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Josh Cooper

Josh Cooper

Alexander County, NC

My forging experience began the summer of 2003 when a good friend of mine, woodworker and blacksmith, Jason A. Lonon, began sharing with me the pleasures of working hot metal.  My efforts to learn were rooted in the self-reliance lifestyle I had taken on.  My early projects included knives, hatchets as well as the obligatory wall-hooks and S-hooks.  For a long time, I forged just for the experience, and took advantage of lessons, classes, and meetings in my area. I mainly forged products I could use in my daily life until I opened my own shop 2012 and started offering work to the public through festivals, craft shows and online sales.  In 2016, I started developing several production items, and continued to forge custom commission works.

 

In my early years, I spent a lot of time trying different styles of work as well as some of the many different varieties of forged products out there.  I settled into a very comfortable niche of forged items for the home.  I now like to think of my work as specializing in items for the home that are functional as well as decorative.  The style of my work is mostly of Colonial influence, with some elements from the 19th century. The scale of my work varies from large tables, railings and chandeliers; to medium sized coat, pot and hat racks, towel/toilet paper bars and stands, key hooks and wine racks; and finally, to small key chains, trinkets and napkin rings.

One of the aspects of my personality that finds its way into the shop is a drive to constantly learn.  I am always willing to try something new, hoping that it will teach me a new skill or more effective way of completing a task.  Whether it be as complex as forging pattern-welded Damascus by hand, forging real antique wrought iron to replicate historical forgings, or as simple as a variation on a door pull.

This constant drive to learn has also led me to share the knowledge I have gained to other interested blacksmiths out there.  I have taught family and friends in my own shop, instructed (and assisted) at John C. Campbell Folk School, instructed Blacksmithing workshops and Summer Camp sessions at Turtle Island Preserve, and workshops at Western Piedmont Community College in Morganton, NC.  I have also demonstrated for the local chapter of NCABANA. I am a member of ABANA, the North Carolina state affiliate (NCABANA) and the New England Blacksmith Association.

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  • Metal
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Hours

Tuesday-Saturday 10am-3pm


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