I have had my own blacksmith forge both here and in US and hoped to do so here in Chiang Mai.However I know this is one job not permitted for farangs.But I did this for quite a while in rural areas of Thailand with no problem because I did not sell ptoducts or make money,only did it for a hobby and enjoyment, so local police did not care.But here in Chiang Mai it is more urban so maybe it is different.I just wondered if people who have been here a long time would know about this.

In my experiences here, I'd say no problem, enjoy yourself. I have never heard of anyone being busted who did something as a hobby.. Except for the guy some years ago who liked to fly Estes rockets...

I have had my own blacksmith forge both here and in US and hoped to do so here in Chiang Mai.However I know this is one job not permitted for farangs.But I did this for quite a while in rural areas of Thailand with no problem because I did not sell ptoducts or make money,only did it for a hobby and enjoyment, so local police did not care.But here in Chiang Mai it is more urban so maybe it is different.I just wondered if people who have been here a long time would know about this.

It's a banned occupation for foreigners in Thailand and there aren't too many horses around Chiangmai anyway.

Can you nail shoes to those poor Elephants that are still toted around illegally?

The best place to go for advice with a subject as particular as this is City Hall, where you should talk to the Work Permit people. I fear any advice you get from the forum will be worth as much as the paper it comes written on.

EDIT - Contrary to the opinion above, there are many hundreds o0f horses around Chiang Mai and at Lampun and Lampang.

The best place to go for advice with a subject as particular as this is City Hall, where you should talk to the Work Permit people. I fear any advice you get from the forum will be worth as much as the paper it comes written on.

Yes, I've noticed this too.

OP, sorry I thought you said IN Chiangmai, but should have guessed you meant Lampang which is over an hours drive away.

In Chiangmai province - yes there are loads of horses.

Blacksmithing goes a long way beyond shoeing horses.

Blacksmithing goes a long way beyond shoeing horses.

Agreed BB. Blacksmiths can take bars of metal and work them into finely crafted arms or armour.

Blacksmithing goes a long way beyond shoeing horses.

Agreed BB. Blacksmiths can take bars of metal and work them into finely crafted arms or armour.

And metal artwork, gates, tools and.............................

Blacksmithing goes a long way beyond shoeing horses.

Agreed BB. Blacksmiths can take bars of metal and work them into finely crafted arms or armour.

And metal artwork, gates, tools and.............................

....indeed the list is endless and Thais are very good and creative at this too.

OP, sorry I thought you said IN Chiangmai, but should have guessed you meant Lampang which is over an hours drive away.

In Chiangmai province - yes there are loads of horses.

Lampang is another province altogether, and p1p only included it as an edit, and he did mean in Chiangmai. There are still plenty of horses in and around Chiangmai. They walk them past the end of my road frequently.

Best to keep a low profile and not advertise and play around with your metal quietly and I'm sure no one will bother you and going into the city hall would be opening a can of worms.

I am a gardener and grow vegetables and the wife sometimes sells the excess, but I'm not going in to see the officials.

Please don't tell on me and I won't tell on you......

OP, sorry I thought you said IN Chiangmai, but should have guessed you meant Lampang which is over an hours drive away.

In Chiangmai province - yes there are loads of horses.

Lampang is another province altogether, and p1p only included it as an edit, and he did mean in Chiangmai. There are still plenty of horses in and around Chiangmai. They walk them past the end of my road frequently.

I'm sure p1p offers his thanks to you.

Blacksmithing goes a long way beyond shoeing horses.

Agreed BB. Blacksmiths can take bars of metal and work them into finely crafted arms or armour.

And metal artwork, gates, tools and.............................

....indeed the list is endless and Thais are very good and creative at this too.

Not an endless list at all. Can you think of many more?

And some Thais are not very good at Blacksmithing, in fact, most Thais...

Blacksmithing goes a long way beyond shoeing horses.

Agreed BB. Blacksmiths can take bars of metal and work them into finely crafted arms or armour.

And metal artwork, gates, tools and.............................

....indeed the list is endless and Thais are very good and creative at this too.

Not an endless list at all. Can you think of many more?

And some Thais are not very good at Blacksmithing, in fact, most Thais...

Yawn....can't be bothered to tell you the truth - hopefully the OP has enough info now.

Best to keep a low profile and not advertise ... and I'm sure no one will bother you and going into the city hall would be opening a can of worms.

This is some of the best advice you'll ever get for living in Thailand in general. I have regretting so many times that I "stirred the pot," so to speak, in order to do something "above board" or "transparently safe" in Thailand. This was true both in employment/work and daily living. Instead, yes, not only a can of worms but Pandora's Box was the result.

The best course of action would have been to simply "keep a low profile." That's how most of the Thai do it, too!

Please don't tell on me and I won't tell on you......

i like that ... !

Yup.. going to the labour dept is really bad advice.

So far we've covered one basic rule of life in Thailand (low profile unless there's absolutely no other way), but there's more out there, namely that you NEVER want to go up to any kind of government or other authority with any kind of 'undefined' 'new' 'unusual' thing, or basically anything that you haven't researched yourself to death and can be confident about.

Thai government workers and 'undefined' stuff, that forces those people to actually make a decision or do just about anything else for which there's not established form, stamp or precedent is GUARANTEED to fizzle out and generate a 'no' at best.

And EVEN in a 'flying pink elephant' kind of jackpot scenario where they say 'yes', that STILL doesn't do anything for you because that's absolutely no guarantee that some police person or just about anyone with too much ego will make trouble for you. It's not even that hard to imagine, any kind of person could make trouble relating to a lot more than work permits.. think pollution, noise, fire hazard, etc, etc, etc.

So ironically that paragraph on not being worth the paper it's printed on holds very true even for that same post!

There are still plenty of horses in and around Chiangmai. They walk them past the end of my road frequently.

Maejo residents are clearly in the know. There's a meadow not too far from Maejo road and also not too far from Mae Rim which has hundreds of horses on it. In Chiang Mai! Gasp! It belongs to the men in green.

Cheers, CMX

Best to keep a low profile and not advertise and play around with your metal quietly and I'm sure no one will bother you and going into the city hall would be opening a can of worms.

I am a gardener and grow vegetables and the wife sometimes sells the excess, but I'm not going in to see the officials.

Please don't tell on me and I won't tell on you......