Welcome, everyone. This interview comes to you once again from Calgary, Alberta at the World Championship Blacksmith’s Competition.  As I’m sure you’ve already gathered, I collected a lot of great interviews from my short visit there.  I came home with a memory card full of them and this one is no exception.  It is unique, however, in that this is the first interview I’ve done with a blacksmith and as you will hear, blacksmiths can be just as passionate as we are discussing the nuances and intricacies of doing what they do with metal. As you will hear, Dustin donated his beautiful wrought iron hammers as the top ten prizes for the competition.

We do a very deep dive into the unique processes that Dustin uses to create these beautiful hammers, and how he tries to stay as stubbornly close to the traditional methods that would have been used way back when. I’m fairly certain that a lot of you traditional shoemakers out there will find yourselves in agreement with many of Dustin’s philosophies.

For me, his willingness to unselfishly share trade secrets put Dustin in a league with many of the great shoeing mentors that we know of out there. Anyway, I had a great time getting to know this gentleman, and I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.  

This episode is brought to you by OutWest Design and Fabrication