Saturday, August 20, 2011

Iron Smith

My Florentine Fancy went on the long arm quilter today.  I've never used one and haven't a lot of faith in my capabilities so we'll see how that works out, Send me luck, talent and a steady hand.  Heck, while you're at it, send someone to do the quilting for me...PLEASE!!  Anyway, in the meanwhile, you get another County Fair entry.  

There were a lot of shops at the county fair but not a lot of demonstrations.  My favorite by far was the iron smith right outside the door. 
 The gentleman in blue is Paul DiFrancesco (awesome name) of Lightning Forge
 Here he is building up his fire to the perfect temperature, the round item you see part of on his left is the "bellows which provides the oxygen to the flame.
 You get a demonstration full of information and humor while you wait for the iron to reach the proper temperature to work with.
 Here he had one of the viewers assist him by holding the iron rod while he split a section of it down the center.
 More waiting.
  it's actually quite amazing how quickly the iron heats up and cools down. Can you tell what it is yet? 
Between the heat and the muscle the iron bends in a seemingly easy fashion.
 Now can you tell what it is?  I'll give you a hint, Think hot dogs.  :) 
 You guessed it, it's a fork!  A few more touches and it was done.  All from a single rod of iron.  He tells you exactly what you need to do to care for it.  

 On another day that I had been there, only without my camera, he demonstrated how he used a dye to make one of these, isn't it lovely. 
Then he gifted it to me. 
I'll admit it made me cry a little for a craftsman to just give me such a lovely example of his trade.  I'll cherish it always.

No comments:

Post a Comment