[TheForge] Blacksmiths in space!

[G. Watts]

Frosty and Mike,

  I have been a list member since sometime in the '90's and feel a 
strong connection to you both. Never posted much but followed the back 
and forths from the shadows with occasional replies where I felt I had 
something to add (mostly welding topics). Always appreciated the free 
transfer of knowledge and the personal events (looking at you: the Tree 
and Frosty). I'm a guy that had an interest in forging and did some on 
my own, starting with a peat/charcoal with hairdryer forge ('90's) and 
built a couple of iterations of propane forges with venturi burners with 
Zoeller flares and refractory ceramic fiber/kiln wash liners, still 
working on NG conversion of previously propane burners. Just wanted to 
take a moment and thank you both for all of your contributions to the 
list over the past 25+ years, along with MANY others. I acknowledge the 
deficit in accurate media representations and am totally baffled about 
why they can't get it right! Still, I'm happy for some representation of 
smithing. If you ever find yourselves in San Diego, CA, I would consider 
it a privilege to buy you a beer or two! This also applies to many other 
list members from way back.

Cheers and Thanks to all,

George.

On 1/8/2023 10:04 AM, Jerry Frost wrote:
> I've gotten to the point of ignoring "blacksmith" scenes in movies and on
> TV. I can't count how many times the "blacksmith" takes the piece out of the
> fire and gives it a dip in the slack tub before hitting it with an upside
> down top tool of the most interesting shape.
>
> Then again, our club has members in their 50s who had never swung a hammer
> until their first meeting. It gives a person perspective on how helpless so
> many folks feel that don't have basic skills.
>
> Frosty, Meadow Lakes,  Ak.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Mike Spencer
> Sent: Saturday, January 7, 2023 8:34 PM
> To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [TheForge] Blacksmiths in space!
>
>
> If you're like me, you're ever alert for how well smithing is handled
> in movies.  Was Thorin Oakenshield's hammering style credible when he
> was shown as supporting himself as a working smith?  Magic aside, did
> the elves do the right thing reforging the Sword That Was Broken?  Was
> that a Peter Wright anvil in a 13th c. forge shop?  Was that guy in
> Laredo beating cold iron?
>
> Watching the 2009 movie, "Cargo".  The year is 2267.  The earth is
> uninhabitable a la Wall-E but, unlike Wall-E, people live in crowded
> orbital habitats more like Blade-Runner-inside-a-Greyhound-Bus and
> have done so for a few generations.
>
> We're on a huge spaceship, deep in interstellar space when someone
> carelessly jams open the two-storey tall, 2' thick multi-ton sliding
> doors to the refrigerated cargo hold.  Two crew guys are detailed to
> to free them up.
>
> They appear to be equipped with:
>
>     + Tanks for some kind of torch
>
>     + Some sort of jack
>
>     + 20th c. stick welder and mask
>
>     + Crowbar
>
>     + Cold chisel
>
> Cold chisel?  Ya gots to *hit* it with something.  The hammer -- both
> conceptually and practically -- has been around since the stone age.
> What does a space-going 23rd c. hammer look like?
>
> It's unequivocally a long-handled 3"x3" blacksmith's flatter with
> which the crewman struggles to deliver useful blows to the chisel.  It
> shows moderate peening-over on the poll from use as a flatter but he
> uses the big flat face to hit the chisel.
>
> I was sure I could see the A-in-a-horseshoe Atha Tool logo but
> failed to bring it up recognizably in any of several screenshots.
>
> It's at about 00:46:00 if you have access to the movie and want to
> look for it.
>
> Here  we are, huddled by the fire, sheltered from the Howling Gale and
> the Icy Blast and all we get for weather is Black T'ick 'o Fog and
> Poor Footing.  Maybe some of y'all in California are worse off?
> Haven't heard from my friend in the Berkeley Hills.
>
>
> - Mike
>