GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - The annual Florida Artist Blacksmith Association convention is happening in Gainesville Friday night.

More than 250 Florida-based blacksmiths are in attendance. This is the 40th year for the FABA Convention,

Every year, blacksmiths statewide gather to swap tips, techniques, teach classes, and tell stories. The mission is ‘to teach to preserve’. They are offering more than 25 different metalsmithing classes over the course of the weekend.

“Ornamental work, beautiful staircases for gates and things like that so there is still a calling for the blacksmith community out there a lot more than just the ornamental pieces. I have been asked to make a hobbit door so that’s going to be a lot of fun. I have that lined up sometime in spring” David Sandlin, President of th

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