Sandhills Blacksmith Guild

05/08/2026

Fun day in Carthage!

Don’t forget to say hi to SBG member John McLaughlin at his Celtic Ranger Forge booth by the courthouse.

Carthage’s annual Buggy Festival is happening Saturday! Plenty to see and do. I’ll be at the forge most of the day; drop in and say hi.

The Carthage Forge
211 Martin St, Carthage NC

04/25/2026

It was all hands on deck to make an 18th century handled trivet at today’s meeting. Experienced and new smiths alike got involved and practiced traditional blacksmithing techniques. Swipe to see the finished product and lucky winner Dick Snow.

Interested in getting involved? Even if you’ve never picked up a hammer, you are very welcome at Sandhills Blacksmith Guild meetings!

Next meeting will be the Q2 NCABANA meeting, June 20th.

04/15/2026

It’s almost time for the next SBG meeting. Looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday the 25th!

Details:
Hosted by The Carthage Forge
211 Martin St, Carthage NC 28327
Sat 4/25/26, 10am-2pm

03/31/2026

Headed to the NCABANA Q1 meeting, Hammer in the Valley, this past weekend. Stone Kiker of Oaknut Workshop demonstrated a damascus blade, forge welding the billet down and getting at it with the power hammer. Following the demonstration, folks participated in a competition to see who could draw out the longest taper with a single heat. Iron in the hat raffle, lots of good conversations with blacksmiths from across the state - quarterly meetings are always a good time.

SBG and The Carthage Forge will be hosting the Q2 meeting June 20; stay tuned for more details.

03/07/2026

Thanks to all who came out to today’s SBG meeting. We collaborated on a boot scraper, modeled after one from the 18th century. Dick Snow was the lucky raffle winner and took it home.

Matt from The Carthage Forge made some punches from old ball peen hammers (new smiths - always keep an eye out for these at yard sales!).

03/03/2026

First SBG meeting of the year is this Saturday, March 7th! 10am, ending around 2pm. Short demonstration followed by an open forge. Bring whatever you’ve been working on, or try out something new. As always, meeting will be held . 211 Martin St, Carthage NC.

01/13/2026

Annual calendar post! Please note, these are *tentative* dates. We will post confirmed dates soon. All meetings are held at The Carthage Forge, usually from 10-2 (check details for each meeting).

Looking forward to seeing you all this year.

12/16/2025

Fun day at The Carthage Forge!

Come join Matt King at the forge! There will be multiple forges available and ready to use. Make someone special a handmade gift - or just come and hang out.

Open to all skill levels. This is a great chance to try your hand at blacksmithing! If you're a seasoned blacksmith, swing by and show off your skills.

Details:
Saturday 12/20/25
10am-2pm
The Carthage Forge
211 Martin St, Carthage NC 28327

11/25/2025

The final portion of the recent SBG meeting had the group getting back to work on the SBG garden gate. Time to think about assembly! Matt King ( Carthage Forge) explained collars and shared about how to determine the length for each individual placement. Pro tip: always save the tooling and one of the collars for future use, because you never know when you might need exactly that. Then, members had a chance to try their hands at making one.

Matt and other experienced blacksmiths were happy to step in with advice and suggestions. By the end, five usable collars were on the table, ready to go.

11/24/2025

Second section of the recent SBG meeting featured a demonstration of a carbon steel knife blade. Adam Luther demonstrated a variety of techniques and tools: both hand and power hammers, how to use a post vice, and oil quenching the blade.

This was Adam's first demonstration for the SBG - it was a great refresher on blades for the group.