[TheForge] Interpretation

[Michael Horgan]

>
>     I forgot to mention this.  Dan's right on here.  A good spiel
>     (humor works miracles with the crowd) will keep them put. >>
>
>To use the educational jargon, push them down the cone of learning...ask them
>questions designed to get them to think, encourage them to ask questions of
>you.  I'm very leery of hands-on, but if you're comfortable letting them do
>something, go for it.
>
>Jerry Veneziano
>Williamsburg, VA

One of the demo's I used to do was coining.  I would typically have a class 
of kids for 45 minutes or so. I'd explain why we use money instead of 
barter, where the metal for the coins comes from, and why it is worth so 
much. Then I'd go into toolmaking, explaining forging, hardening, and 
tempering of steel while I made a punch or two and stamped a design into a 
die blank.  Then, at the end of the class I had a couple of premade dies in 
a smithing magician style die holder, and each kid got to put a small 
pewter coin blank in and hit it with a hammer to stamp their own coin.  I'd 
get kids returning years later who remembered the whole spiel, and answered 
all the questions, to the amazement of their teachers.

Another  quick bit is to make a drive hook, but instead of a square nail 
end, make a flattened diamond with sharp edges.  Twist it up, and it's like 
a lag bolt.  Give it a shot with the hammer to start it then screw it into 
the wood. Quick to make and shows a lot of different techniques.


Michael D. Horgan , lughaid@earthlink.net
http://members.aol.com/lughaid/
posting from
  A BRAZEN FORGERY
Blacksmithing and Metalwork
Claremont, Ca.