[TheForge] Another lovely pair of events...

[Phlip]

Well, time to speak about my last couple of events- Hunter's Moon, by the
Shire of Anglespur (near Albany, NY, for my mundane friends) and John
Barleycorn, by Northpass ( Putnam Valley, NY).

I was asked to bring my forge over to Hunter's Moon, by the autocrat, Irene,
several months ago, so I had planned on it for my first post-Pennsic event.
It was held on Labor Day weekend, starting Friday and closing Monday. Irene
had been a student of mine at the Metalsmith's Symposium last year, one of
the cherished few who set up and runs her own forge, speading the word to
other folks interested in smithing, so of course I had no choice but to show
up ;-)

I had a great time. I was set up near the Feast pavillion, where veryone
could find me easily. Various members of the populace were king enough to
help me get my tent and smithing shelter set up before it got dark, and
started to rain, so the next morning, after I smithed my first pot of
coffee, I was pretty well ready to go. Through the next couple of days, I
had roughly 15 students working on various projects- I was busy enough,
that, unfortunately, some people had to wait for forge space- I'll be
addressing that, and seeing about having more forges avcailable for next
year.

One of my students was one of Irene's students, who needed to progress a bit
farther than she was capable of taking him, so I taught him forge welding.
We first did it with cable damascus (thank-you, Kim ;-), then tried it with
a poker on the second day. The cable worked fine, shaped a nice billet, but
the poker didn't go as well as planned- we weren't holding our mouths right,
near as I can figure- but we did well enough that he understands the
technique well enough to take it home and practice. I think what amused me
most was that he kept quoting his teacher- who was quoting me, word for
word- what goes around comes around, I think ;-) And unbeknownst to both of
them they're also quoting some of the best SCA smiths I've ever worked with-
Wilelm, Johan, and Duke Andrew, among others....

The food was good. I had signed up for Feast, and I found it an interesting
exercise in providing a feast with no cooking facilities available. There
are things I'd have done differently, but there was plenty of tasty food for
all feasters. And, one of my neighbors, and some of my students who were
camping by the lake kept feeding me, so I never had to leave site- very
important, considering how much energy I put out.

Packing up was great, too. Many of my students came back and helped as they
could- basicly, all I had to do was supervise, which, believe me, my back
thanked them for, most heartily. And, having a big firepit nearby, I was
able to let a couple of the students finish up their projects before I
packed up Monday AM. Only drawback was that packing up was a bit damp- my
tent reflected that when I unpacked the next weekend. Two full days of
smithing, with good food and pleasant conversation in the evenings- does it
get any better than this?

The next event was at the new site Northpass has found for their events.
It's an old YMCA camp that the YMCA has decided to refurbish, but they're
lacking the finances to do so. I suspect, as SCAdians have done before, if
we invest a little sweat equity in the property, we'll have a lovely site
for years to come. The caretaker and his sons loved the event, and want to
join the SCA, and the site itself is very nice- under construction,
certainly, but it looks to be like they're doing a good job.

I didn't get off to a good start on this event. For one thing, the site
didn't open until 7 PM, I got a late start, and following the directions, I
discovered that I was to drive on the Taconic Parkway, which doesn't allow
trailers- after I was on it, of course. It was getting dark, and just to
make my drive complete, I got another flat tire on the trailer. Managed to
pull off, off the road. Used my car phone, and ultimately received the
assistance of a very nice young deputy sheriff, who, when AAA refused to
come, not only helped me change the tire, but gave me excellent instructions
to get to the site without driving on the Taconic.Kudos to the Putnam County
Sheriff's Dept ;-)

Finally got to the site, and it was too dark to try to set up, so some
friends of mine allowed me to crash in their cabin, and my 'Prentice,
Alaron, who had gotten another ride, and I set up in the morning.

I only had two students- Alaron and another friend who wanted to make
himself a fork, but it was an absolutely lovely day at a lovely site, and I
spent a fair amount of time meeting and talking to older friends, and
strengthening newer friendships.

Feast was, as ever, very, very good- Pat turns out a marvelous spread, and
I'll eat her cooking any time. I was also very pleased to see that she's
working towards more period foods. She most certainly has the ability, and
it's lovely to watch her learning and growing ;-)

The evening was great, too. I spent most of it after the feast, talking to
Jaji, a merchant who runs a Persian coffee shop, and we swapped Blacksmith's
Cordial, Persian coffee, and Irish whiskey back and forth, along with much
good conversation. Convinced him and his business partner to stay the night-
she stayed in my tent with me and Alaron, and Jaji stayed in his van- much
simpler to pack in the morning.

Next morning, however, packing was delayed because a couple of people who
were really interested in smithing, but had been busy with some of the other
activities at the event came over, and we had a long talk and demonstration
as to how to set up a forge, with them taking down the titles of some of the
books I have out- very productive conversation.

Finally, it was time to pack up, and Alaron and I did, with a bit of help
here and there, and I had a MUCH less adventurous drive home....

I should have been doing this YEARS ago...


Saint Phlip,
CoDoLDS

"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....