Tin Roof Blacksmith shaping future from the magic of blacksmithing
Kyle Leslie of Moses Lake turned his passion of working with metal and wood into a blacksmith operation.
MOSES LAKE — Maybe it’s his Scots-Irish heritage, but local blacksmith Kyle Leslie tends to lean towards things with historic value.
The anvil he uses in the shop behind his Moses Lake home brings a particular smile to his face when he thinks about it because of the story behind it. For starters, it was crafted in 1906 at Trenton Anvil and brought west from Trenton, N.J. Dennis Chamberlin from Ritzville donated it after hearing through a friend of a friend that Leslie was looking for an anvil.
“I stopped in to meet him and tell him I was blacksmithing,” Leslie explained. “His little shop is very cool, very western. It was just sitting in the corner of the garage. He said he was closing up the shop and he said I could go ahead and take it. That was the catalyst that really got me going. My skills improved, my desire, my passion to learn new things.”
What once was a hobby turned into a commercial project. He does anything from driveway gates to banisters to chandeliers. He welds and also does a bit of woodworking as well. His work will be on display at Uniquely Washington in Ritzville.
“There’s a bit of magic to blacksmithing,” he said, leaning back in the chair outside his shop, a hint of rain in the air. “You’re taking something that is unmovable, unbending and telling it what to do by shaping it through heat and application of pressure. I can do phenomenal things with something what you would see as a bar of steel.”
He’s self-taught and spent a lot of researching different ways to apply his trade. But the trade is application of constant work to develop and evolve into something better. He can’t even begin to calculate how many hours he spent working with metal to develop his skills.
“It’s fascinating what you can do with a little bit of knowledge and a whole lot of practice,” he said. “I started out with a little forge that I had a friend help me build. I didn’t have an anvil and I didn’t have a welder. Actually, I was scared of those things. I got to messing around with a piece of train track. That was it, blacksmithing is in my blood.”
He spent time in Milwaukee earlier this year working with a blacksmith, learning more about the business and a better way of doing things in his jack-of-all-trades line of work.
In the meantime, he’s drawn to the Columbia Basin because of the spectacular fishing opportunities. He loves fly fishing and catching whatever the bite is.
“There’s so many opportunities to fish in Grant County alone,” said Leslie, who moved to Moses Lake in 2006. “I like Martha Lake near Quincy or Rocky Ford Creek is very challenging. I go there when I feel like being tested. Out on the lakes, I use a float tube. You’d be surprised at what will take a fly around here. I’ve caught bass and walleye. I’ve caught Kokanee out in Banks Lake. So it’s perfect for what I love to do.”
He loves shaping steel and catching fish, so he’s in the right spot to raise his family.
For more information on Tin Roof Blacksmith contact Leslie at (509) 251-0244 or go to www.facebook.com/KiltedSmith.
Editor's note: The article was changed to read that Leslie's work will be on display at Uniquely Washington in Ritzville and that Dennis Chamberlain is not a blacksmith.