[TheForge] Reenactors - Robert E.

Sun Sep 22 14:13:23 EDT 2013

I got interested in blacksmithing at 43....  I picked it in part from
exposure to at an SCA event that wife was attending and in part to
complement some of the woodworking projects that I do.

On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 12:04 PM, Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer <
artgawk at thegrid.net> wrote:

> Well, that pretty much blows apart my contention that
> smithing will again cease, if we don't recruit young folks.
> Good!
> Pleased to be proven wrong,     again.
>
> On Sep 21, 2013, at 12:41 AM, Vincent Nakovics wrote:
>
> That is what seems to happen a lot with blacksmithing the little that I
> have observed. I myself didn't start blacksmithing until I was 40. Prior to
> that the only metal work I did was as a kid in my Father's Sheet Metal Shop
> in NYC. I know a few other Smiths and enthusiasts who got started about the
> same age. So it goes. I am guessing that unless you grow up reenacting and
> have continued to make it part of your life it is something that you leave,
> make a living and then find or return to share with kids and family or
> maybe like me it was necessary and developed into a new artistic expression
> for him/herself.
> Nice talking to you! got to go!
>
> Vince Nakovics
>
> Blacksmithing; “Making exquisitely simple items extraordinary and
> tremendously complex items understatedly simple”.
>
> http://gjonmarkagjonifund.org
> www.happyhavenforge.wordpress.com
> www.discoveringalbania.com
>
>
>
>
> From: theforge-request at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: TheForge Digest, Vol 116, Issue 30
> To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
> Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 12:00:07 -0400
>
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> --Forwarded Message Attachment--
> From: eforge at centurytel.net
> To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
> Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 12:58:17 -0500
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] reenactors
>
> Talking about coming back to it later in life.  My son got me into
> blacksmithing because of his interest in making knives.  He was a full time
> knife maker for about 10 years, but when he wanted to get married and and
> buy a home he set it aside and got a job in a factory.  At first he worked
> on the assembly line wireing refrigerators. After a while they trained him
> to be a brazer, then to handle the freon charging. After several years he
> ended up in the sheetmetal shop, the metal working he learned in
> blacksmithing and knife making led to him becoming a set up guy on the
> shears, presses and brakes. He is now the set up trainer, because the
> machines he set up almost never made scrap parts which was common with some
> of the othere set up guys. He doesn't make many knives now, but I expect
> that when his boys get older he will get back into it. It won't be long
> before his boys want to pick up a hammer like grandpa and make their own
> knives.
>
> Robert Ehrenberger
> Shelbyville, Mo.
> eforge at centurytel.net
>
> ---Original Message----
>
>     One quick story about Blacksmithing. I used to have kids come work for
> a week or two with me in the shop as part of their internship. I believe
> they will always remember the three days of Blacksmithing as they were able
> to make a few things that they could give to their Mom, Dad, girlfriend
> that
> they made.  It wasn't really a blacksmith class as I had real work to be
> done at the same time, but I did provide them the glimpse and an
> appreciation of what a Blacksmith did. They were also surprised at what I
> got paid for my accrued knowledge of Historic Preservation and Restoration.
> I used to point out I was lucky that my job was unique and that I made a
> nice living doing something I truly enjoyed. They got it - I told them to
> keep it in mind and maybe later on you can come back to it and do it as a
> hobby if nothing else. The girls really got excited, but felt it was to
> hard
> for them, but said they would alway remember their time in the Blacksmith
> shop. The seed was planted w
> ith about 7 interns in 2 years. Now we have to wait and see maybe one will
> take. All of them are going into other fields, Interpretation, Police,
> Administration, Education, etc. not a metalworker one. We can only put it
> out there and hope that someone grabs a hold of the line.
> See ya at the Forge!!
> Albanian Style!
>
> Vince Nakovics
>
>
>
>
>
> --Forwarded Message Attachment--
> From: restoreman123 at msn.com
> To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
> Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 03:41:39 -0400
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Wheelwrighting - W. Mullet
>
> Hi W.
> I used to do Cannon Carriages for Colonial National Historical Park, made
> them for 13 years. 2nd Best Job I ever had! I did it all, wood and metal. I
> am no longer doing that as I decided to move to help out my wife's elderly
> Uncle and Aunt in Albania. But! I am familiar with Dave's book as I own
> one, it and many others are awaiting my return someday in storage. His
> Forge is very nicely done indeed. I only did 18th Century wheels for
> Cannons which are much heavier than the usual carriage wheels and were made
> Straked. Hooped tires were a later invention that was not represented at
> our park. Hooped tires didn't come to common use until after 1820 and even
> then many of the larger and heavier wheels were still Straked until about
> the 1880's. Even in England where they had a leg up on us in making wheels
> there were still straked wheels in use, but the death knoll had sounded for
> that style wheel.
> Good luck with your Wheelwrighting, if you ever have a problem or question
> that I might be able to answer please do so. My email is:
> restoreman123 at msn.com
> Vince
>
>
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