JPH

Hello:

Since my name was mentioned...I hope that whoever you find has the adequate insurance coverage if something does go wrong and someone gets hurt.

My insurance almost dropped me when they found out I was holding "open workshops" in my local area for folks to come in with projects and work on them. I had to stop that or loose my coverage. I stopped the workshops. It's hard enough to find a company to cover just what I do let alone another handfull of people and be affordable...

Good luck it is a noble endeavour indeed...It is very sad that it has come down tro worrying whether or not one will get sued into the poor house in someone gets hurt by their own actions but in today's so called "society" that threat is ever looming over the horizon. Very sad that a hands on craft such as this is taken down by possible litagation...

JPH

Huh?? Just telling it like it is...that's all....Yeah, there are folks out there that take offense to us being honest...hence the "Self Proclaimed Fancy Schmancy Master" on my sig instead my usual the "Passionately Purple Cactus Flower of Genteel Desert Manhood"...

I and a few others were just torn into by a fellow that took offense to us keeping it real and suggesting that he actually LEARN how to even start with the basics before tackling a sword...Oh well...

Maybe he shoulda just jumped into the deep end of the pool before he knew how to swim and then he may of been enlightened....

JPH

Hello Again:

OK I am mostly self taught as far as blades go..My mentor and family friend/neighbor when I was a wee yonker Yankee, Herr Hauffmann was a blacksmith. Being Amish he really did alot of work by hand or by using me as a striker..we sharpened scythes, plowshares, made harness rings, redid picks, mattocks, all sorts of farm stuff...tired wheels..you name it we did it EXCEPT for making a sword..the Amish are a peaceful folk and he flat out said NO!... BUt I learned a lot from that fine Old Gentleman and what I learned was solid, basic blacksmithing and one of the first things I learned was to make decent "S" hooks and how to weld.

The rest of the stuff as far as blades go..I taught myself...I started swinging a hammer at the tender age of 12..Herr Hauffman thought that he could get rid of that "English Kid" that kept bugging him all the time by putting me to work..boy that just made it worse (or better..depending on your point of view) and every free afternoon I had I was over there learning how to build and maintain a proper fire, upset, slit, bend, scroll and anything and everything he cold show me and after a while I was even able to "earn my keep" by doing the scythe and plowshare sharpening and re-pointing picks and drill bars...it was a great way to learn..

Yeah I went the rest of the way on making blades on my own and I was looking for answers and back then everyone was so tight lipped about it that they would give me a wrong answer so I wouldn't do anything "right"...

Sure you can teach yourself..I did and it's a whole lot of work but you learn a bunch more stuff doing it by T&E than by having someone else show you the right way from step one...As Edison said..I never made any mistakes...I just learned alot of ways to do things that didn't work...

I just don't want to see anyone get hurt or worse doing something that they aren't quite ready for...

JPH

I was going to stay out of this but I just can't..

There is a difference between "wanting to make a sword" and being GOOD at it..just about anyone can make a SLO (sword like object) and yeah, it'll work to a degree...but will it have all the subtle little things incorporated that makes a REAL sword fast in the hand, give decent point, be able to move the way the user wants it to? What about balance, flex, stiffness and all the other stuff that goes into it...Then there is the heat treating ..sure you can "send it out" but then you are trusting someone else with the most important part of doing this...and in doing so how can you say that you "MADE" the sword really.

Granted...I get dozen's of requests a month from folks wanting to learn..and most I put in my circular file...those that do get a response (and that is maybe 5 or so out of 100), after the first interview, 99% of them decide that it is way too much work...cause I make sure that I have the forge going and it's about 120F at least in the studio and I position the "applicant" as close to the forge as I can safely and let them feel the heat....if they pass that test I hand them a piece of hot iron (as hot as I can stand it holding it bare handed"..if they take it and don;t drop it..they pass that test...also...if they ask if it is hot? they also pass...if they take it and drop it..they fail...

After that then comes the real start of Hades on Earth and well..in the close to 50 years I have been doing this I have had three (3) "successful" students..one passed away very sudden, one went on and I kicked him "loose" cause he really didn't "need" any more real help....and the last one was a much more casual relationship and he passed on a little while back...(Brother Steve knows of whom I speak)

In the mean time....If I do get someone that gets past the first set of tests...well the first time someone gets burned..they quit..the first time they get a grinder bump, they quit.. first time they get a slice..they quit...So,speaking as someone who has "paid their dues" to get where I am.. why should I waste MY valuable time and effort on some whiny baby that at the first time they get a "ow-wee" they are never heard from again? As my good friend Bob Loveless has said many times "We ain't making widgets here"..and when you dance with the Devil you ARE going to get burned...It's all part of the process...

So I just have to realize the cold, hard fact that I better get everything (as much as I can anyway) out of my head and down on to paper while I can before Death comes calling cause the outlook on a viable student is pretty grim...

JPH

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Ohhhhhhh Bedbug..if you have to ask when, then you are not ready....

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