Woody

I am a crabby old man who does not suffer fools gladly.  I am  retired from 30+ years in Management and Safety in the Trucking Industry, and I was certified by the Department of Transportation to the highest level in Hazardous Materials Emergency Response.  YES, my Grandfather was a Blacksmith, really!  Go to the State of North Dakota website and search for "Conrad Segmiller" He was a Blacksmith for the Northern Pacific Railroad and he made Cemetary Crosses in his spare time.  His work can be found in over 20 Cemetaries in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.  He was trained as a blacksmith through the Apprentice Program in The German City of Stulz, Russia in what is contested land in the Ukraine today.  After the War of 1812 the Tsar Alexander came into possession of fast tracts of land in the Ukraine Stepps.  The Cossacks wanted the land, but he was afraid if he gave it to them, they would become too powerful and overthrow him.  He invited settlers from Germany to come and tame this wild land with the promise of free land much in the way the American West was homesteaded.  Unfortunately, the German Settlers did not assimilate themselves into Russian Society.  They built beautiful towns and terrific farms but retained their German Heritage and Language etc. So the entire area was a German enclave within Russia.  This would prove to be their demise because after the 1917 revolution that brought the Communists into power, those who fought for them asked where is this free land you promised us and they were told take it from the Germans.  The Germans were thrown out into the streets with what they could carry in many cases and with their household goods in others.  My Grandfather must have seen it coming because he emigrated, legally, to the United States and homesteaded near Regent, North Dakota and later went to work in his trade as a Blacksmith in the Car Shop of the Northern Pacific Railway in Dickenson, North Dakota. Unfortunately, he died before I was born, but from a very early age I was fascinated by the idea of Blacksmithing and I read whatever I could find on the Subject.  In about 1970 I began tinkering in blacksmithing.  I built my first forge out of a Japanese Hibachi and supplied air to it from the exhaust side of a Shop Vacuum and fired it with Charcoal Brickettes.  The first time I flipped the switch on the thing I kissed my eyebrows good bye and burned up a file that I intended to forge into a knife.  I finally retired 30 years later and bought a forge 2 pair of tongs and a 4 pound straight peen from my Uncle and started doing things wrong.  I have learned much over the last 25 years since I retired.  With the help of many fine Smiths like Jack Parks, Junior Strassil, Glenn, and Rich Hale I can turn out a handsome blade that is very sharp and functional.   Yes I made a Sword, No I won't make another one. I can do Damascus blades, either Cable or layered in various patters, twisted, raindrop, ladder pattern.  Plain old random pattern which I find kind of cool.   I have made Mokume Gane once and I will try again now that I have a press. Every now and then I get tired of just forging flat stuff and I get the urge to make something with a twist or a scroll or two and I have made 47 feet of railing for my patio deck that had twisted balusters with vines with flowers and leaves going across it.  Each 10 foot section had 60 some flowers and over 100 leaves.