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New post will be on display here, and previous post can be accessed via the Shop post index link below.
SP 1 - “The Way Back”
(Journal post with video below)
Written by Jonathan Porter - Edited by Josh Corson
The first DHF sign. Farmers market bound 2014
This isn’t the first time in my life that I’ve stood on the edge of something unknown. But like those other times, I’ve recognized a new edge—a new, “unknown” moment unfolding around me, around you, around us. We are at the very beginning of the next big thing. Interestingly, what the world is currently calling “The Next Big Thing” is in fact paving the way for our big thing. Ironically, to venture into our next big unknown, we must first (quickly) go back.
In 2013, I started a company called “Doghouse Forge.” Most folks don’t know this, but I started Doghouse to earn extra money so I could pay off a DUI after being arrested several months earlier. Why the name “DogHouse Forge”? Easy, I would get in trouble with Emily (my wife) for being at the shop too much, and I would go there when I was in trouble. Hence, “The Doghouse.” Considering I was always there forging, the name DogHouse Forge stuck. Fast forward through 13 years of sobriety, and here we are, once again, talking about being on the edge of something incredible.
DHF First Shop ( Dark Combee) - This place was in a very bad part of town. All we could afford. Had to take a shotgun with you to the truck if you left after dark. Had my first powerhammer here! Big Blue. Built by Jim Poor of Flatland forge with a 70lb head and pneumatic piston. As a good friend says, “run’s like a scalded dog”. It was eventually replaced by the forging presses in 2015/16. So many late night here…
In this process I found a passion for creating useful art. At The Doghouse, we made everything from forged drawer handles and hooks to chicken coops, decorative hardware, and even cutting boards. Each project taught me something new about the process, the next edge. My day job as a farrier lent itself quite well to the fired arts. Eventually, using the forge, kiln, and torch to create the things I saw inside my brain equated to a decent collection of knowledge (and tools).
Forged drawer pulls and cutting boards 2014
Needing a place to sell our newly fired artistry, the forge started with a pop-up tent and a homemade sign at the Lakeland downtown farmer’s market. Now, I love a good farmers' market, but I have to tell you--sitting at a farmers’ market for hours on end every Saturday is tough, especially when the earnings are low and you have a couple of kids who would much rather be doing just about anything else. Still, after one fall season of Saturdays, we built up a local customer base that allowed us to open a small storefront, a website, and (most importantly) let us stop going to the farmer’s market. Lakelander Magazine even did a article on DHF that ended up on the cover, and as they say, we were off to the races!
Saturdays farmer market 2014. Hot item that fall was the horseshoe pumpkins. First time we took an order too. We sold out and i had to make more before the next weekend for people to pick up. BIG DEAL : ) Id make metal roses and flowers to stay occupied. Good times.
I still remember the photographer calling and being super excited that the story was chosen for the cover! What a great boost for us and it kicked off our local customer base that we proudly still have all these years later. The handle material was one of the first times anyone had used hybrid wood resin handle material. It was created by Tom Stone of Beyond Wood Products. He’s a master at his craft and we have enjoyed working with Tom for over 14 years! Today this technique is used in darn near every craft for effect.
Pretty soon, DHF’s success took us online, specifically, to Instagram. Mind you, this is before Instagram was owned by Meta (Facebook). In just two years, we gained a following of over 90,000 people! We weren’t influencers or “content creators.” We didn’t buy followers or act like anything other than ourselves. Luckily, we were silly, goofy Florida kids with a lot of tools and equipment. We were, in a word, real. Real, honest, hard-working people showing others that honest, hard-working people existed and could succeed in doing what they loved. I believe it was our honest energy that drew people in. That “realness” is what today’s “professional” content creators simply cannot achieve. Our community was just that: a community.
Cutlery photoshoot 2014
I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m tooting my horn here! As my great, poet-friend Walt Whitman once said, “if you’ve done it, you ain’t bragging!” I’m sharing about our success to show how quickly things change. How the unknown is always around the corner—just over the next edge. In 2015, when Facebook (now Meta) bought Instagram, not only did the platform change hands, but the algorithm also changed. We soon discovered (to our shock and horror) that Instagram’s new algorithm began showing our content to only about 1-2% of our community. Of our 100,000 followers, only about 1000 were actually seeing our content. Want 10, 000 to see it? That’ll cost $250/month. Instagram’s new model meant paying to play.
No matter how hard we tried to stay true to ourselves and believe in our honest, down-to-earth content, the algorithm did not care. Fighting for our community felt like a never-ending Matrix sequel. We grew weary, tired, and frustrated. It was either advertise or die. Commercialized creativity. We weren’t built for that kind of world. DHF “forged ahead” for 5 years after the 2015 sale before deciding to get off the Internet altogether. The computers had won. We left social media; our community lost in the algorithm. I couldn’t eat what Instagram was feeding me. We couldn’t “see the forest through the trees.”
Once I broke free, the clarity was overwhelming. I saw the entire process. I saw what “trying to grind it out” was doing to my fellow maker friends, and the effect my struggles had on my own family. I saw the world Meta was creating, and I felt powerless as society began crumbling around us. But yelling at the machine with all your might, “Make things real again!!!” doesn’t work. It’s like you’re on mute. Your opinion doesn’t matter.
The” Whisper Low Boy” that helped forge the first couple hundred knives or so. Eventually, the carbon steel, and its tendency to rust on customers. Made it necessary to switch to the high grade carbon stainless steel, 440C. After a year or so in the 440 world we felt comfortable with the metallurgy moving up to our current blade steel, AEB-L. As they say, we never looked back. AEB-L steel changed the game for DHF. Nobody can keep up with our edge retention. We are famous for it!
So, here we are, 10+ years later, with a diminishing ability to discern what’s real and what’s fake, standing on the edge of the unknown. The Next Big Thing. The next Doghouse Forge. Except, this time, we’re not just bringing a community back. This time, we own the real estate, and we make the rules. Rule 1: Real or BUST!
In preparation for stepping off this next edge, I started a new YouTube account to get a feel for the current Zeitgeist. To feel out this “new” social media. For a few days, I ate only what the algorithm fed me: hate speech disguised as love, emotional and political manipulation, superiority complexes. I saw downright fake footage of people doing “real things.” The algorithm fed me fake story after fake story. The point I’m making is this: I knew it was fake.
That fakeness is exactly why DHF is back. We’re stepping up to take back our internet! To help take back our lives, our community. Doghouse Forge is no longer just a forge. No longer just an “account.” We’re rebuilding the real, honest, hard-working community. And, this time, it’s our website, our rules. No more likes, hearts, comments, or fictional existences, and (most importantly) no algorithm!
“Zantedeschia” Forged steel Calla Lilies 2014
DHF has grown since those early days. Ever since leaving social media, getting off-line, getting back to the real world, we’ve been sucking the ever-loving marrow out of life! We’ve learned the future is bigger than rebuilding the past, and we have so much to show everyone!
It’s time to forge, sculpt, and blacksmith. Time to make great cutlery and teach anyone interested in the how and why of it all. You know why? Because it’s real! Let’s make real things. Let’s experience real life, and let’s discover and build some amazing things in the process. We say onward…into the past! Because, like my other favorite W.W. (Willy Wonka) says, “you have to go forward, to go back.”
Welcome to DHF Research Institute! Welcome to the cutting edge.
Jp
Forged Roses 2014 - This will be one of the projects we will be teaching here in the post feed. Along with the instructional video we will have pre-cut layouts available for purchase so you can make your own.
Indexed Post are linked to the video library to avoid duplicate video hosting and save storage.
VD-1 : The Way Back - looking back at the first couple years of DHF in photo highlights, and a surprise discovered in the archives. (Hint - Forged in Fire)
click for video