Anybody do demos?

By that I mean at non-traditional places so as to expose folks to blacksmithing, not at hammer-ins or places you would normally expect.

Recently did this at a music and craft festival in Colorado and the response was overwhelming!

It's surprising how many people have never even seen an anvil...oh sure they all know what one looks like.....but the number who wanted to touch it was pretty cool!

I hammered out about 300 very simple little iron amulet doo-dads with a string to wear them.....gave them all away for free and the response was amazing.

Lots of questions, lots of great folks who were fascinated by the process and - I think - a great deal of good positive exposure to what we do!

I met hundreds and hundreds of good folks, had a blast and got to show, at least in a small and simple way, what we do to a large group who would have never seen this before.

Dean

Yes, recently demoed at a local county fair. It is amazing how much publicity forging a nail gets. Demoing also gets you in touch with other smiths you didn't know were close.

Just spent 4 days doing demos at the local Grange fair ( took Thursday off to go to ABANA)

Question Dean... What do you have draped over your anvil stand/stump, and why?

Doing demos is so much fun! When I'm loading up the truck, I almost dread doing them (I'm a big time introvert), but always enjoy it once I'm there. I find myself re-energized by the high level of interest shown by the general public in smithing.

And you certainly do meet some really nice people. Lots of good resources out in the world, once you can force yourself to go talk to people.

Next weekend I'll be at Fort Umpqua Days in Elkton Or. There has been a demo there for as many years as I've been going. There was also a demo going on at the Antique Powerland museum and annual Steam up in Brooks Or. It's really nice when the blacksmith interacts with the viewers, some just do their thing but don't talk much.

Would love a pic of the "iron amulet thing" you gave out.

Most of my time at the forge is demo time, as we have a constant stream of visitors. And yes, you get to see meet up with some great people. You get a little tired of the same old "My grandfather was a blacksmith" and similar comments, but I find most people to be genuinely interested in what we do.
My problem is I usually talk too much in answering questions while idly turning the blower. When I turn back to the forge there are some pretty sparks and the ram I was making has lost a horn! Lesson learnt - concentrate on the job at hand!

Neil - that's just a big piece of leather draped over the stump - and it's only on there because I liked how it looked!

I get carried away with talking to everyone also - but that's just me and I really enjoy talking about this stuff.

I have very little talent and don't make anything very complicated or artistic....but it sure is fun to bang out little stuff and the looks on their faces when you hand them something and tell them it's FREE just makes my day!

I use junk I find or buy dirt cheap, my equipment is all paid for, I get more vacation days at this stage of the game than I can normally use.....and most of all it make me feel good......can't find a better reason than that....;)

 

Spanky - I'll find a photo and send you....mostly take old junk that I get at farm auctions and cut, heat & pound the hell out if it...darn near anything is liable to come out of that. Nuts, bolts, washers, barbed wire or whatever....makes me use my imagination!

I also buy boxes of spoons at garage sales (best yet was 200 for $2!), cut off the handles to make rings and pound out the spoon into leaves, curl over the neck and hang it on a piece of cord for them to wear. 

One thing I like to do it ask them if they want to take a few whacks on the item I'm making for them....'for luck'....and they always want to!

I do 2 or 3 of these a year.......it's fun and I enjoy it.

Dean

Dean, I like your avatar. That is obviously a cardboard cut out of an anvil of course....

My favorite anvil - my Grandpa's 140lb unknown make from the farm.....it's a little beat up, been definitely used for many a year - but still solid as a ....well, anvil!

Dean

Dean, I like your avatar. That is obviously a cardboard cut out of an anvil of course....

 

 

I wished I'd brought my camera with me when I 1st got to ABANA on Thursday. There was a guy in the tailgating section riding around with what looked like a huge anvil on the handlebars of his bicycle. It was one of those tin displays but it looked pretty real from a few yards away.

Bad Roger on a bike.

That's tin? That's awesome! I want one!

 

Wasn't there someone here who had an anvil pillow? it was a foam one I think, looked real enough...

 

My favorite anvil - my Grandpa's 140lb unknown make from the farm.....it's a little beat up, been definitely used for many a year - but still solid as a ....well, anvil!
Dean

Man, that's some lift! You should be wearing a blue lycra suit with a big red S on the front!!

Bad Roger on a bike.

Bad Roger on bike.jpg

 

 

 

That's him! Thanks John. I'm saving that picture. I was really bummed I had left the camera in the car planning to back after I'd browsed the tailgating area and registered for the day.

Have done a couple of demos where I just took the anvil, stump, couple of hammers and a set of tongs and beat out some softer, malleable metal into various 'stuff' for folks.

That was OK - and definitely easy to haul my gear about, but there's nothing like having some fire to liven things up!

To be a good neighbor among the other craft folks at such events I take my gas forge and get things good and red hot, pound away and give a good show. 

People want to see hot iron getting shaped with a hammer and it IS more fun that way.... ;)

Coming from the Great Plains it took about 3 seconds of adjustment on my Chili Forge to have it really cranking out a good flame at over 10,000ft in the Colorado Rockies this past July.  I make sure I do it safe and easy, don't get ahead of myself and make sure everyone's questions are answered....and so they all walk away with a smile and a little hammered iron souvenir to remember their first experience of seeing a forge, anvil & hammer in action.

But most of all - they see me having FUN doing it!

Dean