Hi Dad. Been a while. I know you were never all that into mechanical stuff, because every time you tried you’d end up swearing. (Which is how I learned to swear, to be honest.) Tools never did it for me, either, and I pretty much suck with them. I try not to do anything with tools while the kids are around so they don’t have to hear me swear like I heard you swear, though I fear the damage has already been done. 

But there’s one ongoing mechanical project I throw myself into. Your grandson Landon got very excited about metalsmithing and forges, and being the kind of dad who believes in helping his kids discover what they love, I got on board with that exploration. He likes to get metal hot and bang on it, so I look online periodically for ways to build our own forge. 

The photo above shows our latest iteration, circa late summer 2016. I’m holding onto the electric air pump that feeds the fire because it’s actually too strong for the copper tube that feeds the charcoal, and blows it'd connections apart. As you can see, our contraption gets iron hot enough to shape. 

Since he’s nine, Landon’s interest is intermittent. We haven’t used our forge since the day of the picture, and I worry that I might have gotten too into it and made it my thing instead of his thing. I’ll keep trying nonetheless, and if he keeps up his interest we’ll build up his toolset until we’ve got a full-on forge going. 

Maybe we’ll even make our own, and this will be my way to reconcile myself to tools and all things mechanical. Maybe that’s why I want to do a forge just as much as Landon does. Maybe he can tell, and that’s why he hasn’t been in a hurry to do it again. Sharp kid, your grandson. Nothing gets past him.

Over and out,
s

P.S.: You’ll notice that Landon’s eyes look a bit wild as he stares at the hot metal. Can you blame him? As the Aries son of an Aries of an Aries son, he’s bound to love fire more than most. I don't know if you remember, but I was that way too at his age. Still am (on good days, at least).