Mid year 2014 -Penfield.

Penfield Home Base.

It's been awhile since I have made an update and so many things have happened. The shed and container are located at our new home and have been occupied most weekends with  members new and old.
Work is slowly proceeding in improving what we have by way of facilities. All of our equipment is stored on site, either in the main forge or in the container. The yard takes a bit to upkeep with the damn weeds growing at a fast rate. We still have a lot of landscaping, planting and clearing up to do, but we'll get there.

The site doesn't resemble the photo, which was taken  late 2013. Imagine 4 foot high weeds at the back and sour sobs like a carpet, and you've got the picture.
The container has proved a real life saver with the equipment. We can keep the necessary stuff in the forge and the extra goes in the container.

We have been conducting a trial Basic Blacksmith Course over 6 nights. It was filled immediately with 8 members and has been very well received by those doing the course and by John, who has generously donated his time to pass on his skills to the guys.
Plans are underway to have another course before the end of the year, but will have six students rather than eight.
We would eventually like to invite the public to come along a do the course, in a similar vein to what W.E.A used to provide many years ago. Those courses offered people the chance to make a poker and learn some very basic skills. Our course is more involved and geared towards people who wish to challenge their thinking and get a skill set that will carry them into more advanced forging down the track. Speaking of advanced, we must get an advanced curriculum developed. We certainly don't have a shortage of highly skilled smiths to pass on some knowledge.

In the meantime, we are getting a constant stream of folks enquiring and joining up, while sadly having a few drop by the wayside.

The immediate future at the site, is to double the work area and double the amount of equipment and introduce items such as a large work table and welding bay along with a power hammer of some description.
We have a baby spring hammer that will help in the interim, but hopefully we'll plan on a harder hitting Anyang or similar.

Country Forges
The forges we have been visiting are still going strong, with a couple of exceptions.

Riverton has been put on ice by the Clare Valley council on OHS&W problems. I think it has to do with a dodgy stone wall inside the forge that requires rebuilding to prevent collapse. We hope it won't take too long to remedy and re open, as it is a beautiful forge to work in and Riverton is a nice town to visit on a sunny day.

Moonta Mines forge used to be the province of Terry, Keren and others, but has since been occupied by a local smith. The good and the bad is that Terry has more time to dedicate to Burra's forge and his grandkids. Moonta has a more accessible smith and he can be there more frequently, which is good for them. It's better than seeing the place close. There really isn't a down side that I can think of.

Burra Mines 'Bon Accord' -We are lucky to have Terry pay a visit and work the forge up there at least once a month.

Angaston -We have five or six members going up and manning the forge. Sadly, there is a small drop off of local members attending, but we have  couple of guys in the area, who will hopefully get on the roster and help us out. We also have a lot of new members further south who would cherish the chance to work in such a historic setting, so we'll see how it  goes for the rest of the year.

Mannum - Our two members in the area are not going to be available as much, which puts pressure on us to have city members travel up to fire the forge. We really need to do some recruitment of the locals up there I think.

Balaklava - There is a very enthusiastic group at Balaklava. They have a nice setup in town and are open most weekends, I believe. Our VP has been up to see them and is working with them to assist them in some training and skills. Hopefully, I'll get up there one day and say hello.

Tailem Bend - With the time and work put into Penfield, we have had precious little left over to regularly visit Tailem Town. I'm hopeful that we can pay a visit before too long and see what is happening up there.

The rest of 2014

We have a lot to do before the years out. For starters, we have the Gladstone Show, the Gawler Show and the Burra Show (at the jail). And not to forget, the Royal Adelaide Show, to name a few.

Meanwhile, we are planning for a huge get together at Mannum in November, with smiths from all over Australia invited to attend for the two days. There is a lot of planning underway and the logistics of hauling equipment up there and organising food and drink along with the coke and steel. It's going to be huge. I hope the troops can all pull together to make it happen.

Other events going on behind the scenes are a Gas forge workshop. The aim is to have a group of interested members come along and build a set of 9kg gas forges They will do all the fabrication, fit out and welding themselves, and at the end of the process, have a swanky kick butt gas forge to take back to their barn.
As much as I love coke, having an 'instant on' clean heat source is going to be fantastic, especially for those small jobs that seem to get lost in the coals. That's not to say these forges won't come in handy for the big stuff as well. Let's just say, it will be a luxury to have a choice.
See you soon.