Subject: Re: Blower: handcrank vs electric

From: "David C. Hufford" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 04 Apr 1996 09:03:27 -0500 (EST)

Here, here!  As Robert Persig once said (I paraphrase):  Sometimes it's 
more important to travel than to arrive.  In a spiritual sense, I 
believe the process if often more important than the product.  The 
manual approaches provide a more intimate connection with the work, and 
a greater understanding and appreciation of the essence of the process.

David C. Hufford

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From: [email-masked] (Thomas Boudreau)
Date: Thu, 4 Apr 1996 13:34:40 -0400

>David C. Hufford>
>---------------------------------------------->
  
Too all:

        According to Mr. Persig,and from what I read , there are still a few
good teachers out there. ( pat on the back to all concerned!) Re: educating
the public, I think we're on the right track!!  Communication is the Key!!

-->Thomas B.
-->N.S. Can.
-->[email-masked]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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From: [email-masked] (MikeWolfe)
Date: Thu, 4 Apr 96 22:09 WET

Yes but as soon as you are not a beginner run don't walk to your nearest 
VARIABLE SPEED electric blower, there great
m wolfe

>When we teach our beginners' class, I strongly reccomend starting off with 
>a hand cranked blower if at all possible.  The student learns fire 
>tending much better if they need to be standing there cranking.  If the 
>beginner starts with an electric powered blower, they end end up burning 
>up more steel and don't come to appreciate the dynamics of the fire. I 
>know, I started with a small electric blower and feel that I didn't 
>really get to know the fire until I started to us a bellows at the local 
>Farm Museum. 
>
>(Obviously, for the experienced smith, especially someone who is trying to 
>make some money, then an electric blower is the way to go.)
>
>Again, this is a case of learning to walk, before you start to run.  If 
>you know how to tend a fire using a hand crank blower or a bellows, I 
>believe, you will do a better job when you graduate to an electric 
>powered air supply. 
>
>Another positive for the hand cranked blower, is that it provides 
>another, indirect, opportunity for the beginner to get some additional 
>exercise/conditioning for their upper body. Many of our beginners are 
>"desk jockeys", some have not even used a regular carpenters hammer prior 
>to prior to the start of class.
>
>
>Albin Drzewianowski
>Beginners'-Class Coordinator
>Blacksmith Guild of Central Maryland
>Westminster, MD
>
>

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From: [email-masked] (Bradley Sanders)
Date: Sat, 6 Apr 1996 08:58:29 -0500

>My question would be, why do we need this convenience?  What are we 
>freeing these seconds up for?  Could it be to lose them to the b**B tube? 
>or just because we think we should?  Scary! Invest your life in 
>enjoying what you do, then you won't care how long it takes! The 
>time life gives us is going to go away, don't grasp it!  The quality of 
>the moment is most important; not how quickly, but how well.  What 
>we will leave behind is quality; what others remember of us and how 
>well we are remembered, that endures!
>
>Ok, I'll climb off my soapbox now.
>
Hi Chris K.,  Bradley Sanders here....
     Believew it or not, I based a whole career on the fundamental precept 
of enjoying every day. Of course, it is metal work that I enjoy... still, 
after twenty five years and four kids.

                              Bradley