Intrigued by repousse and chasing? Bowl sinking, maybe? Thinking about the possibilities of fly presses? Some aspects of our craft seem to involve lots of new and esoteric tooling. How do you decide what avenues you want to pursue? What tools will you want to make or buy? Will you even like doing it? To help answer these questions, we'll be having a Tooling Try-It-Out area just outside our workshop building. We'll have an experienced practitioner of some banging-on-metal discipline available with a pile of appropriate tools. You'll be able to spend some time playing with the tools and metal under their helpful eye, and ask the questions you've always had. Sessions for various disciplines will be scheduled for Friday and Saturday (April 25th and 26th). Watch the website for the schedule!

Whether you'd like to add a little to detail to your...er...armor, add sculptural panels to a fireplace screen, or just get through your Basic II nameplate requirement, you're talking about repousse. How do you get flat metal to do cool 3-D stuff? What tools do you need, and how do you do them? What's the difference between working on plywood and using a stake? How do you use pitch (and why)? What should the top tools look like, and how do they work? Heather will have a variety of backing materials, top tools, hammers, and some copper to try 'em out on. Is this your future, or just a new way to get tendonitis?

If you've ever wanted to make a wok, ladle, or bowl, here's your chance to see what tools are needed. If you've ever done a bit of this, you probably want to try some other tooling to see what will help you do it better! Sinking and raising hollow forms is a whole different way of thinking about moving metal. Jay will have a variety of rings, stakes, hammers and mallets, and a bit of copper to try them out on. Are you a sinker or a raiser?

The fly press is a great 'power hammer' option for the small (or traditional or cheaper...) forge. A small one can perch on a corner of the workbench, ready to be your striker whenever the need arises. It's quiet when in use, so your neighbors won't have any complaints, either. With the right tooling, it can make lots of now tedious tasks quick and fun, too. Jim will have our shop fly press out with some nifty tooling he's made, and a pile of steel for you to try it out on.