Stephanie asked after my previous post what I meant by metal work and what sort of things could Reid make.
Reid was trained in the tradition of historical blacksmiths. He was trained in hand forging and forge-welding. This means that most things a historic blacksmith made, he can. He can make horse shoes as well, though he is not a farrier by trade (which means he doesn't put the shoes on the horses, which is good 'cause horses can be really difficult to work with).
The four things I've asked him to make are:
1. A Boot Scraper (to put on our back porch which is where we always enter and exit)
2. Hand latches for our three gates into our backyard
3. Sets of curtain tiebacks for all of the windows in our house (at least seventeen sets... should keep him busy for awhile!)
4. Hooks for our laundry room to hang coats, etc. on (to replace the cheesy wire ones that are currently there)
He can also make fire place tools, coat racks, candle holders, kitchen utensil sets, hardware (hinges, handles and such), curtain rods, bathroom accessories like towel rods and toilet paper dispensers... and really anything else that you can think up that is made out of metal. If you search "wrought iron" online, he can make just about anything you find (and you'll be guaranteed that it is not made by a poor man in India who is getting paid 12 cents/hour to make it too!).
He worked for a couple of hours last night and made himself some forge tools (necessary items)... as he said, it is definitely going to be a slow process to get back his skills (so that his hammer marks are consistent and he gets the timing of leaving objects in the fire for long enough but not too long) but I was amazed at how much he did and how it seems to be like riding a bike for him.
1 day ago
6 comments:
Isn't it great to have a man who can make stuff???!!
My hubby has been busy making shelving, entertainment unit, etc etc. He works with wood but also can work with metals, not like Reid, but soft metal...part of his business is doing copper gutters and roofs etc.
I have a request. His mother-in-law would like a couple of large S hooks. Big enough so that I could loop them over a branch on a tree to hold bird feeders or blooming flowers. If there was a "pretty" in the middle of the S, all much the better. See, now you have part of Christmas next year covered! Love ya.
Mom
I'm really excited for Reid to be getting to do this! It's really awesome that he's able to have a place, and the stuff, to keep something like this hobby going. And I hope he makes lots of awesome stuff and really gets great enjoyment out of it. :)
Hey Jenna, thanks for the nice wishes. You're always so good about commenting on blogs (and I'm obviously pretty bad about it!). Kevin interviewed at Butler. It's crazy to think we might be moving back to Carmel!
Would you say that Reid has put the hammer down? On metal?
Or that he is forging a familiar path for himself?
Or that he is stoking the fires of his hobby/career?
My final question: If Reid had a hammer, would he hammer in the morning? All over the world?
Yay! Coal for Christmas. You're right, only Reid. I'm so glad he's gotten started up again!
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