[TheForge] forging techniques

[Allen Dyer]

any time you hand forge any item for a friend, or a customer (or both), you are GIVING THEM A PORTION OF YOUR LIFE.  you will never get those hours of life back.  make sure the recipient knows that you have given them something that can't be replaced.

allen dyer

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "martin marks" <jigsawman2000 at yahoo.com>
To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 3:47 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] forging techniques


>I still only consider myself to be an apprentice blacksmith/bladesmith. I have been making knives for 6 months now and giving them to friends. One friend once asked me "Why are hand forged knives better than factory made ones?" At first I couldn't really answer. I thought for a moment and confessed that there are very little differences in quality one way or the other. You can get a perfect blade made from a factory or a smith. The difference is the skill it takes a smith to make something by hand rather than a computerized machine.  In the end, I compared it to this: A hand forged item is completely unique/ one of a kind. Its like the original artwork of an artist. The original Mona Lisa is priceless while a factory copy is almost worthless. Both are identical in how they look/perform yet, the original is special, unique, and therefore more valuable. Of course you'll always find the person that doesn't care about that and will purchase the cheapest
> thing possible as long as it does the job. I always include a cover page and letter with everything I make with details about the object, how I made it, how long it took, etc etc. I feel this makes item personal to them. They seem to love that and it allows them to appreciate the process. 
> 
> Maybe I'm just dreaming here though. What do you guys think?  
> 
> 
> Zach
> --------------------------------------------
> On Fri, 2/7/14, Andy Gladish <anjgladish at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Subject: [TheForge] forging techniques
> To: "theforge at mailman.qth.net" <TheForge at mailman.qth.net>
> Date: Friday, February 7, 2014, 12:41 PM
> 
> I'm making quite a few knives these
> days, and I've noticed something very
> interesting that doesn't get a lot of notice: Our concept of
> what makes a
> knife look "right" especially "traditional" depends totally
> on the physics
> of what happens when you forge hot metal into a knife
> shape.
> I'd say that the same is true of decorative ironwork- the
> joinery
> techniques have a certain visual logic that most fabrication
> can't match.
> The way a piece swells slightly when you use the monkey tool
> to prepare a
> tenon just looks right, perhaps because it resembles what
> plants do.
> I see many instances of fabricated work attempting to
> imitate this- heck, I
> do it myself all the time! Fake MIG welded rivet heads,
> etc...and customers
> love it because they get a more natural look at not too much
> more than fab
> prices.
> Forged joinery and ornamentation have a visual appeal that
> will never go
> away, and the biggest issue is, how do we educate our
> customers to
> appreciate the real thing?
> There are plenty of national magazines that promote welding
> techniques, but
> there's only one that I'm aware of that promotes only
> forging- Keep it that
> way!
> 
> Andy
> 
> -- 
> "You can never make the same mistake twice: The second time
> you do it, it's
> a choice."
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