Apprenticeships?

[Tulku]

While I was still a teenager during the 1980's I spent two years apprenticing with a black smith in Arizona
it was a remarkable and formative experience for me and although it was brief, I never stopped designing knives and tools.
Some years later while I was living in Texas,
I made a small coal forge in my backyard and hammered out a few blades in 10-series steel on a small section of railroad track.
While I never fully understood the subtleties of heat treatment, differential temper, normalization, etc.
I got lots of stock removal and grinding experience, as well as a few hours on a power hammer and lots of time spent forging by hand on an anvil. I have really enjoyed the entire learning process and a part of me still longs for more.

Now I'm living in a large city with little exposure to workshops, classes or similar creative environments
and I thought, this would be a great place to ask around if any blade smiths in the Southern California area might be open to an apprenticeship,
I would like to learn more about metallurgy while assisting in general production and at some point I hope to make some of my own designs.


If anyone here has any knowledge of positions or apprenticeship opportunities
your thoughts and suggestion would be appreciated

Kindly,
-Joshua-

[Chris Daigle]

Great post. Sounds like you've had some really good experiences along the way.

Heat metal. Pound metal. Metal moves. You move the metal.

Good luck in your search.

Chris