Funkhouser Forge

Funkhouser Forge Hand forged items handmade in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee as well as the occasional antique tool and gardening related items. Thanks for looking and God bless.

I learned how to Blacksmith at the Fiddler's Grove Blacksmith Association in their Green Coal Class in 2013 after retiring from a 20-year career in the Army and moving to middle-Tennessee. Blacksmithing is a very rewarding hobby for me. These days I mostly make gardening tools, bottle openers, wall hooks, and various useful household items for Christmas gifts for my family and co-workers. Every no

w and then I make a few extra to sell on my Etsy page. I mostly enjoy making things people want or need. If you have an idea, please consider talking to me about it and see what we can create out of your idea.

I've been busy and distracted from my passion for a long time. Today I spent about three hours at the anvil and forge. ...
10/21/2023

I've been busy and distracted from my passion for a long time. Today I spent about three hours at the anvil and forge. I made eleven bottle openers and three steak flippers. I used my relatively new addition, the treadle hammer, and my hand-filed touch mark to embellish each piece with my touch mark. A "touch mark" is what a blacksmith uses to identify their work.
These pieces are going up for sale in my wife's shop at Music City Polish Pottery. Sheila has graciously offered up an end-cap in her shop in Mt. Juliet for my forging work. She also has work for sale in her shop from four other local artists including paintings, photography, cricut, and stickers. Music City Polish Pottery is a great supporter of local artists in addition to Polish artists.
As much as I enjoy making, I love to teach blacksmithing. If you would like a personal class, let me know.

Does anyone need a celtic penannular brooch? I made it today during a blacksmithing demonstration for the Farm Bureau. ...
09/30/2023

Does anyone need a celtic penannular brooch? I made it today during a blacksmithing demonstration for the Farm Bureau. Message me your address and I'll send it. I don't need one but it seemed like a good idea for a demonstration. It was great working on a coal forge and seeing my friends at Fiddler's Grove Blacksmith Association again.

It's been ages since I've had time to work in the shop. Sheila asked for two barnwood fixtures for her travelling shows...
09/12/2023

It's been ages since I've had time to work in the shop. Sheila asked for two barnwood fixtures for her travelling shows. These are made from barnwood gifted to us from our friends in Knoxville. I made the fixtures and forged the hooks and handles this weekend.

Often times when a blacksmith needs a tool they make it. The post vice bracket I made a few years ago was loose and poo...
10/01/2022

Often times when a blacksmith needs a tool they make it. The post vice bracket I made a few years ago was loose and poorly made so today I fashioned a new one out of a horseshoe. Now I can twist metal again without the vice spinning around.

Treadle hammer
09/16/2022

Treadle hammer

09/16/2022

I got a new tool for the shop. It’s called a treadle hammer which is a foot powered hammer for blacksmithing. One of the benefits is that it frees up my hammer hand to hold a tool like a chisel or a punch. I’m excited to put it to use this fall.

This weekend I needed to clear my head and determined to see how long it would take to forge ten bottle openers from beg...
08/28/2022

This weekend I needed to clear my head and determined to see how long it would take to forge ten bottle openers from beginning to end. They're done now and it took me 132 minutes or an average of 13.2 minutes a piece. My goal is to get the average to 10 minutes a piece. I'm not sure that 10 at once is the most efficient but certainly more than 3. That's something to try on a different day.
Do you prefer the top twist as shown in the photo on the stainless steel work table or the top and bottom twist as shown suspended from one of my tongs with the anvil in the background?

These are ready for the engraver. I'm thinking about adding a strip of leather on the inside of the hooks to protect th...
08/07/2022

These are ready for the engraver. I'm thinking about adding a strip of leather on the inside of the hooks to protect the finish.

I'm working on a custom order for a friend. These wall hooks are intended to be for mounting a shotgun on the wall. Af...
08/07/2022

I'm working on a custom order for a friend. These wall hooks are intended to be for mounting a shotgun on the wall. After they cool, I'll drill the mounting holes and then check for fit. I may have to widen the hook openings a bit. Then I'll wire brush and take these to the engraver for some finishing touches.

These images show some of the process of forging angle iron into wall hooks. I also made some more horseshoe hooks.
06/26/2022

These images show some of the process of forging angle iron into wall hooks. I also made some more horseshoe hooks.

06/26/2022

Did a little forging this weekend. This metal cutting bandsaw is one of my favorite tools. Here, I'm cutting a piece of angle iron to make some hooks.

It's a little too wet to work outside today so I went back into the forge to make a couple more decorative wall hooks. ...
01/16/2022

It's a little too wet to work outside today so I went back into the forge to make a couple more decorative wall hooks. The rough shapes are chiseled out of 1"x1" angle iron and then forged the rest of the way to the final shapes.

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Mount Juliet, TN
37122

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