Blacksmith Youtuber Alec Steele Visits The Westley Richards Factory

Alec is a young man with a passion for making things the traditional way. He started blacksmithing at the age of just eleven and has, ever since, maintained an interest in, and a love of, hand-crafting natural materials into objects. Hand-in-hand with that passion comes a fascination with the crafts and techniques people have employed since classical times to fashion everyday items and works of art.

Gunmaking is a skillset unknown to many casual viewers but Alec did not approach Westley Richards without already having a basic understanding of the processes involved in making a gun using traditional techniques. He is experienced in the use firearms and was excited to get to grips with the details of each craftsman’s work.

Alec now makes a living by producing YouTube content. The idea came to him as a teenager, when he started creating short films to promote the products he was making at the forge. In time, he built a following and the films themselves eventually became the primary product. He has since expanded his remit to explore the wider world of craft skills and traditional production processes. In so doing he has explored subjects like knife making, sword making, scissor making, casting, inlay, engraving and stone-setting.

He says of himself, that he now knows enough about each subject to realise how hard it is and how much work it takes to become an expert in any one of them. “As a generalist, I can appreciate what it takes to be a specialist and how important it is to have specialists who perfect one aspect of a production process above all else”.

We reflected on the apparent demise of many traditional crafts in the 1960s and 1970s and the subsequent revival of them as people re-discovered their value. Alec noted the growing appreciation for hand-made things of quality, the willingness of patrons to pay for them the interest in younger people in learning and preserving old techniques. This often over-looked fact is a crucial one.

The Arts have always relied on patrons and if gunmaking is an art (as we believe it is) then it exists purely because of the passion for it that Westley Richards’ customers have for what we build.

Every best gun or rifle that leaves our factory has, by its creation, extended the skills of our gunmakers, paid them to keep doing what they love and given the company the confidence to invest in the next generation through our apprenticeship scheme. Alec drew attention in this regard to the apprentices he met at Pritchett Street, describing them as “diligent and attention to detail oriented” he went on; “every single person I saw was so concerned about quality, it was really quite inspiring to see”.

“They all have so much passion; thirty seconds into a conversation with any of them and it becomes obvious they live and breathe the job, they love the art they pursue every day.”

In a trade notoriously aging and often expressing concern for the future, Alec said he was excited and surprised by the relative youth of the personnel at Westley Richards, not just the apprentices but the core of the gunmaking team.

For those outside the gun trade, it is heartening to hear that this experience is not uncommon in other similarly dedicated cottage industries. He cites scissor makers and drop-forgers he has visited who have just the same passion and pride in the skills they are preserving and honoring every day. What’s more, they are excited to share that enthusiasm with him and others.

What surprised me most was the youth of Alec’s viewers; 25-35 year old males are his key demographic but 18-25 year-olds are next. I had imagined those interested in making traditional objects would be much older. In this case, I was delighted that my assumption had been proven false.

Alec’s lasting impressions of his visit were overwhelmingly positive. He was thrilled that there are still wealthy people who appreciate the work we do and re-iterated his appreciation that they are happy to invest the large sums necessary to buy them. That market enables these crafts to continue. Without the patrons to the art of gunmaking and other trades like it, they would die.

Here at Westley Richards, we are delighted that our gunmakers’ lives and work have been seen and appreciated by such a huge and enthusiastic audience. Alec’s viewers have been busy writing their reactions to the film and they are hugely positive and appreciative.

Many experienced and skilled crafts people have expressed amazement at the levels of expertise and skill that our gunmakers demonstrated in the film and more so that they were willing to demonstrate and share their skills so freely. The gun trade, like many traditional crafts, has in the past been notoriously proprietorial about the skills and techniques employed by each craftsman.

I remember visiting Price Street in the Birmingham Gun Quarter in the early 1980s and as we entered his workshop, Len Onions threw an apron over the action clamped in his vice. The old way of thinking was that professional skills were hard learned and any assistance or knowledge inadvertently given away might be used by a rival to gain advantage. Trade secrets were just that.

Today, we are happy to see that our gunmakers are far more widely collegiate in their approach to sharing their skills and knowledge. Alec’s energetically presented and engaging film has brought some of those skills and that enthusiasm for hand-crafted perfection to a wider audience than The Explora usually engages. That can only be a good thing. Alec’s followers, whose wider interests range the full spectrum of traditional crafts have now glimpsed the daily lives of those in pursuit of the best gun.

The Explora Blog

The Explora Blog is the world’s premier online journal for field sports enthusiasts, outdoor adventurers, conservationists and admirers of bespoke gunmaking, fine leather goods and timeless safari clothes. Each month Westley Richards publishes up to 8 blog posts on a range of topics with an avid readership totalling 500,000+ page views per year.

Blog post topics include: Finished custom rifles and bespoke guns leaving the Westley Richards factory; examples of heritage firearms with unique designs and celebrated owners like James Sutherland and Frederick Courtenay Selous; the latest from the company's pre-owned guns and rifles collection; interviews with the makers from the gun and leather factory; new season safari wear and country clothing; recent additions to our luxury travel bags and sporting leather goods range; time well spent out in the field; latest news in the sporting world; and key international conservation stories.