love the guns repaired sign too on that one macbruce...

(Don't forget the "and they used tons of spices to cover the taste of rotten meat"---to which I general ask---"were spices cheap?" "No they cost as much as gold!"....."So they used spices that cost many times more than the cost of buying a cow to cover the taste of cow meat going bad?????" Socratic method....)

I like the picture of the centaur talking to his orthopedist.

Who dreams up these kinds of things? This one's for sale by me @$50.00 plus shipping. The glass container still has some after shave lotion in it. The hammer/lid is cast plastic.

Hey I have one of those! Bought it off of ebay when I drew a smith in a Secret Santa exchange. Sent a Yellin book instead when I saw how cheezy it was. Still use and refill it. One showed up in a Iron in the Hat recently.

why is it all blacksmith toys, paintings and statues have a blacksmith with a hammer in one hand and a pair of tongs holding a
horse shoe. that's kind of annoying for sure :rolleyes: <_<

Well folks that make these things are lazy and ignorant, they don't do research other than watch some old cowboy movies or episodes of Gunsmoke and they therefore assume that is what a blacksmith looked like and what he made. A lot of these men went to work in a three piece suit, tie and white shirt. They took pride in their craft and in their person. There is a big difference between farriers, blacksmiths, locksmiths, wainwrights, wheelwrights and any of the other trades that used the hammer and anvil in their daily trades. I guess that you could say that these artists and sculptors are somewhat derelict in their duty to portray the facts correctly in their art and that the advertising executives are like wise catering to the populations general concept of what a blacksmith did in the day bygone. It is easier to tell a falsehood than the truth when it comes to making money for some folk.

Yeah, better nutrition allows folks to grow taller. And yeah again, it wasn't till fairly recently, less than 100 years, wverybody drank beer, water wasn't safe. Human civilization was built on beer, the oldest city thus far discovered has breweries and beer halls, they predate kitchens and eateries.

Agreed, farriers are well trained craftsfolk with more formal schooling than many trades.

I love the sculpture John, just winning it is enough to push a student to exceed the normal pace.

When I was about 12-13 there were miniature tools in the toy and hobby shops. Three were more hand tools than I knew existed and the power tool toys had moving parts for the main functions that is, lathes had turning headstocks, presses pressed, etc. It was years later I realized the blacksmithing tools extended beyond the anvils, forges, hammers, tongs and such, there were power hammers of several types, pneumatics and mechanicals. Had I known something I would've bought some in spite of Dad's discouragement regarding blacksmithing. He was a depression age kid and couldn't see any point in learning a non paying trade.

I haven't seen one of the mini tools in decades and am now kind of bummed.

Frosty The Lucky.

John B:
Are the two figures forged or cast ?

even Lego has a blacksmith shop. The first Guild of blacksmiths was 1650 in England and 1680 the farriers and wheel writes had formed there own guild. I tell people the are 3 different trades. That is 100 years before the USA was formed. That what you see in pictures was out of necessity and as cities grew so did blacksmiths and when the car hit the road they changed again.

Frosty, I have seen some trip hammers and power hammers from German manufacturers at one of the hobby stores that run off of steam. They are run off of a wide flat belt for the trip hammer and steam for the power hammer from one of those alcohol fired boilers. Expensive just doesn't begin to describe the cost of these items, sure not when I sold for what the boiler and power hammer would have cost plus tax, and I'm not sure that would be enough.

Found this surfing about, it was made to run off of a mini steam engine.........

Just built this a couple of weeks ago, the only non construction woodworking I've done in a while now.

Note the lack of horsehoes.

vid in action here

http://www.flickr.co...N04/7590827446/

It would be cool if the speed of the smiths hammer blows would give an indication of the wind speed. Untill you got tired of the mini anvil ringing 24/7 :o

I have a mini anvil and hammer, visible here:



Seen a few of them at garage sales over the years, not sure if its intended as a door knocker or a paper weight.

Next version of this will be in sheet steel, with a striker swinging a sledge alternating with the smith. That one might be noisier.

Beth if you have time take a look at http://hansoncustomknives.com/demonstration.html the material in that story comes from a 3 day demo during Wild West Days at the Journey Museum in Rapid City, SD Yes they really do say those things.

John B:
Are the two figures forged or cast ?

Sorry Larry, only just picked up this post, the whole thing is forged. The figurines are of Frank Day, our Guild's founder, and the apprentice is Paul Allen who he taught and many will know and have been taught by Paul at Hereford, and/or Salisbury where he worked for CoSIRA

There are panels around the base that depict stages in Frank's working life, from Apprentice to the Worshipful Companies first Licentiate.



All these pieces/bits were made by some members of our Guild who Frank taught. Robert Hobbs made the figurines, coordinated and assembled the entire project. He was awarded a Gold medal from the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths to indicate his mastery of the Craft, a pinnacle to his blacksmithing career.

This trophy is awarded to a student of the craft with up to three years experience and is open to all, judging and presentation at our AGM, this year at our Forge in weekend at Westpoint on September 29th and 30th, for further details see our website www.blacksmithsguild .com

I see the point, and I agree that Farriers are a skilled trade so it's not an insult. I also agree that most folks on the street would answer horseshoes when asked what a blacksmith makes.

The truth is that each generation of post industrial development is trending further away from knowing what each component does. If asked who installs a window, a cabinet, or a beam, most folks would reply "Carpenter". Few would know Glazier, Millworker, and Ironworker / timbersmith