The Village Blacksmith 2005

GodlessHedonist · Post by **GodlessHedonist** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 5:59 pm

Blackrock City's favorite molten metal mongers return to the playa after a three year absence. Looking foward to bending, bolting and burning at Blackrock, as well as operating the city's finest nightclub. We're looking foward to rekindling old friendships as well as igniting many new friends :wink: We usally operate in Center Camp, but would consider an aliance with another camp or village. Any ideas, participants are most welcome.

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 6:22 pm

molten metal mongers

Oh??

please tell me more....

Seriously

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 6:35 pm

Check this out

http://burninbush.org/

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 7:40 am

GodlessHedonist wrote:Blackrock City's favorite molten metal mongers return to the playa after a three year absence. Looking foward to bending, bolting and burning at Blackrock, as well as operating the city's finest nightclub. We're looking foward to rekindling old friendships as well as igniting many new friends We usally operate in Center Camp, but would consider an aliance with another camp or village. Any ideas, participants are most welcome.

Howdy! I'm the Hushville Village Whitesmith- Aluminum's my bag, whether you beat it, bend it or melt it. I've just been bringing coldworking gear to BRC so far, but would love to do some casting. Will you be setting up a forge?

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 8:53 am

And will there be a spreding chestnut tree?

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 9:35 am

And a flaming forge of life?

GodlessHedonist · Post by **GodlessHedonist** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 9:38 am

theCryptofishist wrote:And will there be a spreding chestnut tree?

Any chestnut trees, as well as any smart ass burners will be promptly cut, split and burned in our beautiful burn barrel

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:03 am

Many people apparently confuse "smith" and "smithy"- The former is the man, the latter his place of work......This poem's long been a favorite of mine, especially the last two stanzas.

Under a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.

His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
His face is like the tan;
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate'er he can,
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.

Week in, week out, from morn till night,
You can hear his bellows blow;
You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.

And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door;
They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a threshing-floor.

He goes on Sunday to the church,
And sits among his boys;
He hears the parson pray and preach,
He hears his daughter's voice,
Singing in the village choir,
And it makes his heart rejoice.

It sounds to him like her mother's voice,
Singing in Paradise!
He needs must think of her once more,
How in the grave she lies;
And with his haul, rough hand he wipes
A tear out of his eyes.

Toiling,--rejoicing,--sorrowing,
Onward through life he goes;
Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close
Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night's repose.

Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:40 am

GodlessHedonist wrote:
theCryptofishist wrote:And will there be a spreding chestnut tree?
Any chestnut trees, as well as any smart ass burners will be promptly cut, split and burned in our beautiful burn barrel :)

That's an awful lot of moop. And fish dont' burn well for your forge.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:45 am

And fish dont' burn well for your forge

......unless they're SMELT.

Ranger Genius · Post by **Ranger Genius** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 12:56 pm

That's it, Steve. You're getting dragged directly down to hell by an evil, undead statue, ala Don Giovanni.

"A man who would make so vile a pun would not scruple to pick a pocket."

GodlessHedonist · Post by **GodlessHedonist** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 1:04 pm

theCryptofishist wrote:
GodlessHedonist wrote:
theCryptofishist wrote:And will there be a spreding chestnut tree?
Any chestnut trees, as well as any smart ass burners will be promptly cut, split and burned in our beautiful burn barrel :)
That's an awful lot of moop. And fish dont' burn well for your forge.

Ain't burnt no fish, we did however roast a pig on a spit, in center camp. BM 2000.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 5:28 am

Ranger Genius wrote:That's it, Steve. You're getting dragged directly down to hell by an evil, undead statue, ala Don Giovanni.

"Go to Heaven for the climate- Go to Hell for the company."
-Mark Twain

Ranger Genius · Post by **Ranger Genius** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 7:50 am

All the best people are going to be there.

"What a Hell of a Heaven it will be when we have all these hypocrites assembled there."

Also MT.

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 9:03 am

GodlessHedonist wrote:Blackrock City's favorite molten metal mongers return to the playa after a three year absence. Looking foward to bending, bolting and burning at Blackrock, ...as well as igniting many new friends

So... fill us in here, my new friend... give some details. I might be able to help out if you’d share. He who hesitates is lost.

rodent · Post by **rodent** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 12:11 pm

GodlessHedonist wrote:Blackrock City's favorite molten metal mongers return to the playa after a three year absence. Looking foward to bending, bolting and burning at Blackrock, as well as operating the city's finest nightclub. We're looking foward to rekindling old friendships as well as igniting many new friends We usally operate in Center Camp, but would consider an aliance with another camp or village. Any ideas, participants are most welcome.

Woo Hoo. Glad to hear you're returning. Saw you in 2001, meant to stop by and melt, pour, heat and hammer but didn't get around to it... then never saw your camp again. Should I try and bring some charcoal for ya (not the bbq kind) or just a big bottle of propane?

---
rodent (putting the eek in geek)

BadDawg · Post by **BadDawg** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 9:48 pm

I would also like to find out more about your camp.
I like to dabble in metal work & would like to learn
any thing I can. If I can get my hands on a large
enough portable generator, I plan to bring my mig
welder and tools with me.

jc · Post by jc » Sat Apr 02, 2005 3:30 pm

GodlessHedonist wrote:Blackrock City's favorite molten metal mongers return to the playa after a three year absence. Looking foward to bending, bolting and burning at Blackrock, as well as operating the city's finest nightclub. We're looking foward to rekindling old friendships as well as igniting many new friends We usally operate in Center Camp, but would consider an aliance with another camp or village. Any ideas, participants are most welcome.

Sounds HOT! Keep us informed where you all metal heads end up. I too like to play w/ metal. Maybe I could join yous theme camp?

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 6:38 pm

I am perspiring with anticipation... >>>wikkid grins<<<

When I was a real young kid, next door to the mechanic's shop that belonged to a friend of my dad's, was a real honest to god Blacksmith... Dad'd go over to BS with his bud, and I'd wander next door and stand, tranfixed, watching this old, grizzled (and filthy!) man plying his trade... I figure that experience was as transforming as one you can get, watching that blzing forge and the sparks and him pull out a hunk of glowing hot metal and pound it into something cool... He'd glance up and smile... even offerd to let me swing his hammer once (**DAMN** heavy!!)... something about kids and blacksmiths, I guess. They remodeled the west end of downtown and tore out all those old buildings, and with it went our "village smithy"... yet, to this day, whenever someone talks about 'smithing (or I get a chance to watch one at something like a renfaire or somesuch) a smile comes to my face, the faint taste of Bireley's Orange soda wafts back and mingles with the smell of hot steel and coal fumes, and the world just seems all right. And in BRC??!!?? The world *is* right.

Sorry for the long ramble, but... well... yeah. And to Robotland for posting one of my facvorite poems (no doubt!!), a tip of the Makers to you... And to GH - Thanks for coming back!

BBS

ScottV · Post by **ScottV** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 9:39 am

Gigsville?
Last year Camp Skynyrd did some small scale aluminum casting, turned all those empty beer cans into shot glasses.
Also Cuzzin Jet Fuel had welders and generators for fabbing and repairing just about anything under the Skynyrd shade.
I brought a little squarewave TIG and did some aluminum fabbing for Pangalatic Federation, their scoutship, using Skynyrds generator.
Also had a couple of TIGing workshops.

Like minds?

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 10:15 am

ScottV wrote:Gigsville?
Last year Camp Skynyrd did some small scale aluminum casting, turned all those empty beer cans into shot glasses.

NOW yer talkin'! Aluminum is my Muse....I'll be making stamped goodies in Hushville, and am toying with a contraption that would melt a portion of scrap and pour a casting, all driven by the burning Man....Just haven't figured out how to find the project afterwards!
Did Camp Skynyrd melt with a welder or a forge/fire?

ScottV · Post by **ScottV** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 9:08 am

excuse the delay - thought i turned on auto-notify

I wasn't there when the actual melting was done,
saw the results and whined "why didn't anyone tell me you were casting?"

But think it was just a torch.

I'm working on a portable furnace,
Crude and lightweight using kaowool, coloidal silica, and weed burner for the flame.
Have all the parts, just need to finish welding up the shell,
should be testing it in a couple of weeks.

http://www.public.asu.edu/~scottv

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 10:13 am

I made a discovery the other year about playadust....it casts pretty well! You end up with brittle mud casts, but you can get very fine detail. Might come in handy for fast-prototyping handmade moulds for aluminum, or maybe we could try making the moulds themselves from playadust like a sandcasting.....I'll try to remember to make a little drag-and-cope casting frame to bring out.

ScottV · Post by **ScottV** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 9:07 am

Playadust is *really* alkali.
It's a great patina for aluminum.
Just add water to get blacks and browns.

Would be interesting to test it as a type of "green sand"

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 9:19 am

Okay--where does your aluminum come from? Do you recycle cans? or do you buy new? Would old cooking gear make good scrap for your projects?
Inquiring fish and all.

ScottV · Post by **ScottV** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 3:04 pm

*I* tend to use casting aluminum.
Get it in ingots, usually from atlas metals.

But you can melt most aluminums.
The stuff in drink cans is wierd -
Manganese aluminum alloy on the top (to allow tearing)
Magnesium aluminum along the sides and bottoms (to hold the pressure)

mix it and it doesn't cast as well as either.
Add chlorine tablets to react with and remove the magnesium to at least get a manganese alloy aluminum - wear a gas mask.

gentlemen prefer bronze

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 4:11 pm

Ah. I'm a little brassy.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 6:34 am

Pop/beer cans also have ink and crap. And I always underestimate the volume. Besides, they're worth a dime here and when you're "thirsty" like me, that adds up!

I use mostly cookwear, baking pans and braided aluminum power cable....the kitchen stuff is fairly high-grade and melts clean. If you visit a scrap dealer, the price per pound fluctuates around 60 cents or so. Look for little punchout pieces or spiral lathe-grindings- Small bits with lots of surface area will melt more quickly, like casting grain. The punchouts come from sign companies or electrical contractors, and make great little blanks for pendants! The dangerous part of a fieldtrip to the scrapper is falling in love with big chunks of metal...One day, I WILL have a coffee table that's just one huge compacted copper block! Go to www.claytonbailey.com to see a terrific metal artist and his junkyard finds!

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 8:56 am

I have some old cook ware. I'd be happy to get rid of it.

ScottV · Post by **ScottV** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:15 am

First attempt didn't get to bronze pouring temperatures.
Though got way past aluminum pouring temp.
Will melt 25 lbs of aluminum.

http://dodeca.prism.asu.edu/furnace/

Hope to be attempting the "Mark II" furnace tomorrow.
Depends on whether I can finish making a new set of tongs for the little crucible today. A #16 that will hold about 45 pounds of bronze.

The Village Blacksmith 2005

The Village Blacksmith 2005

Re: The Village Blacksmith 2005

Chestnut tree

Re: Chestnut tree

Re: Chestnut tree

Re: Chestnut tree

Re: The Village Blacksmith 2005

Re: The Village Blacksmith 2005

portable foundry