Subject: Re: *Real* fire (was: Demo)

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 21:50:04 -0400

Actually, one elderly woman not long ago was not to be convinced that I was
burning coal.  She thought the pile of black crumbly stuff concealed a
natural gas burner.  Honest to Pete, when my back was turned she was squatted
down, trying to figure out the "gas valve" (clinker breaker).  Oh well...  I
guess the demonstrators sometimes learn more than the visitors.

Regards.  Keep hammerin'

Eric

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From: Ralph Snel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 10:07:25 METDST

> guess the demonstrators sometimes learn more than the visitors.

Guess I'm in the right place. I usually stand at medieval markets if I'm
forging in public. There the public _knows_ that the fire is real, the coal
is real, and that I'm making "Real Stuff". I do get the usual questions
like "what are you making?". I've startled a bunch of kids a few times by
taking a short piece of stock, drawing it out to about 60 cm length, putting
a nice handle on one end and a split point on the other, and finally pull
out a package of hot dogs and roast me some lunch :)
All the time the kids asked what I was making, I just answered that they
should wait and see...

(BTW: don't do this when you're burning coal! :)

Ralph Snel
[email-masked]

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From: Steve Herrick <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 11:32:24 -0700 (PDT)

I have always thought to my self, what are the FAQ's that people ask all
the time. Some gonuf in the audience asks what are you burning, after
sitting through three other explainations about coal coke sulfur...

I keep thinking about making a FAQ board....  Chalk board?

#1 coal 
#2 Blacksmith
#3 A nervous affliction
#4 3500 degrees F.
#5 not to go up your nose
#6 {variable changes as to what I'm making, i.e. nail, tool, etc...}

Questions: 
What are you doing? #2,or #3 as my mood goes
What's that stuff? #1
Hey will you sell me a kilo of that stuff? #5

I keep smiling eventhough I have answered the same question for the 600th
time that hour by just inventing more #'s for my FAQ. Of course my FAQ
exists only in my head, and I hear a question, tag an appropriate FAQ #
and translate the FAQ into english for the crowd and keep smiling even
harder. 

Sorry if I'm rambling but I just got back from a 12 day county fair in
Paso Robles, where the weather monster wasplaying havock. I think on two
day a new record high temp wasn't set. :-)

Hrolthgar -   [email-masked]
           Steve Herrick