Strike While the Iron's Hot

Orion's been making "I wanna be a blacksmith" noises for several months now. I think our trip to the State Fair in Sedalia a few weeks ago was the final piece. Twenty feet into the fair we passed a blacksmith tent. Orion was very curious. But he was so good. He continued on with us. After a few snacks, rides, and midway games he and John returned to the blacksmith tent were they met a few guys from the Blacksmith Association of Missouri (aka BAM). They were as tickled with him as he was with them. He came home with some blacksmith tongs, a pot grabber of sorts, the newsletter, and a huge smile. For the next few days all I heard about was dues to BAM and the urge to buy pipes, a hairdryer, coal, an anvil, and a brake rotor. Honestly, I had a high doubt that these items would actually create a forge. But I said nothing. Groaning as stuff from local junk stores, flea markets, antique stores, auto mechanic shops, and the co-op started finding their way home.

This weekend Orion organized his goods and got to work. It took just about a day to build the forge. That afternoon he tried it out. He was at it again today. He's hot (no pun intended) for smithing and already has his first order: a fireplace poker for his Meme.

You can check out the step-by-step pictures and his narrative at his blog. Remember it's invitation only. If you've not been invited and you want to be, email me. If you've been invited and you've visited a time or two, you'll remember that you need