I first met Dr. Iron on the river. He was always a joy to be around.
He would shuttle record numbers of boats to the put-in on his
flatbed truck with the coolest forged headache rack. Doug and
Bonnie graciously hosted some mid winter float trips and shared
their home with river rats. I remember touring the forge and their
place and thinking, “What a great lifestyle maybe someday I
can make that work for me.”
Then I met Jim Butler, who has an interest in blacksmithing,
and we went to a meeting of BAM at Tom Clark’s school in
Potosi. Always looking to encourage creativity and an interest
in blacksmithing, Dr. Iron patiently helped me to forge a link
for the chain project and a beautiful “S” hook. Of course, he
made it seem easy.
Doug and Bonnie stopped by our place in Buena Vista, Colorado
on their BMW on the way to the Rocky Mountain Smiths
conference in Carbondale. Dr. Iron was a presenter there a
ew years ago and even invited us to attend his presentation.
What an honor. He introduced us to a bunch of folks and let
us know the Rocky Mountain Smiths existed making our
transition to Colorado just that much easier.
So I guess this is a way of saying tell your friends you respect
them, they inspire you and in the words of fellow banjo picker,
John Hartford, “you’re proud to be part of their history.”
