[TheForge] Sacred cows are better eaten than catered to.

[ries]

Well, I have to disagree.
First, I have paid, on average about a thousand bucks, to go to 5  
conferences. And if it was an all hand hammering show, I cant say I  
would do that.
And I think that a lot of the other people who actually do pay, and  
attend, would feel the same way. There are numerous demos of hand  
hammering, all over the country, all the time.
me, I have no interest in most of em, and certainly wouldnt pay the  
bucks, and take the time off, to see one- even if it was 5 days of  
Peter Ross.

As far as ownership of power hammers, maybe I run with the wrong  
crowd, but I would say most of the smiths I know have em. Big boys,  
too, and often more than one.
I wouldnt say they are infintesimal, at all.
Here in the NWBA, an average meeting is 175 or 200 smiths, and I am  
sure the power hammer ownership percentage is at least 50%.

At a national Abana conference, I dont know if its that high, but  
certainly out of the 500 to 700 paid attendees, there are several  
hundred power hammer owners there. I know I talk to a lot of em- like  
the guy from Norway who has 5 Beche's.

Any smith who is serious about producing work, either buys or builds  
one eventually.

And many of the techniques developed on power hammers, and demoed on  
them, are then transfered to smithin magicians, fly presses,  
hydraulic presses, and so on.

But the bottom line is the most interesting demonstrators are the  
guys who live and breathe forging- these are the guys who have been  
pushing the envelope for the last 40 years or so, and inventing all  
these new ways of looking at hot metal, and they usually work with  
power. So to see them demo, you need to give them the tools they need  
to show you.

And as far as who wants to see giant industrial machines operating-
I DO!
every day, and twice a day on weekends, please.

ries




On Mar 15, 2007, at 11:13 AM, Kathy wrote:

What is the percentage of artist blacksmiths who have industrial  
power hammers?
How many ABANA members, or regional organization members have--or  
ever plan to
acquire--an industrial power hammer? If the percentage is as low as I  
suspect,
than why are these power hammers given such a high priority at  
blacksmith
conferences?

The point I'm trying to make is that, if successful conferences on  
any level are
going to be put on, perhaps we should make sure that the amount of  
consideration
given to sacred cows conforms to their actual relevance in the lives  
of the
hoped for audience. If the audience is going to be general, not many  
of them
will be able to operate an industrial power hammer in their garages.  
Even the
minority who live in the country aren't likely to invest in such  
equipment. Now
consider the infinitesimal few who have proved their interest in  
industrial
hammers by going out and acquiring one. Given a choice between  
looking at one
more industrial brand, or a cleverly constructed home built hammer,  
which do we
suppose they'll want to see?

Every student who built a gas forge in my garage wanted an anvil  
right away;
every one of them wanted tongs and hand hammers. A few of them were even
interested in powered exhaust systems. Just one of them wanted a  
power hammer,
and he is building it.

What makes a Big Show for the audience consists of the things they find
entertaining, informative, and relevant to their own ambitions; not  
great big
shiny equipment that requires a full blown business to justify. Where  
are the
Heinz 57 different varieties of home-built power hammer at these  
shows? I'll bet
their owners could give chapter and verse as to what they take to  
operate, and
plenty of cooperation about setting up and operating them besides.

Perhaps industrial hammers should be relegated back to the status of  
vendors,
where they belong, instead of being catered to. It's just a thought;  
something
along the lines of "just how many super tents are really needed for a  
July
conference in Seattle?"
Mikey





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Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist
http://www.riesniemi.com/