Linda & I were off to the Drake Well Museum, at the extreme north end of Oil Creek State Park, today cause they we’re hostin’ the Oil Valley Blacksmithing Assn. We are always interested in lookin’ to see things the way they used to be done back when. When we arrived we were told if we were going into the park to see the blacksmiths there would be no admission fee, swe..eet. This pleased Mrs. Frugal greatly, me too.
Upon entrin’ we met up with one of the fellas engaged in the art of blacksmithin’ and he took us out to the area that they were workin’ in. He proceeded to give us some background and show off some of the items he has made.
After inspectin’ his wares we moved to the shed where they were forging some items. They meet here once a month on the last Saturday of each month. Each month one of the members takes charge of the forge, for the day, and creates some items. Today tom was in charge. Tom is a summer resident who lives outside of Tucson, AZ in the winter & spring. Tom was creatin’ a draw knife one of the other members had requested.
They each draw off the others knowledge & expertise, learnin’ new techniques and pickin’ up tips from each other.
This is a display of some of the items they have created
One of the gents, Carl, came over to me and said, “I know you from Cyclops”. Cyclops was a specialty steel mill that operated in Titusville, PA from 1879 to sometime in the late 90’s . I told him I never worked at Cyclops but Linda’s uncle Don worked there for years. Turns out Carl is good friends with Don. Well he & I talked and laughed and he showed me a catalogue of items he has created over the years. Carl also carves wood and sculpts stone along with his metal working hobby.
Here’s most of the guys that were on hand from the Oil Valley Blacksmiths Association that day. They invited Linda & I to sit down and have lunch with them but we declined and told them we wouldn’t impose.
Well that’s all for this post. Hope to see ya down the road as we’re;
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