the umba journal oct-dec 2019 16 *in keeping with the spirit of volunteer teaching theme, i’ve placed an article by tony vanagas from the umba journal, jan/feb 2001. (also, for newer members, centaur forge, ltd. in burlington, wi is where annual umba fall conferences are held) yes!! you can do demonstrations! by tony vanagas with a little research, you can fill in the blanks or come up with your own. oh yes, i’ve been called back to that school for the past 3 years-and they pay me! out the bookroom at centaur forge-and no, they don’t pay me to write this. what’s that? you don’t have any books?? check watch those black heats– they will burn you! go out there and educate those people.* safety glasses, hammers, cross-pein, straight-pein, items to take on a demo: 1) tool bag- ball-pein, chisels-regular and handled, wire brush, tongs to fit stock, scroll tongs, center punch, metal ruler, white charcoal pencil, lead pencil, vice grips, kevlar gloves, paste wax, matches, iron wire, nail header, leather apron. 2) stock to work on 3) folding table for items to sell 4) samples of your work 5) 6) protective screen (to put in front of anvil); sandbags items to sell or stakes to hold down 7) chair 8) business cards 9) newsletters to give to prospective umba/abana members 10) drinking water 11) camera and notepad 12) anvil, stand and anvil tools 13) vice 14) file/sandpaper 15) hand drill 16) rags 17) fire tools: shovel, rake, poker 18) slack tub, water in container, dipper for cooling 19) coal and/or charcoal, corn cobs, firewood, paper 20) forge: coal buckets– three: one for coal, ash dump, and the last one for coke saved from the last fire 21) 10 x 20 tarp– 4 tarp poles, 8 tarp stakes with rope 22) rope to put around the demo area with 6-8 posts to hold up 23) 10 x 10 tarp in case of rain 24) portfolio of past demos and work this list is what i normally take-it can be used as a guide for you. once you do a few demos, other items might work better for you. it takes approximately 1 hour to set up for the demo. the reloading does not take quite as long. i personally like a pickup with a topper to carry the items. this gives you security and protection from the weather. i might add your clothing should be of natural fabrics due to being close to the fire.* thank you, tony vanagas i am writing this after getting more calls than i can handle for doing demonstrations. i would like to give out names to these people of fellow smiths who could do the demos and help get the message out that blacksmiths are still around and enjoying what they are doing. i have been doing demos for 7 years and really enjoy it. my big thing was getting the equipment together to take wherever the people wanted me. one has to have the mindset, “yes, i can do it!”, and then go for it. i admit i had, and still have, some apprehension on different occasions. but, when the fire is lit (and this is quite a challenge) and the iron is hot, they all go away and they will, just give it a try. when you think all is well, and then you get some off-the-wall question and pick up the wrong end of the metal-it does not take long to realize this. (this is why you always know where the slack tub is, and the quickest and shortest way to it) it also tests your control of words when there are small kids around, and they are always there-once they see the fire and smoke, of the forge that is, and the pounding starts. all kidding aside, this is a great feeling to be able to plant blacksmithing seeds in these little minds. one of the kids’ favorites from my demos are the horseshoe nail rings. i but the nails from centaur forge, ltd. what i’m saying is that it is really not that hard once you set your mind to it. i do demos for schools and am often requested to give them a lesson plan. i went to all of the smithing books i had (you know, all of the books that you have) and here is what i came up with: the man, the metal, the mass production the man-why was he called a blacksmith? what did he do? why did he do it? why did he stop? the metal-what kind of metal was it? how was it worked? when was it discovered? why was it used? what do the different colors mean? the mass production-who started it? what was it? how was it done? what were the results? * denotes editing to due the time difference. ed.