I became involved unintentionally, for which I'm thankful. I was brought on for the summer as a demonstrator at Ft.Stephens, OR. I was supposed to do military demonstrations, talks, tours, but they Ft. had a falling out with their previous blacksmiths so a compete smithy shop was at my disposal if I wanted to tinker. And tinker I did.
I've been a Civil War reenactor on and off for 13 years. A year ago I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so for that and other reasons I've come to terms that soldiering isn't in my future (sigh). And now I'm married, and my wife has a passion for history herself, so we're preparing to get back into reenacting as civilians, as you may guess, as a cooper.
So I'm trying to get back into smithing so I can make some specialized tools and such as I'll need for historical trade work.
Here's to equally crazy and supportive wives.
