Robert Hill - Five Generations of Family and Traditional Crafts
Robert Hill is a 5th generation American craftsman. At 10 years old, Robert started making knives and not long after, his father and grandfather would soon carve out some space in the old log tobacco barn for the young man and his work.
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Follow Robert on Instagram @HillandHill_Forge
As Robert grew, time in the shop was limited because of school and other functions. But, when time allowed, Robert would jump at the opportunity to make something.
“In college, I actually had time where I could pretty much do a school assignment whenever and didn’t have class all day, so I could just do the assignments in the dark. That way I was able to spend all day long in the shop and be learning with my father. ”
That time in the shop allowed Robert to focus on the more specialized processes of iron work. These “Big Gate Jobs” as Robert calls them, gave him a lot of experience with forging and using a hammer.
“That kind of allowed me to skip all the skill learning and get to the fun stuff when I had a chance to just go out and make things instead of worry about having to go to school tomorrow”
Like his father and grandfather before him, Robert’s interst in traditional crafts soon lead him to the American Longrifle. Focusing on its southern inspirations, Robert took to studying the iron and wood work that goes into a southern rifle.
Robert Hill (Center) with his teachers Ian Pratt (Left) and Ken Gahagan (Right) after a successfull SOAW longrifle workshop
Today, Robert continues to study the American Longrifle. He works with his father and grandfather to further the “Hill School”, and has taken classes with Ken Gahagan and Ian Pratt at the Southern Ohio Artisan Workshops.
“I find myself liking to be creative and liking to be able to make things. It’s much cooler to use something you’ve made rather than buying something and then using it.”
Robert’s display at a recent show
A recent dagger by Robert.
As of writing, Robert is continuing his studies of Anthropology, with an interesting cultural anthropology. You can find him in lecture halls drawing in the margins of his notebooks, or demonstrating historic crafts at the local historic sites. His work is viewable on Instagram and Robert often participates on the American Longrifles Forum. Robert hopes to launch a website in the near future to showcase more of his work.
““It makes me happy to do it and know I’m carrying on something they’ve always done.””