[TheForge] Last two events...long

[Phlip]

While my friends on TheForge have been rediscivering the English language,
I've been a bit busy the last two weekends- Great Northeastern War, in
Maine, and Southern Region War Camp, in Pennsylvania. Yes, guys, I leave for
Pennsic in a couple days- both of these events are considered as pre-Pennsic
preparatory events, in their areas.

The first one, in ME, was, according to Mapquest, about 4 1/2 hours away,
and the site opened at 8 AM, so I did the fair thing, and planned on leaving
at 2 AM, figuring with Mapquests usual track record, it would take about 6
hours to get there. Arriving early, I could set up in the cool of the day,
and either fire up the forge or catch a nap for a bit.

Well, as usual, I got started late- staggered out the door at 3 AM, having
captured Cogburn and his Lady (my rooster and hen) and stuffed them into
their travel cage. Got rolling down 395, heading into Worcester, and
suddenly, I started hearing a strange noise from the left front of the
Bronco- intermittant, but very loud. Car was handling OK, so I waited to
oull over until I had a decent place to pull over, but noticed as I slowed
down, the noise went away at 50 mph. Chgecked the wheel I know has a
problem- no heat, everything normal, got back on the road, and it started up
again as I passed 50 mph. Finally had a thought, reached up to the load on
the roof, held with a tie down strap- yep, it was the strap buzzing. Pulled
over, adjusted the load on the roof, started up, no more nasty sound.

Headed down the road. As daylight appeared, Cogburn greeted the day a couple
of times, then settled down, and made it on up to the site, with minimal
difficulty, by 8:30 AM

Took a few minutes to find someone to show me where to set up- when they
did, it was on a lovely, pineshaded knoll, with sand under a light layer of
pine needles, with easy access to water spigots and electricity (not that I
had any use for electricity). Got everything unloaded off the trailer, and
most unloaded and sorted out of the truck, and sent a nearby kid to the
'crats, to ask for a bit of help for the next stage of things- I needed
three people for about 15 minutes, and one person for about an hour.

Shortly, 3 young ladies showed up, followed closely by a young man, and we
got my 10 X 20 set up and the heavy stuff arranged. The young man went off
to help elsewhere, and the young ladies stayed and helped me get my tent set
up, everything inside, Cogburn and his lady out of the cage and staked out,
fed, and watered, and generally everything set up as I wanted it, by 11 AM.
It seems, talking to the 'crat later, that she had been wanting something
productive for the girls to do, to get them out of her hair- they were
bored, so it worked out well for all concerned ;-)

Spent some time doing final stuff- making bed, setting up kitchen, arranging
the display table, then wandered off to meet my neighbors, catch up with a
few friends, then about 2 PM, I went home for a nap.

Late afternoon, more friends showed up, though no smithing prospects, so I
spent time with them, chatted, was invited to dinner, and drank a couple of
beers, went back up the knoll and early to bed, listening to the pleasant
chatter and bardic circles wafting across the campsite.

Up early the next morning, started up my forge, and was making breakfast
when my first student arrived. Told him that at the moment, all I was
smithing was breakfast, but I'd be working in a little bit. He said he'd be
back in a bit. Finished making my version of pork and beans ( Lean pork
strips marinated in soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and spices, sauteed
with fresh onion, then tomato chunks and black beans added, stirred until
hot. Nice breakfast, and kept warm beside the firepot, made a nice lunch,
too. Fed, and coffied, I started smithing. My earlier student reappeared- a
beginner, started him on an S-hook, then various others appeared through the
day- including one guy I'd class as an intermediate.

Now guys, understand, I truly love teaching the beginners, but it was great
fun having a more advanced student to work with. In his case, he wanted to
make an athame (ritual knife) for his wife for her birthday- hers had been
stulen. He decided he wanted to make it using a RR spike for a handle, and a
cable pattern welded handle, so we did ;-) Along with the beginners making
S-hooks, I had a fine time helping him work on his project. As the day went
on, though, I had trouble getting him to "see" the difference between
welding heat and cooler heats- any suggestions? For some reason, every heat,
he wanted to pull it out cooler and cooler. Ekk suggested that he not look
at/into the fire quite so much, and that helped some, but any advice you
guys have would help.

Somewhere in there, Master Ekk showed up with his forge, btw- a lovely,
compact set up. He uses a hibachi type firepot, lined with firebrick and
finished with river clay, with a Japanese/Chinese box blower/bellows. Yes,
folks, I did get pictures, including one of Master Ekk with an anvil tool-
Laurel and Hardie ;-)

When we got busy doing the welding of the blade to the handle, Ekk helped
one of the other students finish his project, and when we were done, we had
a pretty decent blade, ready for grinding and finishing. While talking, he
had mentioned he didn't have any cash to donate to the charcoal fund (I put
up a coffee can, for donations to help defray expenses- generally covers the
charcoal and steel - the rule is, please donate if you can, but if you
can't, come play anyway), but after further talking, it seemed that he had
an extra wok, large, that needed a home. Considering that the last bit of
camp cooking equipment I really wanted was a wok, this fit in just fine ;-)
I now have a lovely, seasoned steel wok, about 22 inches in diameter, to use
over my forge ;-)

And food... One of the things I've been doing lately, is cooking over the
forge, just to prove that it can be done. Earlier in the day, I had
mentioned my version of pork-n-beans, and I shared the last of them with one
of my students for lunch. Of course, my coffee percolater is by the forge
all day, refilled as necessary, and late in the day, I made up a batch of
beef stew- my way- and put it by the forge to cook. Ingredients were
marinated beef strips, canned chopped tomatoes, onions, potatoes, summer
squash, green beans, spices, and a can of beer. Made a lovely supper, and my
neighbor finished up the leftovers next morning ;-) Only thing special I've
done to set it up for cooking, is cut a few strips of metal to sit on the
top of the firepot, and I can put pots or whatever on that. I can also
rearrange them somewhat, so that the coffeepot can be more in the fire to
start it perking, then on the forge table next to the firepot to stay warm.
Works beautifully, and apparently, others like the food, too ;-)

After a long day, I shut down at dark, and ate my supper. Spent some time
talking to friends, shared some Blacksmith's Cordial and crashed.

But, I don't know what it is about Master Ekk. Every time he shows up,
mysterious unclaimed potables appear in my camp. I know where the case of
Budweiser came from (thanks, Ragnar) but the bottle of vanilla cordial that
appeared on the trestle table is still unclaimed. It is being stored, and
will no doubt appear next year, in case the owner comes looking...

Next morning, my knife maker showed up, intending to make another- better
this time, from what he'd learned the day before. He had also volunteered to
help me break down, so since I didn't have to be off-site until 4 PM, we
started in.

Now, since he theoreticallly knew what he was doing, I gave him the last
section of cable, and let him do it (after chipping out all the excess borax
from the day before). He heated the cable to the proper heat, fluxed it,
then heated it to welding heat, and got a beautiful weld. He then needed to
heat the other end to weld it, put it back into the fire, almost molten end
first, no flux, chattered as he fired up the blower, and pulled out half a
billet. He was astounded, and bewildered- what had gone wrong? Ekk and I
could have stopped him, but at this point, he needed a lesson, one only the
steel could tell him- look at the steel, see what it needs, flux it if
you're approaching welding temps, and pat attention to what you're doing. I
think, of all that I taught him those two days, that was the most effective
lesson ;-)

After that, we broke down, and I got on the road about 4 PM -safe, easy trip
home.

Next weekend, I was scheduled for an event in PA, the Southern Region War
Camp. Since the site didn't open until 4 PM, I thought I'd time going
through the Tappan Zee Bridge and NY about 2- after lunch rush, and before
weekend rush. Roads were clear, and everything was fine until I crossed the
NY border, right at 2 PM. I was still there at 3. And at 3:30. And at 4.
Finally, at 4:30, I crossed the Tappan Zee bridge- from there on out, it was
slow (NJ rush hour) but steadily moving. Got to site late, sorted out where
I was to set up, got things unloaded, then had some volunteers help me set
up, and we were mostly done by dark. I then headed to the kitchen, to help
Jadwiga prep for the Dayboard.

I arrived at the kitchen, told Jadwiga I was good for two beers worth of
help, after which I needed to go crash. I guess I just drink slow- I fanally
went off to bed about 3 AM, after finishing up all we could do for Dayboard
and a town run.

Next morning, I was moving slowly, which was OK, I only had one student, and
a great student he was ;-) I guided him through the first project he'd ever
made, the usual S-hook, and he did an absolutely beautiful job- if you
didn't know, you'd have thought he was experinced at smithing- he's got a
great eye. While he was working, there was a mundane kid (the site was
shared with members of the club that owned it) watching us, not saying a
word. His mother happened by, and I told him how he'd been watching all day,
and if she was willing to sign a permission, I'd be happy to teach him as
well. She did, so I did- he did a rather nice job, although it took him a
while to understand that he had to watch his steel- he burned up the curl on
one end, but, I think, learned from the experience.

But, I was set up on the battlefield, and one of the battles started coming
my way. The first time this happened, it ended a safe distance away, but
barely, so I told one of the marshals about it. One was assigned to protect
the area, but second time around, he got pulled away, and I had a bunch of
actively swinging fighters, heading my way in retreat- when they got within
10 ft, I called "Hold", which anyone in SCA is allowed to do if they see a
potential danger occuring, but if they're not a marshal, they'd better have
a very good reason, or they're going to get an earload. They stopped before
they arrived in my shop, which was well for them- the worst trhey'd have
done to my equipment was to break a few tent poles, but hitting the anvil,
forge, blower, trailer, etc could have hurt them seriously. But, all's well
that ends well. Was rather amused, though ;-)

Anyway, throughout the rest of the day, more students arrived and made their
projects, and a good time was had by all- enough so, that one of the
spectators donated to the charcoal fund, just because they liked the way I
was teaching people ;-)

Partied some Saturday night, went to bed fairly early. Wasn't feeling too
well Sunday AM, thought I might have over-indulged, though I didn't think I
had- turned out, I was coming down with a summer cold- fever, sore throat,
headache, runny nose, so I've been recovering all week, getting ready to
leave for Pennsic Thursday. But, with help, I got packed up and on the road,
and back to CT OK- this time, without nasty traffic to deal with.

You guys on TheForge, you behave yourselves, hear? Or you'll get another
cussing when I get back- and it won't be merely demonstrative....

Phlip

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....