[Sca-cooks] My Christmas dinner & LOOT

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> Or late 16th century and then certainly not universal. However, if we
> are going to be picky, I said *Scadian* not *medieval*. I've seen very
> few truly period looking smithies in the SCA. Generally the anvil is
> the wrong type, the forge is more out of the 19th century or later,
> there is often a blower rather than a bellows and the metal being
> worked is more likely a steel than a wrought iron. The techniques are
> often similar and the end product is similar, though.

Well, we're working on that. I've seen several period set ups-
unfortunately, the ones I've seen haven't been reliable enough to teach on.
Olaf's paired single lung bellows, for example, are perfectly period, but
they didn't work very well- I wound up loaning him the use of my
hand-cranked squirrel cage so that he could get the air he needed for his
casting class. The double lung bellows are very late period, and only in
Rennaisance Italy, as near as I can tell, where the blacksmiths got them
from the goldsmiths. I'm planning on building a set- have the plans and the
leather, just need the wood and room in the garage- but I'm also planning in
building a pair of the single lung type, which go back much further. I'm
most interested, though, in the box bellows that Master Ekk showed me-
they're quite portable and quite period, although for Eastern Asia, so far
as I can tell.

The big problem is with forges. Most of the extant period examples are made
of masonary- and if you think I'm going to be hauling half a ton of rocks
around to byuild forges on event sites for one day events, you've got rocks
in your head ;-)

And I've got a stake anvil and fuller (which I might convert to a cut-off
tool) which are both quite period- mostly Arab, but I think they likely were
found elsewhere, just haven't found any docs. Another anvil alternative
would be a large rock- see above ;-)

But, coal vs charcoal really does make a difference. For most of smithing,
your basic needs are something to hit with, something to hit, and something
to hit against, as one of our guys pronounced the other day. When you get to
the fire, though, that's an entire other ball park. Yes you can shape
steel/iron cold, but heat allows tou to weld, and makes most ferrous
materials as soft as putty. For your basic forge, you need fuel, air, and
something to hold it, and of all of those materials, the fuel makes the
greatest difference. Charcoal as a fuel is completely different from coal,
and that's why I make such a strong differentiation.

> However, there's this saying about if you get lemons, make lemonade. If
> you've been bad enough to get several stockings or bags, of coal, might
> as well make use of it.
>
> Stefan

Didn't get any coal, but I got Jim Hrisoulas' (Master Atar's) "Forging Your
Way to Perfection" which is absolutely the best available book I've seen on
starting someone as a Bladesmith. Much of the information is a little basic
for me, but he does a lovely job of making the transition from basic
information, to expert information, while collating a lot of stuff I knew
but hadn't quite put together yet.

Now, how am I going to get my hands on his next two books?

Saint Phlip,
CoDoLDS

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

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