creations. The truth is that blacksmithing adds so much time to a project that many of us struggle to make a living. Nobody goes into this profession for the money; they do it for their passion for the craft.

4. Gift Show Items and Etsy

Selling hooks and bottle openers is a common way to get started. My first items were bottle openers and plant hooks. Every Christmas, I used to sell bottle openers and roses. It was great pocket change for me, but in reality, I would need to sell 4-500 small items per month consistently to bring in my current revenue. Even if I did not have an employee, I would probably need to sell 300-400. It’s not an impossibility, but it is difficult to pull off.

Colleen Du Pon of Ammonite Ironworks is one person who comes to mind as successfully finding her market on Etsy. She also sells larger creations like fireplace sets and tongs. Other people have sold garden sculptures and flowers alongside the smaller hand-forged items.

Adlai’s Viking Ship Coat Rack

Adlai Stein of Macabee Metals sells gift items, makes blades, teaches classes, and occasionally does architectural jobs to make a living. And I suspect that many people who sell at gift shows have similar business models.

3. Make Your Living As a Content Creator

When I was a teenager in the 90s, kids dreamed of becoming rockstars. These days, teenagers dream of becoming influencers. The most famous blacksmith in this arena is Alec Steele. He rose to prominence after learning from Brian Brazeal and creating hammers, tools, and other cool items such as forge-welded daggers and fidget spinners. He spends his days and nights not only practicing the art of blacksmithing but also learning to edit, produce, and entertain with his platform. Content creation combines the skills of blacksmithing with the art of entertainment. And while it’s big business, very few people succeed in that space. Keri, at Baltimore Knife and Sword, uses his popular YouTube series, Man at Arms Reforged, to sell his reproduction and custom blades.

I am no Alec Steele by any stretch of the imagination, but I also have a YouTube channel that I use to bring awareness to my business. With the release of this blog, I will also be launching a Patreon to help pay for my time so I can create more educational blacksmithing content.

2. Design and Secure Manufacturing for a Product

This is truthfully the most lucrative option for any blacksmith. But wait, Celeste, didn’t you already include product creation? Creating your own product to manufacture in the states is one option. But the margins are inevitably better if you take your knowledge and skills as a blacksmith to create a prototype for a product that then gets manufactured overseas.

Jerry Coe’s Bronze Garden Lamps

Jerry Coe of Coe Studios did very well by manufacturing his bronze lamps and then finding distribution for them nationwide. John Sarriugarte of Form and Reform did very well selling lighting through Restoration Hardware. It is not an easy feat. Jerry Coe got a good amount of funding for the time in the 80s and spent a full year developing his first lamp from scratch. He looked up distribution in the yellow pages and drove around the country cold calling and arriving at showrooms asking people to sell his lamps. He later added a variety of options to his product line, creating parts in his shop whenever needed.

1. Create Tools for Other Blacksmiths

Forging and selling hammers seem to be a rite of passage for young people joining the craft. It seems that smiths selling Brazeal-style rounding hammers come and go. I suspect that many young smiths find Alec Steele on YouTube and dream of being able to make a living the same way. Just like with bladesmithing, there is the danger of falling into the trap of undercutting one another until each smith is no longer profitable. On the other hand, people like Cergol Tool and Forgeworks have really distinguished themselves by making beautiful one-of-a-kind tools for blacksmiths and sometimes for other professions such as woodworkers.

Conclusion

There are a few adjacent professions that I’ve missed. Farriers shoe horses and many of them forge the horseshoes. It’s a grueling profession that does allow one to make a decent living and creates some skilled blacksmiths along the way. Jewelry also is another option but usually that falls into the category of metalsmithing. It’s a smaller scale and uses different but similar tools and techniques. And a non-functional artist is a way that some blacksmiths bring in money, however I think the artists I know probably spend more money than they make, unfortunately.

No two businesses are ever alike. And everyone forges their own path in this industry. I can’t go into detail about every smith trying to make a living however I would like to continue this series, delving deeper into other blacksmithing businesses with the hopes of demystifying the journey for further generations of smiths.