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[Sdcnut]

I went to the festival of wonder and they only had one blacksmith and he was only demonstrating A few times a day. He said the other smith was gone. Anybody know whats going on?  Are they short handed or is this the new reality I have to live in?

[sanddunerider]

Hmm?  not sure about that question.. I did check the list of Craftsmen on the website,  and Blacksmith wasnt even on the list......  Hmm???

[sirwillow]

I went to the festival of wonder and they only had one blacksmith and he was only demonstrating A few times a day. He said the other smith was gone. Anybody know whats going on?  Are they short handed or is this the new reality I have to live in?

Yes, they are short handed right now.  I've been told that they are looking to hire at least one more blacksmith.  Because they're short they have the demonstrations scheduled.  But I also wouldn't be terribly surprised to see that become the new norm as well.  Rather than 3 smiths on the payroll, if they go with schedules they can get away with only 2 and use it as a way to save money.  Or they may do that because finding a good blacksmith may also be very difficult today.  I hope that's not the route they go with, but I wouldn't be surprised.

[shavethewhales]

As with other craftsmen positions around the park, there have been retirements/deaths and finding replacements is not easy. There are less authentic craftsmen around now, and the few that exist aren't usually willing to work a theme park gig.

[Sdcnut]

I may just have to retire early and go up there and help them out. The kids will just have to eat less

[Gilligan]

Hubs were asking about a blacksmith that was hired last summer and was told he recently quit.  He was a really nice guy that invited the hubs to his personal forge to do a few things he didn't have tools to do himself. In the blacksmith "circle of life  ), the word is that they have a hard time keeping blacksmiths for a couple of reasons.  One being, the PTB are more interested in them making the cast aluminum signs and meeting a quota on them rather than actual smithing. Another reason is that they are told to crank out the small items that sell quickly rather than actual "artful" items.  Lastly, they are bounced back and forth between the forge and the knife shop and they find it hard to keep up their quota on the cast aluminum and small things and that's frowned upon. Sounds to me like they have a hard row to hoe.

[tinmann620]

the one you were talking about, Andrew, is one of the newest train engineers, and he still does stuff on the side at his home

[Sdcnut]

I remember him. He was great. Wayne was too, and so was Brad Johnson. I miss watching wayne make usefull things like knives. I have no intrest in watching how to make decorations.

[sirwillow]

I remember him. He was great. Wayne was too, and so was Brad Johnson. I miss watching wayne make usefull things like knives. I have no intrest in watching how to make decorations.

Wayne I'm sure would still be out there if he could.  Unfortunately his health made that decision for him.  :-(

[KBCraig]

In the blacksmith "circle of life  ), the word is that they have a hard time keeping blacksmiths for a couple of reasons.  One being, the PTB are more interested in them making the cast aluminum signs and meeting a quota on them rather than actual smithing.

I go back to the Shad Heller days, and the cast aluminum trinkets instead of actual blacksmithing was the sales model even then. Of course, it was not appropriate for the theme, then nor now.

There is a huge interest in bladesmithing now, and a great market for actual artisan blacksmithing. There are smiths available, but only if the park will let them make and sell their wares.