Random note from the fair

Merchant to woman trying on dress: "Oh, that's wonderful! It makes your eyes just jump out!"
Me: "Heck, a taser would do that."
Glare: "You are such a guy."

Quick Medieval Fair report

from your roving correspondentIt was downright strange not to have a booth to work. I saw actual, complete shows! I saw the whole fair! I don't think I'd done either of those in years. Among the other things seen,
Open carry
Ambulatory foliage
Cultural exhibits
Critters
and Musicians & Singers

Weather this year: Windy as hell and cool Friday; Saturday started beautiful and then around noon went cloudy, wet, cold and windy; Sunday somewhat windy and cool to chilly up until afternoon, when it warmed a bit.

Kind of nice to actually see the whole place, although it was really weird to walk past the empty spot where I used to be set up.

Thoughts on the fair

Went down for the day, and it was really strange: no booth to watch, no forge to run. And there was this empty space where my setup used to be! Damn. On the gooder side, I saw more shows and other artisans work and more stuff today than I think I had in at least the last five years.

One of the things I really liked about working it? When someone would show up with a broken something and "Can you fix it?" Or a piece and "Can you make some more?" Or "I need 'X' for a display rack/support, can you make me one?" I saw a number of those pieces today; Deity only knows how many tent stakes are in the ground right now that came out of my fire.

I can't remember if I'd shown these before, but it seems appropriate: this is my sgian dhu, and the new dirk I made myself(one of the few blades I ever made just for me):The dirk is 18" overall, 13" blade, about 1.6" wide and just under 1/4" thick at the guard. The blade is 5160 spring steel, the guard and pommel hammered nickel silver, the grip curly walnut. The blade tapers in width and thickness over most of the length.

The sgian dhu is 8" overall, 3.75" blade from the front of the collar to the point, just under 1" wide and .13" thick. This blade started as a 3/4" ball bearing, 52-100 steel. And forging it from ball to bar was a pain. The collar is nickel silver, the grip walnut. The final finish on both blades was done with a buffing wheel and 400-grit greaseless compound.

And yes, they're both sharp.

I've still got my older 'dirk'- actually a stright-clip bowie design' but no picture handy, I'll get one later. That started off as something made to sell, but I couldn't turn loose of it. Good knife; I just decided to make one more fitting for kilt wear, with sheath to match.

I miss making this stuff.

I just realized why I'm so jumpy

Aside from, to borrow from Michaleen O'Flynn, having a pint with friends to 'talk a little treason'. It's the lack of frantic activity on a personal level.

For more than twenty years the Wednesday before Med-Fair meant loading the big stuff* in the truck so I could drive it down Thursday morning for setup. Today I helped friend the gunsmith with some things, came home and ate dinner, and now I'm comfortably browsing the inerwebs a bit instead of doing heavy lifting and checking the list.

It's really odd.


*Anvil, stump, forge, coal bucket(full) and water bucket(empty), a bunch of steel of various sizes/shapes/types, one damned heavy toolbox and so on.

Oklahoma Celtic Festival this weekend,

which is where I spent most of the day. After I dragged my fat ass out of bed. I think this is the third year for it, and it's slowly growing. I think part of the problem causing slow growth is this is right in the middle of renaissance fair season for a lot of artists and performers, and they have multi-weekend contracts to perform/display. But it's a nice festival, with quite a few performers. Some of whom reminded me about the saying that 'bagpipes indoors are an offensive weapon'.

I'll post a few pictures later. 'Few' because I left the wrong chip in the camera, which means not many pictures.

Oh, and one of the food vendors is a area bakery, with damn good bread and meat pies.

Since saying "Getting old sucks" would make me feel worse,

I'll just say I don't recover as fast as I used to.

If I hadn't decided before this fair to tell the director this was my last one, the way I feel now would make me call her. All I did yesterday was unload and put stuff away, but my hands are still aching. Combine the touch of arthritis with hammering & tonging and cold and high winds... damn.

You know, stop doing something because you're tired of it, you're done, whatever, is one thing; having to stop because the body doesn't handle the stress well anymore, well, that just sucks.

Yes, I am bitching and whining about it.

I'm going to keep doing some smithing, as time & conditions allow, but the heavy stuff is either going to be few & far between, or only if I can get someone to use the sledge to help out; which means no more damascus, unless it's little billets.

Back to the weather, it was a hard freeze last night. I think I've lost one pepper and maybe two tomatoes over the last week or so; one of the tomatoes may not be dead, I'll give it a couple of days to see. It warmed up into the low 60's today, and is supposed to be warmer the next couple of days; no more freezes in sight according to the weather weenies. And today some visitors showed up in numbers:
The hollies were flat alive with them. Last year didn't see many, but they seem to be back. Which is nice, since they seem to have a home somewhere that does not involve my house. In a hive out back, sure, but not in the wall or something.

I cleaned and oiled the leather yesterday, and wiped all the blades with Eezox, so I need to put all that stuff up. Amuse yourselves while I'm gone.

Yes, that IS a dirk in my kilt

but I am glad to see you. (some of you, anyway)

Fair’s over. Yesterday being cold and windy enough to make me glad. Even for Oklahoma, the winds the last while have been downright nasty; I’m going to have to do some work on my carport when things calm down a bit(assuming they do; there’s a scary thought).

Some guy from Los Angeles, here for the first time, was setting up Thursday and went by the fair office to ask when the wind would die down; the look on his face when they told him “It may ease off some, but they’re predicting they’ll be like this through most of the weekend” was startling. We’re used to this crap coming around at times, but the last thing he said as he went back to finish setup was “And people talk about earthquakes in LA…”

The whole weekend, one of the big requests for every blacksmith out there was tent stakes, big ones. Problems multiplied because a lot of people had the pop-up tents/sunshades for their shop; nice when it’s mild but not rigid enough to stand up to bad winds. Stake them down well enough to not blow away and they just might pop rivets through the aluminum, or buckle and collapse. Not fun at all.

Most people made it through the weekend ok, but some did give up, either would not/could not keep set up without a tent or- on Sunday when it had turned cold- unable/unwilling to deal with the combination of 30’s & 40’s combined with strong winds gusting into the high 30’s—low 40’s. And be it said that was downright nasty, the winds strong and gusting enough that I didn’t even light the forge. And enough dust and grass in the air to screw with everybody’s sinuses and mess up the place.

I told the fair director Friday that this was my last Med-Fair as demonstrating smith; my hands are bothering me enough to make heavy or long hammering a problem, so it’s time. She, and the other people who make the thing run, have been very good to work with over the years, and I’ll miss doing this. I’ve flat loved it; having someone, patron or vendor, come by and say “Can you make/fix this?”, and turning to the forge and making or repairing or modifying it. Tent stakes, display stands and poles, small tools, a belt buckle, and other stuff someone needs.

Not too many pictures this time. I wrote a few months ago about Fenris having died; his people brought out one of his descendants, Mordred, to see how he’d like the place.
Pretty well as it turned out. Especially the introduction to Scotch eggs.

Rachel Lucas would like the place, because there's dog abuse

Some of the cultural exhibits are always nice

And the interesting contrasts: “Arrh, I be a fierce pirate
with a little bitty dog.”
So this year’s done. May be one of the volunteers next year, helping people set up and such. We’ll see.

Long couple of days,

and tomorrow's the last of the fair. Windy and cool Friday, windy and warm today, supposed to be windy and chilly to cold tomorrow. But dry; it does make a big difference.

My story for the day:
Was heading to check with a friend on something when saw one lady digging in another ladies' pocket; not an easy task as tight as the shorts were. Pulled out a phone as I walked up and said "Here now, what's going on here?"

"I was getting her phone!"

"A likely story!"

She put an arm around her friend's shoulder and said "Well, you know, I can't control myself at times."

I leaned over and said "Guess what?" and put an arm around her.

"What?"

"I don't have any pockets."

I think I may have permanently lost some of my remaining upper register.

Did manage to get a couple of things finished today

for Medieval Fair, two folding knives. Closed, halfway open,

and open

The blades are spring steel, the grips are antler with a slot cut, then a hole drilled through it and the blade for the pivot pin; the ends are riveted over brass washers. Top blade is 2.75" from antler to point, bottom is 3".

It's an old design I ran across years ago; the drawings I found were from the colonial/fur trade era here, but I'm pretty sure the design goes back quite a ways further.

Have you ever tried cutting a slot in antler? Well-seasoned hard antler? I'm using modern tools, and it's messy and something of a pain; doing it with a saw, chisels and files would have taken a lot of time and effort. Between achy hands and weather, only reason I got these done is that a while ago I got a cutoff tool that runs off my compressor; spins a 3" wheel that allowed me to get these done more easily than ever before. Used a hacksaw to cut the first part of the slot at the end(keeping that straight is fun), then you can set the ricasso into that and use it to line up the rest of the slot so it'll be straight. Then used the cutoff tool to cut the slot. Faster than before, but DAMN, that throws a lot of dust. White, fine dust that sticks on your jacket. And anything else it lands on.

These will be the last pieces I can work on before the fair, especially since they're now talking about the weather going to hell tomorrow night; colder, some rain, and a fair chance of snow Friday.

In a comment on the fair, Fire said

...having to do about 50 things before you can settle in. That sucks.

Understatement.

A lady who works under the business name White Pavilion, making and selling clothes(dresses, shirts, pants, hats, etc.) comes to Med-Fair, and I usually try to help her set up on Thursday, and break down on Sunday. She arrives in her big Dodge van, packed to the roof, and has to do the following:

Unload the tent canopy, poles, ropes and stakes.

Set up the canopy(she can do it herself, but it's a big tent so an extra pair of hands helps).

Unload the tent walls, display stands, clothing racks, etc.

Depending on weather, sometimes has to put the walls on right now, otherwise can leave them down while assembling a lot of the racks, etc.

Unload the merchandise. In good weather can set it out on a tarp while finishing setup; in bad weather, has to put it either in the tent and work around it, or cover it with another tarp.

If didn't earlier, put up the walls. Then start hanging up the stuff, draping the changing area, etc.

That's the basic, not counting setup each morning before people come in and cleanup/rearranging/etc. each evening.

Now it's Sunday, after three busy days. Now all the remaining merchandise has to be appropriately cleaned off(if needed, some days are pretty dusty) and then bagged or boxed. Then the stuff has to be set out of the way, walls taken down, racks disassembled, tent taken down(stakes pulled, ropes coiled, poles collected, etc.) and everything loaded back into the van in proper order. So saying this isn't a lot of fun before you can go eat and get some sleep- or starting the drive home some times- is understatement. Usually I or my daughter can help her set up, and daughter often works for her during the fair. Happily, some of her friends are usually around and will help in breakdown and packing, which gets her on the road to her motel room or the highway home at least a couple of hours sooner than doing it alone.

But it's still not a whole lot of fun.

That was a loooong weekend

Another Medieval Fair is over. This time the weather worked out nicely: some storms blew through Thursday night but it stayed partly cloudy and cool-to-warm Friday through Sunday*. Which meant neither mud to slog through or hot temperatures to sweat through. And a good time was had by all.

Did demos on the forge all three days, spaced through with "Can you fix this?" and "Can you make this?" Ran into the people I only see at fairs, Fenris & humans came by to drink out of the quench bucket as usual, and got a bit sunburned. As usual. By Saturday afternoon you can see all the women who come out in low-cut blouses and push-up bodices- or just plain skimpy attire- who forgot sunscreen; some of them must practically glow in the dark. And you do see some of the people who caused Jeff Foxworthy to announce "Spandex is a privilege, not a right". Yeesh.

Today, I'm achy in joints, tired, and really could have used about another hour of sleep. However, since they're talking about rain I had to unload the truck, put tools & metal away, mow, do laundry and, since there's a big trash pickup this week, pull together a bunch of tree limbs that had been cut up and set aside and carry them around front. And soon as that's done, put away all the stuff in the living room floor. THEN I can catch up on things.


*Weather at this fair has ranged from damn cold and sleeting to 80's with strong, gusting winds: pouring rain to dry and dusty. I have on some weekends moved the walls on the tent around each day because the wind had changed direction each day..

Why DO I do this?

Med-Fair, I mean? In some ways it's a bloody pain: load up several hundred pounds of stuff, some of it messy as hell, cart it to the site & set up, use it for three days(while talking yourself hoarse and getting either sunburned, frozen or drowned), then pack it all up and take it home and unload. Add in sometimes having to dolly all this crap a ways because you either can't drive onto the grounds or can't park close. And there's always the exciting possibility of of some freelance socialist stealing a tool or some piece you sweated over for hours to make.

Biggest reason? I really like showing this stuff to people. I like showing how people took whatever was available and made needed things out of it. I like demonstrating how this is done. I like answering a lot of the questions(excluding things like "Is that real metal? Is that real fire? Can I have that?*) I love it when some grandkid finds out that grandpa used to do this on the farm/ranch, and even has some of the tools back home still; you can see their face light up and "Wow!" go through their mind.

I like it when someone asks how to get started and I can tell them places to go for information and materials. I like it when someone shows up and asks "Can you fix/duplicate this?" and stands there watching while you do it. Pointing out pieces of history that someone's never heard of before, folklore about smiths in different cultures. And, on occasion, using a song they've never heard of(ever heard 'The Two Magicians'? Or 'A Lusty Blacksmith'?) Get to be the first to tell a kid interested in Irish history about Chu'hulainn and where his name came from.

One of the really nice things is to finish some small piece, and one of the merchants comes up and says "Can you make this stake/hanger/hook/support for me?" You get a description, figure out size, then pick out a piece of stock and make it, then deliver it or have them pick it up. And the folks watching get to see it all, just like a smith at a fair or town shop way back when.

Yeah, it can be a pain in the ass. But it does have compensations.

The Fair, and the aftermath*

Fair's over, truck's unloaded, laundry's done. I'm just about done after this day, though not as badly as after closing Saturday & Sunday. Some stuff I forged needs to be wire-brushed and oiled(later), the forge has been oiled and covered, tools put back where I usually keep them. I hosed out the back of the truck to get rid of the dirt. And did laundry, and mowed(the back yard grows amazingly this time of year if there's rain)

I finally looked at my rain gauge this morning. Mind you, this was Monday morning, when the rain ended Friday night: 4.5". That's a lot of rain in a 72-hour period, and I think most of it fell Friday afternoon & evening in a series of what could be called downpours. Or that damn
cow being force-fed fluids as she was tied in place over us. Part of my garden in the back yard washed out, I think it'll take about three bags of topsoil to repair that. God, it was nasty that day; if I'd done anything to piss off Sondra, I'd think she'd cursed us with her lousy weather.

Friday started off cloudy, and had some occasional sprinkles, which was fine. Then the thunder started rumbling to the south. Which did give me enough warning to cool down the forge and get everything under cover before it hit. Friday evening is already described. Saturday I woke up and it seemed kind of dark, so I looked through the blind and crap! I couldn't even see the other side of the street it was so foggy. Except...(note to self: put on glasses and you'll be able to tell it's the condensation on the window, not fog). Turned out it had dawned with naught but a couple of clouds in the sky, and thanks to cooler, drier air from the north stayed clear and helped to firm up the ground; was almost chilly most of the day. Sunday was warmer and still clear, which helped a lot at breakdown since nobody was allowed to drive onto the grounds, which meant dollying everything out. Ever tried to dolly an anvil and stump, about 200 pounds, about 1/4 mile over ground? It ain't fun.

Met the gentleman who goes by Pagan Blacksmith Saturday, nice guy. Lots of people I haven't seen since last year























seen once again.

I can confirm that naproxyn can be your friend: I started on it Thursday and will keep it up for a day or so, and my hands and various troublesome joints have gotten along much better than expected.

Oh, the other folks from last year? Like Heather
























Natalie & friends?























Yeah, they were there. Also, meet Tullamore:













That's Mary, Mark and Rachel. Damn fine musicians and singers.

And, of course, Your Host at work:

























And now, I'm to a glass of something comforting and then to bed.


*Actually, it strikes me that that would be a good chapter title for a bodice ripper; but if you use it, I want royalties, dammit!

Remember that cow and the flat rock?

Bossy's gonna die

The 'scattered thunderstorms' the weather weenies talked about seems to consist of the aforementioned cow turning most of the state into a flat rock. All at once. Scattered storms my ass.

Though this should make Algore happy, since this is Ma Nature balancing out last years dry spell. I can hear her now: "Last year was a bit dry, so I'll make up for it. IN ONE WEEK! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I'm half afraid to look at the rain guage; yesterday, over the last three days it showed 1.5". Today, there's street flooding all over the damn place and they closed Med-Fair about 2:30. Yuck.

You have to understand, the Fair actually being closed due to weather takes seriously nasty conditions. Like some guy with a beard looking for gopher wood and muttering about 'cubits' nasty. For a long time it was always either the first or second weekend of April- depending on Easter- and weather in this area can be, ah, 'variable' let's say at this time of year. It's been open when it was snowing, cold as hell, hot and wind gusting high enough to damn near tip the forge and anvil over and rain. So heavy enough rain, or threatening bad storms enough to close it, is Not A Good Thing.

I did have enough warning of the rain to get the fire put out and things under cover, so that's good. And from the current info, looks like this should end tonight. So tomorrow should be ok. Soggy ground, but that can deal with.

I repeat: yuck.

Once again, Ma Nature demonstrates

that she has little fondness for moderation. Last year was pretty dry, and there had been hopes for more 'normal' rainfall this year.

In response, I think in the last two weeks we've received as much- more in some areas- than we got in the last six months of last year. According to my rain gauge, in the last three days we've had a good two inches in Oklahoma City; most of it since 7:30 this morning.

I'm all for getting a bit more wet this year, but did it have to be now? And in one big damn swoop?

Balance of nature, my ass.

Medieval Fair a'coming

and I'm not particularly ready.

Not really un-ready, but not looking forward to it as much as in the past. Aching joints do that to you.

I've got the big stuff gathered up already, and deciding what to wear isn't a problem(kilt, shirt, shoes). Need to figure out some munchies to take along and drinks. Probably soda bread and cheese, maybe some roast or something for meat.

And, there are some things to look forward to. So, getting prepared we go.