Who Is Grapevine Forge?

Hello, My name is Jeremy and I've been a blacksmith making custom ironwork since 2007. I have a small smithy in West Milton Ohio, just north of Dayton in the beautiful Miami Valley. My interest in blacksmithing has roots all the way back to my childhood where I found myself enamored with tales of fantasy and adventure. I quickly fell in love with the stories of Medieval knights and renaissance Lords. I would spend my days watching Excalibur, Willow, Robin hood and any other age old fantasy film I could get my hands on. I loved the setting, and I loved the real metal weapons,  armor and everyday tools that the characters in these settings used. I was fascinated by the idea of the lives that these people lived.

I can't remember a year growing up where I didn't visit a renaissance festival and find myself enthralled as I watched the blacksmiths working in their forges. It was a sure thing that if I happened across a blacksmith shop, my family might as well go on without me as I would undoubtedly become glued to the fence watching whatever it was that the smith was creating. After so many years of watching, the opportunity arose for me to volunteer at a small historical farm that is a part of the park district where I live. It was there that I met a true blacksmith and apprenticed under him for the next year and a half. We would find ourselves in the smithy forging on the hottest summer days, and through the coldest winter months. Once per month we would get together and I would watch him forge iron, and I gradually learned the techniques of forging steel with the blow of a hammer.

Over time, I was able to gather for myself the tools that I would need to create my own smithy. I had the perfect place: a covered roof on legs behind my garage. I set up my anvil and fired up my coal forge and began forging items during the cool evenings as a way to unwind after work. After a short while, I decided to set up an online shop in order to see if anyone out in the world would have a desire to own the things I was crafting out of my home smithy. I quickly found that people have a love for the beauty and functionality of hand forged steel and I've been able to continue working on amazing projects for people from all over the world through my shop here at grapevineforge.com.

I have since moved out of that old covered roof in my back yard and into a new 16' x 12' building that several of my good friends and I  built. I now enjoy the comforts of a tall ceiling and walls. :) It's a fantastic place to spend a cool afternoon hammering away at some steel.

This is the story of the birth of Grapevine Forge. Named after the vines that grow up the sides of my smithy and around the old wagon wheels that flank either side of the shop. I get to enjoy the grapes during the late summer months while I forge lasting works of iron for family, friends and hopefully you!

Thank you so much for taking an interest in what is happening here in the forge!