[TheForge] M Krause

[peter fels & phoebe palmer]

Well spoken;
Been wondering lately to what extent we should allow ourselves to be 
intimidated though.
Feeling strongly conflicted on this issue.
I doubt that i could stop playing with fire.
On the other hand, i saw a lot of good folks of my parents generation,
hurt by similar sorts of hysterical bullsh*p....
they stood up and were swatted down.

On 12/13/2010 5:27 AM, Cindy and James wrote:
> 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
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