Victor Plitt is a hobby blacksmith in Central Pennsylvania.  He is a truck driver by trade and started blacksmithing a few years ago.  Victor has also founded the Iron Forge Fire online blacksmith forum.
What We Talked About

When Victor decided to take up blacksmithing as a hobby, he went to the internet to look for tools to buy and information on learning techniques. He came across the I Forge Iron forum and created a profile to be able to interact with the other members.  Soon after joining the forum, Victor’s profile was deleted and he was not allowed back into the forum.  Victor thinks it was because he entered his website information in his profile.
The Iron Forge Fire forum allows you to promote your business and website within your profile. You can also contribute and post information without a profile.  There are about 209 members right now.
Victor held an “Iron in the Pot” challenge this past summer, it’s a very flexible contest for its beginner members to forge something within certain requirements. There were 12 that signed up for the challenge and 3 people ended up making something.  At the end of the contest, each of the contestants sends their piece to another smith in the contest.
Victor is currently talking with the Williams Grove Historical Steam Engine Society about holding a Hammer-in on their grounds that has a blacksmith shop. He’s hoping to grow the blacksmith community there and maybe become an affiliate of ABANA.
Victor hopes to take his hobby to the next level and open a business with his two brothers. They are each into glass and wood, Victor is hoping to combine all of those mediums into sellable pieces.
The Iron Forge Fire also has a classifieds page for anyone to post tools for sale. You can upload pictures into tool categories and the checkout system is through PayPal.
Victor is also thinking about starting an “Etsy” type of online store where blacksmiths can sell their forged pieces and services. He has already bought the URL www.blacksmithgalleries.com.
Victor’s background in software development came from being in the Real Estate business when it was moving towards being online in the early 1990’s.
Victor’s favorite book is “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand and the main character’s name is Hank Rearden who developed a new metal alloy and called it Rearden Metal. Victor decided to use “Hank Rearden” as his username inside the Iron Forge Fire forum.

Guest Links
Iron Forge Fire website: http://www.theironforgefire.com/register/register
Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/TheIronForgeFire
A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – Nimba Anvils, www.nimbaanvils.com
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