The sweltering heat had finally moved on and Giant Tick season was coming to a close (not kidding, they are HUGE here), when I decided to fire up my hacked together blacksmith forge made out of an old ...

The anvil is a 114-pound chunk of iron, heavily scarred from hundreds of hammer strikes against red-hot metal pieces over the years. In the corner, a modest furnace is filled with charred coals. The ...

ATHENS, Alabama -- Al Stephens has a hard time keeping his hands still. Most days, he puts them to work in the blacksmith shop behind his house here in rural northern Alabama, practicing an ancient ...