Hello all!
I have been lurking a bit now, and have even ventured a post. Figured I
would bgo ahead and get this bio thingy over with.
I should mention right off the block that I am not a Galoot. At least
not a very good one. I may in fact be a neanderthal, but that is still
under consideration. I have already made several grievous errors in regards
to posting my bio and such, bear with me, I am Y1k compatible.
I came into this world when Elvis was already fat. The full
implications of this have still not made themselves apparent to me. My
father was a machinist/fabricator who took up artist blacksmithing as a
hobby. My folks split when I was young, and my mother remarried a
carpenter. The resulting battle between the two older males in my life
turned out to be good for me. Each one tried desperately to teach and
interest me in their respective craft as a way to show they were the better
man. Although I can't say I took full advantage of this situation at the
time, I have always always enjoyed building things and have done so for as
long as I can remember. Through the end of high school and through my
college years I worked and studied with various folks around the country.
(The bulk of my training has been through apprenticeship)After those five
years of travel(While in college) I moved back home to upstate New York and
started a homestead and blacksmith shop. The very next year I landed an
apprenticeship with a master smith at an historic site. The plan was to go
for 1 or two years and return to the homestead. This is my fifth year and I
have no plans to leave until forced. This past winter was spent in Europe,
travelling to different shops and looking at the vast stores of artifacts
which rest in museums over seas. Last year the master handed the keys to the
place over to me and went into semi-retirement. I can only hope to carry a
fraction of what he has accomplished forward, and to keep him around for as
long as possible. That brings me to the present, a 27 yrs. old professional
blacksmith, amateur woodworker.(You won dad!)
If you are interested in seeing some of my work, there are a few things at:
http://groups.msn.com/StacyandMichael
This is a free site and serves mainly as a cache for pics until I get my
site up. As such I apologize for its slovenlyness. I have enjoyed the
humor and information very much in the time I have been lurking and hope I
can give something as well. As I do not work in the computer industry, and
less than .05% of my tooling is comprised of doubles, I feel I may not make
the best Galoot. As someone who has a background, and interest in historic
tooling and methods, I can hopefully be of service. Will this esteemed
group allow a lowly mechanic in their midst? (If it's a problem I can bring
my own midst.)
Michael McCarthy
Blacksmith
The Farmer's Museum
_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE*
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
|