Rivulets of sweat slide into my leather arm guard with every stroke of my rounding hammer against the red hot steel bar. With each stroke of my hammer, the hot steel stretches under the blow. With my tongs firmly gripping one end of the piece, I turn it, hit it, turn it, hit it, and again, until the steel is too cool to flow. 

Each sculpture I make comes into being, one strike at a time. I’m not entirely old-school. I use a propane forge so I don’t need to fan coal embers as I work. And I weld at times. 

Here's a custom door knocker with a longhorn steer at the center. It was fun to build.