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Prepared by David Macauley
The New Jersey Blacksmith Association our annual demonstration and hammer in at Historic Cold Spring Village (HCSV) in Cape May New Jersey on June 19th and 20th , 2004. The event coincided with HCSV’s Men and Machines event. HCSV is a 19th century restored village – actually a collection of restored buildings from the area that were brought to a common site. There is a blacksmith shop in the village, which is run by one of our NJBA members, Jerry Goldman. Jerry continued his exceptional hospitality again this year. David was particularly grateful for his demonstration on using a rivet set.
Tim Suter and David Macauley
In past we have had to contend with some terrible weather and black swarms of mosquitoes. Other than a very hot and muggy night on Friday, the weather was absolutely perfect – 70s and low humidity. Heck we didn’t have an excuse to make so much smoke – well we did anyway. Attending on Saturday where: David Macauley and his family, Bill Futer, Mitch Swirsky and his wife , Mike Erdie and his family, Jerry Goldman and Tim Sutter. David worked for two days to complete a deadbolt –ARGGG! Mitch was practicing making some leaves with help from Bill. Mike was finishing up some work he had started earlier (Hopefully I can find out what he was actually making). Tim did an excellent job interpreting our demonstrations to the public.
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Tim brought is project book which included some beautiful work. We really need to have him give a demonstration to the club some day.
We didn’t have much of a crowd on either days – many folks probably spent most of the time at the beach. It sure was nice to swim in the ocean after the event. Unfortunately, the Grange restaurant was not open this year, so the NJBA consoled ourselves with hot dogs and hamburgers from the snack bar.
David Macauley at the forge
Big thanks to Tim Sutter for bringing his equipment to the site even through we decided that we would make do with NJBA equipment. David was pretty concerned about not being able to get my truck fitted with a brake controller, so when Tim called on Monday night we asked him to bring his equipment as a backup. Everything was finally installed and working on Friday afternoon. The ride down with the trailer was great. The electric brakes worked perfectly. Although David’ truck complained about accelerating, slowing down felt as if the trailer was not there.
NJBA members should really consider making a small holiday at the beach during this event in the future. This year David and his family stayed ocean side in Wildwood Crest – about 15 minutes HCSV. We had a wonderful time. The long flat beaches and mild surf are perfect for children. The boardwalk is a great place to stroll in the evening after a hard day of blacksmithing.
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