Posted on 06/15/2010 10:06:24 PM PDT by Chickensoup
I guess I’ll put away my librarian resume, then.
;-)
They already seem to have selected a librarian, and everyone here hates public school teachers; so...could you handle an apprentice? Forging sounds like fun.
:-)
It is fun, there is something that appeals to the ancient
memory of man, the coal smoke, the rhythmic thump and wheeze of the bellows, the sight of hot metal, the ring of the
Hammer and anvil just seems to touch some of us.
I loved it at first sight, of course it helped that
my mentor who was a bonvivont and raconteur had just
made me a huge glass of scotch then took me down to
the basement and showed me how to build a forge fire.
I’ve done it for 35 years. His name was Alex Bealer
and he did more than anyone to bring blacksmithing
as a craft back to America.
His book is called, The Art of Blacksmithing.
Just the thing for a beginner.
I understand. I love hands-on, product-making skills. How lucky for you that you were able to learn from the best! The older I get the more talents like that I want to acquire.
NICE CALL !
At the time I started that was the only way to learn,
unless you went to Germany or some of the European
countries where it was taught in a school enviroment.
Had the great good fortune to know many famous and
some not so famous blacksmiths but they all had
something worth learning.
Especially my friend Clifton Ralph, a hill billy smith
from W.Virginia who went to work in the great industrial
shops around Gary Ind. truely a master smith but rough
as a cob and deaf as heck, he was always shouting at you
but he could make a power hammer sing, I have seen him
take a 1500 lb steam hammer and make the prettyist little
anvil you could imagine about three inches high and on the
same machine cog down a steel block twelve inches square.
In one of his classes he wrote on the black board,
“What is Blacksmith food?”
Then he told us it was Greenbeans and Pall Malls!!
I learned more about moving metal from him than
anyone. Great guys.
only one qualification...
no liberals or progressives allowed.
all other US citizens would be welcome.
My Uncle Bob was a small town smith back in Oklahoma. I learned many lessons from him -- though I was never more than a junior apprentice when it came to working metal.
He finally made the big time, too. Became the chief metalworker and model maker for Cessna Aircraft in Hutchinson, Ks. No new aircraft design came out of the plant that he -- along with son -- didn't cut the first metal on it.
Sarah Palin Mayor
Rush Limbaugh-Instructor of Conservative Studies @ the college
Mark Levin-Judge (& Jury)
Jan Brewer-Town Border Control-Chief of Police
You need to write a book. Are these great teachers still around so that you could interview them?
Blacksmithing can’t be a dying art because there are still a number of tasks which could be performed no other way. Are you teaching sons/daughters?
Rush Limbaugh-Instructor @ the college
(Wouldn't ALL studies, after all, be conservative?)
;-)
Daddy had a Cessna Cardinal RG (maybe 1970 or ‘70)...too far back?
Nope. About right. My uncle would've worked for Cessna from around 1960 to retirement in 1980.
He probably cut the first metal for the Cardinal.
:-) It was a great aircraft! The family enjoyed many thousands of miles in that bird. Your uncle “done good.”
He cut the original metal. And, then, they made all the templates, jigs and dies off of his work.
very true... :)
Duncan Hunter, the former Congressman from San Diego, to be the Sheriff...his son can take over, after he retires....but if neither of them want the job, then it goes to Sheriff Joe
The auto parts manufacturer Magna was started in the ‘50’s by Austrian immigrant to Canada Frank Stronach in his garage just outside of Toronto.
Back in the ‘80’s he got into trouble with the Ontario Human Rights Commission for his alleged hiring practices:
- Canadians for Finance
- Americans for Marketing
- Germans for Engineering
Is it just a coincidence that the company grew from nothing to global?
Monica Crowley teaching American History.
“Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham & Monica Crowley - my drinking buddies”
Dude, that is the correct answer, you win all the prizes in both showcases for that one!!”
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