Alum Forges Blacksmithing Career

When John McLellan inherited a forge and anvil from his grandfather at the age of 8, he was literally given the tools to his future career. “I was always interested in old trades,” says McLellan (BS, Agriculture, ’86) of his interest in blacksmithing.

As a child, he dug up all the old blacksmithing books at the local library, and as a young man, he took and then taught horseshoeing classes through his high school’s Regional Occupational Program. Shoeing horses turned out to be big business for McLellan, and he put himself through college doing just that. “I would take classes at Chico State throughout the week, and then return home to Loomis to shoe horses on the weekends,” he says.

Today, McLellan and his 10-person company are busy forging customized metalwork for homeowners and businesses throughout California. In March 2007, the National Ornamental & Miscellaneous Metals Association presented McLellan Blacksmithing with their silver award for Unusual Ornamental Fabrication. The honor was for the creation of a 1,000-pound crown that suspends a 500-pound crucifix from the ceiling of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento.

Currently, McLellan is working for the new School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, where he is designing ornamental gates, grilles, and fireplaces. And while business is booming for McLellan, he still has one original customer left—a 30-year-old mare named Cory he has been shoeing since she was a foal.

Sarah Digness (BA, English, ’01; Credential, ’03) is a grant writer with Gary Bess and Associates, a nonprofit consulting firm in Paradise, California.