[TheForge] M Krause

[Cindy and James]

This Mark thing disturbs me for several reasons.  I don't know him and 
won't try to defend or convict him.  My thoughts go beyond that.

We are in an age of terror, one way or another, just turn on the TV.  
Idiots abound, some of them live among us, most of them have kids that 
grow up thinking like their parents, a few of them vote (and I presume 
they vote quite differently than I do), many of them make very poor life 
choices (education, jobs, drugs, alcohol, investments, etc.), some are 
committed idealists bent on changing society or at least damaging 
society (Timothy McVeigh), many just live for their time in the 
spotlight even though that means having their face on the wall of honor 
at the Post Office among the most wanted, and some are just simply angry 
because life dealt them a crappy hand of cards and they weren't very 
good at cards in the first place.  And then there are some very bad 
people out there.  It is hard to tell the difference just by looking.

Any of us on this forum, in one way or another, would (could/are) be 
looked upon by some in positions of authority or liberal high-mindedness 
as weird, dangerous or a bunch of other acronyms/adjectives because of 
our passion for blacksmithing.  After all, anyone who plays with liquid 
metal or at least very hot metal HAS to be sort of well, capable of 
SOMETHING nefarious!!!  And that though process isn't endemic to one 
particular part of the country over another.

Just look at your shop and what it contains, the stuff you use every day 
to create the objects d'art, be they knives, axes or leaves for a wine 
cellar.  Most of us have coal forges and EVERYONE knows how awful they 
are for the environment!  If Mark has/had a coal forge, I'm surprised 
the indictment didn't contain a page from Big Al Gore's playbook.  
Propane??? Acetylene???  And you have this at your HOME, in your 
GARAGE!!!  The ONLY reason that we are permitted to even have a 5 gal. 
container of propane is because the Natl. Fire Code lists a backyard BBQ 
as "recreational"!

I speak with a somewhat jaundiced eye toward most levels of authority, 
but I am sure this is not apparent to the casual reader '-)   !  I spent 
30 years working for Big Brother in an administrative and 
quasi-enforcement role.  The lengths we would go, and the money we would 
spend, to enforce our rules and regulations were at times incredible.  I 
was fortunate in that I had quite a bit of authority over my designated 
area of jurisdiction and I endeavored to administer "common sense" when 
practical even if it wasn't always the order of the day.  Sometimes you 
just have to do the right thing.

All that to say that I don't want what is happening to Mark to paint our 
craft with the broad brush of ... I'm looking for a word here and it 
escapes me ... prejudice?  We enjoy many freedoms, we need to be careful 
of them, guard them and work to educate those less enlightened than we 
about the joys and beauties found in the heart of a coal fire and a 
piece of hot metal.

One last thought - I know - you've been waiting for this to end!  A few 
years ago a woman (doctor's wife) brought her 15 year old son to my shop 
to inquire if I would teach him how to make a sword.  Seems the kid had 
seen too many Ninja movies or something but mom was being mom.  I really 
lectured heavily on the safety side, talking more to her than him.  They 
had already seen my coal forge working but he would be using propane (if 
he got that far) so I agreed to demonstrate my 2 burner commercial gas 
forge.  I'll never forget the look of HORROR in her eyes as I turned on 
the valve and hit the striker!  As the forge came to life she was 
retreating and dragging her boy with her as fast as she could go!   I 
was damn glad to see them go but this is the mindset that is potentially 
damaging to the future of the craft.

James
Paris, TX