[TheForge] Speaking of age...

[Dan Crowther]

My wife and I teach blacksmithing to the younger generation weekly; 
partly through a program we run at a local art studio and also 
through a summer program.  By the time a year is done we've taught 
roughly 60-80 "kids" (ages 12-17) basic blacksmithing.  As Ron said 
some of them keep at and some don't, just like any other "teen 
interest".  We typically see about 25% keep coming back for more and more.

The biggest hindrance to these students (and even for our adult 
students), is a place to practice.  We can teach, say, hammer control 
for hours, but the student really just needs "hammer time" to 
practice outside of class.  Parents are often not eager to let their 
child build a forge so they can practice, for a variety of reasons 
(some of which can be quite legit).

When I hear people talk about blacksmithing being a "dying art", they 
obviously aren't taking a look around.  There are more opportunities 
to learn blacksmithing NOW than there has been in the past 50 years!


Dan Crowther
http://www.oakandacorn.com
http://celticclans.oakandacorn.com

At 09:15 AM 2/2/2007, you wrote:
>Andy,
>It's a matter of perspective: To me, anyone under 50 is a "youngun". As for
>really younguns, there are kids in green coal or beginner classes 10 yrs old
>who listen, do what you tell 'em, and have good hammer control, and some
>older one's who think it's fun to try to destroy everything. Yes, things do
>look promising for the coming generation; we have some really good kids in
>our group and a bunch of us old buzzards to teach 'em. Some will stick with
>it and some will lose interest as in every thing else.
>
>Ron C