24 Sep 17'
"I had a great day a Fransham Forge 22nd Sept 17.
It had been a long while since I had done any metal working and had been looking for something different to do and spotted this one day course with Nigel. Was not sure what my abilities would be.
Nigel is a very good teacher and made it look so easy, there were 3 other guys there 1 who had been before and 2 who were first timers like me. During the morning we see Nigel guide the 1st guy through more technical work, while teaching use other three the basics of metal working and how to do a basic point then a long tapering point which we then curled round to form the handle, a decorative alternating twist was then added to to the main shaft of the poker. We also made a B&Q scraper the blade on this was beat out using one of the power hammers with Nigel's 1 to 1 guidance. I had asked when I booked and if he thought my skill was up to it on the day, was to make some scroll legs for a out door small coffee table. Which we did do in the afternoon and that was good, Nigel showed all of us how to do a scroll on a former then gave me the other 4 pieces of flat bar and said work your heat along where you need it, then worked with the other guys and keep checking on me make sure I was ok.
That was enjoyable and excellent to be able to produce the four legs nearly the same as Nigel's.
I will be looking to try and go back again to learn more from a very good teacher."