Biography

Chief Blacksmith

Intracoastal Iron’s owner and chief blacksmith is Ben Kastner. Ben has combined his love of hands-on craftsmanship and artistic detail to make Intracoastal Iron and Metalwork one of the leading blacksmith workshops in the Southeast United States. After a brief career as an underwater welder, Ben missed utilizing his creative side and set out to attend Penland School of Craft in the North Carolina Mountains. At Penland, he learned the craft of Blacksmithing and designing ironwork. Ben opened Intracoastal Iron in 2006, and has continued to enrich his education with classes at craft schools in North Carolina, Maine, and Pennsylvania, and has taught blacksmithing courses at Touchstone Center for Crafts in Farmington, PA.

Over the decade that Intracoastal Iron has been in business, Ben has had the privilege of working on several historic restoration projects and has enjoyed utilizing ancient coal forge blacksmithing techniques to preserve these pieces of history. Ben and his team also enjoy working on contemporary “out-of-the-box” projects for commercial and residential clients and helping them design their very own custom-made work of art.

When Ben isn’t at the shop with his faithful shop dog, Buck, he is usually out on the water, in the woods, or enjoying his family.