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Richard Furrer
Industry Professional
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 Posted: Tue 21 Sep, 2010 8:19 pm Post subject: Video on Viking/Beowulf sword welding |
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Hello All,
Here is a bit of a blast from the past...a video from 2001 in my old studio. I found this on an old VHS tape and converter it to digital.
A general overview of forge-welding and some background into Viking blade construction.
If you have not done any forge-welding this may be of interest. Not as detailed as I prefer to go, but you may find it informative.
http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/Videos_to_watch.html
Ric
Ric Furrer
Sturgeon Bay, WI
www.doorcountyforgeworks.com
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Nathan Robinson
myArmoury Admin
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Arne Focke
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Wed 22 Sep, 2010 1:15 am Post subject: |
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Nice set of videos.
If i may say so from my own experience working in several museum forges, you should definitely work in a museums forge.
You have a real gift of telling people about your craft, which many, otherwise fine, craftsmen lack. 
So schön und inhaltsreich der Beruf eines Archäologen ist, so hart ist auch seine Arbeit, die keinen Achtstundentag kennt! (Wolfgang Kimmig in: Die Heuneburg an der oberen Donau, Stuttgart 1983)
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Richard Furrer
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Wed 22 Sep, 2010 6:11 am Post subject: |
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Thank you both.
That talk went on for some 25 minutes...edited to ten. Oddly my talks have changed little in 9 years.
Many years ago I spoke to Peter Ross, of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, and he said the discipline of the job was in dealing with the public.
I did a two week demo on the national Mall in Washington DC for the Smithsonian ...thousands of people who care not about swords or blacksmithing came through the demo.....finding some common ground was challenging.
I try to bring that common ground across in my teaching...its a failure if the student does not leave with the information. If all I do is talk and show what I know then its simply mental masturbation...the stroking of the ego.
Having someone who does know know on Monday leave with the knowledge on Friday..well...that is teaching.
Ric
Ric Furrer
Sturgeon Bay, WI
www.doorcountyforgeworks.com
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R D Moore
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| Posted: Wed 22 Sep, 2010 7:40 am Post subject: |
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Another great video Ric! If you do decide to work for a museum, would you still continue to educate us please? I've decided to schedule some vacation for next year around one of your classes if I can. Have you given any thought to creating a DVD series of classes? Maybe the National Endowment for the Arts could provide some funding resources. If somebody can get a series established about stuffing his face like "Man vs Food" funded then there has to be some money for this out there!
"No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation" ...Gen. Douglas Macarthur
Last edited by R D Moore on Wed 22 Sep, 2010 7:45 am; edited 1 time in total
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Artis Aboltins
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| Posted: Wed 22 Sep, 2010 7:44 am Post subject: |
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Very nice video - and very true about educating people, it is very easy to "show off" your knowledge about something without actually acomplishing anything usefull - and, sadly, that is what quite a few people in academic circles behave, forgetting that they too have learned what they know from someone, it did not appear out of thin air. Finding the way how to delive your knowledge to someone else takes real skill and patience, but it is really rewarding experience.
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Richard Furrer
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Wed 22 Sep, 2010 8:59 am Post subject: |
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| R D Moore wrote: | | Another great video Ric! If you do decide to work for a museum, would you still continue to educate us please? I've decided to schedule some vacation for next year around one of your classes if I can. Have you given any thought to creating a DVD series of classes? Maybe the National Endowment for the Arts could provide some funding resources. If somebody can get a series established about stuffing his face like "Man vs Food" funded then there has to be some money for this out there! |
Last time I contacted a museum was when I was in college (maybe 20 years ago)..they said no because they did not want someone who made things, but rather just talked...they ended up with a retied gentleman who burned the kids names into the anvil stump with a poker.
I have thought quite a bit about a blacksmith only program like Roy Underhill's "Woodwright's Shop"..in fact he worked with some of the Colonial Williamsburg blacksmiths in his series (I guess they had dealings via the museum on site and Roy may have been on the board at one time..not sure).
Woodworking has a wider audience than metalwork I feel and more tool sellers who will advertise to support the program.
At any rate...go to a shop or have one kitted out...do an old reproduction using period techniques (near as we can figure them out)..edit it with appropriate bling factor. Bring in a guest smith to do something they specialize in and an interview. Have the program edited for the mass audience as well as another cut for those who would like to get all the info and "boring" parts.
I would happily build a blacksmith film studio here at my place for such an endeavor and host guest smiths.
This sort of what I have planned for classes next year and beyond...bring in good educators who do smithing and let them teach. We'll start off with Patrick Hastings http://taganearts.com/ , but if you want just name dropping I have approached Howard Clark, Don Fogg, Vince Evans, Tom Ryan (architectural blacksmith in Long Island), Steve Schwarzer and others about weekend or week long classes as well. Maybe even Paul Marx, my first teacher, who began in the 1970's and has taught hundreds of folk how to smith...he is a real gem.
And that is just the US group...I'd like to have Peter Johnson (Sweden), Jake Powning (Canada), UK folk:Owen Bush, Grace Horne and Mick Maxen...as well as a few in Germany, Belgium, Turkey and Japan come it. There is also a guy in New Zealand named MacKinnon who has been smelting his own ore and making full kitted swords for many years.
The main issue with just me doing a video series is that much of my knowledge was from others...for me to get up there and say "This is what I can do" would often be better served by me saying "Hear is the technique now watch the person I learned it from do it"
I am doing four series for 2011:
Blister/Shear steel,
Bloomery smelting,
Crucible steel and
"From Dirt to Dagger"
Mostly because what I will show there is stuff I developed without much outside help and therefore do not feel like I'm stepping on someone else's generosity by showing it.
Ric
Ric Furrer
Sturgeon Bay, WI
www.doorcountyforgeworks.com
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