Blacksmither Radio

John Barron is a full-time blacksmith in Georgetown, CA.  He began working with metal in a large fabrication shop in Oakland, California in 1975 and learned. Today, he specializes in architectural ironwork and will be one of the demonstrators at the ABANA 2016 Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. What We Talked About John learned his trade from an Italian trained smith in a union iron-working shop in Oakland, California during the 1970's and 80's. He joined the Shopmen Ironworkers Union and worked in a large fabrication shop. One of the main skills he learned was how to design, build and install stair railings. In 1989 John left the Ironworks Union after being vested with them for 10 years. He moved to the Sierra Mountains and began working for Auburn Ironworks, the oldest running blacksmith shop in northern California. A few years after hiring John, the company downsized and let him go. This pushed John to start his own blacksmithing business. After five years of running the business he took a hard look at h