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Hot Iron Muster 2001
There was movement in Australia, for the word had
passed around
Hot Iron Muster - the blacksmithing 'fray' now in its second year is becoming a major instructional event on the Australian blacksmithing calendar. Conducted by Alan Ball at his smithy in Logan Village Queensland, the Muster provides Australian enthusiasts with an opportunity to learn from visiting smiths with an international perspective. Accomplished and aspiring smiths gathered from all around southeast Queensland and as far afield as central NSW to join in the week's workshops. "Wouldn't miss it for quids" was the consensus of opinion. This year Elmer Roush travelled from Brasstown, North Carolina, USA to share his wealth of experience as both practicing blacksmith and instructor. After training with master smiths in both America and Europe, Elmer developed his own reputation for architectural smithing, sculptural forging, colonial period restoration and toolmaking. He has taught all levels of blacksmithing at America's top craft schools including John C. Campbell Folk School where he is resident smith, and was chosen as Instructor for the two-year foundation course at the Caerta Inona National Blacksmithing and Forging Centre established in Ireland in 1998, where he also acted as Chief Executive Officer through to 1999. Muster 2001 fired up with a Demonstration Day on Sunday 30th September, allowing a wide audience to share the experience. About 40 dedicated enthusiasts watched Elmer forge his way through a varied repertoire of projects. With metal carving not a common sight in Australia, the audience watched spellbound as the finely chiselled heads of a horse with flowing mane, a wispy-bearded wizard and a fierce dragon followed each other out of the fire. The cameras clicked enthusiastically as Elmer stopped at each stage to show progress and explain the techniques, and each finished product was minutely examined to further commit it to memory. After lunch, the emphasis shifted to forge welding, another skill which many smiths constantly strive to perfect. Working on an 18th century style tomahawk, Elmer was a little bewildered when a section of the spectators vacated their seats just as he was getting ready to weld the blade. Expecting a shower of sparks, they had moved out of harm's way, and returned rather sheepishly after his seemingly effortless hammer blows revealed a solid and virtually sparkless weld! The Demonstration Day certainly achieved its objective of injecting new ideas and interest into the Australian blacksmithing arena. Elmer's efforts were enthusiastically applauded, and many attendees were eager to acquire a sample of his work. The scene was set for the week of hands-on workshops to begin the next morning. The first two-day session was dedicated to toolmaking, the projects being a set of double callipers and dividers. With Elmer demonstrating each stage, the participants took notes before hammering out their own versions. These precision tools provided plenty of challenges in working to exact measurements, and the heat around the forges was not only coming from the fire! Thanks to Elmer's calm assistance where required, the finished products all 'passed muster' as valuable working tools. To top off the toolmaking, a nail header and quantity of nails were forged in readiness for the next class. Session Two saw a change of pace to architectural hardware. The first task was the forging of a strap hinge and pintle, with Elmer demonstrating a colonial design. The styles of hinges produced during the day emphasised the variety of creative thoughts amongst the participants. The theme continued on the following day with a traditional door handle and thumb latch. This provided an opportunity to contrast the effects that can be achieved by a cross peen hammer rather than the more usual ball peen available in Australia. The result was a resounding 'thumbs up' for the cross peen and a resolve to add a new hammer to the toolbox. The final session was a more leisurely day to hone forge-welding skills. Having used a commercial flux during the previous classes, the participants were keen to now try out Elmer's own recipe. Scale collected from around the anvils was finely ground and mixed in equal parts with boric acid powder. The project chosen to fully test this formula was a belt axe-head. After wrapping the head and forming the eye in mild steel, a wedge of spring steel was forged and inserted into the open jaws. These were then welded closed and hammered finally into shape. With everyone well satisfied with their efforts, they were content to watch Elmer demonstrate a variety of welded joints and Damascus pattern-welding before 'cracking open a stubby' to celebrate the end of a landmark week at the forge.
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