Ronald Claiborne

Ron and his wife Phyllis lived across the street from us for 5 years after we were first married. We had nothing much to work in the yard or on the house with back then but Ron was quick to let us borrow anything he had. One thing we regularly borrowed was his front porch. We sat for hours talking and laughing with them. They were such fun second parents to us. We enjoyed both him and Phyllis and have so missed seeing them as often as we did. To know them is to love them.❤

Ron and I became the best of friends.
When I first met him I had an interest in blacksmithing and he quickly changed that to blade smithing. He became my mentor and he always encouraged me to improve my skills and to take on more difficult blade builds.
One of his passions was making damascus steel. He was always dreaming of new patterns and how to make the build.
Some of my fondest memories are when a group of us would gather at his shop and we would spend the weekend...