[TheForge] TheForge Digest, Vol 213, Issue 2

Sun Apr 21 14:10:42 EDT 2024

Gentlemen,

       I’ve been a lurker here for quite a while and have had a (mostly) unrequited passion for smithing for decades. As Andrew aptly points out, our lives in general have become rather more complicated over the last few decades than at any time in history…things that seem to demand more and more time, allowing less for the things we, in our hearts, know we really need to do for pure sanity if nothing else. I am certainly guilty of this, coupled with the fact that here in Southern California, there seems to be a dearth of places to go to learn. Years ago I found a shop/school in a county park in Orange County (as best I can remember), and I did go a few times which was wonderful. An older gentleman was on site watching over us, but there was no real teaching/demonstration/explanation….just a number of bowl/coal forges, a good number of tongs, tools and anvils. I thoroughly enjoyed playing with everything and did manage to produce some of the basics such as hooks and a couple of decorative tchotchkes. (Full disclosure, I’m a 40 year licensed contractor who owned a custom cabinet shop for 30 years, so quite familiar with tools and fabrication). 
Yet the rather long drive to a place only open a couple of times a month for beginners was tough, and I haven’t returned. This was also long before COVID and I don’t even know if the shop still exists. 
    So this long personal lament seems to be additional testimony to what I read here so often, but with maybe a thought towards a solution to the lack of younger interest?

    Through a series of fortuitous events, at 71, I find myself a full time employee and trade instructor at a brand new Trade School started last September at the Santiago Retreat Center in Orange County, Ca.  Trade schools are flourishing across the country as an alternative (and antidote?) for those who have no interest in college and want to learn the hands on trades. The location we have is ideal, our plan is a two year curriculum with the ultimate goal of giving in depth instruction with loads of hands on work on site, culminating in not only real time experience, but direct schooling in prep for a California Contractor’s license exam. (One of the hardest in the country). 
    When I signed on, one of the first things I thought of was setting up a blacksmith’s shop and having that be part of the curriculum, just as carpentry, plumbing, electrical, etc. are. We already have an older “barn” type building with a great outside shed roof perfect for the shop location. I can’t think of a better setup to introduce a new generation to probably what can be considered the first “trade” of the metal age. And I’ve got a captive audience as all the men (our ages run from min. 18 to at most late 20’s) live on site and are given a food budget with which they go shopping as a class group and do all their own cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. while also being responsible for jobs around the retreat center in addition to classroom and real work instruction.  
   Another full disclosure, the Retreat Center is a non-profit Faith based Catholic organization, but privately owned and operated.  We do take our Faith as seriously as our commitment to teaching real trades and work ethics to our students. 
    So all that being said, and apologies for the long winds, these trade schools may be a real source of fresh interest in smithing, and I can promise that if you can find one and communicate both interest and hopefully even some hardware (I’m certainly starting from scratch with minimal funds), you’ll get not only a bona fide tax write off, but fresh youngsters who will be exposed to the trade you all love and then pay it forward. 

    Thanks for listening.

Regards,
   Ed Eccleston
   Santiago Trade School
   Santiago Retreat Center
   Orange County, Ca.  

> On Apr 20, 2024, at 11:48 PM, Andrew Vida <impublius at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The so-called "social media" communications channel I like to call
> "anti-social media".
> 
> As for learning on youtube, it's valid... to a point.  But there is no real
> substitute for working in the presence of capable hands that can provide
> instant feedback with real world in-your-face material effect.  I think
> this becomes particularly significant where safety issues are concerned.
> Certain errors can be costly... like sticking galvanized pipe into your
> forge.
> 
> 
> The internet has been very much a mixed blessing.  I still prefer this
> mailing list to media more real-time in nature, but it is clear that the
> rest of the world mostly disagrees.
> 
> Bruce basically slaved at the NJBA newsletter for many years and made very
> good work of it and nobody helped.  His quip about nobody even helping to
> find a new bank is well taken.  I see this in political issues all the
> time.  It seems clear people like to talk a lot, but are less fond of
> doing, content to leave actual work to others.  I see endless talk of
> "reclaiming liberty" and the like, yet any time I query someone about their
> ideas on how to actually DO it, I get crickets and all manner of seemingly
> psychotic non-sequitur responses.
> 
> In conversations with Bruce and Marshall, it seems NJBA activity is not
> what it once was, which is a great shame in my eyes.  Then again, I also
> take well the point that people are largely overwhelmed with life in a far
> broader way than they were 30 years ago, and that all appears to be getting
> worse by the day.  I'm wondering how things are with other groups like BAM
> (and where in blazes is that anvil??).  I find it such a pity that
> circumstances of life have come to so sad a pass that people find
> themselves unable to pursue their free-time passions; that those passions
> have lapsed largely away due to the deleterious effects of stress and worry.
> 
> I'm mostly done with the expansion of our house here in WV.  My intention
> is to build a lean-to onto the foundation wall in the back and set up shop
> there, get 100 or so tons of coal, and keep going what I am able of my
> smithing.  But as with the rest of us, I'm getting no younger.  I'm slowly
> becoming an old fart, though not as old or as farty as Bruce, HAR HAR HAR...
> 
> I'm very glad that at least a few familiar names are still on this list.
> It does my heart much good.
> 
> And Steve, I still have that silicon loaf you sent me 200K years ago.
> 
> -Andy in Elkview
> 
>> On Wed, Apr 17, 2024 at 4:15 PM <theforge-request at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
>> 
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>> 
>> Today's Topics:
>> 
>>   1. Re: Attracting new members (Vincent Nakovics)
>>   2. Re: Membership loss (Bob Ehrenberger)
>>   3. Re: Membership loss (Bruce)
>> 
>> 
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2024 09:27:11 +0000
>> From: Vincent Nakovics <restoreman123 at msn.com>
>> To: "theforge at mailman.qth.net" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
>> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Attracting new members
>> Message-ID:
>>        <
>> IA1PR10MB6806DDDB36E991DC9E38B164FF0F2 at IA1PR10MB6806.namprd10.prod.outlook.com
>>> 
>> 
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>> 
>> I feel for you Bruce. It?s hard work, and thankless for the most part, to
>> keep a group going. FB presence and probably Instagram are essential these
>> days. I remember when I switched to an e-newsletter, many weren?t happy,
>> but they didn?t want to pay for it either, so? We only handed out print
>> copies at meetings and only until they ran out. So gathering by what you
>> said you should only need two or three.
>> The time consuming job of the newsletter editor. My experience, basically
>> you have to be willing to write it yourself. It?s wonderful when members
>> give you something, but I basically wrote it, or badgered someone for an
>> article. We had plenty of people with talent and no one wanted to do demo?s
>> ? they were embarrassed, shy, had inferior complexes and the list goes on.
>> But? this is part of it. Yes the newsletter editor gets involved because
>> hopefully the guy will write an article before giving his demo. In the 7 or
>> 8 years I think I managed this about four times. The rest I did ? I did
>> interviews, showcased people?s work, talked and talked and talked about
>> BSing and the future of it with old and young.  It was much more than I
>> wanted, but I kept at it.
>> 
>> Now in your case someone will have to pick up the banner and run with it
>> until your editor gets his affairs in order.  How many core people do you
>> have? Divide all the work between them. Everyone has a forte, some even
>> know it. Ask someone to start up an Instagram page, another FB ? promote,
>> promote, promote. Wear the group T-shirt, hat, and logo around ? people
>> will ask you about it. Shoot I got stopped the other day here in Albania
>> wearing my 2010 ABANA shirt. First time in 9 years, but hey it sparked an
>> interest. The kid (30 year old) is coming over tonight. My forge here in
>> Albania isn?t what I had in VA, nor has it been well maintained in the past
>> three years because of an injury to my arm, but I will give him a chance to
>> see if he is interested. Who knows, maybe it will be the start of
>> something.  You get my point.
>> 
>> There is a segment of our society who believe that you can be a better BS
>> by learning off of YouTube alone than attending our groups. This has been
>> coming down the pike for years. I was told this by a woman running the
>> Blacksmith museum in Slovenia of all places. They don?t believe they need
>> anyone?s help. Of course they spend a good amount of time reinventing the
>> wheel, even with YouTube. This is another place that you need to have a
>> page. A separate volunteer would be nice because it is a lot of work
>> maintaining a page there. But people will find you through it. Pinterest is
>> another, but lesser used venue.
>> 
>> Then once you have them in front of you I have to tell you. You can only
>> talk about horseshoes, nails, tools etc so much and you will lose them. Yes
>> they need the basics, but you need to have projects, both singular and
>> group projects for people to work on. More complex projects that require.
>> Now because of the nature of our projects members of these projects need to
>> be motivated to get their own set ups and work with the people of their
>> group between meetings. If your group has a forge to meet at.
>> 
>> I have to admit I am a bit surprised your group has this problem because I
>> always found tons of useful information in your newsletters.
>> 
>> If I can help out in someway don?t hesitate to ask. I will tell you I am
>> busy from now until the third week in May, but email if and if I can do
>> help you out I certainly will.  I am still living in that great socialist
>> state of Albania so I won?t be stopping by anytime soon. ?
>> 
>> Good luck! Hope my babble helped.
>> 
>> Vince Nakovics
>>  Author, Blacksmith, Sailor
>> 
>> Website<https://vincenakovics.com/>
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ------------------------------
>> 
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2024 08:22:47 -0500
>> From: Bob Ehrenberger <ehrenbergerforge at gmail.com>
>> To: Theforge at mailman.qth.net
>> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Membership loss
>> Message-ID:
>>        <CAEsB8VP_+BmuomhpF44dmKLJP5Q5-NF=
>> QCL6pGOAy0_H6ObT1g at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>> 
>> Bruce, when I was editor for BAM, I would get a list of members who failed
>> to renew from our treasurer and would call them. The main reason I heard
>> from the members was that they were just overcommited and they needed to
>> drop something.  The second reason was we needed to improve our educational
>> efforts, a lot of them had joined thinking that they would learn
>> blacksmithing but there weren't any classes in their area of the state.
>> 
>> Our best recruiting effort was demonstrating at the state fair every
>> summer. When I was doing a lot of demonstrations I would have sample
>> newsletters to give to anyone that showed serious interest.
>> Having a newsletter is pretty important.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Bob Ehrenberger
>> Shelbyville, Mo
>> 573-231-9324
>> 
>> 
>> ------------------------------
>> 
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2024 16:05:04 -0400
>> From: Bruce <freemab222 at gmail.com>
>> To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
>> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Membership loss
>> Message-ID:
>>        <CAD1TJUZcdpnQfW=-
>> roH0+Fo5x2d2xtxca_DkQj1B+Y1Nb26-Jw at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>> 
>> I agree that having a newsletter is very important.  But it was, for way
>> too long, a one-man job:  Writing, editing, setting it in print, getting it
>> printed, folding, stuffing envelopes, printing labels and mailing.  Just
>> printing the labels was a quarterly battle as it never worked the first
>> attempt.  Nobody else contributed -- I was supposed to manufacture it from
>> thin air.  Eventually I put my foot down and did get some help subsequent
>> to the printing.  But then the expense started catching up with us so we
>> abandoned the print version in favor of pdf.  I finally announced I was
>> quitting as editor.  Another person picked it up but has been having more
>> trouble finding time for it than I did.  I don't have a fix for this.
>> 
>> Calling lapsing members is a great idea.  But I refuse to volunteer to do
>> it on top of my other commitments to the group (treasurer and membership).
>> Our major problems is lack of participation.  I would love to find a way
>> around it, but we don't have money to throw at the problem.  (Our bank
>> recently changed policies and started charging us $15/month, and I couldn't
>> even get anyone else to look for a new bank.)
>> 
>> My enthusiasm is gone.  I almost never even get out to my own shop these
>> days.
>> 
>> Bruce
>> NJ
>> 
>> 
>> On Wed, Apr 17, 2024 at 9:24?AM Bob Ehrenberger <
>> ehrenbergerforge at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Bruce, when I was editor for BAM, I would get a list of members who
>> failed
>>> to renew from our treasurer and would call them. The main reason I heard
>>> from the members was that they were just overcommited and they needed to
>>> drop something.  The second reason was we needed to improve our
>> educational
>>> efforts, a lot of them had joined thinking that they would learn
>>> blacksmithing but there weren't any classes in their area of the state.
>>> 
>>> Our best recruiting effort was demonstrating at the state fair every
>>> summer. When I was doing a lot of demonstrations I would have sample
>>> newsletters to give to anyone that showed serious interest.
>>> Having a newsletter is pretty important.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Bob Ehrenberger
>>> Shelbyville, Mo
>>> 573-231-9324
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>> 
>> End of TheForge Digest, Vol 213, Issue 2
>> ****************************************
>> 
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