My name is Adam C. Porras. I have been forging knives for a little over 2 1/2 years now. I started with this craft after being invited to what is now known as Resilience Forge. This Forge is run by Nate Bocker, and it focuses on teaching Wounded Warriors, Military Members, and their families the art of blade smithing. I am a medically retired (after 20 years) Army Veteran as well as a Wounded Warrior. Taking up this art has helped me tremendously both mentally and physically. Part of my issues is that because of injuries I cannot exercise, so forging knives has helped me in that arena by providing me some sort of physical activity and have been able to lose several pounds, which the doctors recommended. As for how it helps me mentally, well starting with a raw piece of metal and forging, grinding, polishing, and putting handles on, makes me feel accomplished and that helps out a lot. On days that I am out of sorts, the hammer, forge, and anvil always bring me back to center. So now that I have a bit of experience under my belt, I am starting to help other vets and their families find this great almost lost art and am teaching under the guise of the person that taught me. So far so good, and when it comes to forging, I do not see an end in sight. I hope to correspond with many of you, and to share ideas.
Welcome to the forum and thank you very much for your service and sacrifice. And I can definitely identify with (and I imagine so can many others here) the mental benefits of being able to take raw materials and turn them into a functioning tool. So glad to hear you've found something that you enjoy and benefits you. I know it's a long ways from where you're at, but if you ever planned a trip to Montana, you should definitely look up Ed Caffrey, MS. Here's a shameless plug for him that he didn't ask for-he has great classes. One on one, he's retired from the Air Force and got his classes approved through the VA. Couple all of that with him just being a great guy in general and its one heck of a good time <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />.
Even if you don't make it to the west, it sounds like there's a pretty great thing going on in your neck of the woods with Resilience Forge. There are some amazing folks on here with a lot of knowledge. Always feel free to ask questions and someone is bound to give you some good ideas.
Jeremy
Jeremy Lindley, Apprentice Smith
Adam
Welcome to the ABS,and thank you for your service. May God bless you and your family. It is an honor to have you and the many others that are veterans.
Shaping steel with fire and hammer is very rewarding mentally and physically be it bladesmithing and or blacksmithing.
Thank you.
Anthony Griggs
Hello Adam and thank you for your service. I totally agree, if I am having a bad day, taking a piece of steel, forging, and working it, really releases the tension. Welcome to the ABS and the forum. It is great to have you here. Wishing you the best.
Brion
Brion Tomberlin
Anvil Top Custom Knives
ABS Mastersmith
Welcome to the ABS Adam. Glad you're here.
