Weekend Demo

[tlreif]

Just a little quickie. I have been volunteering at Old Cow Town Museum. The Blacksmith used to be a paid position. But with budget cut backs it is now volunteer. They contacted our club for help so I volunteered. This is the second weekend I have worked the shop. Both times they have requested tent stakes. I made these a little longer than the last ones as per their request. It takes about 15 minutes to forge one and is really a good demo for the public to watch. They can connect with the product and are willing to watch from beginning to end. Not that this is anything special but, seems to be a good demo project. Here are some pics.

[lordcaradoc]

Nice work. I think that volunteering at Living history and other shows like this is a key component to keeping interest in Blacksmithing high. Keep up the good work.

On a side note, those tent stakes look like a terrible failure, you should box them up and send them to me for immediate disposal.

Regards,
Tim

[Marksnagel]

Nice looking stakes. We are lucky that there are people willing to volunteer their time and knowledge. Thanks for sharing.

[pkrankow]

So...does the twist improve holding power or is it simply decorative.

nice looking.

Phil

[tlreif]

The stakes were long enough I thought they needed some decoration. Lol. But I have to believe that it would help the holding power as well.

[archiphile]

Used to go to Cow Town as a kid. Pretty cool to see that it is still in business. Nice twists on the steaks too.

[Ed Steinkirchner]

that is the key with demos, keeping interest. one of us could watch the entire forging of a hammer, or pair of tongs, or other longer projects to demonstrate, but the general public want to see some thing finished before their eyes. i volenteer at three events a year and i really enjoy it. atleast once at each of these events you have a kid or 2 stand and watch for a long time, then if you make them something and they see you make it it is all the better when you hand it to them. you just know you left an impression on them. that makes up for all of the "Do Ya Shoo Horses?" type questions.

Edward Steinkirchner

[pkrankow]

Can put some pineapple twists in a few and have variety! I suspect cube twists would be a bad idea, but incised twists and rope twists would probably go over well.

Phil

[mike-hr]

Those are real nice tent stakes. I know I'm in the minority, against the grain, etc., but that's sort of the definition of a blacksmith, right? I disagree with the 5 minute or less public demo paradigm. I know we live in a channel flipping, google your answer right now society. Folks ought to know, I've got a lot of labor in most of these pieces. If they want to watch for 5 minutes, great. Come back in an hour, I'll be farther along. There's customers out there that woudln't mind paying 20 bucks each for those stakes, be a great holiday present for their elk hunting cousin.

[CurlyGeorge]

If it weren't for volunteers at historic sites, some of them would be closed and lost. I volunteer at Abe Lincoln father's last home site. The state closed the site, a couple of years ago. The volunteers persuaded them to reopen and volunteer hours are up, now. But we saved the site. Those tent stakes look great. Keep on volunteering. :)

[chyancarrek]

Good on ya for donating your time and talents Tireif! Great looking stakes!

If it weren't for volunteers at historic sites, some of them would be closed and lost.

I did five years at the Ft. Vancouver National Historic Site and if it weren't for the volunteers, it would be just another collection of dead buildings with static displays.

So a hearty second to Curly . . . Keep on volunteering!!

[bigfootnampa]

Terrific job on those! I like the way that you have squared up the driven end to give a nice striking area! I make some out of 1/2" rebar and then can use the ridges as friction texture. I draw my top ends out more and twine the tips around the shank to make an eye instead of a hook. The drawing speed of my power hammer is the key though. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow. Rebar works well as the price is right and 1/2" is cheaper than 3/8" most of the time. Another thing that works well is just a rough hammer texture... gives a nice look and grips the ground. Just fuller it fast and then leave most of the humps and hollows as is.