A good time...

[primtechsmith]

On Saturday I had the chance to get out at the forge and light it up. I hadn't since mid-June. Things have been busy and there just wasn't a chance to get out there until yesterday. I spent a good majority of the day hanging out with my mentor and getting some things made up and ready for Quad State.

It was good to get some "time on the couch"...who needs a shrink when you can get out and release some pinned up energy at the forge with good people! Besides I would rather talk to my fire than a Dr. any day! HA!

Peyton

[rmcpb]

Know how you feel. I haven't had any forge time for a few weeks now and you really miss your hobbies very quickly.

[ThomasPowers]

My wife claims that forging cures "constipation of the soul" as I can be sent out to the forge all grouchy and come back serene.

[Finnr]

Thomas. Your wife is a very wise lady. She is right.
Finnr

[Frosty]

Forging is like meditation with consequences.

None of it cares one whit how you feel, not the fire, not the steel, not the tools, none of it. Take your anger out on the fire and it doesn't resent it, it just doesn't burn right. Take your anger out on the steel and you can't hurt it, destroy it yes, hurt it, no.

Those times I've gone to the forge for no better reason than to just beat on something that wouldn't call the cops, I've always come away calm and serene.

Before the fire is burning right, much of the edge is gone from my anger. I have to set anger aside to get it right and without the fire right I can't beat the XXX our of anything and relieve the fury.

I may start with the intention of beating a piece of steel to transparent foil but usually, long before I have the first heat I'm deciding on what it should become. Deliberately making scrap runs against something deep in me. When I can't think of something I make something familiar, something I can do by reflex and feel.

It's a sure cure, I recommend it highly.

Frosty

[philip in china]

Maybe this is why blacksmiths over the ages have had a reputation for both physical and moral strenth and courage. The sort of guy to go to when you have a problem, an honest, calm man who looks the whole world in the face.

Certainly I find it all very soothing.

[NateDJ]

I agree, stress relief was the primary reason I decided to get into this. Was going to the gym and found it just as stress full as work with all the ego trips walking around trying to out lift everyone else etc. Nothing like beating the heat outa some steel and ending up with something the wife decides she wants to keep.

[ironrosefarms]

That is the biggest reason I want to build a shop. When I don't have to lug everything out into the yard, I could easily come home after working all night and slip out to the shop to beat the fire out of something for a while before going into the family. Right now it takes at least 45 minutes to set up not including building the fire and at least that long to pack it all back away, so I seldom get to go to Dr. Anvil so early in the morning, thus I usually come in the house a grump... I can only imagine how much better it would be for the family life if serene was the norm of my walking in the door...