backyard forge & metal factoids

My friend Dan and I are both into metal. Not the music. Real metal. I am now using copper. He is making knives, shaping them actually, but there is a lot you have to know. His thing is more interesting, but that's always the case!

Last night we talked about different but mostly related topics. Japanese swords and a really cool knife I saw on a discount rack. Pounded down. Overlapping. Waves of metal like rings on a tree. And there all kinds of things like that.

Then we talked about history. Metallurgy. Now and then. The mustard test. Patina. Chemicals. Fire. Ancient metal. New metal. How wire is made. As we're talking however it occurs to me that metal just isn't as important as it used be, even if it does hold up bridges and buildings and ships. It doesn't make or break cultures anymore, or name huge blocks of history, and like most other products of modern society, we're very removed from how it is made.

So I told Dan about a documentary I saw. It was about a group of scientists (metallurgists included) about a group of scientist trying to recreate the forging of metal using ancient methods. They tried and tried but just couldn't do it. The original technology, whatever it was, was lost. It made me think that it might be interesting to learn a little about some of that and blog on it.

The image is not Dan's forge BTW. But the plan is to build something similar. I WILL be there when he fires it up!

Watch for upcoming blogs on metal!