"Of Shoes,and Ships,and Sealing Wax ..."

[ThomasPowers]

Back on after the weekend.

I liked the spoon especially as the part that would be hardest to keep clean, the little scrolls, is quite away from the area most likely to be in contact with food---the bowl.

As for finishing of cooking gear---a lot of it was allowed to "self finish" as it was exposed to heat and fats and smoke, etc in use.

As for hiding the welds. I see a lot of obvious welds in the old stuff from back in the hills in Arkansas. I think the "hide the welds" is more of an ornamental meme.

I'm making a "spider" for a large pot to support it over a fire so over the weekend when I could get out to the forge and it wasn't too hot, (the previous weekend we had 108 degF temps, 42 degC but extremely low humidity--14 % RH This weekend was 10 to 15 degF cooler but much more humid!) I bent some scrap 3/8" x 1.5" stock the hard way into a ring using a 11" x 1" piece of scrap round with a hole in the center as the form. Stuck it on the end of a large log and put in a lag bolt as the stop to hold the end as I pulled and hammered it around using the propane forge.

Last night I fired up the coal forge and welded the overlap and sized it to the same thickness as the rest using the screw press. I did not try to hide the weld as none of the originals I've see did so either. I did use a method I've read about in a 120 year old smithing book of putting a rivet in to hold the pieces exactly where I wanted them making the weld a lot easier.

No problem welding though it had to go high in the fire as my forge was set up for a different task. Used coal for fuel and borax/boric acid for flux.

Next step is to forge weld the legs on.

Re the gate: Beth, have you thought of adding copper accents? Perhaps symbols of the trinity (clover leaf, pretzel, etc)?

Also gates in general need a diagonal strap to keep them from sagging---especially if any little kids decide to "ride the gate" Can you work that into the design (if you were in Scotland a St Andrews cross would be just the thing...) Far better to work it into the design than to have it added later and conflict with the design---also a reputation for being able to make gates that don't sag is a good one to have!

If the gate will be exposed to weather it is a good idea to make the ironwork easily detachable to allow the wood to be refinished without messing up the ironwork---and vice versa!

[jake pogrebinsky]

Right on,Thomas,sounds like you're having a good AND productive time.

Absolutely,a rivet through the lap-weld,or any other one that would take that,helps a great deal.

Welding under a press is cool,right kind of force.Never tried it,but my friend and mentor Phil apparently used a funky,foot-operated bolt heading vice for welding.The thing had quite a bit of leverage,and was about right for the task-and,left you both hands to hold the parts,too.

I like your idea of having the iron panel in the gate removable,that'd be slick.MAY not be too much extra work involved,depending on how well it's thought-out.

Beth,i still can't believe how impressive that ceiling arch-work is...The rest of the cathedral must be equally psychedelic(I like and value this term,and use it in it's original coinage(by Aldous Huxley)as in,fr.greek,"mind-manifesting".Particularly applicable to gothic cathedrals,i think,but it's just me).

I'm a bit too wiped after a day of forging to get too imaginative in re:to all the dirty and wonderfull ways of WI.I'll just quickly run through the current project.

I trimmed the axe-head,and slitted it deeply,over 1",to accepr the 1095 bit(plain carbon steel,.95%C,just in case).I deliberately wanted nothing but C in there,as i felt that i was already over-working that chunk of WI,and battling Cr in the weld seemed an odious chore.

It welded fine,was easy,really,like any cleft-weld usually is:When the parts first come up to heat,one can push them together against the side of forge,And the point sticks,making it one unit to manipulate.

Anyway,i'll put a few photos lower,of the simple sequence of weld-trim-hot-rasp,et c.

Towards the end i began suspecting that i've wasted these last two days,and 50 or so lbs of charcoal.After normalising and cooling,my suspicion grew into certainty(the last shot below).

Now,it was a failure of instinct AND of method both,and in two ways:I'm very attached to that arched design feature of these axes,but was too lazy to make a proper bottom-tool.Instead,fullering with a too-sharply radiused object i've sent a damaging vibratory force right at the achilles'heel of this specific shape.
The final straw was the HARMONICS.Never shall a smith underestimate the harmonics in a given piece.We all were rank beginners not so very long ago,bouncing leaves off of the damaged,chewed-up/overheated(brash,the old term)fullered stems.It was a learning curve.
I am ashamed of myself,but here we have it-i lost this one through thoughtlessness and overworking.
Now,WI is particularly sensitive that way(layers of Si are a mineral,and vibrate differently),and i'd LIKE to think that with modern,homogenious mild steel i'd done better,but,that's not necessarily a fact.
Now,or tomorrow rather,i'd love to escape back into the non-critical,the decorative stuff(especially now,greatly inspired by Beth's photo of the cathedral!).But,i think i may start on a different type of an axe-head instead,one needs to get back in the saddle,to let the hoss know who's driving here ))

They say that Chinghis-Khan's name,Temujin,means "the look in the eye of a horse when the rider looses control".

I won't have my own forge look at me that way :)

[beth]

ha ha ! i feel your pain jake but it is quit e funny! my forge and everything else in my life come to that looks at me with That Look!!! its a lesson learned i guess, i want to hear more about what you mean harmonics do you mean the vibrations through the head when hit like a musical instrument? i love the thought of the decorative non critical stuff- sometimes the pressure of the other stuf overwhelms.... i like thomas your idea about removing the panel too, but as soon as jake refers to caareful planning i come out in a cold sweat. planning thinking of everything is not my forte - which is why i ask you lot for help.... i really am very grateful.
jakje im so glad you appreciate the cieling - i thought that you would which i swhy i posted it - i am indeed very lucky to have this on my doorstep, and like i said i had not been for years and the exhibition drew me in. i think i went 4 times to see the work but also to drink in this archetecture. it makes the hairs on my arms stand on thier ends - it really Is Psychadelic - and i too use the correct original meaning its a great word and life shouldbe as psychadelic as possible i have always thought. this stuff is the stuff of dreams - imagine living under this level of decoration. .... gothic rules - we agree! i was looking for a picture i found of some extremely groovy plaster cielings too, andi will carry on to look more becuase i think you would like that too.
keep thinking about that temujin that is very funny/alarming!

i like the idea of welding on the press thomas - and would love to see the photos of the work if you have them - i must get the youngest to shcool now - i am thouroughly enjoying this thread btu keep looking at breakfast when i am not equipped mentally or in terms of time to answer coherently..:)

[jake pogrebinsky]

Beth,you know me now for the bs artist that i am...beg pardon,poet,that's right-i've a poetic vision of metallurgy!

So,this is a part of the greater vision:Some say that forging is clay-like,and that you can model it in clay,i'm not sure about that.

What i THINK is happening is that a shock wave get sent through the piece,rearranging it's insides,as well as the logical and visible outsides

I read/heard tell that you can't work over 5/8" by hand,as i've mentioned before.(Very roughly,and speaking in principle only).How is it known,that a hypothetical limit exists?

Well,here's how:When struck,a section of iron must form an UPSET(a convex shape).If you lack force for an upset,which proves that your blow penetrated the entire chunk,you'd be riveting,mushrooming the top and,to a lesser degree,the bottom of your work(Forming a concavity).There's a problem with that right there:The iron on top and bottom was displaced relative the middle,if you were to keep doing that,it'll have to form some inner shear-lines(besides all the other weird issues,imagine some chunk of steel with a fish-mouth on each of it's four sides*).In other words it'll be WAY weird to try to move metal without moving the middle of the chunk(though that is what the twists do).

All that is one issue,just offering a glimpse into the weirdom of it all.
Another way of seeing this is working with a freaky device called the propane forge.
It gets so much of the stock hot,that it begins to whip around,as you cannot possibly hold or support it all.It does that in some interesting ways.You right away notice the simpler stuff,like the distribution of weight,by the movement of the more heavy/bulbous parts.
Holding long stock under the power hammer is interesting,too.

And now,not able to say anything of substance physics-wise,i'd suggest one to look up a diagram of a sword vibratory nodes.And how the vibration travels radially out of several,not even one,of those nodes,crossing and recrossing.

I don't want to talk around in circles(like those vibrations),my thesis is poetic,but simple:Shock waves kill kidney stones!!!They can hurt your forgings,as well!!! :P

[jake pogrebinsky]

And here're some leaves,Beth.The south bank of the Yukon behind the leaves is actually a giant island,separated by the slough the mouth of which is visible.
Anyway,as i look due south,the light is from behind me,in the north.It's what the photographers call the "magic hour",when the light's very flat in angle.It was right about midnight when i took these.It's almost a month past solstice,but it's still is light all night,and will be for a while yet.
In a way,we all live near or in the Cathedral,one way or another,it's just important to remember to see it!
That's why it's so important to have good taste in ironwork-otherwise,it's unsuitable for the cathedral! :P

[Dillon Sculpture]

You defiantly reap the benefits of natures beauty, I'm sure you also have seen her wrath.

Here is a link for the ripple effect.

http://vimeo.com/3001833

[bigfootnampa]

Ahh well that one seems lost BUT... being wrought iron bodied may allow it to be salvaged. IMO you have fullered that arch too deeply anyway... so I suggest that you weld extra material to that weak area and reshape it to give a slightly shallower arch. Hopefully the existing material will also be welded back together during the process and with the new material added be reasonably strong. You might want to step back though and do it in a few days when the sting of failure has worn off... maybe make another from scratch in the meantime. Just a suggestion... I too am a stubborn craftsman. I have found that my incipient failures often result in some of my finest works! I believe that this is because of the intense concentration that I then bring to bear and the way that the need for new thinking tends to create originality in the work (beyond my normal levels of original thinking). My discovery of this counter-error effect changes the paradigm, regarding what is worth salvaging, significantly.

I don't believe in taking no for an answer BUT I have learned that listening to ones materials connects one to reality in a way that theory and stubborn determination cannot. A painter suggested that the best paintings are more of a conversation between the artist and the imagery/medium... and we all know that good conversation is a two way communication... in other words... if the artist is doing all the talking the whole conversation tends to become uninteresting. This seems TRUE to me in woodworking, blacksmithing and other contexts as well. Sooo... stop fighting your WI material and learn to work as a teammate with it Jake. This seems to relate closely to the zen of forging which your search for inspired this thread to begin with.

[ThomasPowers]

There is an engineering concept of DfX (Design for Manufacturing, Design for Installation, Design for Maintenance, Design for Safety, etc) Many of us already tend to design things in ways that we can make them. Some of us look ahead to how we are going to install them; a whole lot of us fall down in how they will be maintained and get bushwhacked by safety standards our work must meet; but we didn't know about.

As an example I often suggest hand forged stainless for areas where rust might be a big concern and where I doubt proper maintenance will occur.

I like to design on the fly at the forge sometimes too and would probably have a "disposable" plywood gate form that I could pile elements on and horse them around till I got what I wanted---disposable as some may be hot as you figure out "is this bend *right*?"

While waiting for final dimensions it can be a good time to start prototyping elements you want to use---also gives you physical examples to show to the client and then keep as part of your design portfolio---or give to the client to show off your work in their office.

[beth]

firstly jake - i understand mostly all you said about shock waves - and i can visualise what you mean. (also - yes that stone work is iron to isn't it?! )i don't know what your talking about the propane forge and the whipping about - so when you got a minute...
also i love your photos - wowzers can't believe that is midnight or thereabouts!!!!!!!!!! stunning beauty of your surroundings - you indeed have your own cathedral on your doorstep ( mine is a few miles away) (and actually is not really Mine strictly speaking ) and i have to say the outdoors cathedral available to all of us and which i access everyday (i so value the use of my legs) with my dogs is the ultimate in divine celestial beauty - to rival the best and most wonderful places of worship also its constantly changing! there is much to be said for appreciating what iS under our noses - and what is under our noses normal to us,often amazes other people eh? your view, jake , is a Precious Gem! i can't believe the light......
i think the thing about the stone cathedral compared to nature , is that man has made this with all his faults and impatience and ugly thoughts and bad temper and stubborn laziness and arguing all that stuff and has won a pretty good battle there against that look in the horses eye! nature does it naturally..... left to its own devices nature cannot really get it wrong....
DANGER - thanks for the link, i have watched about half of it but my sound is down on the computer and I'm frustrated i can't hear what he is saying - the movement of that stuff is staggering and so precise - i want to show one of my sons in [articular because he will get that, and he may even sort my sound prob ! i have never made a moving kinetic kind of sculpture, but i often look at wind powered beautiful things and wonder if i will do something like thAT...

BIG FOOT I AGREE that often the best works come out of those freaky nightmarishly gone wrong things - and your frustrated brain is forced to travel a different path. there are limits to this though and sometimes it is best to throw it as far away as you can! i imagine you will be annoyed enough to come back to that axe jake?

THOMAS thanks for your advice - ido find this stuff difficult, thinking of everything i need to remember. what i like to do is work as an artist (ie nothing i make can be WRONG!) but i also long to make functioning objects of lasting beauty... my time will come. this forum is a huge resource for somebody like me thanks guys :)

[jake pogrebinsky]

Michael,thank you for the link(i'll try to watch it,videos are tough to load here),i knew you'd be the man to know about this kind of wild effects!It's amasing how diverse your interest in metalwork is,i'm envious!
Of course you're right about the exposure of my shack to the elements,it takes a beating in every storm,they all come from S,SE,and it's hard to sleep for the noise,and the snow drifts inside through the cracks and piles of it grow on the floor!

Clay,likewise,thanks for the support.You bring up a number of things well worth thinking about.
You're right that barking up that WI tree has consequences,i'm just not sure that i've much choice...Like with many things here it's all backwards:I've a carefully hoarded stash of nice,new 1020 sort of steel,but not even close to enough.WI i've got out the yazoo,and it offers such a challenge!

A long-forgotten quote from the inimitable H.S.T. is running through my head this morning:"When the going gets weird,the weird turn pro..."

[jake pogrebinsky]

Just read again what you've written,Clay,and there's so much more in it than my hurried answer this morning may indicate.Some VERY important thoughts,indeed...I'll go and light up,and think on it more at the anvil.

Likewise,Thomas,Beth,i often don't indicate just how much i get out of our conversations,but i do,ido indeed,and thank you most sincerely.

[beth]

yes a fact filled and thought provoking thread. NIce can i just recap something from earlier- jake you said about the forge welding - not even neciserily on burning fuel.... i still am not quite clear on this reducing oxygen etc thing and exactly what my fire should be trying to achieve...... it often takes me ages to catch on about what you lot are talking about with some of the terms.. i dont learn particularly fast with the written stuff - takes a while! (so you've all got to come over here and physically show me!) also the whole short hot cold short whatever thing! please can someone explain what that is? that would be great cheers ! love the HS quote jake- gives one hope:)

[beth]

jake just looked on your profile and at all your photos - you got some lovely shots there - some questions - which i was going to squeeze on your profile but may as well go on here - the meat hung up - are you just drying it or will you smoke it? whats going on there and what meat is it? loads of lovely skid s- i really like the photographs . the ice burgy ones are great as is the bright blue night one with moon.. also are those ferrets on the logs etc ? you call them polecats? do you hunt with them? my daughter has two but she trains them and plays with them and makes obstacle courses etc, she is quite blood thirsty and is keen to go rabbeting with them tho... we will see... its not quite the same where i live - as you can see i am keen for a lifestyle more like yours! am amazed and pleased to see the bears - do you get a lot near you? i have quite a thing about bears mainly the shape and body language of them and would love to hear any tales you might have of interaction with them!. are those all your dogs? :)

[jake pogrebinsky]

Beth,very briefly for now(checking in while the charcoal process's taking it's time).

The atmosphere,the environment in your forge must simply have more Carbon(coal) than Oxygen(air blast).(The synonyms of this are "reducing a.",also "rich").

It's good for any forging in general,but especially for welding.

In practical terms:If you have an X amount of coal burning in the forge,give it the minimum possible blast to achieve needed temp.

So that sets up a proportion:If you find yourself needing more temp,you need to increase the amount of Carbon,coal,under your work,as you also increase the blast.

The "hot-short"-ness,and it's evil twin the "cold-",is only out of the weird archeometallurgy that some of us are foolhardy enough to meddle in.Totally disregard all that.


You have,in England,access to iron that makes all the ridiculous WI exercises obselete.
What John B uses in his work a lot,from what i understand,from Pureiron,their successors,or the like.

[beth]

yes we do have access to something very near pure ( i think) john will give you the facts . . . i don't have it myself for now... thanks for that - so deep and hot with little as poss blast. thats ok and as you have said disregard the other weird stuff, i certainly will!

[John B]

yes we do have access to something very near pure ( i think) john will give you the facts . . . i don't have it myself for now... thanks for that - so deep and hot with little as poss blast. thats ok and as you have said disregard the other weird stuff, i certainly will!

Hi Beth, and Jake, the company that supplies the Pure iron rolled sections can be found here http://www.legg-brothers.co.uk/ They do export to the US, but funnily enough do not specifically mention pure iron in their schedules, I think mainly because they just treat the rolled sections as a spec for any materials they can supply (Pure iron being only one of many)

For the blade makers and other agricultural 'smiths some of the rolled sections may be of interest, they roll edge sections for sickles, hacking knives, billhooks, spiral mower blades and many other variations used in other industries, horseshoe sections, railroad rail, etc etc.

Beth, if you are attending the Forgein/Barbecue weekend at Westpoint on August 20th and 21st I have some pure iron you can try and also some brochures there if you want further information.

[jake pogrebinsky]

I think that of all the info that passed here you put it best,Beth:"Nice-deep-hot fire,and a minimum blast to keep it as hot as you need it"-perfect.
I could add the old "rule"(supersition,possibly,or not,not enough physics under my belt to tell),that you want to make the weld on the rising temp,as you're bringing it higher,not the other way...

Beth,usually,when there's a ton of meat around here it's a moose,sometimes bear,but it'll look much smaller compared to the large moose chunks.I can and do make dry meat,used to,before i moved here to the village(for a number of years i was quite feral...),but i eat it too xxxx fast to make it worth the bother.
Smoking meat or fish does not actually contribute to preservation,only the flavor and keeping the bugs off.Which can be useful,on occasion of wrong weather for the meat to keep,but not long term.I do smoke fish,but it's mainly also a drying process,that's how it gets preserved,by evaporating the moisture that the bacteria needs to sustain it's life.

That is WAY COOL that your kids actually ferret,with ferrets!In the photos is only a humble feral short-tail weasel(ermine,actually,is one of it's common names .I tried to make friends with it(her,probably,as the males are transitory),by petting her,and she flipped the hell out,and screeched deafeningly,and showed me all her teeth!She never did come inside after that,made me feel like a moron,for making such an obviously unwelcome pass at her...


I like bears too,and enjoy watching them out somewhere in the neutral territory.If they come around to my camp(when i lived in camp),it inevitably ended badly.They don't come to my place here,now,though they do manage to get themselves shot at people's houses around Galena on occasion,not often.Only one this summer(that i heard of,anyway).The ones that i took the photos of at the village dump are black bears,Ursus americanus(that means that there are no brown bears around,as these would disappear immediately).They ARE neat critters,i love watching them,but they're totally untrustworthy.Very dangerous in a sneaky sort of way,they'd take a kid,or a dog,or anything that they think they can get away with,and do it with lightning speed.They're immensly strong and fit,and no human can be a match for even a small blackie(that's why no one takes chances with them,and dispatches them as soon as they come around the house).

The dogs are my old team,gone now but for two of them hanging about.They were good dogs,and i was a slave to them for oh,12-14 years,or more(there were others before).300 fish caught,dried,and stored per dog,a year.I mostly had 7-8 at a time,and it made for a lot of work.(Using dogs for transportation is also work,it's ALL nothing but work ).Now,i at least have the time to forge

I tacked on a few shots of the king salmon fishing season earlier this summer.They're so fat,that they need to be cut up in very small strips to dry.They do get smoked some,not much,just for flavor.Prepared like that,the folk name for it here is (the politically correct)"squaw candy" The last two photos are of chum(or dog)salmon,that was the primary dog feed here historically,and the beginning of my dog fish drying operation this summer.Even with 2 dogs i'll need about 500 fish.

A part of the summer chum run is very good quality fish.The commercial fishermen down river had a good season,so far,excellent,really.The majority of the market for chum this year is...England (it maybe called "keta" there,the industry's trying to shake that "dog" association)

[jake pogrebinsky]

I must've been writing concurrent with you,John.Thanks for that link,i MAY become solvent one of these years ,or get hired to do a special job.I hear that the stuff is truly wonderful,especially for welding.

Brief report on today's masochistic exercise.

Another chunk of the same material.This one had a hole throgh it,so i decided to try using that hole,as the stock with no holes in that construction is few.The hole was drilled,i was glad to see,so that i wasn't scared of the possible distortion around it.

I slit it back from the hole,and drew the two resultung parts out.

Welded in the poll,as before,but still had lengh of sides left,so i wrapped them around and welded them over the poll,like a package.

It was a gruesome,nightmarish weld,as it included more than one dimention.I opened and closed it a number of times,but eventually prevailed.

To make a short story long,i did end up with a usable tool,this time.(Unless i burn it tomorrow welding in a steel bit).
It's an adze,in case it looks weird to anyone.I always wanted to build one in this,the scandinavian style,with a narrow axe-eye.

I like the cute rounded way that the poll came out.The whole deal at this point is 750 g.If i'm successful welding on the bit i'll radius the thing as a gutter adze.

[beth]

firstly john - thanks very much - i predictably cannot come on that date - would very much have liked to, it is one of my children's birthday that weekend and we are all tied up with that. this is what i get for having had too many children.... no time left.... i did get a small sample when i went to the factory but horrifyingly have mislaid it... am very ashamed about that - it will be in the workshop somewhere and may turn up when i have a thorough tidy up which has been a long time coming and is becoming urgent. jake the factory john is talking about we visited and it was fascinating i think there was a thread about it on here will try to locate it - there were some pictures on there - I'm sure it would interest you. it was old skool and very haphazard - for this country anyway - and v interesting..
thanks for all the info - really cool - i think you should pesist with the weasel creature - they are tameable and rewarding when finally tame! my daughter dolly does not yet have the rabbeting skills but i will take her further on in the year and see what we can do with some nets etc. what method do you use for catching that amount of fish? we fish here but only in short bursts and for far fewer fish, usually trout. you must have a fair amount of skill for the salmon??? funny that we get the doggie fish!! some would be horrified! whats your ground like? do you grow much?

the work today looks brill - looks so tricky to weld i am very impressed - glad this one went well, horse looking straight ahead today i liked a lot of the work on your album (oddly my albums all got deleted off here - not that there was an awful lot on there of interest, but they all disappeared on one of the upgrades) i really like one of your clothes hanging things, the one with a big line of sticking out flowers ontop. all your things have a good look about them. i thought the belt buckle was cool too - so simple. and also the padlock - groovy

just had a conversation with my friend and she is keen to elevate her painting to a higher place, away from the paranoia inducing craft area .. always a sticky issue, craft/art - especially if you've had an art 'education' (which i have by the way - am not slating it just labelling it) i struggle to put one higher than the other really, although i know the majority puts fine art into another category. why must they differ/compete? julia said that the art Must be more considered and have a criteria.... she said Art has something more than craft which sets it apart because it has been intellectually considered.. but can't you have Art that is pure instinct? and craft that has been intellectualised? and couldn't you have both? what do you think about the whole criteria thing - immediately i want to know who's criteria and how did they measure..

[Old N Rusty]

Wow guys what a fab thread! So fascinating! Beth, I know now that "putting on the Ritz" is not your "cup of tea" Good on you girl! It amazed me to discover that there ARE some English ladies left there in the "old country" that can still survive and prosper without an electric kettle, and telly. Do tell! Jake you live, and (it seems) do well on the last frontier. A bit of that frontier spirit lives on here in the bayou country of Louisiana, certainly a different climate to challenge a outdoorsman, but it is deep in our genes that IF life throws us too many "obstackles" you do not have to meekly take it. You CAN take the pirouge, (boat) some hooks and line and of course your guns, and "get out of dodge". Few do, but it is possible, and somehow reassuring. Ok' I cannot add too much more to this thread without showing my absolute ignorance, so I will only say "Good on Ya" the both of you PAX

[beth]

hey rust y have not talked for a while - yes its strange modern life hold s very little appeal to me, i find it whole heartedly disappointing ... but i have to admit to recently buying AN ELECTRIC KETLE!! its quite hard when having being out and the fire is low,( my workshop is not at home, a fact which i moan about constantly inside my head although realise I'm lucky to have o ne at all..) i can wait for my cup of tea, but when i need to cook, and the kids have to get out somewhere they wan t to go, i can't do something simple like pasta cos you can't cook pasta on a slow boil. ,..SO i now have the luxury of an electric kettle - i stubbornly found an old 1970's ali one with no off switch( you have to watch it carefully) but it has an aesthetic quality of sorts that i can cope with in my kitchen arrangement! . reminds me of the dinner ladies kettle at school... so i use it for pasta really! i actually think that most people find modern life a bit spiritually void, and deeply unfulfilling but they haven't realised yet!

has made me think of the whole workshop at home thing - i need this really ( as a mother who has to stop start stop start all day long for one thing or another) because you can look at this stuff two ways . lots of people on here are 9-5 or whatever at the workshop and then go home and forget it, cos they are serious earners in this dept. i m not really tho, and i look at it as a lifestyle choice and my art, i want it to fit in when the time is right, whereas when i go to the workshop i have to look at the clock, and i have to work for the hours i have then come back, this SSSeriously does not work for me. i want to drift in and out of the shop as the mood and need takes me. is an organic approach to time, and is what i sincerely wish for at some stage. what do you think?

[Old N Rusty]

Beth I am sure if upon waking you found yourself on the bayou, or Jakes tundra, you could make it and prosper! let things FLOW do not try to rush anything, ESPECIALLY forge welding. Endeavor to persevere.

[yesteryearforge]

Im with the others
Very refreshing to read a thread actually about real world blacksmithing

Mike

[ThomasPowers]

We live in a house that is passive solar heated with wood back up and my wife finally found a 40 year old propane kitchen range that *looks* like an old wood burning range. (they make new ones that are made like a wood burning range and converted to run on propane; but they were out of budget for us) Then when my wife found out how fast the old range went through propane she bought an electric kettle as a lot of propane was just spent boiling water. Now for things like pasta we boil water in the kettle and then switch to a pan on the stove to "finish".

As much as many of us smiths are romantics I do feel that we shoulf remember what Kipling said:

The King

"Farewell, Romance!" the Cave-men said;
"With bone well carved he went away,
Flint arms the ignoble arrowhead,
And jasper tips the spear to-day.
Changed are the Gods of Hunt and Dance,
And he with these. Farewell, Romance!"

"Farewell, Romance!" the Lake-folk sighed;
"We lift the weight of flatling years;
The caverns of the mountain-side
Hold him who scorns our hutted piers.
Lost hills whereby we dare not dwell,
Guard ye his rest. Romance, farewell!"

"Farewell, Romance!" the Soldier spoke;
"By sleight of sword we may not win,
But scuffle 'mid uncleanly smoke
Of arquebus and culverin.
Honour is lost, and none may tell
Who paid good blows. Romance, farewell!"

"Farewell, Romance!" the Traders cried;
Our keels ha' lain with every sea;
The dull-returning wind and tide
Heave up the wharf where we would be;
The known and noted breezes swell
Our trudging sail. Romance, farewell!"

"Good-bye, Romance!" the Skipper said;
"He vanished with the coal we burn;
Our dial marks full steam ahead,
Our speed is timed to half a turn.
Sure as the ferried barge we ply
'Twixt port and port. Romance, good-bye!"

"Romance!" the season-tickets mourn,
"~He~ never ran to catch his train,
But passed with coach and guard and horn --
And left the local -- late again!"
Confound Romance! . . . And all unseen
Romance brought up the nine-fifteen.

His hand was on the lever laid,
His oil-can soothed the worrying cranks,
His whistle waked the snowbound grade,
His fog-horn cut the reeking Banks;
By dock and deep and mine and mill
The Boy-god reckless laboured still!

Robed, crowned and throned, he wove his spell,
Where heart-blood beat or hearth-smoke curled,
With unconsidered miracle,
Hedged in a backward-gazing world;
Then taught his chosen bard to say:
"Our King was with us -- yesterday!"

Thomas

[jake pogrebinsky]

:P I WANT AN ELECTRIC KETTLE!Man,i love dem things...Sit there nice and comfortable,while waiting for coffee,instead of grubbing in the yard for burnables,feeling like a large dung beetle(Maybe i AM a large dung beetle?See,i really need that coffee in the morning,before coffee i cannot quell all these terrible Kafka doubts about who i really am...).
No,nevermind the electric kettle,because possibly,even probably,very soon i won't have electricity for it.Or coffee.And all that stands to reason(see "Guns,Germs,and Steel",Jared Diamond,for why).
Folks,we're on dangerous ground here,it'd be extremely easy for me to say something that you'd find absolutely horrifying,Beth,we really must tread very carefully,and not romanticise what i do here:It's considered(and is)marginal for a reason,and there's much to it that is sad,hopeless,and just plain hard.And,it won't end well.(The retirement program of a worn-out river-rat is not different than that of a used up sleddog).But,judiciously avoiding certain issues,i'll post some neat photos on occasion,tell about some of the interesting,good things about this amasing place!

Beth,i'm so sorry:With my dumb joking i've undone years of marketing strategy by the fishing industry!I didn't mean it that way!Actually,chum,or keta,is an excellent fish,bar none.Here,this run,they reach already spawned-out,but it's not the case down at the Yukon delta,350 miles down river.There,the same run are silvery,fat,and wonderful fish in every respect,fresh out of salt water.(We'll have our turn here in a few weeks,with the fall run,the main fish harvested here for winter by people).Also,the Japanese,these perfectionist fish-fanciers,consider the Yukon River chum salmon THE best salmon period,and they really do know their fish.
Give it a few weeks,and i'll have to leave the forging till October,and i'll post some photos of fall chum,they're beautiful fish.

I catch them with a 150' gill-net,the "wall of death" It's not very challenging,though i do like fishing,and have always been a fair fisherman,it's also mostly a bunch of hard,often unrewarding labor.
Cutting fish is something else that i enjoy,human and dog feed both,though it's considered woman's work around here.But,as an official madman/village idiot i'm forgiven a lot I'd never be as good at it as some old women around here,it's simply astounding how skilled they're at it,but i like it a lot,and get better every year.

Beth,to incert my confused thought into the old "Art World vs World of Art" argument i'd say that the concept of creativity is often left out of equation.
The creative person,be they an abstract painter,or someone that embroiders doilies,or an old village drunk who doesn't do a xxxx thing,they all DO something for the soul,it seems.People are attracted to them perhaps because it reminds one that the world is dynamic,it's interesting,it's the Creation,vs the drudgery that is so easy to fall into in the course of going about one's life...
And a creative person does everything creatively,wether it's craft,or raising children,or teaching Art,it really doesn't matter that much...
I'm reminded of one friend i have here,Brother Justin.He's a monk(a Dominican,i think),and what he does,his vocation and avocation,is Heating and Refrigeration!It just amuses the hell out of me,but in a very hearfelt and respectful way,the H&R monk!He's wonderful at what he does,and is much loved around here.And reminds me that the world is such an interesting,psychedelic place!So,i cherish Brother Justin as one of my favorite artists :P