SEPT. 10 ISSUE ANSWERS: This photo is of Clyde Craig’s forge. It has been slightly improved with metal top and steel legs, but it is the same forge that Clyde used for many years. The table has a cast iron fire pot to hold the fire. There is a hole in the bottom of the pot for air to blow through to make the fire hotter. Clyde did not use old traditional bellows that had to be pumped by hand. In 1920 when he arrived in Romeo, electricity was readily available. Clyde installed a 1908 electric Buffalo Blower under the fire pot. It is 117 years old and still works fine. It is shaped and looks like the typical house hold pistol grip hair dryer. It is large, made of steel and uses a squirrel cage fan motor. The open terminal rheostat is on the wall with open terminals; so possibly the smith could electrocute himself. This rheostat has been replaced to protect our volunteer smiths. When the blower fans the coal, that the museum burns during demonstrations, the fire can get extremely hot. I have melted an old lawn mower blade at 2800 degrees Fahrenheit. When I have “too many irons in the fire,” I have seen my project dissolve in a white hot sparking fire. Good-bye project. It’s time to start over, this time to paying better attention to the work. Steel is really an alloy made of iron and carbon. As other materials are added in steel’s production, the characteristics of the metal change. Many steels will bend when the temperature reaches 900-1050 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature the steel would be visibly red. Thus the saying, “strike while the iron’s hot.” When the metal is heated, the molecules become extremely active and the smith can easily bend, upset, or lengthen the steel. Different temperatures do