I just wanted to start a thread about my experience Saturday at Stans house. Got there he showed me his shop. and well..............i text my wife and told her i was movin in with Stan....lol She didnt find it quite as comical as i did...lol

But after talked a lil bit he drug out some clay. Im thinking great. play doh....lol but it helped alot. never seen a diagonal peen hammer before. and working the clay with that hammer gave me some understanding of what it would do to the metal. Made a fork with the clay just to see how bad my hammer control was...lol. Any of ya that seen my 1st youtube vid know that its BAD!!...lmao But workin with the clay helped me visualize what the hammer hits will do. so im actually gonna do some more of that each time i get a hammer to learn a lil about its own personality.

Feel free to watch the latest youtube vid. You will still see i am horrible at hammer control. but you will also see that i already started to improve with Stan helpin me out. Still got a long way to go. but heck of a lot better then a week ago..lol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QyX1XA5CO8

Video is just a compilation of some of my hammering. Wanted to do a full video of what it took to make the rose form a horseshoe you see in the pic. I MADE THAT!!!! sorry. lil excited. wasnt expecting to make something so cool the first day i met him...lol.

But he would hammer his own horse shoe so far. t hen stop and coach me on how to do mine. then heat his up again take it little further. then coach me on catching mine up. Was an excellent class. Made it real easy to learn.

I want to again thank those in the chat that told me about Stan. I was seeking someone close enough to me to show me how to do this right. Im looking forward to working with him again. and look forward to meeting more of you later this month and then at the hammer-in.

John Lemmerman

John I enjoyed the time spent together probably as much as you. You watch, listen, and learn fast.
It will be my pleasure working with you more!

The short time you spent with the clay work allowed you the time and mindset to grasp enough hands-on skills to make the rose day 1.
The rose project incorporates many of the same exact needed skills and processes to forge other future things such a knife or sword. :ph34r:

Glad you enjoyed your visit to the ultimate do-it-yourselfers' mancave! :D

Stan

wow , sounds like a good time was had by all ! wish i was there to !

You comming to the hammer in? im looking forward to meeting everyone.

I had a pretty darn good time up there a few months ago. Everyone there was top shelf material...'cept this one guy from waaay up North that wanted to paint everything purple. Now what kind of blacksmith would paint something purple? I think he was Artie...or no..RD....no it must have been RT

The food was excellent as well as the fellowship.

Thanks again Stan

david G


carry on

You comming to the hammer in? im looking forward to meeting everyone.

when's that ?

This year it was in Aug. Stan had previously given me an invite, then several months transpired. As time for the meet grew closer he reminded me. I thought he was merely being nice to invite but it became clear that he was sincere...to the max!

There was all sorts of projects going on, from persons from all over. Their hospitality was fantastic...along with the facility. I thought my drive to be there would certainly been the longest and again I was wrong. Hopefully I will attend again.

It was great to put a "real time" face with a name...the same ones that make quite a bit of contributions to the IFI.

Again Stan, thanks for having me up there.

Pug. It will again be in august. i believe its the 3rd weekend. 3 days. Stan will verify. Apparently many people form here attend. I am new to this. so this will be my first hammer-in. In fact here is a video of my 2ND DAY getting with stan. He is my Blacksmithing Mentor. dont think i coulda found better. (no offense to anyone else) http://youtu.be/_mgFbohX72w we are making a tomahawk out of a ball peen hammer. You also get to see the purple monster that Gaddis was talkin about. Stan uses that one. not me. like i said. still new...lol

In fact. you see the purple monster in the post...lol

Love the big Hammer I need to use it for a project Stan .

Sam