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

[Jerry Frost]

Well said Bruce.

This is a perfect example of what I meant earlier when 
I said, `Fairs are pay as you go affairs; vendors pay 
their way, consessions pay their way, entertainment pay 
their way, everybody pays their way.' (Or something 
like that <grin>) Some pay an up front fee for space, 
others pay a %, but everybody pays their way.

The point being a blacksmithing conference needs to 
reflect the needs and wants of the smithing community 
in general. Especially a conference put on by a 
national organization.

To be profitable a conference also needs crowd appeal, 
it needs to draw people from all over not just smiths. 
If there's something for the general public to see 
they'll come and the more people attending the better. 
The bigger the gate the lower the ticket price. The 
more people, just plain folks, attending, the more 
things smiths will sell from their own shops, small and 
large.

Architects and designers are always looking for 
something unique and what better than hand made? Where 
better to find it than a large gathering of people who 
specialize in hand made?

Back to hammer size. Of course there'll be a place for 
the BIG boys and they'll come on their own dime, maybe 
with a little incentive. BIG hammers have crowd appeal 
so it'll be worth it for the conference to help defray 
costs to get a few to attend.

However, the points made about hammers by the general 
smithing community in a very short time this morning 
(AK time) say volumes about where improvements can be 
made. Very few can afford a BIG hammer, some can't even 
have one due to where they live. Even small hammers can 
be problematical, I'll use myself as an example, all be 
it extreme. <grin>

I live in Alaska, not remote Alaska but I'm still at 
the end of a LONG supply line. For me shipping can more 
than double the price of tools. For me the cost of 
shipping a 25 LG to Alaska is close to the price of a 
Stryker. I'm not made of money so if I want a power 
hammer the most cost effective will be home built. I 
still get to deal with the cost of shipping (even 
scrapyard prices around here reflect the cost of 
shipping) but I can swing enough "salvage" to put my 
own hammer together. The only thing I lack is a steady 
connection with other guys who have or who want to 
build hammers.

Another thing most smiths are interested in is 
improvisation, be it tools or techniques. I think a BIG 
draw for a conference would be a "Junkyard Hammer War." 
Teams would register in advance. (So the conference 
could arrange for a large enough and well enough seeded 
"junkyard." General hammer specs would be agreed upon 
and a time to build set. Then on the given day someone 
would give a twisted piece of steel a whack with a 
sledge hammer and the show would start.

There would of course need to be standards of safety 
set and an inspection team. These and other things can 
be determined in the detail phase.

A Junkyard Hammer War would not only be a REAL 
education for smiths wanting to learn things about 
improvised equipment but the crowd appeal would be 
excellent. It may not keep the stands filled for three 
days but there'd be lots of interest. Especially when 
proving time came.

A decent sized "junkyard" would also be valuable to the 
smithing community as experienced smiths could show 
folk how to find and identify useful and more 
importantly dangerous materials in situ. Other 
"Junkyard Wars" could be held as well, say: "Junkyard 
Ring Roller War," "Junkyard Press War," "Junkyard Anvil 
War," "Junkyard Twister War," etc.

Frosty
-------------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/


From: "Bruce Freeman" <FREEMAB at pt.fdah.com>


I for one will probably never get a power hammer.

On the other hand, I really like seeing demos involving 
power hammers.

The place to have power hammer demos is in shops that 
have power hammers.

We have several such in the greater NJ area, and they 
have been appropriately used in demos over the years.

Presumably, most other areas of the country can boast 
the same.

Bottom line suggestion:  Drop power hammers from 
official ABANA demos (at fairgrounds, etc.) unless some 
outside agency (commercial vendor, most likely) sees to 
the details of getting it there and seeing it operates.

Bruce
NJ

>>> keporter at comcast.net 3/15/2007 2:13 PM >>>
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?
<snip>