[TheForge] Re: Another Long rambley YAK

[Mike Spencer]

Bruce wrote:

> Perhaps the problem is that so few people work with strikers these
> days that they don't comprehend just how much work a sledge hammer can
> do.

Hear, hear.  I usually work alone.  When I demo'ed at the 84 DePere
conference, I asked for a striker because I knew I had had difficulty
making one of the demo pieces singlehanded under a power hammer.

I was absolutely stunned at how great it was to work with a
knowledgeable and skilled striker.  I don't remember the guys name.
If you're on the list or out there somewhere, "Hello and thanks for a
great experience."  I've worked (briefly, at workshops and seminars)
with other competent smiths striking.  They were good smiths but they
weren't good *strikers*.  If the striker is thinking about how *(s)he*
would do it or trying to prove that he's kewler than you (or
intimidated because he thinks he's not) or is playing to the crowd
or...(whatever) instead of focusing entirely on the work and your
moves, it doesn't work right.  The DePere striker proved that it *can*
work beautifully and that big old sledge does magic.

- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer@tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^

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