Self Reliance for the Teenage Soul

Boys these days love their electronic devices. So much so that it can be hard to get them interested in anything else. Especially when they have a parent who spends a lot of time on the computer writing blog posts....

To counter this movement my father-in-law thought he would try and interest my son in the amazing art of being a blacksmith. They designed and up cycled an old charcoal grill into a forge. Don't ask me how, I don't know. But they did. They were having so much fun pounding and changing the shape of all things metal that they came up with an idea. I thought it was all innocent and in the name of good fun until my father-in-law got a bright idea. Re-bar! Re-bar is strong, easy to work with, and keeps it's shape when reheated. Fine, I said. Sounds like fun, I said. And then my son brings this home.

They actually figured out how to make a knife out of a piece of re-bar! What in the world were they thinking! Well, I might question the safety of the project but I have to say...

That is one more amazing skill learned on the way to becoming more self reliant.