I was thinking about content for the Cherry Blossom Forge page and videos. I have also been pounding my head, like many of us do, over a business for longer than is physically healthy. We don’t have any trade schools anymore, which is why trade skill videos on YouTube are so popular. No one is teaching in the public schools anymore. I mean, the kids are lucky to come out of high school with the ab
ility to read and do basic math these days. One of the things I remember from my youth was that there was an Industrial center in town where people who did not have the facilities to tackle big one-off projects could go to learn and to create. It was a community thing, a gathering place for all kinds of activities and gatherings. This is the direction I want to go with this project. I want to be able to build a shop that I can open to the public. I want people to come here and get their hands dirty. I am going to build a new forge, so I need a structure to house it, which means I need a space to do large scale wood working, which means... you see where this is going? This is going to be much more than just a forge. It is also going to be a crafts foundry with kilns. I know more than a few pottery heads around here, and they are already pestering me about what type of kiln I am going to be building. All these people live in a neighborhood where they are not allowed to build this type of stuff. Could you imagine what the yard Nazis (Home Owners Association) would say if you built a forge in your back yard? Luckily, I live on 8 acres tucked back in the woods, which is also very close to a few large neighborhoods. I am thinking I am going to need a very large space that will last, so why not a post and beam barn. IF you are going to go that route then it might as well be a big barn so I can put all the equipment I already have in it. So, a full cabinet shop, and a full machine shop. That is 10,000 square feet right there. Are you getting to where I am yet? To all of this I am going to add a forge and a foundry. I am going to be making blades and I do have over 40 years in the martial arts so a dojo would be nice somewhere in all this. A deck to hang out on and blow off some steam would be great too because if you are going to have a lot of people around then why not make it big enough to hold an event. Give the local bluegrass guys and gals a place to practice and perform. If you are going to have that many people around, then they are going to get thirsty. I love craft beers and have quite a few recipes that I would love to show everyone how to make. So might as well have a small brewery too. All this is pointing right at the same thing. A great big ol’ tobacco barn that is designed and laid out to be more community learning center than tool shed. It would be a shame if everyone helped me build this and then I didn’t open it up for everyone to enjoy. The whole idea is to share and give back to the community, right? So let’s do this! First: I need 100 subscribers to get a custom URL for my YouTube channel. Please share this link. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv1OIQQjnrDt3E4FrEMq1Ug
