SteveC

All,

 thanks for taking the time to respond. The demo's at fairs, festival's and other events are a good start, but often they seem to be a one and done affair. In many of the small classes that I have seen with young boys they seem to get their free cool knife out of it and then they are out. What is that extra bit that will inspire them to do more?

Good advice with the girls, I haven't witnessed any showing an interest, but maybe more outreach will help.

Thanks,

  Steve

NEB has initiated a Youth Sponsorship Program in order to introduce young people to Blacksmithing.

Our current sponsorship provides funds for 1 year membership and attendance to their choice of a Spring or Fall Meet. The purpose of this discussion is to solicit those in the Blacksmithing community for their thoughts and ideas on encouraging young people to join their group. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance,

  Steve C.

Thanks, I appreciate the Post, that was me looking for the portable military forge. I did locate one in pretty sad condition, which I am planning to refurbish, but I  remain on the lookout for serviceable forges of this type.

Hope all is well with you and yours and I wish you all a safe, relaxing holiday and a Happy New Year.

Steve

VintageMachinery.org is a great resource. Try looking under the information attached to the Champion Blower index http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=165

Thanks VaughnT, I really appreciate the effort, the IForgeIron community is awesome. I did make an offer on the earlier forge I was looking at and am waiting to hear back.

David,
no I am not participating in any re-enactments. I just like the idea of keeping tools alive. The forges I currently use are new fabrications, but nearly everything else has been handed down from older smiths, tail gate swaps and/or rescued from scrap heeps and dirt malls.

Thomas,
seems that these forges are much more prevelant out west. They are so very rare out East, but a friend in Nova Scotia says they are pretty common up there (just nobody wants to part with one). I wouldn't expect to find one complete with anvil tools, but I am hoping to find an undamaged box w/lid, (4) sound legs, tuyere and hand crank blower.

Thanks,
Steve C.

Jeremy,
no argument that fabrication would be much less, but I'm interested in the historical aspect as well as the portability.

Eric,
thanks for the information. My follow-up research turned up a field manual from a prior IForgeIron forum post.



and there were ads from people in Australia selling what they described as WWII era portable forges, so that location makes sense too.

If you have access to one of these in complete and functional working order then I would be interested. Let me know.

Thanks again,
Steve C.

Clinton I know what you mean, $700 is steep. I just never see them around here, so I would consider paying close to that with the shipping included for a complete one in good condition

The Berkshire Blacksmiths put on another great Age of Iron weekend at Hancock Shaker Village, Mass. recently and one of the highlights for me was the military issue Portable Blacksmith Forge, circa WW I. I would love to get my hands on one of these, so if you have one or know someone who does then I would like to hear from you. I did find one on Ebay, but the shipping from CA could make it cost prohibitive. I've just started looking, so I don't know how common they are in the New England area.

Portable Blacksmith Forge.wmv

Thanks everyone, that's a lot of great, useful information

Be safe and be well,
Steve Connor

I'm just getting started in Blacksmithing, new to NEB, ABANA and this forum.

When buying metal at a scrap yard, flea market etc.. how can I be certain that the metal is safe to forge? Galvanized metal is easy to spot, at least it has been so far.

Thanks in advance, any advice you can offer is much appreciated.