A great quote about the power of blacksmithing. Attribution help please

[paul.s]

“If I was going to be separated from civilization and could only bring 3 things with me, the would be a hammer, anvil and a supply of steel. With a hammer and anvil I would make a chisel, with a hammer and chisel I would make a file. With a chisel and file, hammer and anvil I would make everything else.”

That is paraphrased from I believe, the preface or forward of a blacksmithing book published in the 70’s that seemed to be a reprint of much older information.

I want to use that quote in an invitation to a date, and it would be more effective if it had attribution.

Yes, I know an attractive woman that would think that spending a day making a chisel and a file would be a great date after reading that quote, and no, I’m not telling you her name!

Thanks, -paul

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Paul, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the Iforge gang live within visiting distance. 

I've read the quote somewhere long ago. Maybe MotherEarth News. A blacksmith who could make anything with that tool list wouldn't need any of them. Maybe MAYBE steel but that'd just speed things along. You could start out with a wood fired bloomery and peat moss for or in the Viking fashion. A log and boulder to refine the bloom into iron and steel. 

It's still a cool adage.

Frosty The Lucky.

[paul.s]

Thanks Frosty, this is a great site here

I once had a similar thought, probably shortly after I read that quote in the late 70’s or early 80’s. I lived near a place on lake Michigan where the waves concentrated black sand and it could be further concentrated using simple placer gold mining techniques. I figured that if black sand had enough iron in it to be magnetic, it probably had enough iron in it to smelt. Just yards from the black sand there were clay outcroppings and trees. I still love the quote though because it’s more poetic and visual than anything I could come up with about sand and clay and trees.

Not long after I decided that reinventing the wheel wouldn’t be an efficient use of my time, but it gave me a great feeling to know that with that book and a little more information, I probably could.

Now I am thinking that using blacksmithing techniques to to make tools that no one has made yet would be an efficient use of my time. -paul

[Glenn]

Make the tools that YOU need or can use. That is the way the tools of today got started. (grin)

[paul.s]

12 minutes ago, Glenn said:

Make the tools that YOU need or can use. That is the way the tools of today got started. (grin)

That's my plan, when I need a tool that doesn't exist or  I can't get access to, get out the tools I do have and start a project!

And there is the attraction of just making any tool I can use, with a hammer instead of watching tv or working out in a gym