Filed under: January 2019 | Tags: Blacksmithing, forge, learning, memories, teaching, Tiller's International
January 2, 2019
I want to thank the folks at “Tiller’s International” in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Those guys teach classes on all sorts of old skills from blacksmithing to barrel making, timber framing and tin smithing. The instructors give a very good foundation for learning. I took classes there for blacksmithing and knife making. I am enjoying my new hobbies very much.
Over the Christmas holiday, I was able to give a few demonstrations to friends and family. I feel it is our duty to teach others. I enjoy watching my “students” learn. I am not a master smith, although I do get a little better almost daily. I am able to show and teach others. Some people want to learn the skill, other folks just like watching. I understand it all, because as a much younger man, I watched a guy doing blacksmithing….I have been “hooked” ever since!
I make all sorts of useful things for the farm. The only limitation is my imagination. I encourage you, dear reader, to teach something that you know to someone else. That someone else could be a friend or stranger, a child or grandchild, but the good you will feel is wonderful.
I learned a lot from my grandparents. Much of what they taught me, I use daily. The best part for me is, that those early days of learning are some of my most treasured memories!
2 Comments so far
Leave a comment
RicelandMeadows 
Thanks for sharing! Yes, we are never too old to learn! Keep sharing what skills you have acquired.
Comment by Irene January 3, 2019 @ 10:44 amThank you Irene. If everyone of us, follows your advice, many skills will be passed along. I believe that even the most simple things need to be shared. Somewhere there is a person wanting to know how to bake a cake, can food or fix a fence. Sharing is good for our souls.
Comment by ricelandmeadows January 8, 2019 @ 10:44 am