Sam managed to negotiate a few days of shop time for me in Peat Oberon's shop in North Yorkshire. When we got there on Saturday, Peat was putting on one of his beginner workshops for 8 students in his brand new teaching facility next to his shop.
Being a former school teacher, Peat seemed to be in his element teaching the his students how to make a scroll sign bracket and rams head fire poker in their first few days of forging. With the help of his right hand man, Lee, Peat managed to build the confidence of the group by walking them through as many complex forging exercises as some people learn in a year. At the end of the weekend, everyone went home with their own hand forged projects and a new respect for an ancient craft.
Not wanting to intrude on the class, Sam and I spent Sunday in New Castle and came back to the shop on Monday.
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| Peat's 8-fire bottom blast forge table for students. Inspired by a Scandinavian design, Peat had seem in his travels. |
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| Peat's Silver Metal from The Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths. You can't get one of these out of the corn flakes box! |
It seems to me that there are some people in this world that are natural mentors. These people take as much or more pride in the achievements of those they teach as in their own accomplishments. These are the people that hold nothing back when you ask them about their craft; the craft they have spent a lifetime mastering. These people are willing to give away their precious knowledge and want nothing in return but a thoughtful e-mail or a phone call from time to time. I have met several people like this in my life. Although I do not know him very well, I think Peat Oberon is one of these people.
At the time of my visit, Peat was learning Polish with some instructional CDs in his car. He was doing this so that he knew the local language when he attended a two-week blacksmith conference in Poland this spring. He is on short list of blacksmiths that have been invited based on their international reputation. This is seventh time Peat has learned a new language for this purpose. Wow.
After Poland it's off to Stia, Italy to judge the world forging championship for the second time in a row and then back to England to work on commissions and teach more courses. Not a bad schedule for 2011.
These are the types of things you do when you are a master blacksmith.
But for Mr. Oberon it seems you also nurture the next generation so that the craft lives on. Peat proved this by constantly giving tips and advice throughout my stay at his shop. He even went so far as to take Sam, Tom, and I on a research trip to see Sir William Turner's Almshouses; a 330 year old accommodation for the elderly and orphans filled with beautiful ironwork.
The almshouses are situated around a central chapel that contains beautiful stained glass and ornate ironwork with gold leaf accents. Many elderly North Yorkshire residents still call this place home.
I learned a lot from Peat over the few days I spent in his shop. I can only hope that if I am lucky enough to get to his level some day, I will remember to pass on the knowledge to tomorrow's blacksmiths.
Please check out Peat Oberon's website for more information about Peat and his school.
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