aogoodrum

Hit the wrong key & posted the above before I finished. "Shuck" the oyster out into the bucket hanging on the little rail car. A live oyster still has the eye attached to both halves of the shell therefore the need for the type knife made above by Pault17. The health dept has put a stop to using these type knives in the shops here in the Bayou, you now need one with a composite handle with all the food grade stuff. I still have & use my mother-in-laws knife I made for her many years ago. Another person came along with a wheelborrow & shouvled the shells from off the floor & rolled them up a steep ramp to dump them. The shells were used by the cement company to make concrete blocks back in that day. The use of oyster shells in making blocks was the reason the Mobile Bay oyster industry was depleted back in the early days. I sure hope they are salty next week, later, Anthony

I'll probably get a lot of static from this statement but here goes anyway. I'm pushing 70 & grew up in Bayou La Batre AL, the seafood capital of AL, the 6th largest seafood producer town in the US. Went to a Catholic school which was next door to the seafood company that had 65' freight boats loaded with oysters come in daily. My mother worked in the factory & I spent many, many hours in the factory as a young boy waiting to go to school. To this day I still have a commerical oyster catching license & plan on going one day next week to catch a couple sacks of the fine Mobile Bay oysters. Now that I've established my background of the oyster industry here is the catch--- You do not shuck raw oysters, you open them. You shuck steam oysters. As I've said I stood many hours watching the hugh black man roll the rail car down the track & move it in front of the women who stood on a little plank off the floor about a foot, they had a rythem to the movement of their butts & sad for the little skinny lady that was out of rythem between two of the larger butted ladies. The steam oyster has turned loose in the shell so thus you only need to "SHUCK"

Wondering if anyone has plans to attend the AACB Conference on May 18th & 19th in Murpfreesboro TN ??? I have seen the demonstrators in the past at the AFC Confrence in AL & looking forward to seeing Ernie Dorrill & Steve Williamson demo again. Looks from the web site & brochure that it will be a good one. Was wondering if a bunch more of yall are going?? Bring some good tailgate stuff to sell, I always need more goodies for sure.

Big blacksmith conference coming up on May 18th 19th for the AACB in Murphfreesboro TN. Look up the AACB web site to find out more about it. I'm heading to it for sure. It was a good one last year & I want to see Ernie Dorrill from MS do his magic with the Gothic Repousse' this year. Steve Williamson is also a demonstrator for this conference & he is a well known blacksmith/ teacher. Should be a good one.

Hi Jim & Glenn, great site Jim, glad the MFC is online with it. Can't wait till the conference, really looking forward to it. Know it's going to be as good as in the past. I'll be there Wednesday, assisting Steve in the class. thanks for all your hard work. Anthony