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| I needed a picture so this is it |
I've been considering documenting the way I work. I want to share the methods and skills I use to make the things I make. I know there are a lot of books that show how to smith or weld or chase or engrave or whatever. They are pretty dry, but also absolute. I don't do absolute very well. These books contain good information, but they also leave a lot out, and sometimes they make the whole process so stinking hard. I have a book on blacksmithing published in the early 20th century. The first thing it instructs the new smith to do is make a set of tongs You will need tongs. I guess the problem for me at the beginning of the 21st century is that I don't know how you will make them without all the other things you will also need. We no longer live at a time when there is going to be a forge and anvil at your disposal just down the street. That makes me unsure how you can even begin to make tongs. That's problem one. Problem two is that this book instructs you to make the tongs from 3/4" square bar. I think that's insane even if you do have a forge, an anvil and a power hammer. I don't know why anyone would make tongs from 3/4" square bar unless they really wanted to spend days making them. My advice is that when you are starting out just go buy a pair for $40 and call it a day. Later on when you need specialty tongs and you have experience, you can make them from 3/8" x 3/4" flat bar or even 1/4" x 3/4" flat bar. Why anyone would ever make a pair of tongs from 3/4" square bar is a mystery to me. Better yet, if you really want to learn the lessons that you can learn from making tongs, make a pair of tongs every day for a month. After about 20 pair you will feel pretty confident about your ability to make tongs. Make at least ten more pair. Then you will have the knowledge that making tongs can give you and you will have a bunch of tongs.
Anyway, there are also classes and conferences and YouTube videos where people show their skills, and you can learn an amazing amount from them. I would never discourage anybody from taking a class. Classes give the opportunity to work in a shop that has all the equipment you need to do the things that are being shown with an expert right there to get you past obstacles. This is amazing and is a great way to start. It will also be just like every other class you have ever taken. As you can tell from my advice on making tongs, I don't think you will have learned anything if you just do it once. If you did those calculus problems from high school every day until you really understood them, one at a time, and then did them a few more times, you would know calculus. Maybe that's just me. Still, you need to spend time practicing each skill until you feel comfortable with it.
Conferences and videos are also valuable ways to learn. I do think in order to learn from them you need a bit of background. The demonstrators have practiced whatever they are showing until they are sure they won't make mistakes, but by the time they get to demonstrating they skip a lot of valuable information in order to do a better show and if they don't you walk away because it's so so so boring.
Please don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that my way is the best way, nor is it always the conventional way. It's just my way. Working with metal and making things is how I make a living. I'm not a purist. I think I have some practical information that might be valuable even if you never intend to make anything from metal. I hope that looking closely at how I do my work will help you do yours. Problem solving is problem solving.
I want this to be the first chapter of an ongoing series. I intend to go deep, to share my successes and failures, my processes and my thinking. We all struggle. I will try to make my struggles entertaining. Feel free to laugh even if I'm crying.
There are a lot of skills that are guarded because we all fear competition to some degree. My animal brain has lots of fear, but my rational brain knows that sharing my skills won't really create competition. My work has me in it. Your work doesn't. Because of that, I will share my knowledge without fear. Besides, at the rate I write these posts, it will take a decade for me to get to the end.
There are a finite number of skills and an infinite number of ways to manipulate them. Maybe not infinite, but there are a bunch. I will include sketches, even though I really can't draw with a pencil. I will have videos and photos to help with understanding. I will explain how I do things and why. Along the way, if you have questions, I hope you will ask them. There are a lot of ways to reach me. Pick the one that works best for you.
Each of us has a finite amount of time. I want to leave some of my knowledge behind. Some of it is useful and I'd rather pass it along this way than by having my brain kept in a jar. I don't think that would be a good look for me.
That's my plan. Over the next ten to twelve appallingly slow years I will make a metal artisan of you all. If you use it as a reference because you want to try working with metal, that's great. If you just use it to know that you are not alone in the struggle to master your skills, that's good too. After all, it's always nice to know you are not alone.
So...until next month when we meet again
j
Anyway, there are also classes and conferences and YouTube videos where people show their skills, and you can learn an amazing amount from them. I would never discourage anybody from taking a class. Classes give the opportunity to work in a shop that has all the equipment you need to do the things that are being shown with an expert right there to get you past obstacles. This is amazing and is a great way to start. It will also be just like every other class you have ever taken. As you can tell from my advice on making tongs, I don't think you will have learned anything if you just do it once. If you did those calculus problems from high school every day until you really understood them, one at a time, and then did them a few more times, you would know calculus. Maybe that's just me. Still, you need to spend time practicing each skill until you feel comfortable with it.
Conferences and videos are also valuable ways to learn. I do think in order to learn from them you need a bit of background. The demonstrators have practiced whatever they are showing until they are sure they won't make mistakes, but by the time they get to demonstrating they skip a lot of valuable information in order to do a better show and if they don't you walk away because it's so so so boring.
Please don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that my way is the best way, nor is it always the conventional way. It's just my way. Working with metal and making things is how I make a living. I'm not a purist. I think I have some practical information that might be valuable even if you never intend to make anything from metal. I hope that looking closely at how I do my work will help you do yours. Problem solving is problem solving.
I want this to be the first chapter of an ongoing series. I intend to go deep, to share my successes and failures, my processes and my thinking. We all struggle. I will try to make my struggles entertaining. Feel free to laugh even if I'm crying.
There are a lot of skills that are guarded because we all fear competition to some degree. My animal brain has lots of fear, but my rational brain knows that sharing my skills won't really create competition. My work has me in it. Your work doesn't. Because of that, I will share my knowledge without fear. Besides, at the rate I write these posts, it will take a decade for me to get to the end.
There are a finite number of skills and an infinite number of ways to manipulate them. Maybe not infinite, but there are a bunch. I will include sketches, even though I really can't draw with a pencil. I will have videos and photos to help with understanding. I will explain how I do things and why. Along the way, if you have questions, I hope you will ask them. There are a lot of ways to reach me. Pick the one that works best for you.
Each of us has a finite amount of time. I want to leave some of my knowledge behind. Some of it is useful and I'd rather pass it along this way than by having my brain kept in a jar. I don't think that would be a good look for me.
That's my plan. Over the next ten to twelve appallingly slow years I will make a metal artisan of you all. If you use it as a reference because you want to try working with metal, that's great. If you just use it to know that you are not alone in the struggle to master your skills, that's good too. After all, it's always nice to know you are not alone.
So...until next month when we meet again
j
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