Jack Sampson – Internship with DAR Design

As the course of the degree progresses, the time for an internship was on the horizon, and in came the opportunity to work with one of my blacksmithing idols, Andy Rowe. The task at hand was to start producing a security screen and window panel for a cabin in Bangor. The design of the cabin meant that the screen needed to be light and airy, but also provide enough security so that no anti-social behavior could take place in the cabin itself.

With the cabin being made from glass reinforced plastic (fiberglass), Andy wanted to concentrate the design towards the effect that GRP brings, creating the triangular, random effect within the screen. To produce the effect, the task that I was asked to contribute towards the project was to cold forge around 150 double end tapers. The reason to produce these tapers cold was so that it created a work hardness within the material so it has the strength to provide security.

One thing that I was able to take from producing all these double tapers was that when creating something that looks amazing and to do a job, the hard work of grinding and aligning the piece needs to be done before you start to see progress. In addition to this, another thing I also took from this experience was that to create randomness can be very hard. Because in the teaching of design we are asked to make sure that everything is square, equal and parallel, and when trying to stray away from these factors, it can prove very hard to not make anything look like they are parallel to another piece.

I took from the experience the knowledge needed to produce a gate. This is because we talked about bracing and structural forms and that when producing gate designs and structures, doubling up thicknesses of material to provide stability and structure to an object. I also learnt that it gets really, really, really cold in the countryside of wales, and when it comes to sleeping and you have to sleep in a sleeping bag and a double duvet it proves that its cold.

Overall, a fantastic week of learning was had and I came away with knowledge received from a blacksmith with some of the highest accolades to have been awarded to a maker in my profession, and to have spent a week with him and for him to use my work was what I deemed to be an achievement within itself as it meant my work and work ethic was of a high considered to be of a high standard.