Peyton,
I demo at 2 sites and they are at the far extremes from each other. The best location is at a Fairgrounds where we get to demo inside a shop. We usually get the "blacksmith's used to shoe horses" comments from the crowd, but, we quickly tell them the difference between farriery and blacksmithing. We also have a sign which is a silhoutte of a horse with a horseshoe on top of that with a circle and slash through that, but, som people still don't notice it. For keeping the crowd back, the shop has a 3' high 2X handrail along 2 walls of the shop. Under the rail is plexiglass so the kids can scooch down during a forge weld and stay safe AND still see what we are doing. It works very well. We ALSO get the comment of "my father/uncle/grandfather was a REAL blacksmith" which kind of urks us a bit, but, you have to shrug off the stupid comments.
The second place that I demo at is an old historical farmstead. Unfortunately, I get the SAME comments there, BUT, I don't have the luxury of having a handrail to keep everyone back. Also, when the restorers built the forge, they went AGAINST the recommendations of a couple of local smiths and built the forge left-handed. Now the flue is built so that the crowd can't see the fire. Naturally, they crowd around the backside of the anvil to see. When I take a piece from the fire I have to be very careful because I frequently have someone standing at my elbow. I have been making sure NOT to forge weld at this location because of the short range.
Paul
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