[TheForge] hammer of the gods

[Justin Fellenz]

Chris

> Certainly not a reference directly towards you, just an observation
> made 
> after 25 years since I first started in the back yard with a hibachi 
> full of coal hooked to a vacuum cleaner and a 100 pound anvil.

I didn't mean to go off too bad, but I couldn't help but take the
comment a little personally. I do this because I like making beautiful
things out of iron, and part of that pleasure is using and learning to
use the tools available to me--the process, the means, and the result
all give me pleasure. That, like Ralph said, is at least part of the
tradition of blacksmithing (certainly modern, non-subsistence
blacksmithing) and of art in general.  

It *can* be kind of annoying to see people who really don't do the
craft, they just buy stuff and talk about it. I have a friend who has
more than a dozen anvils from 25-500 pounds and has never swung a
hammer. Makes me crazy. But on the other hand, if it makes him happy,
who am I to complain? Doesn't hurt me or anyone else. It's hard not to
get into the "when I was young..." thing where you compare what you had
to what someone else has to illustrate the lack of personal commitment
or authentic craftsmanship among the young and/or inexperienced or just
those who don't share our motivations for owning a certain thing, but
those judgements are just statements of a personal hierarchy of values
that just don't translate from person to person. People have a right to
their pleasures.

I have to agree with Ralph, the concept of "traditional" is just as
slippery as some of the others here. I'm a relatively young man and I
want to do as much as I can with the life I have--better tools mean I
can do more, I have more to learn in mastering them, and my body will
last longer. And like guns or knives or anything else that are made to
do things *and* be pretty, tools can be beautiful aesthetically, as
articles of craftsmanship, for what they mean to a person, and for what
they can do. Functionality is just one line in the tune, and a given
concept of "tradition" is just one particular tune. 
> 
> As a member of The Blacksmiths' Guild of the Potomac since that time,

You're in the BGOP? Cool, perhaps we'll meet at Spring Fling this year.

> I 
> have seen several examples of what I described, with some Little
> Giants 
> sitting in the snow and rain for years and never getting hooked up. A
> 50 
> pounder (not out in the snow)  was MINE. When deciding that  I had no
> 
> use for the LG, I reconditioned it and sold it to a very happy
> friend.

That's the hammer I'm looking for, forgotten and unloved in a field,
sold for a case of beer and a hand getting it into the truck. Know of
any?

> I found it much more satisfying to learn the craft as it was learned 
> traditionally, using a striker when necessary.
> Years later, when working in an architectural blacksmithing shop,
> there 
> was a legitimate need for the Kuhn that we had.
> 
Man, I hear ya, watching good equipment rust away KILLS me. I might be
willing to argue that that's wrong. If you have it and you don't use it
and it's getting wrecked, just give it to a school or something so
someone else can. But again, we believe in personal property in this
country, so if someone paid for it and their "use" is to think they're
a blacksmith, who are we to judge them? I happen to agree with you, I
use everything I own as a tool, not an ornament or element in my
identity. But, ooooh, it hurts, but "legitimate need" as a point of
judgement of someone else is a real tricky concept. A museum curator
might be just as satisfied with your hammer as you.

> So, relax and buy everything you want, and enjoy what you buy.  Dan's
> 
> comment on making bigger mistakes quicker is oh so true!

Oh yeah it is. Long as it isn't your fingers or something else that you
can't go get more of, I guess it's ok though.

Cheers and see you in the spring,

Justin.
> 
> Chris
> 
> Justin Fellenz wrote:
> 
> >Ow, Chris. That's unusually acrimonious for this usually very
> friendly
> >list.
> >
> >At the risk of perpetuating incivility, for the record, I don't
> >actually believe that buying a hammer will make me a smith. Not sure
> >where you got that idea, nor am I certain at what point one can
> >authentically call oneself a capital-B "Blacksmith," nor how you
> know
> >where I am in the process. Maybe you were just speaking generally,
> not
> >about me in particular. Either way, I don't recall a period of
> >apprenticeship stipulated anywhere before a budding smith earns the
> >right to buy machinery for his trade or hobby, whichever it is. 
> >
> >As for the machines, the difference is pretty obvious from looking.
> I
> >posted it because there are other machinery geeks out there on the
> list
> >and it's kind of cool to see a huge hammer like that. Maybe it's old
> >news to you and the rest but I've never seen one. Call it human
> >interest for gearheads.
> >
> >Still looking, sort of, unhurriedly, for a hammer. And a press (two,
> >apparently) and whatever other cool old equipment passes by too
> cheap
> >to pass up. Thanks for the ebay link, Graham, but I'll hang out till
> >that smokin' deal on a pneumatic or electric comes along.
> >
> >Cheers,
> >
> >JRF
> >
> >  
> >
> 
> 
> 
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