[Sca-cooks] EK has new steel junkies....;-)

[Phlip]

No anemics need apply...;-)

Got back from the Metalsmiths Symposium, last night, dead tired and just
happy as can be ;-) A wonderful event- laid back, and lots got taught and
learned.

I'm going to primarily address the smithing aspects of the event because I
was at the forges all day, but I will say that, according to what I was
hearing from the students taking the various casting and jewelry-type
classes, they were great, too. People were coming back and showing us what
they had made, and there was some really quality work displayed. Those of
you who know, and belong to the appropriate orders, ought to take a close
look at some of those teachers. I strongly suspect that you might find some
high quality Maunche and Laurel candidates over there. Some of that stuff
was exquisite ;-)

As far as the smithing, we had 8 forges up and running, most running on coal
or charcoal. We started out on coal, mostly, because the charcoal was very
late in arriving, but once it got there, we had at least three running on
charcoal, and people got a chance to see more closely, how things might have
been done in period. Didn't build any earthen forges, though- not enough
time.

Our anvils, too, ran the gamut, from several high quality modernish anvils
(one was a Peter Wright) to a Mousehole (about 200 years old- that style was
last made in 1796) to a large selection of RR track anvils, from the chunks
of track I had purchased to give to the people who took my forge building
class, to the various modifications I and Johan had made to make the RR
track anvils into something closer to a modern anvil. Grimbold brought
several useful chunks of steel, too, ranging from small anvils made in the
Medieval style, to special purpose anvils.

Most of what we did was pretty low tech- our blowers were hand cranked, in
several styles, our dishing class was done in wet sand rather than fancy
dishing dorms, etc. The only high tech we had on site were the torches and
arc welders Ron Kimball, our brand newbie fabricator, used, to help build
the forges.

We built 7 forges, but due to a fuel shortage (ran out of gas, then ran out
of welding rod on Saturday) we were delayed in getting them built and
finished, but we did get them to the point that the owners were able to take
them home and finish up with drills and screws., and the nature of the class
was such that they had plenty of time to look at and work with other forges,
with different set-ups, so they know how they want to set up their forge. We
even had forges that they could play on, while waiting to get the next part
of their project done.

I was very happy at the number of women who joined us at the forges, this
being a matter dear to my heart- ladies, we can DO this! I've been doing it
for quite a while- and I know most of the tricks to make ot easier. Ain't no
requirement of being bulging muscled oversized male- although you do get to
meet quite a few ;-)

Anybody who wants to know what we learned and taught, go to:

http://home.attbi.com/~avanmore/smith/classes.htm

Unfortuantely, Flaxy, who was to do the Bloomery thing, wasn't there, but
pretty much everyone else was.

Had several people from TheForge, a mundane smithing List, there, John
Husvar, Kim George, Aaron Silver, and myself, all of whom were teaching, and
Dave Belfer-Shevett, who took the forge-building class. From Cook's List, we
had myself, Olaf, Johan, and Vincenzo, who was cooking.

Food was very good, if not on schedule. I think for future events of this
nature, it might be very good to have an accurately scheduled breakfast and
supper, but continue to have an open buffet type of thing all day- that
worked very well, although it wasn't quite intended. If we do this again,
and use the same site, I suspect bringing food out to the forging area, so
that the smiths might graze as they worked (we were pretty steadily busy,
helping students, whether we were officially "teaching" at the moment or
not) would be a good idea. Most of the teachers were pretty famished, by the
time we got fed ;-)

The food scheduling was unfortunate, but as it was Vincenzo's first feast,
and most of the hang ups were not his fault, I think he deserves a firm
Hoobah!!!!!! and Vivat!!!!! for a good job, well done ;-) Some of the delays
were simply SCAdian habits- I cooked breakfast Sunday morning, which was
scheduled for 7 AM, and I had scrambled eggs and corned beef hash out, with
bread, and coffee made on time, but most of the people didn't show until
quarter to 8, so I wound up cooking until 9 AM.

All in all, from my point of view, a great event, with lots of folks getting
to learn more about the things they were interested in, and a good time and
good food had by all ;-)

Well done, Olaf, and all of our teachers and students ;-)

Hoobah!!!

Vivat!!!!!

Phlip

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....