Bayshore Forge Posted July 10, 2016 Share Posted July 10, 2016 Hey all, I am fortunate enough to have been allowed to help out at a historic blacksmith shop somewhat nearby my house. The venue is historic reproduction, so it (to the best of my knowledge) is created after a blacksmith shop around the turn of the 20th century or just before. Half of the shop is seating for observers, and in a good day they say they have between 150-250 or so people visit for demos. My my question for ya'll is, what are interesting demos? The place is outfitted with an astonishing amount of tooling, anvils, floor mandrels, post vices, swage blocks, post drills, bench vices, grinding stone, etc. All hand powered, no electricity. NOTE: all items made are property of Glen Haven historical village and are offered to the visitors with the request of a small donation to the village. I will NOT profit from any of this other than experience. I was thinking Fredericks crosses, hooks, fire pokers, tavern puzzles (this may take too long), bottle openers. I'm open to any and all ideas! They seem to have endless square bar for metal stock in various small sizes under half or so inch. I saw some flat bar and maybe a bit of round bar. Horse shoes available too, no rr spikes that I spotted at first glance. Thank you for your time and thoughts, Brent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted July 10, 2016 Share Posted July 10, 2016 leaf key chains don't take to long once you get good at them, if you plan on doing Frederic's crosses make sure to have everything pre cut. also s hooks don't take long especially if you have a bending jig. Littleblacksmith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 What's the historical context of the shop? Picking items within historical context would be a good thing and having a theme helps chose demo projects. Probably one of the easier and flashiest crowd pleasers are twists. It's something you can do with dangerously HOT steel/iron pretty darned close to the spectators without putting them in danger like hammer work and even filing. You MUST remember hot scale will be showering off any twists so you can't let folk close enough any can bounce into them off your apron, etc. That is STILL darned close, folk will even be able to feel heat radiated from the stock. Safety first ALWAYS. I prefer to twist, then isolate and forge from the twist it makes for smoother transitions and it's not hard to forge the signs of the twist from those sections. For instance, twist say 4" of 3/8" sq. Now forge a bottle opener, leaf, dog's head, etc. on each end and cut the twist in the center on the hardy separating the two. Now forge the cut ends into long even tapers and scroll into a key chain, zipper pull, etc. Give a good vigorous wire brushing and wax finish. Two demoed pieces in short order. Use the same process for triangle strikers and such. Spectators LOVE seeing large stock being worked, even if the project is reasonably small you have good reasons for working efficiently. Demos are theater, you're there as show and tell so act it up. Making say 24" of steel turn into a nicely finished dinner triangle in say 4 minutes wows the folk and gives you plenty of time to forge two strikers while the triangle stock is heating. Another good demo project is nail making but you want to be better at it than I am, it take way too long to make a wibbly wobbly nail-ish picture hanger thing. Nails are historically accurate at almost any time up to the turn of the last century give or take. A turn a finial scroll on a long nail and it's a key fob, zipper pull, etc. and an easy $2.00 sale. On and on, lots of cool stuff to do at Demos but you want to keep things quick or really flashy. Much more than 7 minutes and it gets hard to keep spectators attention even if you have a good patter. And under $20.00 and fits a pocket or purse are good sellers. Have YOUR cards and contact info on hand, exposure is a good thing and don't feel bashful about letting folk know you're a volunteer and doing this for FREE. Good PR you know. Frosty The Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soupyjones Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 I have heard of guys having good luck with miniature horse shoes. Quick and easy to turn out and dirt cheap for material cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Cochran Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 23 minutes ago, Soupyjones said: I have heard of guys having good luck with miniature horse shoes. Quick and easy to turn out and dirt cheap for material cost. There's a guy that does a local festival here and he does that. He makes 'horse shoes' from (I'm guessing) 3/8 square and bends them around about 3" long with a little heel caulk on each side and puts three 'holes' on each branch using a simple square punch going about 1/8" deep. Then if someone wants he'll use cold stamps to put a name on it. He sells them for $5 each. He also does nails on occasion but truth is I don't get to watch him long so I don't know what all he does. 1 hour ago, Frosty said: I prefer to twist, then isolate and forge from the twist it makes for smoother transitions and it's not hard to forge the signs of the twist from those sections. For instance, twist say 4" of 3/8" sq. Now forge a bottle opener, leaf, dog's head, etc. on each end and cut the twist in the center on the hardy separating the two. Now forge the cut ends into long even tapers and scroll into a key chain, zipper pull, etc. Give a good vigorous wire brushing and wax finish. Two demoed pieces in short order. I like that idea. Frosty, you're full of all sorts of ideas aren't you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SReynolds Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 That is what I do. Operate a shop withing a historical village. I will look into your location's web-site. Not questioning you (ok, I am) but 150 a day? I get 6. That is six. Or ten........ok,,,twelve on a busy day. Unless there is a huge event and then 50 would be near impossible. Just saying. You have seen that many. In a day?????? And I'm in a town. Actual town. Folk live there. Your question; nails. But then that is a regular staple. Understand the attention span, on average, of the human is seven minutes. How you making anything in that time is beyond me unless you do a twist, hook-end, nail, rivet yadda, yadda, yadda. So I can be working on a project and show what I'm doing at that moment in time. If they ask about a simple task; I do that. Like the twist or a nail. They like you to explain; tools, how hot the fire is, color of the hot steel, what for fuel, air flow from a bellows and how to harden steel (as if ALL steel is quenched and hardened) No welding. You will kill somebody. However, I have had (this is no exaggeration) a bride in full-on bridal gown drop in and DEMAND I weld while she is standing very near the anvil. Flying sparks/slag/dross etc.etc. And the smoke............? Don't make any. They HATE that and some folks won't even bother to walk in. Say the husband musts see the shop but the wife is there because she has to be........she may or may not walk indoors. Sometimes they like to stand just outside and hold a hand over their mouth/nose. I'm at zoarhistoricvillage.com and owned by the Ohio Historical Connection which is a connection. Not a society, cuz societies are now deemed bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayshore Forge Posted July 11, 2016 Author Share Posted July 11, 2016 Thank you all for the time spent on thoughts and ideas! I really appreciate it! Sir Reynolds, I have not yet smithed there but the day I visited and was recruited I saw no less than 35 people between 4:45 and 5:00 (shop closes at 5). The smith on staff that day said he counted over 300 people and seemed astonished. And to those that read this in the future, keep those amazing thoughts coming! Love the ideas and help you guys so willingly provide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SReynolds Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 It was probably the free tv's the park was giving away. Provided they took a pic w/the smith. Folks in ohio are more interested in tin smithing per the very large numbers they see there In our historic village. Who "wouldn't" want to see a guy bending cold tin. Cutting it with tin snips. Man!.......the thrill of it. I looked at Glen Haven webpage. Pic of the shop there. I will look more into it. 300 visitors in a day.......obviously something is up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Many people assume that smithing is way beyond their skills and means compared to something like working tin... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 I'm the world's worst when it comes to demonstrating because I talk too much, they say. I give a srhpiel and do everything possible to get the audience involved in what's going on. Everything depends on how long the audience is going to be with you. If it's a static audience where folks sit down and watch from start to finish, that's a whole world different than an audience where folks are moving in and out. The former means you can hang out with them and go through a lengthy project. The latter means you need to use one project that has multiple facets that allows you to demonstrate different tricks of the Trade along the way. I've take over an hour to make a single hook. The key is going super slow and talking about the step your working on. You might be tapering the point, but you can talk for ages on how you taper and why tapering is important and how it can be used on other projects. Then you can talk about scrolling and turning and how that can be used elsewhere. When you get towards the end and are ready to punch the hole for a screw, you can talk all about the tools and techniques and how they're applied elsewhere. Bottom line is that it's about the show. How you look and speak is far far far more important than what you're making. Shoot me a PM if you think it'd help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rashelle Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 SReynolds, number of visitors depends on the site. I rarely volunteer anymore but used to have 250 a day regularly, a couple thousand on a special event. Back on topic. Find out what the volunteers before you used to make as well as what the location produced. You may find yourself doing the actual historic reproductions as opposed to more modern things. At the above mentioned site where I used to volunteer we were set in 1845. So it was Fort Vancouver Hudson Bay Company 1845 type things a lot. Though there were a lot of small, use the technique, type demo items as well. I made an awful lot of J-hooks. But then we were not limited to only fast items so I did hammers, axes (with forge welds), utensil racks, stuff for the carpenters and the black powder program, etc. Whereas the demo I'll be doing at a different location next weekend will be more quick items, plus whatever they ask me to make as I always seem to make things for the carpenters and location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Cochran Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 32 minutes ago, Rashelle said: stuff for the carpenters and the black powder program, etc. Would you mind expanding on that a little? I'm guessing chisels and maybe marking knives for the carpenters. The 'black powder program' has me curious since I wouldn't think you'd be forging flint/caplocks, maybe trigger guards. You've got me thinking, I don't like thinking when I can avoid it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 there's a handy dandy little multi tool for tightening screws, clean out touch holes, etc, also the gunner's XXXXX for use with black powder cannon Though I usually make the piece that pierces the charge out of bronze for obvious reasons... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayshore Forge Posted July 12, 2016 Author Share Posted July 12, 2016 I believe either my county (Leelanau County) or the town of Glen haven was named the "most beautiful place" in either Michigan or the US, because the smith mentioned this and said it never used to be that busy. I'd hedge a bet for the county because Glen haven isn't crazy beautiful itself. EDIT: totally forgot to load new comments so this is offtopic now and kinda useless. Can't figure out how to delete. Thank you for the historic importance ideas, that would probably be the best! Now I just need to figure out what they would have made! Brent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoName Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Hey Bay, A great way to learn, is to watch others. You will see styles that you're comfortable with, and others that are not how you roll. July 17th is the Famous Manchester Chicken Broil. (3rd Thursday in July) The area historical society opens the blacksmith shop on Main St. They have demonstraters all day. Ypsilanti is probably 30 minutes from Manchester. If you are in the area please stop by and say hello. My son will be in the demo loop, he will be the long haired kid. This will be his 10th year demoing, he is 15. Very laid-back. Come hungry we serve around 10K chicken dinners. N.N.F. (thanks for the plug) Beautiful, Manchester, Michigan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rashelle Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Carpenters, chisels, log dogs and smaller versions, peevy's, froes, different axes and hammers, chest hardware, etc. Black powder stuff: the word Thomas can't say xxxxx, worm for cannon or swivel gun, lin stock, stand, strikers for flint and steel, screw drivers, patch knife .... patch knife screw drivers, etc. Other demo stuff, strikers, spoons, colonial candle holders, swedish candle holders, forks, bbq stuff, bottle openers,J hooks, S hooks, Y hooks, different finials on all of the above with different twists, such as a leaf version. Etc. I even made for myself wile demoing at one of the places a set of L brackets for shelves, plant hangers are more good things, snails, seahorses, rings, bracelets, faces, wizard head thingies, gnomish things, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayshore Forge Posted July 12, 2016 Author Share Posted July 12, 2016 36 minutes ago, Rashelle said: Carpenters, chisels, log dogs and smaller versions, peevy's, froes, different axes and hammers, chest hardware, etc. Black powder stuff: the word Thomas can't say xxxxx, worm for cannon or swivel gun, lin stock, stand, strikers for flint and steel, screw drivers, patch knife .... patch knife screw drivers, etc. Other demo stuff, strikers, spoons, colonial candle holders, swedish candle holders, forks, bbq stuff, bottle openers,J hooks, S hooks, Y hooks, different finials on all of the above with different twists, such as a leaf version. Etc. I even made for myself wile demoing at one of the places a set of L brackets for shelves, plant hangers are more good things, snails, seahorses, rings, bracelets, faces, wizard head thingies, gnomish things, etc. This is quite possibly the staple gold mine paragraph for ideas if anyone ever gets bored. Only one paragraph but so much conveyed! Thanks, Brent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 I have been doing demos everyday during our peak tourist season - not unusual to have 200 come by on these fine winter days. We had 280 on Sunday. My audiences are not static though - the people come and go as they wander around our historic village complex. Some stay for a few minutes while others hang over the fence for hours. I find that a variety of things to make works best, although I rarely do anything that takes more than an hour or so. One of my mainstays and best sellers are the bull's head and ram's head fire pokers and bottle openers. You can make each stage of the process interesting for visitors and they don't have to stay for the whole thing (although some do). Quick things like twisted S hooks and nails are easy giveaways to the kids. Barbecue forks, toasting forks, anything made from rail spikes or old bolts are always popular. Leaf key rings are good too - people like watching leaves. They also like watching twists as the scale breaks away and punching holes is fun when the slug drops into a metal can under the pritchel hole. I never do forge welding with visitors present (a) because it showers sparks over everyone and (b) because I'm not that good at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnewberry Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Where is this place located? I am over in the Hillsdale area and would love to see a demo someday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Cochran Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Thanks, Thomas and Rashelle. That's a pretty good list of things and I'm embarrassed to say I probably wouldn't have thought about half the carpenter items. I'm going to have to do some creative searches to figure what out all those 'x' stands for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 I would say 15 minutes max. I have seen 4 kilt pins nocked out in that amount of time, as well as 4 unicorn shoes. Key fobs, spoons, forks, letter openers, triangles, hooks, and simple claw bottle openers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pancho07 Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 What exactly is a unicorn shoe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 since unicorns have cloven hooves it must be like oxen shoes----unless you mean a horseacorn... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 I have seen both versions of unicorn hooves, single and cloven. Guess it depends on which breed of unicorn you have. Pancho.... Unicorn-looks like a horse but it has a horn...... a shoe for one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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