Pictures!!

[iron__monger]

Some pictures of crap I have been working on just so livejournal people don't think I died.

Comments

[phaistion]

Oh my! I do love the column! You should build about 4 more of them and then build your own Thunderdome in your back 40. :)

Seriously, though... I really like it for its sculptural and practical applications... Very cool. Always have liked the found art stuff.

Hope all is well!

[iron__monger]

Thanks, haven't heard from you in awhile. Not sure if I can call it "found art", since everything is from my scrap pile. Was thinking of putting it in the front yard actually, 4 of them would be cool but that is about 15 years worth of scrap for me, have to screw up more stuff I guess.

[iron__monger]

Thank you. The thing about my metal working tools is that very few of them were actually purchased new, and quite a few of them I have made myself so they were practically free. If I were doing metal working as a business it would probably have made more sense to just buy them new instead of spending the time finding them at garage sales, making them from scratch, and spending hours fiddling with them. I could probably do pretty much the same work with half as many tools, but for me it is just as much about the thingamajigs and tools as it is about making things.. if not more so.

[iron__monger]

Traditionally a blacksmith would not only make many of his own tools, but would also make the tools for other trades as well. For instance he wouldn't have made the brushes used by the painter, but maybe he would have made the tools that the brush maker would have used. I know nothing about brush making really, that is just an example. Blacksmithing is unique in that regard, but historically I think people in general, not just artists were much more self reliant. Now manufacturing is much more complex and specialized, but there was a time when some guy with an anvil and hammer played a vital part in just about every trade. Now complex machinery manufactures all of these things and the blacksmith plays only a small role in daily life, making decorative things, because most people given the choice opt for something cheap rather than hand made. There is still something satisfying about making ones own tools though.