[TheForge] Hofi, Tom Clark, Yellin

[Cindy and James]

Hofi, Tom Clark, Yellin

I am late to the field of blacksmithing and only met Tom Clark once.  He 
had some stuff for sale and I was watching my pennies.  I regret not 
buying one of his hammers or getting to know him better.  I watched him 
demo a SayMak air hammer that day making a hot cut for an anvil from a 
steel blank.  I am still inspired by that today.  Yes, he was a showman, 
much as Hofi is.  I know several who have met Hofi and most seem to 
share the opinion that he has "his own way of doing things" so to 
speak.  I have watched some of his hammer technique videos and they make 
sense to me.  I bought one of his hammers and it is without a doubt a 
fantastic hammer.  I use it daily.

I stand in awe of Yellin's organizational, management and artistic 
skills.  I do know he had a large shop with many skilled craftsmen.  
While I am sure he hammered some, I strongly suspect he directed the 
work more than hammered it out.  And if you don't have the concept of 
the final vision in mind, you simply can't start building and hope it 
turns out right.  And if you can't SELL the project in the first place, 
it will never get made.  The body of work created by Yellin is truly a 
National treasure.

I know an artist who starts designing projects from the "top down".  It 
drives me nuts because I can't see the overall vision, all I can see to 
start with is the supporting structure.  But my mind just does not work 
like that.  Finally, I get the whole picture.

If you are good enough at what you do, you are entitled to have an 
opinion.  If others don't like or share your opinion... that's their 
problem.

Just my opinion.
James, NE Texas