A hike to Schmiedefest @Krenzer Hammer crafts fair

 Last Saturday I met with Natalie and little Jonas to go on a foraging hike to the legendary crafts fair @ Krenzer hammer. (www.krenzer-hammer.de). We had an early start and were greeted by a snail and a bear family...

 ...and another snail.

 We had decided to take the small one foraging and collected a lot of herbs and ´shrooms for dinner. Jonas had a lot of fun climbing crosscountry on trails seldom trodden...

 ...spot the metalhead... ;-) Jonas forged with me on Highland Games Wuppertal and dropped by on Friday for the first time and joined in wit gusto. And it was a joy to have him around... he is a weird, but very intelligent kid that has fun doing things few kids of his age have.

 We came by some rock carvings where I told a dwarf tale... which he did not believe any... or did he? ;-)

 Did I mention this is a metalhead? ;-)

 Also it was really cool to have Natalie around with her bad humour and sarcastic remarks...

 I blurred this pic on purpose... for I don´t like duck faces any ... ;-)

There were a lot of wonders, big and small, by the trailside..

 Fairy rings...

 Oh so green was the moss...

 And trees by the crags standing guard...

 ...

 Along the murky stream we came to the Krenzer ironforge where the fair took place.

 And there it was I met Manfred and Rolf again... which came as no surprise. Manfred had a lot of really cool knife designs on display again...

 Top: Damascus blade with giraffe bone handle,

 the one below stag and a modified Karesuando blade.

 Manfred...

 This one is made from an old HSS saw blade with Micarta handle...

 ..in a somewhat unusual Kydex sheath with leather.

 Rolf was working doing leather designs witrh kids and adults alike...

 ...and Ruben from Ahlhauser Hammer was getting the knifemaking bug...

 We also met with Julia, Nick and Kathrin and had somewhat of a chat, before we went on our merry way to the ironforge. Unfortunately, the three of them did not care to join us. I suspect more than just a bit of scheming and plotting going on on their part, but as is, I am a paranoid bastard, cannot help it any and I refuse to make this my problem. So, off to Ahlhauser Hammer ironforge for the old foodie we went. It was raining hard then. Thiemo, Natalies boyfriend called what he should bring from the grocer´s and we decided to meet at the ironforge.

 There it was that Jonas unwrapped a piece of steel his brother found near the vicinity of a Solingen Burg smithy, and we probed it. Sorry for the bad pics, but there´s a structure in it and spark analysis showed roundabout 0,6-1,00 % carbon-it might as well be a piece of damascus...

Be this as it may ;-), we made a stew from the treasures we had found and some additions from the grocery store...

 Natalie doing some stunted Yoga... ;-)

 Jonas being off his rocker for joy of the steel we probed.. Idaresay we spoiled this kid a bit... he does not like veggies but ate two bowls of stew with no meat whatsoever in it, and I should say that mummy had a hard time convincing him not to take this iron rod to bed with him... ;-) but as his father came to fetch him, I daresay he was not THAT angry with us... ;-) so to say... ;-).

 Thiemo and Jonas. Folks, you´re good company.

 We sat by the fireside, we adults had a beer, and we talked and dreamed and laughed the night away.

Poifecc! ;-D

A hike to Krenzer Hammer Schmiedefest (blacksmithing fair) 2016

It was that time of year again, and I had some time for a change. The fair at Krenzer Hammer ironforge, another historical smithy in the Ennepetal, which is still producing most excellent blacksmithing tools, with an own lineup and for Ridgid and Peddinghaus. Look here for more info:

www.krenzer-hammer.de

When I got up, however, I was not overly fond of meeting up with a bunch of people, so I was being late for the rendezvous with Nick and Natalie, Willy´s daughter. No harm done at all, I thought, and went for the bimble solitarily...

The woods were vibrant with light, and a heavy peace was enshrouding the atmosphere, heavy with the perfumes of late summer, and the faint singing of the birds filled my heart with the oh so needed peace.

By the trailside there was an old beam from a railroad track, and I found these old clamps, which were in use pre-1950, so it can be quite probable that this is something high-carbonish... ;-)

The trails were enchanted with dazzling light. Most interesting are the remnants of the old iron mines that are barely visible to a neckid eye...

Like this, see? ;-) those ditches and dents and small heaps of stone hint of a very long mining history.

...

...

The entrance to one of the old mines. Now they are a habitat for bats and small nocturnal animals.

I really took in the solitude and silence and the vibrant colours of the woods.

Through the thicket I went...

...and on one of the main trails I met with Natalie, Jonas and Nick. It was a jolly meeting, and we had some good-natured chats and traded some weirdo jokes, and Jonas got himself some spalted oak for knife handles.

Then we arrived at the fair, where there was a lot of crafts going on. Julia and Kathrin went there by bike and were already attending tutorials in flute - making.

I had a chat with this lady who gave me some valuable insight on the making of glass - beads.

Woodwork on display...

Rolf was there doing some leatherworking tutorials for kids...

...and Meinhard, who is now going semi-professional with his knifemaking. He had a lot of goodies on display!

I especially liked those wharncliffe designs he made from old sawblades...

But also this big Damascus hunting knife.

Meinhard and Rolf are absolutely obsessed with knives and knifemaking, and they are nice guys to boot! Here Meinhard shows off one of the big choppers Rolf is making from a new kind of steel with an abnormous degree of edge resistance...

Rolf is also doing some restoring work onb those old and beloved grandpa´s knives: Old and new! he does a very great job and yap, while I have an altogether different approach to knifemaking I daresay I can learn a lot from him still.

The big choppers. Rolf is full-on sole-author and makes the sheaths himself.

Also some more handy knives, by the way... a German Jagdnicker design.

...licce skinner... with ivory scales (with CITES).

One heck of a cool hatchet!

This is Rolf´s maker´s mark in copper. He also does them in tin and silver.

More to my liking is this more neo-retro design... forged from an old file.

and a neck knife design...

Thern we met up with JUlia, Nick and Natalie... and had a chat of sorts, but soon split up again to browse the aisles.

...back to Rolf´s and meinhard´s, that is... ;-)

Rolf did a lot of tech talk and tutoring and provided customers not only with the goodies to start knifemaking but also with a lot of info on it. My respect goes to him for that!

All in all, it was some nice day to boot. I got myself a new forging hammer and a lot of inspiration.