[TheForge] UMBA - N.E.W. branch hammer-in (long winded)

[GHS]

Dave , it looks like you have already
written the article. <G>

One correction it was a birthday. Sorry
I missed it, glad you guys had fun.

Mike Graf/ in Milwaukee

Dave Brown wrote:
> 
> Well, Saturday has come and gone, and so has the little get-together that
> we had at Jeff Benson's shop (Benson Designs, Green Bay, WI).  It was a
> smashing (no pun intended) success.  There were about 16-18 people there,
> all metal manglers of one ilk or another and ranging in experience from "I
> really do try to make a living at this, don't ya know" to "Oh, so that's
> what a cross-pein hammer looks like".  It was great.
> 
> The two big disappointments that we had were:  1)  Mike "in Milwaukee" Graf
> couldn't make it.  He had some weak excuse like "obligatory family
> wedding".  Scheesh!!!  What's this world coming to?  And even worse than
> Mike's lame excuse, was:  2) Roger Degner didn't come to video tape the
> event.  Seems like he was thinking that a 5 minute walk out to his shop was
> easier than a 6+ hour drive (not to mention all the other shops he'd have
> to pass by to get here).  Imagine that?  A paltry 12+ hours traveling
> (round trip) for 2 or 3 hours of hanging out with us Wisconsin types and he
> debates whether it's worth it or not?  What's this guy
> thinking?  Thinking?  Heck, Roger what were you smoking?
> 
> Anyway, in spite of these two disappointments we all had a good time.  We
> had one Hossfeld #2 bender and one Harbor Freight compact bender in
> service, two propane forges (forced air design), one Sandia inspired forge
> (naturally aspirated Bunsen burner style) and one coal forge
> (rivet/farriers pan type, and outdoors), three anvils with a fourth
> available if needed), various and sundry vises, grinders, welders, layout
> table, etc...  Last but not least, Joe Baer brought down his plasma cutter
> (cuts 1/2" clean, well chew through 3/4" rough) and some heavy gauge sheets
> of steel.
> 
> While there were some who make their living or seriously supplement their
> incomes with blacksmithing, we did have two young men (18-20?) and one
> young lady (mid 20's?) who learned basic drawing and bending and twisting
> and proceeded to make some S-hooks and some other things.  I think all
> three are hooked because they all were asking "When are you going to do
> this again?  How often do you do this?" and other assorted questions and
> comments that tell you that they had gotten bitten by the bug, and bitten
> bad.  <smile>
> 
> Mark Mondloch was helping Gene Durben to use the Hossfeld to edge bend a
> length of 3/16"x3/4" flat bar into a circle to be used as a boarder on a
> round table that Gene is making for his wife.  Al and Wayne watched closely
> and then proceeded to bend their own ring that they used to make a 3 legged
> spider (for open hearth or campfire cooking).  We set up the HF clone and
> experimented with some edge bending with it .... it worked just
> fine.  Later I showed some of the guys how a Claydon Knot is
> built/assembled (using 1/4"rnd) and used the HF clone bender to make the
> necessary bends.  A bender even smaller than the HF clone is better for
> Claydon Knots, but the HF did make the bends tight enough that the
> principles behind making a Claydon Knot were easily seen and
> understood.  Several people took home samples to work on benders and jigs
> to make Claydon knots to be utilized in personal projects.
> 
> Joe's Plasma cutter got a lot of attention and was used to cut out a new
> grate/ashcover/tuyere for the coal forge.  We made up a pattern for an
> anvil silhouette and several were cut out.  Some to be put on walls of
> shops, and mine to become a new weather vane atop my shop's roof.
> 
> Jeff Benson made a dog head from some 3/4" sq stock, one of the John's (no
> smirks here, please) made tongs.  I don't know what the other John made,
> but he brought a box full of H13 pin cutoffs from an injection molding shop
> near where he lives.  Everyone who wanted some got to take a pretty good
> handful of pieces (mostly 1/2", a couple of 5/8") .... all free and
> compliments of John.  One guy, who is smithing almost every day when he
> gets home from his regular job, actually passed up taking any of the
> H13.  He's happy with his scrounged coil spring chisels and that's fine
> with me.  I may not understand why anybody would pass up some free H13, but
> that's his right to do so if he wants.
> 
> Other stuff was done, other stuff was made, some brought show-n-tell pieces
> that were all nice and an inspiration to all of us.
> 
> I think I've written enough.  Jeff Benson and somebody else took pictures
> and will be putting together an article for the UMBA newsletter ... I think.
> 
> Later,
> Dave Brown
> 
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