As to the placing of a hands off sign on the blower, that is just what my Great Grandfather did with his blower at his blacksmith shop. You can see him and his shop(Frank Ramsby) at the home page of Anvilfire.com when it cycles sometimes or directly at:
Wyllys and Ramsby - 19th Century Blacksmith Shop Photos
The wild thing about, "My grandfather was a blacksmith" is, well what is a blacksmith? A direct definition of blacksmith is anyone that works hot iron with a hammer and an anvil. Back in the day many farmers made some of their own tools and repairs with a forge, anvil and hammer. To me they were at least part blacksmiths and any kid who saw them working the hot metal would, well. . .
Almost every one involved in blacksmithing for a few years knows how to mig or tig weld, now that doesn't make us welders, but. . .
There is a big difference between some one asking me if I shoe horses and if blacksmiths shoe horses. I don't, but my great grandfather sure did as you can see from the photos. However, he was an expert race horse trainer, who had a pet ram which followed him around everywhere. This leads me to believe that blacksmiths have always been a bit crazy.
This is all a bit complicated, lots of people back in the day would buy a small anvil and bellows and make nails to sell in front of their open fireplace in the winter. They were blacksmiths of sorts, they may not have known or cared what a flatter was for, but they did for a while at least work hot metal.
One thing that I believe brings up all of the "My Grandfather was a blacksmith" when they find out you are or at a demo is, well, when else would such a conversation be relevant. There arn't many people who are interested in hearing about some past reletive working hot metal, but if you are talking to a blacksmith, well my grandpa did that too, type of thing. I don't know, it is a bit complicated.
The shop that my Great Grandfather had in Kirkland, a small town of 300 - 400 people, had about three other shops and all of these shops had at least three people working in them. That is 1 of 25 to 1 of 33 people in the town being a blacksmith, then there were the farmers who had a "blacksmith shop" in their barn. Then one could ask, how many people helped as a young kid or teenager in a blacksmith shop and then went on to other things, these were blacksmiths too. My friends Grandfather was a blacksmith, that is when he was a kid his father was a full time blacksmith and had his son help him and taught him many things. Now my friends Grandfather went on to start a heavy machinery dealership and repair buisness(cranes, bulldozers etc.), so he WAS a blacksmith at one point.
All of this says to me that considering how many people were involved in blacksmithing at some point and the two sets of grandparents per person deal, reduces the number of people who have a "blacksmith" as a blood reletive(ie. grandparent of great-grandparent) down to 1 in 5 or 1 in 3.
This to me is about the ration of how many people say, "My Grandfather was a blacksmith".
Now the question is, how do you deal with the, "I want to" or "Will you" "Make me a sword"!
I once had a kid(20 or so) ask me to help him make a 100 lb ax(yes one hundred pounds). When I asked what he would need that for, he said that he was going to use it in late at night, back wood, mock battles with his friends who had faux swords! I almost punched him, but instead just let that go and showed him the basic steps to making a small knife, then explained that making such an ax would cost at the very least $5,000 bucks, at least from me and even if dull would kill someone if you hit them with it, blunt force. That was that. That little experience also inspired the saying, "Even an idiot deserves a chance to learn", this is what I said to him as I handed him the hammer, not very nice, but I was making a VERY legitimate point in that moment(note: we were alone and he was at the time my sisters boy friend, now ex thank god).
On the boy girl issue. I have noticed that the girls who are interested(of which there are many) tend to ask significant questions and actually LISTEN to the answers. Where the boys tend to ask questions and then not listen to the answer very much(although this is not true for all of them) and the grown up ones, tend to make comments about how I am not holding the hammer right and it would be better if I did it this way. . .
Caleb Ramsby