Ron Croteau This is Me

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1. 1. City of Cape Coral

   www.cape-coral.org/cal/eventde - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/24/2004   Last Visited: 2/14/2004

   Watch the process of forging heavy metal into decorative and functional works in an informative demonstration by metal artisan, Ron Croteau. Learn about the history of blacksmithing, from the early days to the present, as well as various blacksmith techniques from Croteau, owner of the Weld Shop in Cape Coral.

2. 2. Cape Coral: Modern life needs ancient art

   www.southwestfloridaonline.com - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/10/2004   Last Visited: 1/10/2004

   In the age of iPods and camera phones, Ron Croteau is still practicing the ancient art of blacksmithing.
   
   Metal artisan Ron Croteau uses a spike and hammer to shape a piece of steel at the Cape Coral Arts Studio on Monday, January 5, 2003. Croteau will be performing a blacksmithing demonstration at the Cape Coral Arts Studio on Saturday, January 24, 2004. JACK HARDMAN/Special to news-press.com
   
   He takes a simple piece of metal, heats it and pounds it into a piece of art using hand hammers or forging machines.
   
   Movies, such as "The Lord of the Rings" or "Pirates of the Caribbean," showed blacksmiths creating weapons, but Croteau, 41, owner of The Weld Shop in Cape Coral, creates items more suited to the needs of the modern world.
   
   His business produces metal fences, steel framing for buildings and decorative railing for balconies and stairways.
   
   Croteau said there are some jobs where old fashioned blacksmithing beats modern tools hands down. No machine on the market can roll metal and bend it into some of the shapes needed for custom railings, he said.
   
   Those must be done the old fashioned way, Croteau said, using a hammer and an anvil. It's proof that a machine can't replicate the work of a skilled craftsman.
   
   "It died in me and my generation because we said we'll just get a better machine," Croteau said of blacksmithing.
   
   Being a history buff and a fan of medieval fairs, Croteau always had an interest in the art and brought his passion back to life. He started experimenting with heating metals and hammering out the shape he wanted about five years ago.
   
   Although he only uses his blacksmithing skills for work two or three times a year, it's an art he wants to pass on to future generations.
   
   Croteau will demonstrate blacksmithing at the Cape Coral Arts Studio on Saturday, Jan. 24.
   
   "I don't want this to die with me," Croteau said.
   ...
   Croteau doesn't know if his younger sons, 13-year-old Luke and 19-month-old Nathan, will have any interest in blacksmithing.
   
   But some students at the Cape Coral Arts Studio are interested.
   
   "We decided to offer it as a workshop because we had a lot of people requesting metalwork classes," said Cher Bell, director of the arts studio.
   
   Bell discussed blacksmithing with Croteau, who built the studio's raku kiln, and decided people needed to see it to decide if it's what they truly want to do.
   
   "It's hot and very physically demanding work," Bell said.
   
   Blacksmithing involves heating the metal until it's red hot and hammering it into shape on an anvil. Welding would suffice for some artists who simply want to bend metal rods into certain shapes or fuse pieces together.
   
   Croteau said anyone can learn to weld in about five minutes, but it takes 10 to 15 years to become a fabricator.
   
   "I'm a dinosaur. I'm a fabricator - somebody who can take something from nothing and make it work," Croteau said.
   
   The creativity an artist uses to forge the metal into art comes in handy when Croteau is solving problems for his customers.
   
   Croteau's handiwork is all over Southwest Florida from Cape Coral to Marco Island. At one point, he had 15 employees and was more stressed out than ever trying to complete big jobs.
   
   Blacksmithing allowed him to reconnect with the reasons he started his business in the first place.
   
   "I started out just trying to make things for people and solve their problems," Croteau said.
   
   Now he has only one employee he treats as an apprentice and subcontractor. He takes the small jobs large manufacturers won't touch because it's too expensive for them.
   
   Today's machines make it possible to cheaply mass produce all kinds of products, but it reduced people to automatons who simply push buttons and pull levers all day long, Croteau said.
   
   Most large manufacturers won't take a job that can't be done in mass by a machine because it's not cost effective.
   
   Croteau will take the small jobs because he has the knowledge and equipment to do it himself.
   
   "This is hard work, but it's satisfying. The satisfaction of making something with your hands is phenomenal," Croteau said.
   ...
   Croteau said skilled workers who can think and solve problems are needed in today's fast-paced world.
   
   "You can use technology, but you need to know the other ways," Croteau said.

3. 3. Cape Coral: Goldsmiths moving into Arts Studio

   www.news-press.com/news/cape/0 - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/7/2003   Last Visited: 12/7/2003

   • What: Silver Granulation Workshop with Allen Brown and Blacksmithing Demo with Ron Croteau
   ...
   Two workshops have already been scheduled for January with Allen Brown, state president of the Florida Society of Goldsmiths and Ron Croteau, a local blacksmith and owner of The Weld Shop in Cape Coral.