jake pogrebinsky

Bryan,do you mean some nasty device such as this here? If so,then good thinking,as the radial nature of it's swing action can be made to fit the angle of convergence of your bevels(even give it a few extry holes,at,say,20 deg.,25 ,et c). I'll supply you with all the necessary spring,sorry that i haven't yet. I'd like to use this occasion to sqwauk a little about my idee fixe,the Bellybutton. See,when the necessity arises that the stock be worked in two dimentions,identically(mirror of each other),and as regularly as possible,then normally it is where the top+bottom tool come into play. Any forge deserving of the name had sets upon the sexy sets of matched T&B tools,in 1/8" increments. That same forge also had a half-dozen brain-dead but muscle-bound strikers running aboot. Because,if the work needs to be held,the top tool nedds to be held,and the hammer,it also must be held,how many hands is that? Und zo,given the way we work today,that's where the bellybutton begins to become prehensile,or,it's mechanical version,that post that you mention earlier.They act as the third hand. To tell you the truth,i'm inclined toward the B.B.,meself.Worse,i've been naturally slipping toward striking with a top tool(a peen,usually,of a right dia.btw.,yours in the photo looks dangerously sharp,counterproductive,in my opinion,hurts the material). It's messier,imagine that if i did have to forge in a ricasso,i'd have any number of blows overlapping there(as in doing it over the edge of anvil with correct radii). But,the work will be filed/ground anyway,and,it's a good way to practice your ninja hammering... Like i said,just mulling over this,muttering to myself,the internet version of an old man mumbling into his wiskers...

Well,hey,Bryan,right on,you're happenin'.Did you have a tough time with the tip?How did the bevels go for you? You know that the knives ain't my thang,but as far as i know,the forged-in ricasso is a fine thing to do with them bevellled guillotine jobs people build just for that(MORE tool building!. Clay,hanging birds(with guts and feathers,no less!),is an English custom,we must tread carefully here! Beth,(you're roadkill hunter-i shoulda known!kindred spirit:)c'mon,fess up,what horrible things do you guys over there do with pheasants? And don't be shy,you know,everyone around here does some funky fermentation gig,many,actually.There's this cool way of putting up the whitefish,called "kots'idl'ah",very labor-saving,you just lay them out on some surface,et voila!Best right when they turn green and just as they start turning brown just a little! And of course right across the divide NW of here,the Inuit,oh,they have some rich fermentation/storage lore!Oh,yes indeedy:)

Beth,i'm sorry,i do indeed eat the eyeballs,as well as anything else.I'm a low-down,feral,awful creature,and i don't have a kitchen...Not even a designated spot in the establishment for one. I'm a proud owner of an aged,2-burner Coleman stove,that looks absolutely disgusting,and that's that. The only thing i miss for the last few years is an oven,i bake a lot of bread when i'm around one,but lately been blowing off even that. My place is a modular shop,that transmogrifies into whatever purpose that it currently serves.When i was rebuilding that steam-engine,then the cooking utensils were hung upon,and intermingled with it's parts,then something else comes in,and so it goes! My buddy who's in his 90'ies always said:"I'll sleep when i'm dead".Well,i extend that to eating,and many other aspects of life that people in general consider important Yes,trichonae are destroyed by cooking temp.,actually quite low,140F.BUT!It must be the true,throughout temp,not just your dial on your oven! Hey,look what i've come across in the shop-an early masterpiece!My Very First Forgeweld Ever!!! Ain't it lovely?!(the boy's a genius!).I was SO inordinately proud of meself!(And i'd hate to tell you just how not so very long ago it was,either!) :)

Beth,all those are great ideas.Also,any kind of wood,especially the softer/coniferous sort,can be smashed in pretty darn well,using some mechanical force on the iron,like a press(put the stuff on a patch of pavement and jack down with a hydraulic or any other kind of jack,off of your rover bumper ). Your PH may do a job on it,too I'm not much of a cook,so with the bear recipes whatever is way over-cooked works best.Many bears in Alaska carry the trichonella worm,quite a nasty little inconvenience:It's not so much the worms boring through your internal tissues and organs on their way to make their cozy nest,as much as that they like to nest directly among the nerve fibers... The vaccine,if you're lucky to get a hold of it,can only be administered after the symptoms manifest,so it's a joyous experience altogether!:)

Excellent,Bryan,hope that you'll have a blast in the shop!(I know you will). You know,i've no idea what gaminess even depends on,possibly,individual trait..Many a good black bear is not gamey at all.Even the ones nailed while eating fish(only an occasional deal with blackies,they don't have much access to fish).The absolutely least gamey animal that i've ever had was this brown bear,a giant boar,by all reasoning he should've stank very strong... But,you know,the usual stuff works,burying in the earth for a day is a good way.Also,all the white man condiments,kethup,et c.,they're all mostly vinegar based(their original purpose,in fact,that,and to cover up the putrefaction). The trouble is that if someone's way strong tasting,there may be something odd about them,check their liver,at the very least.May look for tumors,or other irregularities. Clay,i share your wonderment.It's as if people would rather that the food was bland,taste as little as possible.Halibut often can be the Wonder(why they call it)Bread of fishes.But a good,fresh one CAN be very good,too. The main point about ALL food from the woods and rivers is that it MUST be fresh.And if preserved,that it be done very skillfully,with great finesse.Even if we're talking hours or days.One must have some knowledge,plus the common sense(not to use a plastic bag,say,or to roll the meat in petroleum products,dirt,et c.).As soon as the animal stopped breathing,the game is in your court,and the clock is ticking. (Yesterday i had to race,as i didn't want to gut the crittur before skinning it,but i made it,it was still good and hot,and as a result has no smell at all,one may mistaken it for a store beef,wouldn't be surprised). It has been a very rainy summer,and many berries,blueberry especially,did not produce.Possibly it's the reason for this bear's transgression of caution. It's a 5th one done in in Galena proper this summer,and another one showed up today...

Beth,what you describe,those brackets with the textured backing,is SUCH a cool idea,i was instantly impressed,and excited on your behalf.It has an endless potential,even the very simplest-an impression of an Immense and Mysterious Weight,being behind there somewhere,doing something,Weighing There!!! That is a really neat venue,a church(),and a great subject matter,perfect in every way.An absolutely exquisite situation,to pretend to make a straight-laced traditional architectural detail,yet,surreptitiosly(or not,or semi-...),inject this post-modernist "installation" flavor!!!The greatest,brattiest,artistic prank!Dr.Seuss would approve! As to not being able to get to your shop...Well,since it can't be helped,to h... with it!You're doing great inventing the work,to execute it-nothing doing,that's the easy part! But,yeah,we can all relate,i've just totally abandoned all hope for any metalwork for this whole month. Yesterday,this little bear came my way.He's developed this irregularity,a Grendel-complex,we may call it,where he felt like he needed to be around people,make friends with them,or something similar,which drove him to lurk in people's yards and even follow them around,semi-stalking several these past two days. . Well,the lead-poisoning for his trouble wasn't long in coming. An autopsy was performed by yours truly,and did not show any deficit of general health,perhaps a touch too little fat for this time of year. But this young male,3-4 year-old,was probably freshly disowned by his Mom,and was possibly timid in carving out a territory all his own,so was skinnier than the more assertive brethren of hisn. So,the evil Dr.Pogg pronounces that the death was caused by an existential quandary of the patient.Amen. And now we feast!

Wonderful,Mick,turning it into a composition really expanded(?,scrambling for a right word here)it into something much greater than the sum of it's parts! Thanks much for your detailed explanation.I was always extremely impressed with your precision,as allied to the PW process,and am now again surprised at the level of it,seeing it extend even unto the fitting of a weld-seam...Terrific! Thanks again for all your hard work on the frontlines of this amazing art!:)

Why,Beth,everyone knows that Dr.Seuss was a visionary,describing the Divine Mystery and the Human Condition as it relates to the Divine! He was what C.S.Lewis was to Christianity,an apologist of the Psychodelic state,and the absolutely brilliant one! Remember how that symbol of everything imaginative,creative,free,even,to use that much overused term,the Cat in the Hat,probes and provokes the fears and insecurities,that often prevent us from realising that God loves us? "He's getting the house all messy and dirty,/And Mother(yes,Mother!),back home at three thirty!!!" Kind of like that funny bumper sticker that you see on the Alaskan roads sometimes:"Jesus is coming-look busy!":)

Beth,i can absolutely relate to the story with man on the street,but it's tough to ever really know what he may've made of that,you know,being perpetually down and out does something to ya,or you come to it being somewhat different already...But,of course,that's not the point. More to the point is that the compassion that we have,are capable of,is somehow both very noble and very pointless,literally,as it'll more often than not be completely misunderstood,go astray in some way...That makes it even more beautiful in that hopeless,Quixotic way.We have the desire to put ourselves in the other persons place,but never an actual ability to do so.And all this is sad and beautiful enough to cry over,i can absolutely relate. Like they say about some evil person:"He just forgot that we're all one".That's what compassion is,and that was Ivan the Savant's gift-he was actually aware that we're all one,could not differentiate between his own needs and those of others."There,but for the grace of God,go I",in part,also kind of points in that direction,slightly more logically. Of course,i love McCarthy,"All the Pretty Horses" is great,also really liked the "Blood Meridian":)Which again brings me to that same point-writing should be inspired,by passion,i could never do it simply because my passion is all spent on metalwork(and appreciating the passionate writing of others:)) But,Brother Pogg(i like it with them two hillbilly g's)is something that i've always wanted to be!My monk friend was by to see me couple of days ago,with another Brother also,to check out the forge.It's some sort of reverse racism,in a way,to get off on hanging out with them because they're Monks,and are called Brother,but i just can't help it :)

:) I don't know,Ciladog,there are many stories written that have lots of interesting stuff to tell,but still don't make a very good read,when this subject came up in the past i've always knew that i'd write something like that,interesting in subject but boring,and immature,as well.In that way that someone in prison a very long time would write,with that certain disconnect from reality... One such book that comes to mind is "In a Canoe from New York to Nome",a very interesting tale of two young guys,during the Great Depression,doing just that-portaging,sailing,and paddling their Old Town lath and canvas canoe through all these waterways all the way into the Bering Sea! There's lots of neat happening there but i paricularly liked this cute episode:Already going down the Yukon,(in a location that sounds peculiarly close to where my camp is now),they could see a cabin on the bank,and a smoke curling out of the chimney.They were getting pretty "bushy" by then,and kind of craved human company other than each other's,and stopped and walked up to the cabin. No one answered their knocking,so they peeked inside,and were appalled;the cabin contained no furniture,other than the crude fireplace,was filthy and littered with bones and trash,and in one corner there was a pile of mouldering,rotting,law books...They made haste to get the heck out of there,but were too late,for out of the woods came the awful creature,obviously the owner of the cabin,and covered them with his antique flint-lock fowling piece. He,the creature,was filthy and unkempt,and quite out of it mentally,very obviously.His muttering related not at all to their pleas and attempts at reasoning with him,it just kind of went on on it's own,the guy was in his own world.The only semi-coherent sounds that they could make out was "Xxxxx social democrats!" Eventually,at a total loss for any solution to the situation,they just slowly backed away towards their boat,the Creature let them go. They got in and paddled off,resolved not to visit anyone anymore EVER (Just a side note:If ever you happen to be travelling in a remote riverine environment,the proper social ethiquette would be to stand off a little ways out in the river,hollering or letting the sound of your outboard do that for you.The sign of welcome would be the occupant coming down to the beach to meet you.If no one is visible,it's NOT ok to land,it means that no one is home,or that no company is desired,either case,unless you're familiar with the occupant,it's best to just travel on.Landing on somebody's doorstep is a pretty invasive act,and can provoke great ire ).

Beth,you're a wonderful,compassionate human being,and it is in fear of upsetting you that i don't say anything truly terrible(although i will,if you won't give up your address!).I'm not sure any longer which language is my own...I really like them both,and may be more comfortable with English,since that's the language that i really exist in,on a daily basis. Russian is a far-out language too(they all probably are!.Here's one motif in russian fairy tales,which,unlike most of them,does not stem from India(common to all Europe,this set of Indian fairy-tales,Brothers Grimm is a good example-almost a complete set of these,they have largely eclipsed many of the original ones). There lives an old,humble couple of peasant stock,who have an autistic son.They also have the two older,normal sons(thank God),but that youngest,the runty one,is as goofy as can be.It's a bummer for them,and an embarassement,but there it is...His name is Ivan the Fool(it's actually a word somewhat more durogatory,like an idiot,but not quite that much). In what way does the idiocy manifest itself?In some very strange ways:Ivan is very kind,especially to some powerless,insignificant creatures,of material or political use to nobody,such as some small,needy,sickly animals,or an old beggar-woman,or other such trash and flotsam. Also,he's terribly,thoughtlessly,improvident.No thought for tomorrow whatsoever. It causes the older,practical,brothers merriment and kind of evil satisfaction,to see the reflection of their own superiority in the feeble-minded Ivan. As a result of his goofy,impulsive acts Ivan hits rock bottom,as could've been easily predicted(and was,by everyone),but he happily bumbles along,the saintly moron,totally heedless of any consequences.The Public Opinion,in the face of the two frugal,cunning,practical brothers gloats over the impending demise of Ivan the Feebleminded.(For some reason,though they despise him,he's also acutely irritating to them). Then,suddenly,it turns out that Ivan was,somehow,on the right path.The twisted creatures turn out to be magical,the old beggar-woman a (politically)powerful witch,et c.He proceeds to be exhorbitantly rewarded for his weird behavoir,all the way up to and including great wealth,beautiful princess,he and the princess living happily and dying on the same day,the whole enchilada! To complete this weird,anti-establishment moral,the frugal,sensible brothers,who only were trying to get ahead(even at the price of maybe overstepping some basic decency mores and all that,but still,nothing outrageous),are cruelly punished,and usually greatly humiliated.(The parents are also somewhat punished,and are duly contrite). Weird tale,but the one always intensely appealing to me,i wanted to be like Ivan the Moron when i grew up!!!(And NOT because of the princess,either,but long before the princesses were an issue at all!). And failed,miserably,for a number of reasons,but i still won't forgive myself,never!And that's why i talk like a moron,and behave like one,at least i can pay my respects to the ideal!If only symbolically! Clay,that's fascinating!I'm sorry,but i've only the very vaguest idea of flyfishing,other than one MUST read Sir Isaak Walton's"The Compleat Angler" :)I'm not a gentleman... It sounds very Zen,just gracefully casting,and doing it in all those wonderful places... Just yesterday,as a matter of fact,this young guy working on one of the barges that docks here,was telling me how beautiful it is in the Alleghenies,in Pennsylvania,where he's from,and how they flyfish in all those mountain streams for trout...

Wow(again ),Clay,i forget that you're a fellow dweller of essentially the same Pacific Northwest!All is the way you've said it,much of it news to me,in my isolation. Made me think of all those giant CLEAR rivers in your neck of the woods(so used to the glacial silt- laden Yukon-Tanana drainage...). Also put me in mind of the crazy,suicidal indian scaffolds built over the falls,for spearing(? dip-netting?What is it they do there,exactly,besides risking their necks?). Ciladog,thank you for your kind words,but i'll never write a book...If i had,it'll be a book of such harsh,revolting,macabre aspect that you'd shudder,and be left saddened,bewildered,and regretful.Trust me. Much have been written on the subject,some(little)not even that vapid. In a very big way i also have no right to expose my (too-close)priviledged view of my host culture here,it is a very discreet culture,among it's other attributes. It is also a vanquished culture,and it's suffering and degradation are tragic,obscene,any of the stronger human reactions would suffice here as description,sadder than anything you can think of.It don't need to be spoken of,as it'll be in very bad taste. My own story will depress you as well,it's not completely "written" yet,but one thing i can guarantee-it'll not end well. I'm afraid that the best i can do is recommend a couple of books instead,if i may. One would be "The Shadows on the Koyukuk",co-written by J.Rearden and S.Huntington. Another,a couple,actually,is by Kirkpatrick Hill,"Toughboy and Sister",and "Winter camp".These are books for youths,but are explicit enough to come very close to life.I know Pat personally,and have a tremendous respect for her,but writing these she has offended the people here sorely and irreparably,and these people,whom i also love and respect,deserve that i pay heed to their preferences...(even if i didn't have many other reasons to be mum). We'll keep it light here,and i will pick some neat,inoffensive details that are interesting-there's plenty amazing things here!God's Country,in a very literal sense :)

Wow,Clay,fly tying is a neat art,i've been so long at the barbaric chore of using the "wall of death" that i've not held a rod since decades ago...What an elegant,gentlemanly way to catch a fish...And flies are an incredible sight in and of themselves,especially when there are several different ones together! It's most important to be good,make precise cuts,when cuting fish for preservation(or any other reason,really).But speed is of an essence also(the fish are decomposing while you fiddle with too few too carefully).In part because of that about a million different ways to do it developed.The cut changes relative the kind of fish,the time of year,the purpose for this specific product,the weather... When i just got here(by no means green even then,as i was coming from commercial fishing and a few years of bumming around another great river system,the Copper and it's tributaries),i was hired on as a dog-fish cutter in a large indian fish camp.My job was to process the by-catch from the commercial part of the operation into fish sold to people with dog teams. I was a pathetic spectacle,taking 4 min. 57 sec.to cut one dogfish!My boss,a nasty old man(and to this day a very dear friend,96 this year(!),and still calls me "My man Friday"),would take friends and visitors down to the cutting raft to show off his pet whiteman who was THAT incompetent.People stared and laughed,after he once again timed me by his watch.The totes full of fish stacked up behind me in the hot sun,and occasionally throughout the day the boss would whistle up a kid or two,and nod to them to take the fish out in the river and dump it,i simply wasn't keeping up. After a month or more i've finally gotten it down to under 1 minute,i think we cut over 5000 fish for dogfood alone that summer... Back in the Gold Rush days the prospectors rarely owned their own team of dogs(because it meant fishing all summer instead of prospecting),they leased them,feed included,from people specialising in the biz. One such enterprise was run in Ruby by the legendary Altona Brown,with her husband Joe,the "Dago Kid".Altona could,and apparently did quite regularly,cut 500 a day by herself. The catches are low right now,but the quality is fairly high.I took a photo of some fish last night in part to show some good ones to our English comrades,to make up a little for the silly aspersions that i've cast upon the fish exported to England,earlier this summer. The fish in the photo are all fall chum,but,do you see that some are silvery,and rounder,much fatter looking?The funky coloration,the wolf-teeth,the loss of condition on other fish there are the signs of "fresh-water damage",indicating that the fish are close to their spawning grounds.When salmon enter the river from the ocean they stop feeding,and go on on the fat they carry,to the spawning beds where they spawn and die.It's an unexplained mystery how some fish postpone that deterioration,depending on how far they head up river.The silvery ones in the tote are probably going all the way into Canada,another 1200 miles(we're already close to 400 into the Yukon from the ocean). Well,the ones exported to England are all in great shape,as they're caught at the mouth of Yukon,fresh from feeding in the ocean.By the world's standards(the Tokio and the London markets)these are some of the MOST valued fish in the world,these particular ones,the Yukon River Chum.(Keta,pardon me!)

John,looks like you all had a wonderful time,well done!Great space,great equipment(love the sight of that towering stack of coal sacks!),and i'm sure,the company was great too! Please tell John Legg that i'd be very happy to distribute his product in Alaska's Western Interior! But more seriously,many thanks to this man,who produces the real stuff for real forging,and to all you folks,who promote that forging,and keeping it alive and happening.

Thanks,Rusty,i'll try,sounds intriguing!!! Clay,i'm,alas,just a clumsy white man(emphasis on the gender -it's woman's work,and you should see some older ladies' fish-it's a flipping work of art,i'm not kidding). Even after all these years,i'm not that hot. There are very solid reasons as to why each and every cut is made,it's all totally logical,and very practical.It IS hard,and long,and tedious. (I'd better get back to it,sneaking in here to peek in at the messages,allegedly...)

Ok,Beth,you tricked me!Here is that book from you showing up in the mail today,and no return address! You'd better give it up,don't make me call on my russian mafia connections in England-how am i supposed to send you something funky from the woods without an address?! Thank you,Beth,that is so very neat,to get a book that you've recommended and sent,i really look forward to seeing what's it has to say! It'd be very easy for me to describe what i'll be doing here while not forging,very simple-every which possible way i can look from my shack there are QUANTITIES of work,even trying to prioritise it all is a lot of work... The view up-river:The net is set,and fishing.20,30,50 fish a day,more,less...The net must be picked,then the human-grade fish is cut and cleaned preliminarily. Theyget hung up for a bit,while the dog fish gets cut and put on the rack.Even with two dogs it'll take 300-500 fish,to last till next summer.I've cut less then 10 this morning,but still have to see what's in the net now,so it's a long,steady,humping kind of a chore(like all else here).The hanging dogfish will have to be turned once,then moved closer as they dry,then put away,really,not too much handling,but it adds up. Then,the eating fish need to be processed in some way.Now,for this type of fish(fall run chum salmon),i'm cutting them into the "half-dry",or,in Athapaskan,"dia'ga(k'ia'ga)" configuration.They should dry some before freezing,and then be easy enough to bake or fry the rest of the way when used. There's about a million other ways of dealing with it,salting and canning and drying and et c.,but it's all a hassle...So it's mostly a matter of taste and variety... That all takes some hours,and is repeated twice a day,as the Yukon is not that cold(+/-50F)and the fish can't hang in the net more than 12 hours. Now,i cast my gaze down-river...There are logs,firewood,as far as an eye can see...They'll all have to be cut-up,and loaded,and filed,because they're awfully hard to find under the snow,when the need for them is greatest. The river was up to those willows just a few days ago,and all that mess was afloat,since May,when i caught them,so now they're all nice and waterlogged,light as a feather,i tell ya! These,the wood and the fish,are the two essencial chores right now.So i won't show what's happening in all other directions around the place-it's a DISASTER,a war-theater of neglected projects,some(like the two steam-engines and the boiler pertaining to them)so large that they can only be manipulated using equipment.I'm usually pretty slick when it comes to sweet-talking people into letting me use their heavy machinery,but that's wearing thin....I do need a few days with a forklift here before snow,or i'm in trouble... And here is a dirty secret:All that surrounds me here,this infrastructure,of course,is not mine.It belongs to a friend who no longer lives here in the village.To maintain it,and to pay the bills here,i work for him seasonally,by peddling gasoline to the Great White Hunters,who grace us with their heroic presence every September,the moose-hunting season.I'm,for this month,a gas-station attendant! I'll not even go into the social dynamic of how we get on with these guys,no one has choked anyone yet,and it's a wonder,but really,predominantly they're really nice folks.Just maybe somewhat confused as to why and the how of getting out into the Great Outdoors. But it is a jolly,confusing,totally hectic time for this coming month,being a 24hr gas-station on top of everything else.Entertaining,that's for sure.And,providing this marvelous beach-head,a place of my own,in the world of other people.With electricity,internet,the sounds and sights of human activity. Without this place i'd only come to the village on a short visit every few months. And certainly give up forging,it'd be preposterous then,forging into the void! So,all that makes me a schizophrenic and a bigamist,thus trying to serve the two mistresses,the society of specialists,and the world of the River.One foot in each.Each being a jealous mistress,it's not that easy...But,what is? And it's incredible how diverse this particular God's pocket is.The shack is surrounded by berry bushes,mostly high-bush cranberry and raspberry.One can crawl out in their underpants of a groggy,foggy morn,and pick them right into the bowl of porridge...The rare passerby don't care,they're used to all sorts of degenerate behavoir from the inhabitant of this shack.

And yes,alas,as much as i love English,my horrid accent just won't go away,it's very much like the Count's,but not at all cute like his.When i make a mistake to hear myself recorded(leaving a message for friends and being there when they play it,say)i'm simply shocked.I guess that i don't hear it,and so forget that it's there.For shame,in 31 years not to learn to speak clearly.

John,that is EXTREMELY decent and kind of you to've gone through the trouble of making photos of this great bunch of stuff.I'll have to look at all this many times more,though already have learned a GREAT deal,this is absolutely fantastic.Thank you so much,and i'd love to ask some questions,by and by,as i try to process some of the impressions. Now i really see what you meant by rivets or BOLTS!Those are some cool bolts,for sure! I did switch tacks and gone with rivets,as what you've said made a lot of sense.I've also re-designed some other aspects(and may rethink more stuff based on these photos yet!). Thank you,so much. Beth,all that you say about pressure is an exellent thought,simply because the TACTILE approach is ever the most sensible.Ironwork in particular,just by looking at it one is almost physically quantifying all that mass,it's distribution,it's PRESSURE on this and that.So,yes,i'm as usual most impressed with your sagacity. Well,Beth,now it's my turn to sit it out on the sidelines,my forging time is up...(hell and damnation,it had to happen in the middle of that gothic project,the only thing this summer that i was really beginning to grow as a smith working on...). As you know i'm on strike against fiscal reality,and the strike-fund was at an end,i'll simply not make the winter this way. So,the net is in,the fish drying racks are partially built,and the waters of the Yukon have receeded enough to where my log rafts are now aground.I drove the truck close enough to the wood to actually be burning charcoal out of the new batch of driftwood,it was very worrysome to be going through the wood without ever replenishing it. The forging,for the next month,will be touch-and-go...Only in October i'll be forging around the clock again. Let's give the theory and the hypothesis hell,meanwhile!Make even these enforced abscences from the shop productive-we can do it!

Danger,you know by now how obnoxious and underhanded i am in my twisted opinions(and proud of it,to boot),i'd say that your doubts and trepidation are natural,and good,and proper,they're a part of the creative process. The public,their views and(Lord help us!)their opinions,are NOT:) They'll be there to Listen to YOU,to Learn from You(the smart ones),which is exactly why you're concerned and anxious,and very properly so.But the Public will never catch up that distance that you're ahead by,simply because it's not what they DO,for hours,and months,and years,and that's why they'll be there. The only thing useful that passes from them to you will be they keeping their mouths shut,again,them will be the smart ones. In actuality they'll be getting Something out of looking at your work,to whatever degree that each is able to do so.(That is the magic,or a part of,of an artistic creation,it violates the laws of physics by contributing something tangible without diminishing,and with no time limits...). There will hopefully be that one person with an ability to get lots out of it.That person will be rich,and he/she will then proceed to stingily compensate you for this sculpture.Hopefully,that compensation will be enough for you to last till the next piece is finished,et cetera.(The decent thing to do would be to just go ahead and endow the artist,so that one can just stop thinking about extreneous garbage such as bills,and stick to being creative,but that would never happen). Such is my nasty,admittedly,attitude.But i truly believe that.I've been to art shows,and know what takes place there.(I've been in a lot of weird situations in my weird life,like drawing bigger than life-size crucifictions and saints on the pavement,in chalk, in some of the largest european cities,crawling around on my hands and knees,collecting coppers in my filthy cap,usually in front of some masterpiece like the Sagrada Familia,in Barcelona...I've lived in New York and have been to many of a twisted art show in the fanciest galleries,also in Boston,where i snuck into and stole drawing lessons in the Boston Musem of Fine Art college...). So that just for a second there i spoke like an artist,an artist that we all are,but some of us are unwilling to admit to being,for reasons that we'll hopefully continue to discuss here,with you,my wonderful friends! I've conundrum,as i can think well(enough)in the afternoon,but it's also the middle of my work day.But if i wait till evening,my pea-brain is completely shrivelled up by then,and i hate it,not being able to do justice to this,a MOST valid discussion that often takes place here... Beth,thank you so much-those braces are way cool!That's fantastic that you notice stuff like that,i can really appreciate being observant in that very way.Structurally and artistically they,these braces,speak volumes,or can! And,of course,it goes without saying that you should tell us how any confrontation of yours with the public goes,if you can,please! And,just for the record,30 years in this country nonwithstanding,i speak exactly like the Count,on Sesame Street...(Do you guys watch it in England?)

It's completely calm and quiet sometimes,Beth,and violently nasty at others,and it can change as a matter of minutes.The range of conditions here is really vast.(A fiend just told me that apparently we already had a frost that killed her zucchini quite a while back now,couple of weeks...). Absolutely,Beth,that is our job,to litter the universe with our iron objects,in direct compliance with our mandate as creative folks.To pay homage to the Creator,and to puzzle and annoy everyone else! By the way,(speaking of annoying),i've remembered yet another proof of the correctness of the direction of the Bellybutton creed.This is from Patrick O'Brien:"The Captain drives his ship by an effort of his will,and the contractions of his belly muscles".See,surely in the Royal Navy they wouldn't practice a technique that wasn't worthwhile. Beth,the bracing sounds intriguing.As a smith AND a builder,i'd love to see any examples that you may come across,especially,as always,something that YOU've found interesting. And thank you,the fairytale allusion is flattering,and really is an important one.Wether one does or not have an annoying habit of over-intellectualisation(the second Mortal Sin,as per Aldous Huxley),stuff like studying Joseph Campbell is vastly important to an artist. Myth.Big part of the reality that the artist operates in.BIG!!!:)

Guys,i think that it's a great idea,i'll read the book and pass it on to Bryan,what can possibly make more sense? Bryan,darn,i thought that EVERYONE knew my coordinates,in Alaska for sure...Absolutely,please give Mark my e-mail(or i can just e-mail his shop),and my phone # here is 907-656-2183.I'll be happy to set Mark up with the gnarliest of the stuff imaginable,for furniture. Funny that you've ran into David B.,i heard that he wanted to try talking me into (the four-letter W word)for him,so it scared me out of my annual trip to check in with the Ruby crowd!He's a nice young fellow(i love that aging biz,now i can talk like an old codger!!!),and a really competent mechanic. Bryan,i know now that you've a tendency to kick yourself for not forging,i wouldn't do that.The infrastructure that you're building is important,many things in life,besides forging,are...It would be great if you'd get a chance to forge a few times a week,then your progress would be steady,and predictable,but some time between a rare manic episode of forging works too...It's all good. There's something constructive about being a psycho-smith,(my preferred method),but in many ways it's counter-productive too. I've been mulling over an idea of putting together an axe blank out of WI for you.The trouble is that WI is fibrous and wood-grain-like,and would be hard to slit without parting at the seams(and possibly impossible to drift).There's actually a neat axe posted by Tonn on the neighboring forum,check out the bottom of the eye on that,if you've a chance,that'll be what i mean. I can bend it in a U shape for you,then the drift can simply be inserted,as well as the steel bit.But,it'll put you before the necessity to make a major weld,at a VERY high temp,wasting an incredible amount of fuel... Really,the best thing would be for you to do both,or actually all three:A slit/drift in mild,a wrapped WI,and a solid steel axehead.Maybe we can get together on some of this in late fall-early winter. Beth,looks like my terrible secret is out.now...You've discovered that my part of reality has tore off from the rest of other people's,and is now drifting,helplessly,out in space!We still have some communication channels open,but even those signals are becoming weak! Cheshire Cat-like,a disembodied voice from the tore-off patch of reality,i like that!Here's a photo of the lovely morning fog,as the air is cooling off now,and in the morning the water is warmer.It IS lovely here often,sometimes,anyway...

Mick,the quality and precision of your craftsmanship is simply outrageous,and seeing all this in real life must be something else yet. I can only marvel at it,being of a scaled/black persuasion meself... Did you seam the trinket box in a straight line,and if so,was it very tough to weld a wide ring like that shut?Or,is it spiraled like a gun barrel? Thanks much for posting this,and such quality pictures,too!

Beth,dearest,i'd be absolutely overjoyed to welcome you,and your whole family here!It crossed my mind before,when reading about your frequent camping trips.It's,as you can well imagine,a complex issue: I'm as ignorant as it gets in monetary matters,but,i'd say that one doesn't have to be that rich to come here.There's a cheap-ish direct flight from Amsterdam to Fairbanks(a major international cargo hub,Fbks is),and once there i can find you friends to stay with,and take you around town for whatever you may need(i've actually have close friends that are not scum like me,but perfectly normal,well-ajusted people with kids,cars,cats,and even aspidistras(will have to think of who i know with an aspidistra...hmm...). Certainly here,on the River,you'd need no money at all.Rent/borrow/steal enough canoes for the family and you can be here in 4-5 days of easy paddling.And,once here,you're in God's Pocket! However,here's a bad side,the seamy underside of Alaska in general,and my stomping ground,the Western Interior,in particular:It's generally BLEAK...It ain't like the few nice photos that i take at times...The country is vast,and forbidding,the vegetation is stunted(not too many miles north lies the Arctic Circle),and the weather mostly sucks!It rained every day the whole summer,this year,just beginnimg to be nice now. And the bugs CAN be awful bad.Once,i helped friends guide an "eco-tour"down Yukon,we had 7 people out of which 3 were little kids.The gnats that year were outrageous,it was hard to breathe,impossible without the head-net.It was a kayaking trip,but the gnats were out over the river too.The kids,without the coordination enough to keep all the chinks out of their gear,looked like meat-balls at the end of each day,making their mother weep.Open,festering sores over the entire exposed area of skin,any part of your body... And stuff like that.BUT:There are,here and there,some marvelous periods.It would be hard to plan on,but possible. And i'd be MOST happy to help you plan anything of the sort!

Clay,thanks,they were fun to make.My camera really makes it look like crap,which is very unfortunate.That is some of that old chain,great stuff to work with,and the texture of it is very rich and cool looking. I'll get another handful done today,and off they'll go to Saint-Petersburg...About the last thing that i needed to be doing right now,but couldn't resist,vanity-wise,to ship this small order to the Old Country. Out great state,Alaska,is such a strange place,everything seems to be government,makes me feel sometimes that the bright age of communism has finally dawned,as i've been promised when i was little!So,it pleases me much to be exporting work oversees,from my funky facility beyond nowhere,to be actually productive,in the face of these funky times... B)

Michael,i'd have to say that your non-sculking is well justified-she's beautiful!And not at all abstract to me,either! Those joints are gorgeous,man,i absolutely envy you the idea of concieving to make them that way,as well as the GREAT satisfaction that you must be experiencing as it's coming together for you,coming alive! All that even quite apart from the sheer MASS of the parts,the sexually explicit joy of handling chunks of iron that big! Oh yea,that is VERY good,sir,very good indeed,and a very far cry from all that i've ever seen in this gauge work(so many sculptors come to large steel structures not through the venue of smithing,that they simply lack that vicseral understanding of Fe.The years of being fed,don't forget,have given you all that vast,intimate feel for the stuff(in as much as distorting small stuff comes close to the BIG stuff,not quite ever the same,but,at least you get an idea,right?) That is very,very neat to've looked at such photos of IRON this fine morn,thanks,man! Someday soon,when you're rich and famous,maybe you'd like to make a trip up here,i'd take you out on the River,we could go hunting or just camping,whiskey or tea,would love to have a long bs session about steel,and sculpture,and all of that!The internet is fabulous,but... There's a man in Fairbanks who some years back has bought the F.E.Mining Co.They used to be,and now he is,the largest private land-owner in the State.Anyway,he now owns their repair facilities that include the early 1900's shop equipped to repair their giant dredges,draglines,and all that.Repair as in fabricate all the parts(other than casting,never heard of them doing much of that themselves).The shop has a couple of Nazel-type machines,a 3 and a 4 ton,i believe,plus much other similarly sized metalworking toys.The shop is pristine,with all the tools still set up,and in very good shape. I've made feeble attempts to sneak my way in there somehow before,and may resume again,it'll depend on my smithing fortunes.But if i ever do get the use of similarly gauged stuff,and the werewithal to do something with it,i'd definitely try to get you to come up here to do something wild-build a giant sculpture of some sort. Hey,the AlCan is all paved now,you could have one gorgeous motorcycle trip up here Again,great going with that,Michael,all the very best to ya!