October 05, 2015

Episode #44 - Jerry Frost - "Frosty the Lucky and his T burner"

48 minutes

Jerry Frost is a hobby blacksmith who goes by the handle “Frosty the Lucky” on the I Forge Iron Forum online. He currently lives in Wasilla, Alaska where he's the president of the Association of Alaskan Blacksmiths. Frost has been a hobby smith since he was a child. His main interests in life are metalwork, people, puns and bad jokes.

What We Talked About

Jerry got into blacksmithing because his father was a metal spinner and a machinist. Some of his earliest memories are of his dad doing work at home on a metal spinning lathe in Southern California.

His dad actively discouraged him from blacksmithing by telling him to “learn a paying trade.” But Frost continued as a hobbyist for fun and as a fallback skill.

He was also influenced by 1960s show “Have Gun Will Travel” where the main character is stranded and takes iron from a wagon wheel to make weapons and clothes. Frost loved that kind of ingenuity.

Another early memory is he would go out in the back yard to make very rudimentary knives without parental supervision.

Now he has 30’ x 40 red iron steel shop building. His tools include a cutoff saw, a horizontal/vertical bandsaw, hand grinders, two anvils and a power hammer.

Frost became disabled in 2009 while cutting firewood in his backyard. He was hit by a falling tree and received multiple injuries including a broken neck and traumatic brain injury. He survived, hence his nickname “Frosty the Lucky”.

Frost works with a propane forge and he has created the “Frosty T-Burner” that he says is simple to build. He's working on a written and illustrated instruction manual to help people build these burners. He enjoys mentoring and helping others through the I Forge Iron forum online, where he is a beloved and prolific community member.

Frost belongs to the Association of Alaskan Blacksmiths. He helped organized it as a new chapter almost 10 years ago and was elected president for what he thought was a 2 year term. However, he has now been elected president for life. He jokingly calls it “a life sentence with no chance of parole.”

The club is currently going through a growth spurt with many new, young professional blacksmiths joining. Some people travel 300-400 miles to attend meetings.

Frost came to Alaska because his older brother lived there. He always wanted to live in a cabin in the woods after growing up in LA. He got a job at a service station and did some construction work. Then worked for the state inspecting asphalt trucks.

Frost always enjoys getting together with other blacksmiths to work together, chat, eat pizza and invent tools. He and some friends recently invented a new kind of scrolling wrench, which he describes.

Victoria: What blacksmith would you like to learn from, dead or alive?

Jerry says he's learned something from every blacksmith he's ever watched. But he would like to work with Thomas Powers, another member of I Forge Iron. “So many people out there know so much that I don't. I like to learn new stuff, I love the learning curve”.

Thanks to today's sponsor - Nimba Anvils, www.nimbaanvils.com

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