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

[Steve Smith]

Jerry Frost wrote:

> 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.
> 

Jerry, these are really amusing ideas. I like them.

steve