A year and a bit ago I traveled to Ireland to attend the Sliabh Aughty Furnace Festival (since renamed the Woodford Furnace Festival). Along my journey I visited the Dublin National Museum of Archaeology which was showing an exhibit on viking ironwork. I then traveled by bus to County Wicklow to visit and work with blacksmith Finin Liam Christie. While there we made tongs and hammers. I then traveled west to County Galway where blacksmith Stephen Quinn let me hang around for a few days. He showed me a simple and elegant way to calculate a punch size for any desired hole, among other little tricks. Finally I arrived in Woodford, County Galway for the iron smelting festival….
![Blacksmith Finin Liam Christie](https://roundhouseblacksmith.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Finin-Liam-Christie-1-1024x680.jpg)
![Blacksmith Finin Liam Christie](https://roundhouseblacksmith.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Finin-Liam-Christie-4-1024x680.jpg)
![Blacksmith Finin Liam Christie Two Horn Anvil](https://roundhouseblacksmith.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Finin-Liam-Christie-2-1024x680.jpg)
![Blacksmith Finin Liam Christie forged hammer](https://roundhouseblacksmith.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Finin-Liam-Christie-3-680x1024.jpg)
![Blacksmith Stephen Quinn Ireland](https://roundhouseblacksmith.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Stephen-Quinn-1-1024x680.jpg)
![Forged Railing Blacksmith Stephen Quinn](https://roundhouseblacksmith.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Stephen-Quinn-2-680x1024.jpg)
![Forged iron Stephen Quinn Blacksmith](https://roundhouseblacksmith.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Stephen-Quinn-3-680x1024.jpg)
![Traditional Ironwork Blacksmith Stephen Quinn](https://roundhouseblacksmith.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Stephen-Quinn-4-1024x680.jpg)