Today is episode #93 and I have Brian Brazeal who has been blacksmithing for over 36 years and has dedicated most of his career to teaching the craft here in the US and around the world. Soon he will be going to Africa with his brother Ed to start a blacksmith program at a school in Kenya, he talks all about this in the interview.
What We Talked About
- Brian’s introduction to blacksmithing was through becoming a farrier at first, learning from his father, though that wasn’t his first choice of careers. Brian was on the Olympic Judo Training team after high school with big aspirations of furthering his Olympic future until he had a neck injury that ended his Judo training.
- Around the age of 30 Brian started to make the transition from being a Farrier to an Artist Blacksmith, while he was living in California.
- He worked at the Mission San Juan in Capistrano California for five years, the Mission is the oldest smelting of ore to make metal in the history of California. To read about the history of the Mission blacksmiths and smelting go to this website, http://factcards.califa.org/mli/blacksmith.html
- In 2002 Brian started to travel the country and internationally. He worked with Tom Clarke in Missouri and then traveled to Europe to work with Alfred Habermann for a year and a half.
- Brian has plans to travel to Africa and teach blacksmithing at a school for orphans. Brian and his brother Ed created a traveling blacksmith station, complete with anvil, tongs, hand tools and hammers. 5 of the stations are packed up and ready to go to the African school.
Guest Links
- Brian’s Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/brianbrazealblacksmith
A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor, ABANA, www.abana.org
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Thank you Vic… I have been listening to your podcast almost daily for about a month. But this one hit a cord with me for some reason. Blacksmiths making a difference on the world stage. Wow
I’m just getting started and really enjoy the wealth of information you shair on every podcast. Thanks again. Mel
Thanks for listening Mel!! I’m glad the podcast is resourceful for you. You’ll enjoy the last podcast I released about 2 California blacksmiths going to Cuba and sharing techniques, it’s a feel-good story 😉 Forge on Mel!