[TheForge] swap meet in seattle

[theforge@mailman.qth.net]

I was visiting Seattle for a wedding and managed to make an appearance 
with my son. Lots of great stuff to buy, but no chance of getting them 
on the plane and back to Dallas.   I did chance to run into a smith I 
remember from Texas, Alan Flashing, and spoke to him while I was there 
as well.  He as relocated tp Seattle.  I was really impressed with the 
stuff coming out of Andrea and David Lisch's shop ( where the meet was 
located).    I asked permission, and took a couple of photos, one of an 
adult sized beautifully forged tricycle, and the other of a fantastic 
throne like seat with a sea theme.    I have uploaded the photos to the 
recent works folder.

   Andrea and Davis also had a unique gas forge that Andrea was gracious 
enough to spend the time discussing with me.   It was built in two 
pieces.  The lower section looked like a large wok (36" diameter) with a 
rack encircling it. It was filled with a castable refractory and  was 
mounted on bearings so that it turned like a lazy susan.   The second 
piece was built like an inverted wok and had multiple burners pointed 
down, where their flames would converge at the center.  It was mounted 
over the lower piece with a counterweighted arm so that the  distance 
between the two could be easily adjusted depending on the  article being 
heated.  Andrea explained that they had originally set it up for some 
production work that they do, and the lazy susan allowed them to heat 
and form parts, then allow them to hang on the rack as it was turned 
around, awaiting the next operation to be performed on the run.  She and 
her step son had a contract for making some highly decorative hooks, so 
I expect that that was part of the work.   She said it worked great for 
large and irregular work, but they tended to use another large gas forge 
that consisted of two siamesed large diameter pipes, otherwise being of 
normal construction for most oversized pieces.    They also had a couple 
of gas forges mouned on articulated arms, so that they could be pulled 
toward the area the smith was working.  I expect that was easier than 
relocating any of the several very large power hammers they had.

Another item at the meet that caught my eye ( other than a really neat 
vintage power hack) was a treadle hammer of the Clay Spencer  
variety.    This one had an electric motor mounted to it and was meant 
to run under power.  A standard endless v belt was cut so that it was 
one strand.   One end was mounted to the lower arm of the treadle, the 
other passed under the motor pulley and looked like it passed to 
treadle.  It looked like pushing the treadle would bring the belt tight 
againt the motor pully, adding the motors spin to the pull of the 
belt.   I expect that the belt might be thrown free of the pulley once 
the head started down, thus allowing it to cycle.    How exactly it 
worked I can't be sure, but others had seen it operating.  Maybe Steve 
was one of them.   It was an intersting idea, since with the motor off, 
it would function as a normal treadle hammer.

Howell Steve wrote:

>We had a good turnout with most of the local community coming down and even some interested lurkers who spied the ad in the paper 
>  
>