The Practicality of Blacksmithing

  Not all of blacksmithing is "Forged in Fire" making knife blades on a belt sander I have found out. Sometimes you just need stuff around the shop to help make things work more smoother.  Gary also gave me a few assignments to help with repetition of produce line. He sketched out a pair of calipers on note pad with the steps to produce them. By the second time, I was able to improvise on the technique in order to fit my own form and function

  Then I realized we were about to go camping in a few weeks. We have no fire pokers for my grandkids. With some 3/16" and left over branches from my catalba tree, I know just what I wanted to produce. Of course, Grandpa Meyer gets a better one made with a fancier handle and shaft. Hey, it's my shop after all and just took a little more time. I apologize ahead of time for the screw eyed lagged bolts, I should have soaked them in vinegar to  get the galvanized finish off them and age them a little bit. But I was just running out of time.

  The other item that I needed was tent stakes for my screen tent. I had some 1/4" twisted rod just laying around the yard which was here when I bought the house. After cutting it into 9"& 12" lengths, I thought these would make perfect tent stake just draw out the ends and flatten the other. In fact after looking at the Boy Scout handbook, there is a metal working merit badge which deals with blacksmithing in "option #4". This would be a perfect item for my grandsons to produce as a final project for the badge