Clack, clack, clack

[corivax]

I'd bought gfish a printing press as a Christmas gift. It's over a hundred years old, and spent the last eighty or so sitting in a barn getting rusty. Self serving gift - someone, and I have no idea who, of course, will have to help him restore it. So Thursday we went and rented a truck, and wandered to the shipping depo to pick up our twelve hundred

Comments

[corivax]

"Sing" is probably too strong a word. I do hum, a lot. The metal makes different notes as it cools, and as I'm usually making a blade of one sort or another, I'm normally working with a very high carbon steel, very brittle. Singing along with it is a very instinctive (for me; I think gfish does this all kinaesthetically) way to keep track of when it's so cold I don't want to hit it for fear of putting stress in the blade.

It's also useful when one is bending metal around the anvil; I'm not all that good at figuring out what angle I want to swing the hammer at, but I always know what note I want, and I can tell how far off I am.

[iainzard]

Have you ever worked with pure tin (or even alloys with a very high tin content)? It actually cries when you hit it or bend it; it's a very squeaky metal in general. You could have your own little choir.

[corivax]

No... That sounds odd and unsettling. :)

[pickledginger]

Yum! Functional sculpture ... all ready for the Newsletter of the Apocalypse. Enjoy!

(Fascinated by your discussion above about the song of steel (et allium ~ or perhaps, et aluminum?); wish I were able to contribute!

[corivax]

If you find yourself in Seattle, drop me a line. I'd be glad to teach you bladesmithing, or at least get you started. The more people who know, the better the universe is.

[pickledginger]

That would be fun! Thank you. If I'm ever on that side of the continent, I'll keep you in mind.