Vista Forge History

To the best of our recollection…
South, near the creek on the 1845 Rancho Guajome Mexican Land Grant, in the late 1970’s, Don Finney had a fully equipped lean-to blacksmith shop on the site of the Early Days Gas Engine and Tractor Association (EDGE&TA) museum created by Bill May. In 1982, the blacksmith shop was moved to a new barn which also served for storage of carriages and farm equipment. Unfortunately, the barn burned to the ground.

The present Blacksmith barn was built with fire sprinklers under the direction of Larry Thompson, then President of the EDGE&TA and Jim Church among others. Around then, “in the early 80’s”, Richard Schrader started the first Saturday blacksmithing classes which grew from a couple of students to a couple of dozen over a few years with the students taking turns demonstrating. “It was pretty loose” according to Richard.

When the California Blacksmith Association (CBA) started the statewide education program, the Vista Forge began presenting Basic I blacksmith classes. Several of the first CBA Basic I certificates were awarded to students of the Vista Forge. As interest in the program grew, the second Saturday classes were started in 1992 with Bob Nett teaching Basic I and Richard Schrader teaching the Basic II blacksmithing classes on the second Saturday. In 1994, Bill Stone took the lead on the Basic II which ultimately became Forging to Dimension and in 1999, Dave Vogel took over the Basic I classes.

Presently, Blacksmithing classes are presented on the first (Basic I), second (Forging to Dimension), and third (Basic II with Beth Holmberg) Saturdays of each month. On the fourth Saturday, an Open Forge is available to students.