“They’ll be the best pieces I ever made because my whole heart is in them”
Kim Thomas on future projects and focusing on creating new works
Do You Know What Anvil Surfing is?
Excerpt from Ram’s Horn Studio (www.ramshornstudio.com)
Kim Thomas started blacksmithing in 1985 spurred on by the desire to make muzzle loading long rifle’s using the traditional methods used 200 years ago.Encouraged and guided by other smiths he started out making simple items for trade at rendezvous.
Kim then joined the Artist-Blacksmiths’ Association of North America (ABANA)where he met and learned from master smiths from around the world.It’s here he learned the art of forging Damascus, or pattern welded steel.His passion for working with metal has lead him into all forms of blacksmithing such as knife making, ornamental, repousse’, medieval,early American, and even contemporary.
Kim Thomas’s work has appeared in Back Woodsman, Blade, Anvils Ring, and Knives 95, 96, 97, 98 & 99.In 1995 he was chosen as one of the top 200 craftsmen in the United States by Early American Life and was featured in their August issue.He was chosen again in 1997 by Early American Homes.And a third time in 2005 by Early American Life. He demonstrated several years at the Cuyahoga Valley Folk Festival in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.His work has been displayed at the Wayne Center for the Arts.
In 1996 Kim’s video FORGING DAMASCUS was chosen by his the BEST INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO at the biennial conference of the Artist-Blacksmiths’ Association of North America (ABANA). He taught Blacksmithing classes for several years at The Log Cabin Sports shop and has taught the last three years at Touchstone Center for Crafts in Pennsylvania.Recently Kim’s work has turned to restorations of original masterwork.Most notably the works of the Master of Ornamental Iron Samuel Yellin of Philadelphia
Kim was a founding member of the Western Reserve Artists and Blacksmiths Association and in 2001 was awarded their lifetime achievement of BLACKSMITH of the YEAR. And in 2017 received an Acanthus Award from the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art at Chicago-Midwestern.