Watching BBC look north news for Lincolnshire last night up came a segment on how we need people as the old crafts are dieing 

out so students have created a virtual blacksmiths shop using 3D goggles so that people can try out smithing to see if they like it ???

I was hoping it was a spoof but everyone they interviewed thought it was a wonderful idea.

that just makes me mad. people are so lazy these days that they consider it enough to stick a screen in front of their faces and pretend to work.

That just seems a ridiculous idea. Of you want kids to get into smiting they should put on activity days or trial sessions.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a quick and easy way to expose people to new things. Depending on how the VR software is set up it can be a useful tool. The visual approach is however just using vision, it IS NOT the reality of a blacksmith where you can smell the coal being burned, feel the radiant heat, room heat, the ambient noises such as the hammer hitting the hot metal. We will over look the dirt on the clothes, the spray of sparks, the odor and hiss of hot metal being quenched, and a whole list of other experiences. 

To be able to expose 20 people an hour (3 minute intervals) or 12 people an hour (5 minute intervals) to VR blacksmithing can be good. Each gets a little bit of knowledge to take home with them. To have one or two actually become interested enough to come visit your shop is great. They will quickly be exposed to the difference between VR and actual reality. Of those exposed to actual reality, you may end up with one or two folks that actually want to play in the fire and set up their own forge. 

What are the percentages? Who cares. Put your efforts into the one or two people that have the fire in their belly and want to learn how to blacksmith.

 

How do you tell a VR blacksmith from an actual reality blacksmith? A VR blacksmith looks like they just stepped out of the shower and only has calluses on their thumbs from pushing buttons.

I don't have a problem with VR being used to give people an impression of the craft.  As I see it, the VR gives them the barest flavor of what it's like, helping to weed out the weak.

Not too long ago, I was approached by a young fellow that heard I was a blacksmith.  He said he needed help with his forge welds because he couldn't get them to stick.  Of course, he was interested in making knives and axes.

After a few minutes talking, I quickly deduced that he didn't know thing one about the craft.  Even though he said he was interested in making the things and had tried, he didn't know what normalizing meant.  How is it that you can be interested in a subject and not spend an hour or so reading about it?  Normalizing is one of the three main terms you always see whenever blades are being discussed, yet this chap didn't have a clue.

Long story short, I got the impression that he wanted to come to my shop so I could hold his hand through the entire process, but wasn't willing to do anything on his own.  With the internet right there, research is easy to do.   If a young buck isn't willing to do the research, especially after seeing their own forge welds fail consistently.... I'm really not that interested in having them over to the shop.  Let the VR weed them out.

Like anything, VR has it's uses and education can be one, if nothing else it is a form of exposure. The virtual reality of flight and driving simulators has proven a real boon with the Military, Civil Aviation and Motor Sport, How usefull it is to instruct in a craft setting I've no idea, maybe I have not the vision of the young students, (pun intended) what Blacksmith(s) did they work with and what did they think of the finished product?

Can't fail to agree with Glenn, as regards if it brings one person into the craft it can't be bad, but call me a sceptic, I suspect it is of most use to the IT Students themselves!

 

I agree that it could be good if it's done well enough to get a few into the real deal, but if it's done poorly... (and they don't get burned) how can they know what it's really like?

A VR burn might be preferable.

But not teach the safety lesson leaving them to learn it in a possibly more major way later.

One of my new student propane forge demos is to burn off some of my arm hair in the dragon's breath and show them and then talk about not sticking their head in the Dragon's Breath zone if they drop something in front of the forge.  They tend to listen better that way.