[TheForge] waxing philosophic on recycling (was 1045 uses)

[Fiorini & Skiles]

Please continue to wax philosophic like this.  I've been trying to figure
out why I just don't like the metal mags as much these days.  I'm not sure
what I'm missing.  But your short essay below made my day.  That is the kind
of insight that I want to see more often in the mags.  It gets into the
heart & desires of the smith and customer.  It's not so far out as to be
distant art babble.

Now I have to be much more watchful and make sure I do more than skim some
of these topics.  I might miss a gem like Charles' statement here.

If I ever start a 'zine when these kids get older, this is exactly the kind
of writing I'd want to include.
-Kirsten
p.s.  Charles, can you re-send your original email to me at koka@acegroup.cc
so I can save it.  I'm much too quick with the delete button.
 > >>> xlch58@swbell.net 02/19/03 11:27PM >>>
> I would agree for the professional smith, but for the hobbiest smith (
>
> by far the majority in headcount if not output)  scrounging has more to
>
> do with cherished mental defect than economics.   I was picking up odd
>
> scraps of steel from the side of the road  and diving dumpsters long
> before I started smithing.  Smithing gave me the skills to actually put
>
> the mounting pile of junk to use.   This defect is shared by more than
>
> the smith's -- why otherwise would people inspecting your wares
> gravitate more to  a knife formed from a railroad spike or old
> horseshoe
> than a comparably finished one out of a new higher carbon steel blank.
>
> This sort of recycling is a graphic and gratifying testament to the
> inheritly plastic and transmutable nature of metal, at odds with what
> the eyes and hands are telling you.  To many, a spike knife is no
> longer
> an inanimate object, but a living one, moving from one state to
> another.
>  Frozen in time, it gives you the sense that if you look away for a
> moment, it will complete the transition.   I believe this is the same
> reason customer's so often want the rough drive hook they watched you
> forge, rather than the nicer finished one on the table.  The one on the
>
> table is no different to them than the bubble wrapped inanimate objects
>
> they face everyday.  The one in your tongs is alive and mutable, they
> know because they saw it, and that image of it will keep in their minds
>
> eye.
>
> I started this out talkin about a smithing desease, sorry to wax
> philosophic.  Regarding the old spring steel, generally I anneal it a
> couple of  times before forging to normalize it.  I haven't had a
> problem yet, but I am not using it for power hammer dies where failure
>
> could more easily result in dangerous shrapnel.
>
>
> Charles
>
> _______________________________________________
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith@hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
>
>