[TheForge] Re: Guild System Titles

[Mike Spencer]

> In the old days (good is a matter of perspective) an apprentice was
> little more than an indentured servant.  You'd do all the grunt
> work, cleaning, hauling, packing, fetch and carry, whatever the
> smith needed.  Depending on what the shop's main focus was an
> apprentice would eventually work up to doing some basic smithing
> functions like: striking, straightening, nail making, etc.

Gee, Frosty, you have a pretty cynical view of apprenticeship.  Where
did you have that experience?  Apprenticed in Elbonia did you? Or
Lower Slobovia?  :-)

I'm sure there were circumstances where that (or worse) was true but
it certainly wasn't universal.  The Germans have long had a very
formalized apprenticeship system.  I think much the same is true in
France. Undoubtedly there were deviations out in the boonies of both
countries.

Here in Nova Scotia apprenticeship wasn't formalized but was
recognized.  I met Arch McKnight about 1970 when he was in his 70s and
master of the shop in Milton, NS.  He apprenticed with Freeland Minard
in Barss Corner.  I met Freeland about the same time and he was in his
90s.  I don't know how many years Arch spent with Freeland but when he
left, he was able to go into the "lumber woods" and take
responsibility for horse and ox shoeing, wagons, bobsleds, harness and
other logging gear many miles from the nearest settlement.  And he
spoke of Mr. Minard with great respect and affection.

An elderly German smith (whose name I forget) who demonstrated at one of
the early ABANA cons did two apprenticeships.  At his first one, he
was given a hammer, anvil and a block of lead, told to hammer it out
into 1/4" (I suppose that was probably 8mm) stock.  When there was
some other task he was called to do it or help with it, presumably
including scut work as well as just holding or lifting.  But whenever
there was no other assignment, it was back to the anvil and the lead.
At the end of the day, the master looked over the resulting work, put
it into a ladle and melted it down.  Same assignment the next day.
That went on for a year.  The notion was that after a year of that, he
should know how to use a hammer.

Maybe a little alt Preussisch for our tastes but not just stupid
exploitation or abuse.

There are other yarns but it's getting late.

- Mike

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