Halloween party at the Bethaus smithy-how to carve a pumpkin

 Now as I find, there are better ways to spend Samhain than working, but worser ones, too.

 Visiting silly Halloween parties might qualify:-), but those little edged tools with the fancy damascus blades want to be financed;-). So, it was pumpkin carving, and no harm done at all:-). Were not so many ones, just 15 pieces;-). And, since this is funny and a good practice for woodworking, I thought I´d tell you how I do this. There might be other ways to carve a pumpkin, but this is mine, and works for me.

 Start by carving out the lid. pierce the pumkin at an angle for the lid to fit later on.

 Remove the seeds and the other stuff from the lid. By the way, I LOVE that Mora (when knives are concerned, that is, on other occasions I love someone else;-D, you know who you are!:-)). Knife´s a Mora laminate blade, 80 mm long, nice, handy and thin and cuts like a razor.

 Brought out the Fimbulmyrk carver:-) and hollowed out the fruit. The less meat is left in, the longer the pumpkin will keep. You can hollow it out until there´s just 5 mm left. Then salt the innards liberally. When it has dried a bit, fill with fine sand and let dry thoroughly. This way you can even make a container for food!

 I started to carve immediately, but no harm done. Sart with the corner of the eye, cut the topmost part, carve the lower part of the eye and connect those two parts.

 Second eye done the same way. If you want to be very precise, you can mark the height with a ball pen or even some Gaffa!

 From the middle axis between the eyes you can carve two almond-shaped nose slits. I like to carve two nose slits, looks all the more "frightening", boooooo:-). Reminds me of Iron Maiden´s mascot, "Eddie"...somewhat, that is...;-)

 Start the mouth by piercing at an angle. I always start from the middle line axis, then carve to both sides. Then I carve the lower teeth the same way.

 Finished project.

 This is Sylvia contemplating: "To serve that lunatic a coffee or not to serve that lunatic one more coffee, for he´s off his rocker enough already;-)". Kidding aside, Sylvia is the waitress of our licce commune and certainly works like an animal. Respect for the job she does!

 The kids havin´fun with knives. We had to use but one plaster. So much for teaching kids how to carve is irresponsible (heard that argument some years ago when I worked for a school). NOT teaching kids how to carve is irresponsible if you ask me. They all had fun, did something sensible with their spare time apart from blackmailing or bullying or drinking alcohol until flat-line beeping out their minds. Even the little ones did extremely well, did not hurt themselves nor anyone else.

 Of course, there were parents helping some, and I stood on guard whenever a kid needed my assistance. It was a bit stressy, of course, but well worth the effort.

 This is one of our blacksmithing groupies. She always drops by when there´s something going on at the smithy. She knows how to forge, how to carve, how to start a fire, how to do potato printing, carving stone and much more. Where´s the morale:-)?

 ....

 ....

 When there were no pumpkins left anymore, I went downstairs to help Volker out a bit, forging and filing with the kids.

 ...and getting a fire started for a light in the darkness..

 Volker forging a luck charm horseshoe...

Then it was a torch procession and a fairy tale lecture, and they were off into the dark of the Muttental, where there was Gellda-Maros (Goldemar) waiting for them....:-) Who is Gellda-Maros?

This, my dear friends, is another story and shall be told on another reading...;-)

Anyway, it was a good day, and helped me avoid the Halloween mania.

Busy weekend...Kornmarkt in Witten

 Last weekend was somewhat busy for me. On Friday I went to the smithy to prepare some tools for the weekend and do some knifework. Top to bottom:

Celtac design, ball bearing steel, rather thin at 3 mm x 115mm length

EDC En-Nep, 3 mm x 85 mm, laminate wrought iron / tank bearing steel

Integral En-Nep, spring steel

Two "Birka" pumpkin carving and  kitchen knives made from spring steel in autumn:-). Great for stuffing zucchini and cucumbers and the like, too, and work like a cinch on pumpkins.

And another friction folder blade. Spring steel, and yap, I shortened the tang;-). And cleaned up the surface, too, for it was bit of... erm ... scrawny?;-)

On Saturday Volker and myself set up the forge in Witten city, and it was mayhem from the beginning on. My task was pumpkin carving AND smithing AND filing AND cleaning up the works of the kids, all at once. 10 hours full tilt, no food, no drink except for a brief excursion to the toilet and a bite or too around lunchtime. At around 5 pm I had severe cramps and bonked hard.

 The pumpkin carver up close. I worked some 300 pumpkins with it and do not have to sharpen it, seems I got the tempering right:;-).

 Was a nice and friendly atmosphere on both days, with a crowd of reenactors, craftsmen, French grocers and good-natured visitors. It was one ofr the hardest weekends I have ever done, but it was simply a joy and it felt good except for some oversize uillean pipes next to my ear on Saturday for hours on end (KAMPFTRÖTEN!!!!!;-))

 Enter the witch...:-)

 Those guys really rocked the house. With a drum, a lute and some singing. No microphone. No lightshow, just two musicians. Great job, bros!:-)

 This is Susanne, the traditional onion witch...

 A carousel which the kids really enjoyed. Powered by a brute pushing:-).

 The woodturner´s booth. My favourite place.

 Shavehorse...

 ...

This is Johannes from www.alte-drechselkunst.de. He offered courses for kids and adults alike and is another friendly guy I had the privilege to meet.

 The location in Witten city near the Jhannis church.

 Kids really had fun with the pumpkins, and I had enough work to do not to get bored:-).The kids just carved the pumpkin, I hollowed it out on Saturday. On Sunday people had to buy the pumpkin and I did all the carving. Mind you, I can carve a pumpkin now:-). Kidding aside, it was a great practice, and taught me a lot!

 I also explained a lot what the real meaning of Samhain was, and why people carve pumpkins to put outside their doors. Many people were there and I daresay some of them will want to know more about the feasts of the year and the traditions linked to them, either Pagan and Christian ones. I sincerely hope they use that grey matter inside of their heads for something more than and aside from shitting, eating, and hating.

 This little guy always came back for more and really enjoyed carving. He will visit the Bethaus soon, we´ll make a knife and a handle. Plus, I talked his Da´into buying him a Mora;-). That´s fun...:-)

 On Saturday night and Sunday morning I had some time to spare and made this folder assembly. Turned out a bit different, but  okay still. I´ll keep the progress shots coming!

 Made the tang sort of leaf-handled.:-)

 Whoooooooooooooo-TRICK OR TREAT!!!;-)

 Quizzical question: Where´s the pumpkin;-)?

 Booo!

 There also was some theatre play going on...

And that was some great, great music aside from oversized uillean pipes. Wibke played some really nice Scottish and Irish folk and own songs on her first solo tournée. You can contact her via www.celticnight.de.

Made working next to the stage a real cinch. Thanks for those really nice and gentle songs!

I came home on Sunday night a wreck, but I was deeply contented by the thought of having done a great job with great people and getting to know interesting people who love what they do, too. I bonked hard at the end of both days, but it gave me more energy than it all cost me. It was simply a great experience being there, having fun with the kids. Volker is simply a great guy to work with, too. And I am right grateful for the course my life is taking these days.