This was the last demo.. Colder than liked.. had to pre heat anvil.. 

We started on an ax..  Had to make the drift first. Got about 1/4 of the way before my sledge hammer guy had to take off.. About 1 hr on the drift and about 1hr and change on the ax. 

Then finished up the demo with a visit from a fellow smith whom is also on IFI... finished up with demo's on forge welding, tapers,  draw forging and a few other tidbits. 

The hook was faggot welded down the hardway and peened to shape..  

Fun for the last demo

At least you had your forge to keep you warm. That place looks sooooooo cold.

Exactly the opposite here. I quit my demo early today, as there were very few visitors and the heat was oppressive. Storm season - hot and humid.

Barely warm..  with the doors open and the wind and 34F..   It was to cold to not wear heavy clothing but also to warm not to be dressed light when forging. 

While we had busy time and lots of onlookers  the work progressed slowly.. 

I love the heat.. Winter is a time to have fun.. Throw away all work hours and just play.  snow mobile, ski, fat bike.  mountaineer,    These kind of things.. 


Problem is I still have to work and the snow more than the cold makes it that much more difficult.. I take on a few paying blacksmithing jobs but for the most part would just rather demo and teach.. 

Give me warm any day..  few days this past summer it was 100F in the demo trailer.. Rather that than this..  

Yesterday it was in the 60's degF with a south wind.  I opened the opposing doors on my smithy and encouraged some of the dust and cobwebs to leave on it. Today we had a north wind and I had to wear a jacket over my T shirt.

When I retire and move back to my shop I'm going to rent a backpack blower someday when we have a good wind and clean the entire shop!

Wise words..  In the trailer I go through every so often with the air hose.. Super easy.. 

I use a leaf blower, 200mph breeze & done. Works well on the garage concrete floor, not so much on the dirt/gravel smithy floor.

I feel you on the topic of the cold, we had a project go much longer than expected the other day in out new shop, no heat or insulation yet and were there working well into the night at around +5 Freedomheight. Oh what I wouldn't give for a mild fall day again right now