Crowd Control

[Daryl]

For those of us who have been smithing for a while, we sometimes lose our appreciation for the effort we have put in to achieve the results we now have. Crowd control is as much being polite as it is setting rules. I believe it has already been mentioned, place your previous, larger examples of your work slightly farther away from your forging station, trinkets and smaller items closer; have a photo album of other previous work handy; businees cards (especially important); if someone says their grandfather or whatever was a Blacksmith, ask them if they had the opportunity to learn anything or at least ask them if they would like to turn the blower for you.
Crowd control is not about corraling people like cattle, rather inviting and leading them to items and places mutually benficial.
I have never had a shortage of helpers or spectators. It has been rare when aggressive people or unruly children have been a problem; asking them to leave will offend no one else in the crowd. Some demos that I attend regularly have familiar faces, bringing along extra relatives or friends (this I value the most). I have had on occasion, people showing up later with items from their farm or whatever, either asking for it to be identified or on occasion wondering if I was interested in purchasing Grandpa's anvil, tongs or whatever; even had a couple items given to me (of course, you make them something in gratitude).
In the shop however, especially during public demonstrations, please do not allow parents to drop off their children so they can watch (read as you are now the babysitter). There is a difference between a young person being interested in what you do and actively watching, and some brat running amok in the shop. Inform those parents that any unruly children will be returned to their parents after being given three cans of Red Bull Cola, two packs of gum and one puppy!

[civilwarblacksmith]

I would have to agree with Daryl except for inviting spectactors in to turn the blower. ONLY do this if you have insurance that will cover them if they get hurt.

[Ten Hammers]

I many times have to tell folks to get their hands off my crank blower. Seems they have a picture in their head that I need help. Some will need to be told twice and they seem upset. I am to the point of making a sign for the blower ( hands off ).

[Firegirl]

I find, as a lady blacksmith, I get more disbelief that a girl would want to be a blacksmith than any real interest in what I do. My favorite is when I'm setting up my demo space and moving my anvil (175#) and some guy wants to know if I need help. Most of them FREAK when they couldn't budge the anvil and I can pick it up and carry it no problem! I love all the questions at a demo show because they are rarely the "Why is this so expensive?" type and more about the work. But I agree about the "free babysitting" aspect. I tell parents that unsupervised children will be given to the fairies.

[Ramsberg]

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

[ironrosefarms]

It was because of a patient smith at a reenactment pioneer village that took this young kid's comment of my great grandpa was a blacksmith with grace. He asked me what exactly he did, to which I answered I only know that he was the smith for a coal mine and a few stories related to me by my great grandma. He then said he was planning to work in the shop the next weekend and if I had an interest I was welcome to come by. I did and we then worked side by side for about 3 1/2 years.

I handle the questions in much the same way, though I don't often have the availability of a next weekend or anything of that nature. I have had some very good conversations with folks who remember a smith in their family and the work they did. I find that allowing people to reminisce about a fond memory is a great way to give me a chance to allow them to leave away from me with another fond memory of a smith in their life. For me, maybe they will someday be a customer, but that is not the important part... for them, to know someone took the time to recognize their story as important is worth more than anything I could forge in my coal fire.

James

[NateDJ]

OK, so I went to my first demo last weekend and had a great time. While I was there working the bellows my mom and dad stopped by to see what I was up to and my mom stands there for a few min with a slightly perplexed look on her face... then says this is what my grandpa used to do! LOL I almost lost it, I couldn't hardly keep from busting out laughing right there! She went on to describe the forge and how her and her sister used to sit and pump the bellows while he made stuff. I have never heard a word about this my entire life! I guess she didn't know what it was called. She told me that her grandpa, my great grandpa didn't believe there wan anything he couldn't make except for steel its self! ... I ask her if she still had any of his tools she might want to get rid of, and if so where she had hid them all these (35) years!

[Ramsberg]

Nate,

This is just what I was talking about. It appears that the sights, smells and sounds of a blacksmith shop brings up some long lost memories to some people.

What a great story of yours, there must be some magic entity in the air in a blacksmith shop. I can't see why so many people would lie about having a blacksmith in their family history. I can't recall many people having the same reaction about weavers. . .

Caleb

[ptree]

I often get the My grandpa was..., and try to remember that indeed many were. Last year I was doing a demo and a lady said just that, and I asked what kind of smith and so forth. She said Ohh he had a shop with lathes and other machines and it ran froma belt in the roof and it was still on the farm with those old rusty tools!!!! I asked politely if she was interested in selling and she asked did I want the whole farm and all, and that being rusty the tools were no good. She took my card and said she would go look and see about what was in the shop and call, but never did, and she was reluctant to give a phone From her description i feel certain it one time several lathes and mills belt driven and a full forge set up, and it was only about 40 miles from my shop I almost cry when I think about it.

I have a photo album with photos of my daughters forging at 8 to 16 years and show these to the interested girls, and indeed they do ask more and often better questions.
Oddly, when a show a split cross, and the blank, most guys(85%) can't figure out how, but about (65%) of the girls do figure out how, and in only a moment.

[ThomasPowers]

Since my hand crank blower is set back from the crowd I don't get many people touching it though I do get lots of offers to crank it for me. I explain that the blower is like the accelerator for a car and ask how they would react if on a trip I leaned over and asked if I could put my foot on the accelerator for them.

For my double lunged bellows pole it's often slung over the forge and nobody asks to pump it as my hand comes down near the fire; (but not close enough to curl the hair on the back of it).

Because of un-ruled kids I try to keep *all* of my tooling out of arms reach of the crowd ropes---don't forget to have a lower one for kids as well as the waist high one for adults.