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Blacksmithing

Ah, the Smell of Singed Flesh

Around 1987, my father became interested in blacksmithing. After he took a few of the classes he encouraged me to do the same. Since Memphis is home to the world famous National Ornamental Metal Museum (say that 3 times real fast), I had no trouble finding a good class.

Blacksmiths harken back to the days when the only tools you had were the ones you created yourself. Aristotle may have been able to move the earth with a long lever and a place to stand, but blacksmiths can make the Empire State Building with only a forge and a friggin big pile of scrap metal.

Blacksmithing turned out to be right up my alley. I am not a delicate or very precise person - in metalwork on the large scale, all my mistakes were forgiven. If I screwed something up I just stuck it in the forge and started over!

One of my most ambitious projects was this menorah pictured here. I wanted to make something nice for the parents of a friend of mine and since Hannukah was coming up I thought an iron menorah would be a perfect gift. My father and I went to the library and found a beautiful menorah that is in the Museum of Modern Art. We used it as our guide for the work.

For the arms I selected 1/4 inch rectangular stock. The 'drip catchers' were made from disks which were cupped by pounding them over a hole in the anvil. The candle holders were made from pipe which was heated and pinched off.

The arms were bent into the general shape I wanted them to be. My father then showed me how to forge weld the feet. After the feet were welded I made the final adjustment on the spacing of the arms. My father spot welded the arms together where they crossed. The assembled candle holders were screwed into tops of the arms and we were done.

In retrospect, I made a horrible mistake in using 1/4 inch stock. The assembled piece ended up being 5 feet wide, 3 feet tall, and weighed over 35 pounds! It wasn't something you would put on a small table. Still, I got points for impressiveness.

You won't find me in the forge during the summer time - especially here in Memphis - its just too damn hot! Those other blacksmiths sneer at me. I'm sorry, I'm not willing to suffer for my art.

Next, I'm going learn how to use the plasma cutter. Watch out!