[TheForge] Blacksmith's Holiday

[Washington, Aubrey O.]

Greetings, All,

I'm just back from an action-packed, fun-filled week-long class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C.  The class was titled "Dragons, Wizards, and Horses" and was taught by Steve Williamson.  Steve is a good and patient teacher and all-round nice guy.  (Though he can be a little grumpy when he doesn't get enough meat to eat.)  For those not familiar with it, the Folk School is nestled in the Appalachians in the western tip of North Carolina, a beautiful location.

Steve kept the class moving at a pace that didn't allow anyone to get bored.  In the first two days we warmed up by making a horse head, mule head, wizard, and troll.  Then on the third day he introduced the big challenge, a dragon made from 1" square stock.  Then, the tossed in a bear head just for grins.  All through the week we had to make various chisels, punches and fullers for particular jobs.  Steve took over teaching this class from Clay Spencer and has added his own style.  He has made a point of studying how real animals look and figuring out ways to represent them in steel.  I learned a lot from him about how to carve steel and push the metal around in various ways.  He also showed us how to make dies for the power hammer of treadle hammer.

The Folk School has a well-equipped shop with 12 forges plus the instructor's forge.  They also have plenty of other equipment to share, including 3 air hammers, a 25# LG, a spare tire hammer, and 3 treadle hammers.

I'm just a hobby smith, so some of you pros may already know all this stuff.  But, I can't think of any way I would have preferred to spend my vacation!  I'm tired, sore, and still grinning.

Aubrey