Blacksmithing

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Family Tradition

My grandfather was a railroad machinist during the first half of the 20th Century. He used to boast that he had worked in every state west of the Mississippi. Once, when we visited him in Sioux Falls, SD, (where he and my grandmother raised my father, his two sisters, and his brother), he took my brother and me to the roundhouse where he used to work. We got to stand in the cab of an enormous diesel locomotive and pull the whistle.

Inspirations

After years of wishing that I could explore history through hot metal, making parts for tall ships like the Gazela (Philadelphia's barkentine, on which I served as volunteer crew for a time) or replicas of ancient weapons, I finally started blacksmithing during the summer of 2005, with a beginners' course taught by Dick Sargent at the Peters Valley Craft Center. After we moved to New York, I started enrolling whenever I could in Marsha Trattner's Creative Blacksmithing classes at School of Visual Arts' Continuing Education program.

Projects

Iron Basket, 14" diameter. Assorted rod.	"Lo!" Candlestick. 1/4" square bar.	"Pennyfarthing" Candlestick. 1/8" round bar
Iron Web with Wire Spider.