[TheForge] Boy Scout Demo
A. Vida
[email protected]
Sat Jul 26 11:45:01 2003
Mike:
While I applaud your apparent enthusiasm, as a former teacher I will
say that this may be a bit too ambitious. I demonstrated at Allaire
Village in NJ for about three years and generally speaking, folks
want to see things FAST, the term here defined as topping out at
perhaps half an hour, but usually hovering around ten to fifteen
minutes. On rare occasion I would get a child in that would stay
for an hour or two and the parents would have to pry him (or her)
away with a crow bar. Those were always some of my favorites.
Your time totals tell me you will be doing perhaps 2 full demos,
or at least I hope that's what it says because I don't think you
will hold them for three hours.
Be that as it may, it appears you may be a bit optimistic on your
estimates for tools and materials. My other observation is that
I don't think you need to have such segregation of topics. I might
offer that you just start with a talk of who a blacksmith is and what
they do. Keep it interactive and ask the kids to offer their
ideas before you give your version.
After that, I would go through the process that a smith goes through
in preparing himself for work, starting a fire, choosing materials
based upon what he shall be making, etc. During the course of the
session, you hit upon the various tools and materials and processes
that a smith uses to accomplish his goals. You might want to limit
the number of practical examples to two or three, with perhaps one
being a tool requiring some heat treatment. You can demo hardening,
for example, by allowing the kids to take a swag at the work with a
file before hardening so they can feel the bite of the file into the
material. Then take that same item, do the HT and then let them feel
the glide of the file over an object that has become as hard as it.
It provides a very real experience for them, a FLESH experience that
will make a greater mark on them than just show and tell.
I think a somewhat more integrated approach will be more akin to
showing a blacksmith at work, and less like a lesson or lecture :).
Perhaps you can have some nails premade... something for them to
take away with them.
While you're showing them how a fire starts, you can show them a
piece of green coal and some coke. If there's room, let them
look into the fire and let them see the greeners bubble and expand
into cole as the volatiles are driven off. This way the see the
actual transformation of the one into the other. It lets them
get up close and personal with the fire... they see and FEEL it,
all adding to the experience.
Mike's suggestion that you tape it is also well taken.
Regards,
-Andy
GHS wrote:
>
> Going to film it? Hint Hint.
>
> Mike Graf
>
> Mike Linn wrote:
>
> > Next month I'm doing a demo for one of the local scout troops. Ive got
> > 2.5 to 3 hrs and
> >
> > I put together this little list of things to touch on. Any comments
> > or suggestions???
> >
> > Mike
> >
> > Tools: 10 min
> >
> > Anvil
> > Forge (Coal and Gas)
> > Blower/Bellows
> > Hammers
> > Tongs
> > Fullers/Swedges
> > Flatter
> > Set Hammer
> > Punches/Chisels
> > Hardies
> > Vise
> > Swedge Block
> >
> >
> > Fire Related: 7-10 min
> >
> > Fuel (Coal, Coke, Charcoal)
> > Clinker
> > Heat Zones (neutral, oxidizing,
> > reducing)
> >
> > Starting and Tending the fire
> >
> > Materials: 5-7 min
> >
> > Iron
> > Steel
> > Alloys
> > Carbon Content
> > Hardening / Tempering
> > Fracture examples of the above
> >
> > Forging Operations 5-7 min
> >
> > Drawing out
> > Upsetting
> > cutting/punching
> > bending/twisting
> > forge welding
> >
> > Practical Examples 45 min to 1 hr.
> >
> > Leaf key ring
> > back scratcher w/square knot handle
> > bottle opener
> > small knife (if time permits)
> >
> > Mike
> > Linn
> >
> > Artist Blacksmith
> > McCalla, AL
> > AFC Webmaster
> > http://afc.abana-chapter.net
> >
> > Some people are like Slinkies...not really good
> > for
> >
> > anything, but you still can't help but smile when you
> >
> > see one tumble down the stairs.
> >
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--
-Andy V.
I am the son and the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar
I am the son and heir
Of nothing in particular