Alec Steele is a popular blacksmith and YouTuber.
He has more than two million subscribers on his YouTube channel by the name Alec Steele.
Introduction-
Alec Steele was born on 16 November 1997.
He is half French and hails from Norfolk, England.
His father was a hobbyist green woodworker and thanks to this, at a young age, Alec developed a passion for woodworking.
As a child, he used tools like power drills, etc and turned bowls on lathe in his father’s workshop.
At 13, Alec also made a wooden chair on his own.
Love for blacksmithing-
At 11, in the month of July, Alec fell in love with blacksmithing after he watched blacksmiths making little things at a county fair.
So, he started blacksmithing at 11 and James Spedding, a blacksmith, helped him.
Initially, Alec worked as a help for his local blacksmiths to learn the craft and he also started blacksmithing in his backyard.
He also started reading blogs and watching videos to learn blacksmithing.
At 12, Alec saved up the money that he received for Christmas and birthday and bought his first anvil worth £90.
Travelling to the United States-
At 13, Alec travelled to Mississippi, United States to join a 12-day blacksmithing course of Brian Brazeal.
This course laid the foundation for his blacksmithing career and here, he learnt many things about blacksmithing and making tools.
Alec also got attracted to the United States, its people, culture and vast open spaces.
He also made many blacksmith friends in the United States.
Practise made him perfect-
At 13, Alec started making a lot of items like leaves, bottle openers, satin bows, etc. and did his first craft fair and earned £500 which he invested to buy tools.
The deliberate practise helped him to control the hammer, move the material, make good judgements and gain muscle memory.
In his entire summer holidays, weekends and free time Alec practised blacksmithing.
Dropping out of school to become a full-time blacksmith-
At 16, Alec felt that it would be better for him to focus full-time on blacksmithing rather than divide his time and attention between school and blacksmithing.
His love for blacksmithing made him drop out of school to become a full-time blacksmith.
Alec’s parents, teachers and school friends weren’t happy with his decision of abandoning his education but he was confident that he would grow up to become a successful blacksmith and over the years, he became successful.
For many years, he did commission work, made and sold tools and taught classes to people and all these later helped him to buy instruments, set up a workshop and start his blacksmithing business.
YouTube channel & businesses-
Alec started his YouTube channel by the name Alec Steele on 13 February 2011 and has been publishing videos on it since April 2011.
Since 2016, he has been seriously working on his channel and in 2016, he published a video every single day continuously for a hundred days.
This hard work and determination made Alec a successful YouTuber and as of January 2022, he has more than two million subscribers on his channel.
On 2 November 2019, he started his second YouTube channel by the name, Alec Steele Co.
Through his Alec Steele Co. website, Alec sells various products like hand tools, belt grinders and steel, handles and ironwood materials, etc.
He also operates an online school by the name, Alec Steele’s Online School of Blacksmithing.
Will Stelter-
From 2018 to 2020, Alec worked with Will Stelter on Alec Steele YouTube channel.
In 2020, Will moved on to run his own business.
Personal life-
Alec is married.
His wife hails from Europe and he himself made an engagement ring for her.
In 2018, Alec moved from England to Montana, United States.
In 2020, he auctioned his Pulaski for $16,200 for the Wildland FF Foundation.
So, how are you inspired by the success story of Alec Steele?
Share with me in the comment section below.
0 Comments