The Forge
The shop, the smith, the school.
The smith
The Beginning
Michael chose the name "Dragonforge" at the age of ten, working out of a backyard shed with whatever scrap iron a boy could carry. The dream came true thirty years later. He moved with his wife Dana to Mesa in 1998, took journeyman positions in metalworking shops around the valley, and opened Dragonforge Ironworks of his own in 2006.
In the years that followed, those private classes grew into what is now the Dragonforge School of Blacksmithing.
In 2008, an invitation came from CROFT (the Celtic Reenactment Organization for Fellowship and Trades) to staff a working blacksmith shop at the Arizona Renaissance Festival. He has been there every season since, alongside the Celtic Dragon Blacksmith Shoppe and the Dragon's Armoury.
In the shop
A look inside the forge.
A working forge in the Sonoran Desert.
Visitors are welcome by appointment for commissions, consultations, and to see the work in progress. The shop is also home base for the Dragonforge School of Blacksmithing and the festival circuit that runs through the year.
Have a piece in mind?
Send a sketch, a paragraph, or just an idea. The first conversation is always free.