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11/20/2024 08:30 AMGreg AmEnde certainly fits the burly type of person one might envision as a blacksmith, but he’ll be the first one to say that skill, not muscle, is required to master this historically important craft.
“There is the stereotype of the big guy, and I probably propagate that because I’m 6’ 3” and have a beard and all that. But some of the best blacksmiths I know are petite women,“ Greg says. ”It really comes down to skill over brute force. If you learn the correct techniques on how to read the metal and understand what you’re doing, you can do anything you want.“
As one of Guilford Art Center’s (GAC) blacksmith instructors, Greg is a Level One certified instructor for the Artist-Blacksmith’s Association of North America (ABANA). ABANA offers certification to students in level one, level two, and level three courses.
For the first time, Greg’s offering the level one curriculum at GAC for students who want to receive certification in basic blacksmithing skills and techniques. Greg will help students focus on beginning skills, culminating with the successful completion of the level one project. Registration is open now at guilfordartcenter.org. The course begins with the winter session, which starts in mid-January.
“If you have no background or very minimal background, this class is showing you the six fundamentals, with a final project that encompasses all those skill sets,” says Greg. “If you’re just interested in doing it as a hobby, and you want to get up to speed, this will give you all the fundamental skills you need.”
Nonprofit GAC, located at 411 Church Street in Guilford, is home to one of the largest working/teaching forges in the Northeast available to students of all levels and abilities. GAC blacksmith instructor Mace Vitale teaches a variety of courses at the forge, as does Greg.
“The art center just invested in new forges, and we’re always working on growing and expanding the shop to provide the tools to allow the students to work on their projects,” says Greg. “The nice thing is part of the training is learning how to make your own tools, with the exception of the anvil! So you’re getting all the skill sets, and there’s a lot of pride because you’re using your own tools.”
A Hamden resident, Greg says he has GAC to thank for introducing him to blacksmithing. He first took it up about 20 years ago, on the way forging skills, which resulted in some interesting gigs.
“My first career was in museum work,” says Greg, who earned his bachelor’s degree in museum studies from UConn. “I was working at the Guilford Keeping Society [Griswold House Museum], which has a blacksmith shop out back. At the time, there wasn’t anyone who could regularly do demos. I’ve always had an interest in smithing, going back to visiting Sturbridge or Mystic, so I started taking classes through the Guilford Art Center.”
He also took classes at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts and at Mystic Seaport. As one of his next jobs, Greg took on the role of a Blacksmith Interpreter at Mystic, working in its blacksmith shop.
“I did that for about four years on the weekends, and I’ve been doing it as a hobby ever since,” says Greg.
It also led to his next career move.
“It got me really interested in metal working,” he says.
Greg entered a machinist training program and went on to work as a machinist for a number of years.
“I worked for a subcontractor. We did things for NASA; we worked on things for military fighter jets and stealth fighters; and we did stuff for commercial jets. If you’ve flown on any airline, they’ve probably had my parts in the engines!”
Next, Greg became an educator. He’s currently in his 13th year, and is a machine shop teacher at Platt Technical High School in Milford. Greg feels it’s important to show teens the possibilities of working with their hands.
“I really see there is a need for getting kids back to working with their hands, and doing things with their hands,” Greg says. “In a lot of schools, we think with technology, we think with our fingertips, but kids do not have the opportunity to express themselves or their thoughts with their hands. There’s not a lot of opportunities for kids to explore those alternative career paths. There’s also lot of personal growth that can come out of it.”
As for teaching teens blacksmithing skills at GAC, Greg says it’s very rewarding for him and for his students.
“It’s interesting when you put the kids in front of the fire and let them start hammering on stuff and watch those creative juices start flowing. They start thinking outside of the cell phone,” says Greg.