Random interactions?!?

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

So I called a small company about renting a porta potty for the weekend for the hammer in, and the guy showed up this evening to deliver it, 

he saw all the machinery settin around and asked if I was having an auction,

I said no I’m having a blacksmith meeting this Saturday,

he looked at me like a had three eyes… and asked what that was, so I walked him to the smithy and showed him the forges, anvils, ect…

he looked at me again like I had three eyes an asked what he was lookin at, 

so I asked him if he ever heard the term blacksmith… he said no…

so I gave a multi thousand year history of blacksmithing and what they did an still do in a nutshell speech as best I could…

he still looked at me like I was nuts… then he asked how someone would be able to heat metal and work it… 

I literally walked him through the whole process and showed him all the tools, forges, vises, anvils ect … 

I did everything but actually fire up an make something for him… 

When he left I think he thought I was still crazy an didn’t believe someone could work metal, lol

anyways, long story but It put some stuff into perspective for me,

and an was wondering what random weird interactions y’all have had with other people? 

it doesn’t necessarily have to be about blacksmithing just more to do with two people meeting that are worlds apart trying to understand each other?

 

[Scott NC]

  Lol, I experience this quite often.  Just yesterday i was working in the raised bed garden, trying to put in soaker hoses and the mail carrier walked over and asked, "whatcha all doin"?  I explained.  She said you can buy it at the store.  We went round and round, while her mail car puttered away, in the street.  It got old so I pulled a radish, washed it with the hose and cut the ends off and asked her to try it.  Her smile said it all.  Can't buy that in a store.

  Also, try "I'm a scrap metal artist" some time instead of "blacksmith".   Lol....  It would be devious but after several attempts to explain, I am tempted to muddy the conversation even worse, but I refrain.  People have to learn somehow. 

  I stopped in at a local tranny shop to ask for scrap and told him what I did, the owners eyes narrowed and he started looking at the door.....  After some further conversation and some photo's of my stuff, he treated me like his best friend.  "Take all you want, wait a minute, I have some stuff back here...."  I got the grand tour.

  You might have sparked something in that delivery guy, who knows.  Btw my old place looked like it needed an auction for years.....

[Frosty]

That's a great story Billy, too bad you didn't fire up a forge and make him a bottle opener or something. I hope you invited him to the hammer in. 

I've had lots of similar encounters but I don't recall any as good as that one. One guy knocked at the door of the mobile home Deb and I were living in for a while after we were married. He was asking if I wanted to sell my car hauler trailer. Sorry no, we got to talking and he ended up being the carpenter who helped build the house. 

I get lots of stories like that Scott. It's funny our world has gotten super small since the internet but folks seem to know less than before. Not like you have to be a gardener know what a garden is.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  The garden was just an example.  How many people in this world don't know what a wrench is for? They go to their jobs and pop a tv dinner in the microwave, fall asleep watching netflix and do it all over again next day.  I suppose it takes all kinds.  I'm glad for who I am and what I am.

[Anachronist58]

I have a friend who drops by occasionally - last time I saw him, he was in a tizzy because the Chinese had taken over Australia. They are presently patrolling the country in their flying saucers. 

[ThomasPowers]

Well most of interactions are folks who have seen "Forged in Fire".  I do remember doing a public demo and  s family stop by and tell their kids "That is what you will be doing if you don't go to college!"   They were a bit flummoxed when I told them I had a couple of college degrees and worked for world famous research organizations...

Now when I tell folks I turned down an invite to apply to be on "Forged in Fire"  they really start thinking I'm strange; like telling them we don't watch TV...

[George N. M.]

There are an awful lot of VERY clueless folk out there, even those who are knowledgeable in their own area.  And, let's face it, half the people out there are of below average intelligence.  And for some of them it is really a wonder that they can dress themselves and function in the world.

TW, you were dealing with a Bubba who delivers porta potties, probably not the local intellectual giant.

One thing I have noticed that modern, very electronic savvy, folk often do not understand is mechanical and analog gadgets such as a forge blower or a mechanical apple peeler.  They see it moving and what it does but have no idea how it does that.  I have had plenty of folk at demos who were mystified by the blower handle windmilling by itself.  If I had told them it was invisible spirits or a captive demon turning the crank they would probably have believed it.

And, as a result of not understanding machines, they do not realize that machines can hurt you in very bad ways that electronic devices cannot.  Once, my late wife, Martha, was recruited to demonstrate a collection of old time, mechanical washing machines which had exposed gears and machinery at a historic village event.  She would warn people, both adults and children, to keep their fingers, etc. away from the moving machinery or they could get hurt and some could just not resist the temptation to try to touch the moving parts.

In the military, we called it "situational awareness."  It is being aware and understanding the world around you.  Many people just don't have it.

It is too bad but I am glad that I and my people are not walking theough the haze that surrounds many.  I think most folk on IFI are more aware than the average bear.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[ThomasPowers]

George, 1/2 are below the median intelligence not the average intelligence.   When my wife was young they used a washing machine with a "mangle" to remove water from the clothes before hanging them up to dry.  "Mangle" is a good term for the wringer as it was a fairly common injury back in the "good" old days.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I as a kid used to help my Grandmother with the laundry. Only took me once to make sure my fingers did not follow the clothing into the wringer. Lucky Grandma was close and flipped the release lever before any damage was done to my fingers.

[SLAG]

Folks,

We had one of those old washers in the country house. I got a long hose cought in the mangle. It "ate" a yard of said hose before I had the presence of mind to turn the washer off. Quick thinking saved that hose.

That incident was an object lessen and  moving experience.

Luckily, I did not lose any fingers.

But the orthopedic surgeons, of the day saw, and repaired many such fingers.

Gone are the good old days.

And a few of them were not so good.

SLAG.

 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Well what’s crazy is even young people round here at least know the term blacksmith,

because I live in farm county so everyone’s great grandpa had a forge on the farm,

this guy looked at least 60, an flat out looked me in the eye an told me he had no clue what a blacksmith was
 

but what really got me is the fact I might as well been speaking Latin, he could not wrap his head around what I was trying to explain! 

but then again no one ever accused me of bein an intellectual giant either! I fix small engines for a livin  lol

so maybe I just wasn’t able to convey the message to him? 

anyways it was so bizarre a conversation that I just can’t explain in words how weird it was! Lol

 

[ThomasPowers]

Did you tell them that you thermally excite the atoms in ferrous metals to increase their plasticity and then percussively manipulate it to the form you want?

[George N. M.]

Thomas, I was using the lay, rather than statistical term.  And, yes, I know the difference.

My mother had an electric mangle or "ironer" to press sheets.  I had an old girlfriend whose left forearm was covered with scar tissue from having her arm sucked into one as a child.  The thought still gives me the willies.

TW, your porta potty delivery man may have been, as my grandmother used to say, "not quite bright."

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Lol, I was just messin with ya George! I knew what ya meant!

[ThomasPowers]

George, I didn't intend to be mean.  Must have been my Arithmetic's acting up...

[Frosty]

Well bless your heart Billy. 

We had a mangle when I was a kid, Mom my maternal Grandmother did the laundry, first soaked it, then scrubbed stains on a washboard using Fel's Naptha soap (Lye that's been "softened" with petroleum jelly so it wouldn't just dissolve your hide." Then into the washing machine, then out and through the mangle and hung on the clothes line. 

Evidently Mom was familiar with folks learning about wringers with their fingers. The first thing she said when I got close the first time was, "STOP!" Then she got a dry stick from an old bush and fed it through the mangle. Turned it into its and splinters. Then we did wash, I've never fed a mangle, it was long gone before I was old enough to have to do house chores.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

   Not the same exact thing but along the same lines, I re-read this thread and come to think of it a lot of times when I experiment, build or fix something and rush to the hardware/big box store needing a part, knowing it's probably in vain but still hoping they might have it, I get a blank stare or spend a hour wandering around the store knowing it's not where we are going to look.  "Never heard of it"  "Wartcha need that for?"  I'm always looking for something that "doesn't exist".  I learned to make a lot of stuff that way, I suppose.   I may be the only person on the planet that doesn't order online. 

[George N. M.]

Nodebt, I hear you.  When I need something I would much rather go to a brick and mortar old fashioned hardware store but with covid we have gone to internet shopping for lots of our needs.  Also, when you live in a rural area there are not the same density of small. specialty suppliers as in a metro area.  So, the internet is a god send for things that your local small or big box doesn't have.  This is particularly true for books.  If you even have a local book store how many blacksmithing books will be in stock?

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Nobody Special]

Mostly just seem to run into people that have trouble understanding the value of doing anything by hand yourself.  I put in a straw bale garden recently, and it was a seven-day wonder in the neighborhood, especially before I put in the trelliswork for the beans and squash. 

I've got one neighbor that comes over periodically to tell me that she's checked with county/state agricultural agents and has information on things like square footage for chickens and how to register my beehives. The bees make her extra nervous, so she sometimes asks things like if a bee stings someone in her yard, would she be liable.  Apparently, her lawyer told her no, when she also told me all about consulting with him over my bees...sigh.  Usually, I can smooth things over with neighbors by giving them a little honey or eggs.  This one may require mead or honey jack.

[Scott NC]

  George.  I did use my card for grocery pick up when the pandemic reared it's ugly head.  Online.  I should pick my words more carefully.   That was the limit for me.    I do it point of contact now and use snail mail for the rest.  I can see the value you are speaking of and would never put anyone down for doing things the way they do.  Back on the farm, driving 12 miles one way for a 2$ fitting used to burn my cheese and gas.  Then find out at home it's a factory cross thread, drive all the way back for another one, then argue about forgetting the reciept at home.... Then get back and the pressure switch is burned up on the well.....  This doesn't really apply to buying online but thought Id let you I know where you are coming from.  No wonder I'm a pack rat....    I live in an urban ant hill now and don't have to drive far.... 

  

  

[Scott NC]

  Nobody, we tried strawbales and they got covered in "slime mold".  I wonder what went wrong?  Also did raised beds and instantly got fire ant mounds everywhere.  I miss the farm so bad.  No neighbors nosing around and if there were they wouldn't give a hoot!

[Jobtiel1]

I like going to physical stores too to get my stuff, especially so you can see what you buy before you get it. However, it always seems that things are way more expensive in physical stores, and for most stuff I don't mind. Recently I was looking for some dark wood stain, 30 euros for a can of about half a liter. online you can buy a packet of powder where you have to add water yourself for 5 euros and that makes a quarter liter. Stuff like that I just tend to get online.

~Jobtiel

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

We like to support local brick & mortar stores, however lately they have such a limited inventory (empty shelves) online is the only other option.

[ThomasPowers]

We used to have an old time hardware store that had almost all the rare unusual stuff and were great about helping you find stuff and see if it would work---they cheerfully ripped open plasti-packed stuff so you could see if the threads matched for example.  In fact our small town had 4 hardware stores when we moved here as they served all the ranches out in the boonies.  Wally world opened a store here and 3 of the hardware stores are gone including "the place of last resort".  Yes they had been a bit more expensive; but compared to driving about 100 miles (each way) to the city it was *CHEAP*.

(Living in a 100 year old house I learned to ALWAYS bring in the part you are replacing and make sure the new one will actually work!)

[Frosty]

We used to have McKay's hardware in Anchorage an old school store with darned near anything. The first big Box hardware opened and drove the smaller big box hardware departments out and when the kids didn't want to run a hardware store Mr. and Mrs. McKay sold everything, closed the doors and spent the money cruising the world. Mrs. McKay was NOT happy the kids were just going to sell off and split the money so she spent it instead of leaving it to them. McKay's power tool building had an actual by golly metal spinning lathe, tools and accessories. It was a stick spinning set up but making scissor tools and rest is easy. 

Frosty The Lucky.