Back to the grind

Well, I did my interview last Monday. My former supervisor basically gave me every possible indication that the next time I heard from her would be to tell me that they found someone else... she stopped just short of saying "well, I had to bring you in here as part of our internal rules."

I just about had a heart attack on Friday. She called to offer me my old job back (basically- it's a different work list, but it's the same work). So I go back to work tomorrow, torn. On the one hand the economy hasn't improved dramatically in the last week and a steady paycheck will be welcomed. Indeed, the wife just received an email at her law firm that they're cutting back on extras and will be laying off in the next 60 days. We doubt that her position is in jeopardy and if it is, she's been there for 14 years and has worked in three departments, we're sure she'll continue to have a job. But it's disconcerting.
On the other hand, the work wasn't exactly fulfilling- in any definition of the word.

In the meantime, I've completed a custom fireplace grate for a guy. He said he wanted the wood to be able to fall into the middle. I tried to tell him that it wasn't the best idea, but who am I to argue? So there's one of the whole thing and another of one of the front corners. I tried to forge square corners but it's not a technique that I've ever been very good at (haven't had a lot of need for it). I may get into some art deco pieces in my free time (Bioshock has sort of inspired me) so square corners will become the norm.

I'm hoping to have some production knives posted within the week, too. I do need to take the time to actually do my homework. I can't goof off at all.

Tongs!!

This super awesome tongs video was posted to Don Fogg's bladesmith forums last week. It does a really good job of showing all the steps and none of the processes are particularly difficult. When I made my first pair we were shown how to make "Poz" tongs. To make each jaw we slit the mouths of the jaws to take the bar stock we were using and used a piece of the stock to make the jaws fit. I think I much prefer to twist and use the square stock to make the impression. We also punched the hole for the rivet. I think I prefer that because it will leave most of the material that's there to start with. Plus the bulge from punching looks good :)

Full time.... so close, so far

Last week the wife and I were driving around and I was lamenting my inability to find employment to my liking. Surprise. What did surprise me was when she told me that she'd be completely supportive of my metal work as long as I worked at it full time. Awesome.
So the weekend came and went and on Monday I spent about 6.5 hours in the shop working on a commission piece. Then a conversation I'd been working on came back to me. My former supervisor emailed me and told me what I would need to do in order to reapply for my previous job. Well, it appears that full time smithing is going back on hold. I suppose I'm not completely disappointed. The economy is basically in the dumpster and I'd say 90% of smithing work is easily considered "luxury." Even Geoff at 5 Elements Forge has been blanked at a couple of shows lately (ok, he said he'd had a bad show in October but I don't imagine he's done a lot more shows since then)... anyway his account was that guys who normally do several thousand dollars in sales barely walked away with their vendor fees.

So we'll see what happens. I don't have the job yet and I still need to actually do the application. My motherin-law passed away Tuesday night and we're in OK to take care of the funeral services. If the office is open on Monday (MLK Jr Day) I'm going in to take care of that.