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HRM Resident
Nov 25, 2023, 1:01:18 PM11/25/23
to
I went to a demo by the Maritime Blacksmith's Association in Lower
Ship Harbour today . . . up on a hill at the old Deanery in an open
field. They had 6-8 forges going, complete with anvils, etc.
Because of the weather (windchill between -10 and -15) the turnout
of visitors wasn't great. I picked up a lot of tips on how to do it right
and not beat myself to hell pounding. More artistic stuff than the
brute force and ignorance method I'd been using.
Anyhow, I asked if anyone knew you. It was as if I went to a
bio-chemistry conference and asked if anyone ever heard of Linus
Pauling! A couple of the guys even genuflected. :-)
Seriously, they really had a ton of great things to say about you
and your work. I didn't get their names, unfortunately**, but a couple
told me you were the best of the best in your prime, and they learned
a ton from workshops you put on years ago. Kudos! Even via email and
on here, you are an excellent teacher.
** Scott Hamlin's vehicle was there, but I didn't see him around. I
met him a few times at the Halifax Seaport Market, so I would have
recognized him.
--
HRM Resident
Ship Harbour today . . . up on a hill at the old Deanery in an open
field. They had 6-8 forges going, complete with anvils, etc.
Because of the weather (windchill between -10 and -15) the turnout
of visitors wasn't great. I picked up a lot of tips on how to do it right
and not beat myself to hell pounding. More artistic stuff than the
brute force and ignorance method I'd been using.
Anyhow, I asked if anyone knew you. It was as if I went to a
bio-chemistry conference and asked if anyone ever heard of Linus
Pauling! A couple of the guys even genuflected. :-)
Seriously, they really had a ton of great things to say about you
and your work. I didn't get their names, unfortunately**, but a couple
told me you were the best of the best in your prime, and they learned
a ton from workshops you put on years ago. Kudos! Even via email and
on here, you are an excellent teacher.
** Scott Hamlin's vehicle was there, but I didn't see him around. I
met him a few times at the Halifax Seaport Market, so I would have
recognized him.
--
HRM Resident
Mike Spencer
Nov 26, 2023, 12:12:34 AM11/26/23
to
HRM Resident <hrm...@gmail.com> writes:
> I went to a demo by the Maritime Blacksmith's Association in Lower
> Ship Harbour today . . . up on a hill at the old Deanery in an open
> field. They had 6-8 forges going, complete with anvils, etc.
nice day for me to drive 100 miles even for blacksmithing, the moreso
with the cold weather and then having to drive back around the city
after dark.
> I picked up a lot of tips on how to do it right and not beat myself
> to hell pounding.
> Anyhow, I asked if anyone knew you. It was as if I went to a
> bio-chemistry conference and asked if anyone ever heard of Linus
> Pauling! A couple of the guys even genuflected. :-)
> Seriously, they really had a ton of great things to say about you
> told me you were the best of the best in your prime, and they learned
> a ton from workshops you put on years ago.
Nice to hear that. I do try to show people how and why to do it
> a ton from workshops you put on years ago.
rather than just putting on a good performance. I've kinda envied the
demonstrators who knock off a refined, finished piece at the end of a
demo. But I've always found that there is, at least for me, a lot of
tedious, boring, time-consuming components to making a finished piece.
An example was a demo I did for the New England Blacksmiths of how I
made the rose panels in the Crousetown church. I demoed all the
forging details, how each step was done, but ended up with a final
piece that I would be embarrassed to deliver to a client. All the
tedious size adjustment and fitting and tidying up would have been
boring and gone way beyond the 3 hours.
> Kudos! Even via email and on here, you are an excellent teacher.
--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
HRM Resident
Nov 26, 2023, 7:52:03 PM11/26/23
to
Mike Spencer <m...@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> wrote:
>
> Thank you!
>
You have a way with words that makes one visualize
what you have written. It is a somewhat rare talent,
possibly related to being from New England. Stephen
King also does it, but you and he are different in almost
every other aspect!
Here is a shot in the dark. Where can I lay my hands on
one of those hand-cranked blowers that were made in
Kitchener (or Berlin if pre-1917), Ontario. My guess is
they are as scarce as hens teeth and coveted by anyone
who has one. It obviously does not have to say Kitchener
or Berlin on it. I am just using one of those as an example
of what I want.
Amazon has hand-cranked things made in China that
look like knockoffs and likely are junk. I am using a
ceiling bathroom fan with a light switch to turn it on and
off. I vary the airflow by putting a tee fitting in the feed
pipe with a rag jammed in either side. Taking one or both
of them out reduces the air to the fire pot, so it is a
complicated mixture of switch on/off and one or two rags
stuffed in the tee. The motor will not vary with a dimmer
switch. It just stops if I turn it down very much.
What I have has worked since 2016, but a traditional
hand crank is much better. Even a set of bellows might
be an improvement!
--
HRM Resident
>
> Thank you!
>
You have a way with words that makes one visualize
what you have written. It is a somewhat rare talent,
possibly related to being from New England. Stephen
King also does it, but you and he are different in almost
every other aspect!
Here is a shot in the dark. Where can I lay my hands on
one of those hand-cranked blowers that were made in
Kitchener (or Berlin if pre-1917), Ontario. My guess is
they are as scarce as hens teeth and coveted by anyone
who has one. It obviously does not have to say Kitchener
or Berlin on it. I am just using one of those as an example
of what I want.
Amazon has hand-cranked things made in China that
look like knockoffs and likely are junk. I am using a
ceiling bathroom fan with a light switch to turn it on and
off. I vary the airflow by putting a tee fitting in the feed
pipe with a rag jammed in either side. Taking one or both
of them out reduces the air to the fire pot, so it is a
complicated mixture of switch on/off and one or two rags
stuffed in the tee. The motor will not vary with a dimmer
switch. It just stops if I turn it down very much.
What I have has worked since 2016, but a traditional
hand crank is much better. Even a set of bellows might
be an improvement!
--
HRM Resident
Mike Spencer
Nov 27, 2023, 1:50:57 AM11/27/23
to
HRM Resident <hrm...@gmail.com> writes:
> Here is a shot in the dark. Where can I lay my hands on one of
> those hand-cranked blowers that were made in Kitchener (or Berlin if
> pre-1917), Ontario. My guess is they are as scarce as hens teeth
> and coveted by anyone who has one.
to sell blacksmithing gear or any tools for that matter. What do you
have to trade for it if I have one?
If I do have one, it's in working condition but not mounted on
anything so a mount would have to be built.
> I am using a ceiling bathroom fan with a light switch to turn it on
> and off. I vary the airflow by putting a tee fitting in the feed
> pipe with a rag jammed in either side. Taking one or both of them
> out reduces the air to the fire pot, so it is a complicated mixture
> of switch on/off and one or two rags stuffed in the tee. The motor
> will not vary with a dimmer switch. It just stops if I turn it down
> very much.
motor runs at full speed but you can adjust the air flow to the fire
uniformly from near 0 to full blast without loading the motor with
backpressure.
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/temp/blower.html
With one valve fully closed, the other is fully open. I made one of
these for one of the forges at MIT where the installed rheostat had a
choice of too-high and too-low. (Anything electrical had to be done
by MIT staff licensed electricians but I could modify the air pipe
just with permission of the prof whose "lab" it was.) Worked like a
charm. The one in the pic is for a forge here that I've used very
little and which now has a good rheostated electric blower.
HRM Resident
Nov 27, 2023, 9:35:33 AM11/27/23
to
Mike Spencer <m...@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> writes:
>
> What do you have to trade for it if I have one?
>
Probably nothing, unfortunately! All I have is relatively new stuff
>
> What do you have to trade for it if I have one?
>
and I'm sure you have enough hammers and such. I do have that anvil,
but seeing its vintage/sise and that it's the only one I have, I ain't
going to ever part with that.
>
> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/temp/blower.html
>
> With one valve fully closed, the other is fully open.
That's the way I need to go. I *think* I can line up an old furnace
> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/temp/blower.html
>
> With one valve fully closed, the other is fully open.
blower. I know at least 3-4 people who are on the heat pump kick who
had various oil furnaces they are disposing of. Electric is better in
that there's no hand cranking. I was re-inspired to get a hand one when
I saw at least 4-5 of them Saturday, but they are best for portable
use. Your idea of the twin butterfly valves is the way to go.
Here's why I was on the Kitchener/Berlin model. All the guys
Saturday had one with Kitchener written on the side, and they were more
or less the same design. Also, there's one labeled Berlin in the
Museum of Sail forge near Parrsboro. I've seen a couple others at other
open air museum forges so labeled.
There must have been a company in Kitchener, Ontario that made a lot
of these in the first half of the 20th century. Here's a bit of
trivia. You can roughly date them because Kitchener was originally
named Berlin due to many German immigrants in and about the area. There's
still a place called Heidelberg just north of there. In 1917, with WW I
raging, Berlin (in Ontario) was renamed Kitchener. If you see one of
these labeled Berlin, Ont. it was made pre-1917 . . . I have seen two of
these but the majority are all labeled Kitchener.
--
HRM Resident
Mike Spencer
Nov 28, 2023, 12:08:36 AM11/28/23
to
HRM Resident <hrm...@gmail.com> writes:
> Mike Spencer <m...@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> writes:
>
>> What do you have to trade for it if I have one?
>>
> Probably nothing, unfortunately!
-m
HRM Resident
Nov 28, 2023, 10:17:31 AM11/28/23
to
Mike Spencer <m...@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> writes:
>
> Check your email.
>
Read and responded. I had to do it on a Raspberry Pi to avoid UTF,
etc. I'm not 100% sure I did it right, so either respond via email or
here and let me know if you got it.
--
HRM Resident
>
> Check your email.
>
Read and responded. I had to do it on a Raspberry Pi to avoid UTF,
etc. I'm not 100% sure I did it right, so either respond via email or
here and let me know if you got it.
--
HRM Resident
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