Mastercrafts: Who saw last night's programme?

[Benchwayze]

If you didn't see last night's instalment, you missed a cracking show.

I always have had high regard for Blacksmiths, but this episode made me realise why. It's absorbing and entertaining stuff, and though I am not a huge fan of Monty Don, (he's a little too intense for my taste.) I congratulate him and the programme makers on this series.

Now I am definitely going to get iron hardware specially made for a cabinet I have in mind. I am also looking forward to the one on stained glass. This is something I want to do for myself, when I come to glazing for said cabinet.

If you missed the programme, then get onto Iplayer! The show is a delight.

John

 

[Steve Maskery]

Just watched it. Excellent. I wish I could feel so good about my work!
S

 

[Smudger]

Just watched it on iPlayer - fantastic stuff, inspirational again. I would have bitten his hand off to get that opportunity!
All the gates were good, but the winner, Hugh's was superb, you could see his sculptural background.
Looking forward to stained glass next week.

 

[Benchwayze]

Just watched it. Excellent. I wish I could feel so good about my work!
S

Having seen some of your work Steve, I reckon you can feel good about it. And the DVD's too. Wish I had the nerve to do one!

Mind you there's tax to worry about then! And even worse, Anne Robinson might see it and have a go at my Brummie accent. On the forum, I can't repeat my 'pet' name for her!



John

 

[Richard T]

The tutor chap was dead right about getting it then losing it again - I've made hundreds of nails like that and I'm still prone to **** it up.
They did no drawing, upsetting, punching or drifting which are the real drudges of blacksmithing (they'd need proper hammers for that.) It has been traditional for an aprentice to make a pair of tongs as a first project as all the above processes are involved but I 'spose they didn't have time for that. On the whole it was a very good prog' though.
On occasion we actually got a notion of what they were doing rather than the usual crying about this 'an that and how they are feeling about where their lifes journey is taking them etc.

 

[chipchaser]

I think all these programmes have been wonderful and inspirational after filtering out the competitive element imposed by the producers. To me the blacksmithing was the easiest to understand and appreciate although the waters of strict competence and learning of craft skills were muddied by giving the “apprentices” a free hand in design in the final project and apparently judging the competition on that.

I thought Dominick was by far the most competent and Jill produced the best design which, given the handicap of not being so strong etc, she made very well. These are only my opinions and I would love to know how others assessed them.

It would be good to see the gates in detail to see how well each was made ignoring the aesthetic side of the design and looking only at fitness for purpose and craft skill.

Thanks Richard for adding a realistic perspective on what a real apprentice needs to learn before he can do the job right every day.

Graham

 

[StevieB]

Yup, I watched and enjoyed the show. Have to say though, I wouldn't want any of the gates on the front of my house, especially the winners 'fantasy' type thing. I would have liked to see an example of the tutors skill as well - we only really got to see the three apprentices. Without a professional smiths work to compare them too it was a bit up in the air as to how good they really were.

Also looking forward to the stained glass one, wish there was one on cabinetmaking as well!

Steve

 

[Smudger]

Their work was judged by the chief judge at national woodworking competitions, that's good enough for me.
Why would you want a dissection of the tutor's work before you appreciated the apprentices'?

 

[studders]

Deleted

 

[wizer]

I did enjoy the show and concur that it inspires thoughts of chucking it all to the wind and doing something that you love. But the show's format has alread become tiresome. I wish they would drop the competitive angle and get on with showing the real progress of each person.

I read on Guy Mallison's blog that he was disappointed with the final edit of the bushcraft programme as the three entrants all made hand carved bowl which he was most proud of. The footage got left on the edit room floor.

Working in this industry, my eyes are even more open to the 'tricks of the trade'. This programme would have been much better put on BBC4 where more time could have given to it and less dumbing down.

Tho, Guy did well out of it. He's fully booked this year and adding new course dates!

 

[Smudger]

Why would you want a dissection of the tutor's work before you appreciated the apprentices'?

(Lights Touchpaper)

Them that Can etc.........


(Retreats a safe distance)

Oh please...

(Ooh - never heard that one before - how clever...)

 

[Smudger]

I did enjoy the show and concur that it inspires thoughts of chucking it all to the wind and doing something that you love. But the show's format has alread become tiresome. I wish they would drop the competitive angle and get on with showing the real progress of each person.

I read on Guy Mallison's blog that he was disappointed with the final edit of the bushcraft programme as the three entrants all made hand carved bowl which he was most proud of. The footage got left on the edit room floor.

Working in this industry, my eyes are even more open to the 'tricks of the trade'. This programme would have been much better put on BBC4 where more time could have given to it and less dumbing down.

Tho, Guy did well out of it. He's fully booked this year and adding new course dates!

That's the problem, isn't it? Everything has to be competition, jeapordy and 'extreme'. Which given the popularity (relative) of 'How It's Made and the many clones shows that not everyone has the attention span of a gnat.
There's a US programme on Discovery - 'Extreme Trains'. It has some long, slow trains, some heavy, slow trains and some luxurious slow trains. It has interesting content - but the presenter spends his time screaming and cavorting and hyping everything until it just gets tedious. When he was taken to task over this on Discovery forums he said the producers made him do it, to make the programme more exciting for the general audience. I thought the film of the Horseshoe Curve was pretty A-1 without a commentary, and the Ringling Brothers train was amazing, without wheel-change drama will-they-get-it-done-in-time. It's a sad fashion.

 

[studders]

Oh please...

(Ooh - never heard that one before - how clever...)

Fair enough Smudger, if that's how you want it then fine. :roll: :roll: :roll:

Please congratulate your surgeon for me.

 

[chipchaser]

Wizer’s post probably explains where the missing measure of how much the apprentices really learnt went, on to the cutting room floor!

I don’t want to pull the tutor’s work apart but rather to see something of a good standard as a bench mark for comparison. That is how I read Steve’s post too. I would like to have seen those bowls and hear Guy Mallinson discuss their merits as well as the details of how the smith’s work was marked.

It is sad that documentaries are often stretched to an hour when the point could have been got across more interestingly in 20 minutes but a programme that deserves time to explore the subject fully is edited down to an hour. Perhaps the show could be repeated on BBC4 with edited bits reinstated. As if!

Graham

 

[Steve Maskery]

I watched the Thatching prog today.
Part of me wants to just jack in everything, sign off this bloody divorce as a 100% loss and get thinner by the minute working on a roof in rural back-of-beyond.

Why is it that everything worthwhile is not valued (12K for 4 years? Mind you, that is a gazillion percent more than I earn at the mo!) whereas someone else can wreck the country's economy and be pensioned off younger than I am with millions. It really doesn't make sense.
S

 

[Smudger]

Oh please...

(Ooh - never heard that one before - how clever...)

Fair enough Smudger, if that's how you want it then fine. :roll: :roll: :roll:

Please congratulate your surgeon for me.

I'm just sick of seeing that arsy quote used whenever anyone thinks they can slag off any form of teacher or instructor. OK? It isn't clever, and it isn't funny.

And in this case, yes it has been removed.

 

[studders]

So sick that you immediately jump to the wrong conclusion without consideration of any other intent?
Maybe you should try thinking in future, before getting on your high horse, that the message just might have a different meaning than the one you so quickly assumed , hence the (Lights Touchpaper) comment.

 

[Smudger]

O Rly?
Again...

Perhaps you should think about what you post, instead of assuming that everybody shares your sense of humour.

 

[StevieB]

Why would you want a dissection of the tutor's work before you appreciated the apprentices'?

Because I have no idea about blacksmithing or how hard it is. Without having the standard of a professional to compare to I have no idea how good the apprentices work is. I can only compare the relative pieces by the three apprentices to each other. They could have been almost there or could have been a mile off - I was curious to know which.

Marking by the professional blacksmith means nothing - he gave scores of around 55-60 iirc. Whats the usual score? Is that good? Would a pro get scores of 95-100, or 60-65? Not partciulalry bothered by the competitive element between the apprentices, but knowing how far they had come and how far they had to go would have been interesting, at least to me.

Steve.

 

[frugal]

If you watch it on iPlayer be aware that if you search for Mastercrafts in iPlayer you will only get the most recent episode. However if you google for BBC Mastercrafts you get the program web page which links to all of the episodes.