When I wrote the last post, I forgot to include our incredible day of blacksmithing! Our monthly meeting was held at the historic Benjamin Patterson Inn in Corning NY, right next to the glass museum. Our friends, Leon and Henry, are both involved with the historic society and do demos in the Charles Cooley blacksmith shop. This meeting felt reminiscent of the early ones we fell in love with. We carpooled with Steve, who is a source of much hilarity and also puns, and Nathan, who is a source of much hilarity and blessedly few puns. The shop was set up when we got there, but we were able to help set up additional anvils and forges outside under a canvas tarp that Leon had brought. Adding to the enjoyment of the day, there were fewer participants, which allowed for more room and more time on with the forges.
The atmosphere of this shop is just perfect. The long history of smithing permeates the shop. There were no gas forges, which are effecient, but, in my opinion, far less fun, and no power hammers. All in all, it felt quite traditional.
Sarah and Nathan helping with set up. It's kind of funny, I think because Nathan is so tall of body and broad of shoulder, he got asked to do a lot of carrying. Sarah on the other hand had to insist that she was able to help. It continues to be obvious how few women are involved in this pastime, and the effect that a lack of exposure has on the minds and prejudices of the practitioners. How's that for diplomatic?
Steve and Henry outside the Cooley blacksmith shop. The building was moved from another property in the area. The roof had to be rebuilt, but the majority of the shop is original from 1870.
I like this table. As the hobby develops, we'll need to make something like it.
Sarah is getting to be a real pro. She is careful and thoughtful about her approach, which makes her work slow compared to mine, but her precision is unarguably developing faster. It's obvious, also, that Leon in particular appreciates her attention to detail and interest in how to do things the right way. I hammered out a couple trinkets that I'm pleased with, but Sarah's work on making two pieces of the shelf bracket uniform and precise was really inspiring. We were thrilled to get to work together at the historic forge inside the shop. There are two blowers, and we enjoyed working in sync with one another.
Sarah worked with a diagram of the finished product to be sure that she had metal in the correct places and holes that would line up precisely once the metal was shaped. There are no allowances for imprecision in metal working; either everything lines up and it works perfectly, or it doesn't line up and you have a paperweight.
The scene out the window. Steve and Nathan at the forges. Lots of advisers. The gentleman in the red bandana and shirt is the smith who crafted the campfire cooking rack you see to the right.
We got to eat our lunch in the dining room of the Benjamin Patterson Inn! That added even more to the experience of the day. In the end, we each went home with something we'd made by hand and determination. More importantly, we went home with new knowledge and skill. And now for something completely different...
Fig. 1
I'm sure you'll all be surprised to hear that the patch job depicted in fig. 1 did not hold.
So, I'm sad to report that the camping trip had to be called off on account of my truck (the 5 days of rain and thunderstorms preceding, throughout, and postceding our planned adventure didn't help either. But I really couldn't drive 4 hours with a car leaking coolant, so on the morning of departure, I had to call Vinnie and tell him to abort the mission. He came over, we reorganized, and went canoeing and fishing on a lake nearby instead. It was a nice day, but certainly not the adventure we'd hoped for. He stayed the night at our place, and we managed to get a very respectable fire going by splitting wet logs and carving out the dry wood from inside. Sarah joined us by the fire and we all sat around and swapped stories, as one is like to do around a campfire. The next morning, Vinnie left for Boston, Sarah left for work, and I headed, once again, over to Erik's to work on the truck. Fortunately, the collection of tools in the picture above were not used on the radiator, but I couldn't help snapping the shot. It seems that Erik and I were destined to find one another. Who else uses the same tools to work on a bookshelf and on a car!? Or on their sewing for that matter!
Erik. Applying drill to car.
Anyway, we got the radiator replaced and things look good. I'll keep you posted. Anyway, for the cost of the alternator, radiator, hoses, and clamps, we're still well below the cost of taking the truck into the shop and both the wiser for the work. Now if the truck will run well for a couple months, I'll call that a success.
I should get going, now. Lowes finally has our cabinets in, and I need to return Steve's canoe. If all goes well, we'll be back to work on the concrete countertops this afternoon! With luck, you'll finally get to see pictures of our new counters and sink by the weekend! Sit vis vobiscum!
The atmosphere of this shop is just perfect. The long history of smithing permeates the shop. There were no gas forges, which are effecient, but, in my opinion, far less fun, and no power hammers. All in all, it felt quite traditional.
Sarah and Nathan helping with set up. It's kind of funny, I think because Nathan is so tall of body and broad of shoulder, he got asked to do a lot of carrying. Sarah on the other hand had to insist that she was able to help. It continues to be obvious how few women are involved in this pastime, and the effect that a lack of exposure has on the minds and prejudices of the practitioners. How's that for diplomatic?
Steve and Henry outside the Cooley blacksmith shop. The building was moved from another property in the area. The roof had to be rebuilt, but the majority of the shop is original from 1870.
I like this table. As the hobby develops, we'll need to make something like it.
Sarah is getting to be a real pro. She is careful and thoughtful about her approach, which makes her work slow compared to mine, but her precision is unarguably developing faster. It's obvious, also, that Leon in particular appreciates her attention to detail and interest in how to do things the right way. I hammered out a couple trinkets that I'm pleased with, but Sarah's work on making two pieces of the shelf bracket uniform and precise was really inspiring. We were thrilled to get to work together at the historic forge inside the shop. There are two blowers, and we enjoyed working in sync with one another.
Sarah worked with a diagram of the finished product to be sure that she had metal in the correct places and holes that would line up precisely once the metal was shaped. There are no allowances for imprecision in metal working; either everything lines up and it works perfectly, or it doesn't line up and you have a paperweight.
The scene out the window. Steve and Nathan at the forges. Lots of advisers. The gentleman in the red bandana and shirt is the smith who crafted the campfire cooking rack you see to the right.
We got to eat our lunch in the dining room of the Benjamin Patterson Inn! That added even more to the experience of the day. In the end, we each went home with something we'd made by hand and determination. More importantly, we went home with new knowledge and skill. And now for something completely different...
Fig. 1
I'm sure you'll all be surprised to hear that the patch job depicted in fig. 1 did not hold.
So, I'm sad to report that the camping trip had to be called off on account of my truck (the 5 days of rain and thunderstorms preceding, throughout, and postceding our planned adventure didn't help either. But I really couldn't drive 4 hours with a car leaking coolant, so on the morning of departure, I had to call Vinnie and tell him to abort the mission. He came over, we reorganized, and went canoeing and fishing on a lake nearby instead. It was a nice day, but certainly not the adventure we'd hoped for. He stayed the night at our place, and we managed to get a very respectable fire going by splitting wet logs and carving out the dry wood from inside. Sarah joined us by the fire and we all sat around and swapped stories, as one is like to do around a campfire. The next morning, Vinnie left for Boston, Sarah left for work, and I headed, once again, over to Erik's to work on the truck. Fortunately, the collection of tools in the picture above were not used on the radiator, but I couldn't help snapping the shot. It seems that Erik and I were destined to find one another. Who else uses the same tools to work on a bookshelf and on a car!? Or on their sewing for that matter!
Anyway, we got the radiator replaced and things look good. I'll keep you posted. Anyway, for the cost of the alternator, radiator, hoses, and clamps, we're still well below the cost of taking the truck into the shop and both the wiser for the work. Now if the truck will run well for a couple months, I'll call that a success.
I should get going, now. Lowes finally has our cabinets in, and I need to return Steve's canoe. If all goes well, we'll be back to work on the concrete countertops this afternoon! With luck, you'll finally get to see pictures of our new counters and sink by the weekend! Sit vis vobiscum!
