19th Century Curran Village, Orrington & Holden, Maine

We’ll have some wonderful lamb stew, for traditionalists, and beef stew at our upcoming Maple Syrup Event & Irish Celebration. This is grass-fed lamb and beef that was donated by Dan Hughes of Wee Bit Farm. Some might remember Dan in kilt with a joke or two to share and usually accompanied by one of his long haired Highland steer at many of our functions in the past. Dan’s meats and sausages have become very popular in recent years and are available up and down the State of Maine. Thank you Dan, who knows a true Irish stew includes mutton.

Sat., March 17, 10-3, 19^th Century Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond Maple Syrup Event & Irish Celebration

Saturday, March 17, 10am – 3pm, 19^th Century Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond will have a Maple Syrup Event and Irish Celebration, 372 Fields Pond Rd., Orrington, ME 04474. The event offers samplings of fold flavored with maple syrup, including pork & beans, baked goods, and our traditional offering of ginger ice cream drizzled with maple syrup as well as some homemade Irish beef stew. There will be demonstrations of tree tapping and ongoing sugaring off at the museum’s own “sugar shack.” There is an egg hunt for kids with a prize for participation.

A hands-on woodworking activity with a take home coat rack produced by the industrious and interested. Knitting will take place on the porch to observe for those curious about such quickly disappearing pastimes. A performance of Bluegrass by our favorite Freshly Cut Grass will be ongoing in the Curran farmhouse. In the kitchen the wood burning kitchen stove will offer not only food but old time comradery. Blacksmithing will also be underway under tutelage of Dwight King who regularly teaches classes at the museum; make inquiries if you are interested in a future class. A sign-up sheet is available for those requesting information or who want to register for a class.

Out in the pasture will be John Boyce of Lee with his team of Belgian draft horses Amos and Andy. They will be pulling either a bob sleigh or wagon for rides weather depending. Don’t forget to check out several videos underway in the farmhouse dining room, including one on maple sugaring down in Newfield, our second campus where there will be a similar event the following weekend.

The museum can use some volunteers for set up on Friday, March 16, 10-3, if you can make it. They can also use help on the day of the event; they’re looking for a new generation of people to help perpetuate the museum into the future. Give them a call at 207-205-4849. This is their 25^th year as a non-profit educational resource for the community, Maine, and all visitors. Construction is underway at the museum, which will result in many more offerings; come out and learn about their mission and how you might contribute to keeping history alive for a new generation for the challenges of today and the future.

An all-inclusive, special event admission that includes food samplings, a bob sleigh ride, and the program. Children (17 and Under) are free and Adults are $12.  For additional information visit the museum’s website: curranhomestead.org , its Facebook page, or call 207-205-4849 or 207-745-4426.

 

Sat., March 24, 9-3. Make a Crystal Radio Set. This class is open to Ages 11 and above.You will build a working radio using a crystal diode and other components on a wooden base. Ear phones and all materials are included. You will learn to solder wire. You will also be introduced to a razor blade trench radio that was used during WWII by POWs. This is a foundational class for an understanding of communications technology dating back to the 1920s. Tuition: $50 Pay to register. First come, first serve. Limited to 5. Call: (207) 205-4849 or (207) 745-4426 Visit: curranhomestead.org Email: rpschmick1@aol.com

Sat. & Sun., March 24 & 25, 9-4, Knife Making Class at 19th Century Curran Homestead Village at Newfield, formerly Willowbrook Museum, 70 Elm St., Newfield.  Our third class this season. Instructor: Frank Vivier. Make your first knife or a better one. This is both an opportunity for beginners and intermediate level knife makers. Using propane or coal fired forges (your preference), you will cut and shape a blade and tang from spring steel.You will use a combination of hand and power tools. You will oil quench and oven temper your knife. Create hardwood handle scales and brass pins. You will epoxy your handle scales on and set pins into your tang by the end of the class. All materials and tools provided. Cost: $225 Discount to returning students. Pay to register. First come, first serve. Limited to 5. Call: (207) 205-4849 or (207) 745-4426 Visit: curranhomestead.org Email: rpschmick1@aol.com

Sat., March 31, 9AM-3PM. Make a Propane Burning Forge/Furnace at 19^th Century Homestead Village at Newfield, formerly Willowbrook, 70 Elm St., Newfield. This is an inexpensive alternative to a coal fired forge for the budding blacksmith or blade-smith. It is perfect for knife-making because you don’t burn up your project. Also, can be adapted to use for metal casting. You will be provided with a kit of our making that includes a metal tank with legs welded on it. You will create a mold, mix refractory cement, and line your tank and its top with this high temp, commercial grade refractory rated for 2700-3000 degrees Fahrenheit. It will set quickly in our heated workshop. You will attach other elements to the tank, complete the flame wand assembly with a 10 PSI regulator. We will demonstrate the forge at the beginning of the class. Cost: $325 All materials provided. Pay to register. First come, first serve. Limited to 5. Call: (207) 205-4849 or (207) 745-4426 Visit: curranhomestead.org Email: rpschmick1@aol.com

Sat., March 31, 9AM-3PM. Make a Catapult at 19^th Century Homestead Village at Newfield, formerly Willowbrook, 70 Elm St., Newfield. Ages 11 and above. Using a design created by Leonardo Da Vinci you will create this projectile thrower approximately 12” x 12” x 24”. This is of wood construction and wooden peg fasteners and glue will be used for assembly. This is our custom-made kit which might require some occasional drilling with hand tools. A good foundational class in post and beam construction. Cost: $50 Materials provided. Pay to register. First come, first serve. Limited to 5. Call: (207) 205-4849 or (207) 745-4426 Visit: curranhomestead.org Email: rpschmick1@aol.com

Saturday & Sunday, April 14 & 15, 2018, 9AM-3PM (12 hours instruction). Fire Maker Class: Primitive Skills, including a Beginning Blacksmithing Component at Newfield. Ages 14 and Above. Craft the components to a fire making survival kit that includes making a ferro striker (strike-o-light) from a steel file using blacksmithing techniques. you will learn to create a coal fire and heat metal for the purposes of forging your strike-o-light. You will create char cloth, waterproof matches, and mini infernos as well as build fires, gather tinder, and make kindling. You will produce a flint & steel set as well as the ferro rod and scraper. The class will end with cooking a meal over an open-air fire. Cost: $150 All materials and tools provided for making your walkaway kit. Pay to register. First come, first serve. Limited to 5. Call: (207) 205-4849 or (207) 745-4426 Visit: curranhomestead.org Email: rpschmick1@aol.com

 

 

Saturday, March 17, 10AM-3PM, Maple Syrup Event and Irish Celebration at Fields Pond (Orrington)

• Maple Syrup Making Demonstration
• Blacksmithing Demonstration
• Horse Drawn Bob Sleigh or Wagon ( Weather Dependent)
• Maple Syrup Flavored Food and Refreshments
• Childrens’ Egg Hunt

Sat. & Sun., February 24 & 25, 9AM-3PM Letterpress Printing Class. 12 hours total. Under the tutelage of professional letterpress printer Mark Matteau of the Dunstan Press of Scarborough, students will learn to set type in a chase, ink a platen on either a foot treadle or hand letterpress, and feed the press for a production. Working our 1890s replica letterpress printing shop with authentic period equipment will learn some of the foundational skills of mechanical printing in an age of inkjet and laser printing attached by cables to a computer. Students will complete five projects over the course of two days. Opportunities for additional volunteer work in the shop if interested during our regular museum season. Tuition: $125, includes takeaway materials.

Our event and classes scheduled for February 3 & 4 will proceed as planned whether rain, snow or shine.

Curran Homestead Village at NEWFIELD (Formerly Willowbrook Museum): Saturday and Sunday, February 24 & 25, 9AM-4PM. BLACKSMITHING: MAKE A KNIFE. This popular class is back with instructor Frank Vivier. You will heat and forge a billet of spring steel into a blade and handle tang. Grind and hand file your blade to perfection. Heat treat your blade with an oil quench. Prepare brass rivets and hardwood scales for a handle. Temper your blade and apply handle to the tang with epoxy. Final sanding and polish may be your homework unless time permits. You will complete your first hand forged hunting knife. Tools and materials provided. Class limited to 5. Ages 15 and Above. Tuition: $225. Students may retake this class and take on new bladesmithing challenges completing other knife forms under the tutelage of the instructor. Pay to register. First pay, first serve. Contact: Robert Schmick, Museum Director, (207) 205-4849. Email: thecurranhomestead@gmail.com

~ For Immediate Release ~

Monday, January 22, 2018

 

Contact: 

Robert Schmick, PhD, Museum Director

Tel: 205-4849, Email: rpschmick1@aol.com

 

Irv Marsters. President, Board of Directors

Tel: (207) 745-4426, Email: irv@bangorlettershop.com

 

Learning to Create with Red Hot Steel and Iron in the Greater Bangor Area

 

19^th Century Curran Homestead Village’s Six Week Beginning Blacksmith Course Begins Tuesday, March 13

 

19th Century Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond

 

Starting Tuesday, March 13, 6-9PM and limited to ages 15 and above, 19th Century Curran Homestead Village, 372 Field’s Pond Road, Orrington will offer a basic six-week introductory blacksmithing course Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 to 9pm. It is limited to six participants.

In announcing the course, Curran Homestead Village Museum Director, Robert Schmick, said “our exceptional instructor Dwight King of Orrington will once again share his knowledge and hands-on approach to teaching this traditional art. The class has been popular among both men and women throughout the region, and many have sought it out for many reasons, including exposure to another form of artistic expression, a skill for utilitarian applications, or as a complement to welding, among other reasons. This beginner’s course will introduce participants to traditional blacksmithing methods using coal-fired forges, hand tools, and shop equipment. Each participant will come away with new found skills and an amazing variety of products of his/her work that evidence experience with creating utilitarian objects and an attention to artistic details.

“Many students claim they have always had a great appreciation for the hand made and the ability to satisfy their own needs through their own industry. Certainly, the creative output of our last beginning blacksmithing class embodies this. Many have sought learning experiences beyond the six weeks and met for additional projects and contributions to the museum’s programs. We thoroughly invite this; we want people to utilize our facilities. King and several students from our last blacksmithing class will do a weekend together at the museum’s Knife Making Class in Newfield, our York County campus,” said Dr. Schmick.  “Never stop learning, when you rest, you rust!” is instructor King’s mantra, as he continually brings new material to his class syllabus.  The Curran Museum seeks to develop its facilities and a community of students of the craft exploring it in all its applications in follow up intermediate and master classes in the near future; this includes knife and blade smithing at Fields Pond, Orrington in 2018. Contact them, if you are interested.

The class under King’s instruction runs the full gamut of functional, handcrafted items for the beginner with forays into ornamental botanical forms particular to King’s own talents. The course curriculum includes: safety, materials and tools of the trade, fire starting and maintenance, heating the work, hammer blows and hammer control, measuring and marking, tapering to a square point, drawing out metal, forging square to octagonal and round, bending, twisting, forging a basic S-hook, a drive hook, screw-in/nail-in hooks, making a chisel, a punch, a drift, punching holes, flattening and spreading, forging a spoon, simple leaves, nails, rivets, tool handles, door handles, scrolls, preparing for welding, forge welding a ring, butt hinge and riveting as well as working on personal projects.

No experience needed. Practice studio offered each Saturday. Leather shoes, cotton or wool clothing (no man-made fiber), bring a pair of work gloves. Safety glasses and a 2lb cross pein hammer required.Tuition is $395, which includes materials and a copy of Lorelei Sims’ The Backyard Blacksmith, a great reference resource. A 2lb. plus straight/cross pein hammer is required.  Pay to register. First come, first serve by cash, check payable to “The Curran Homestead”, or credit card (MasterCard or Visa only). Contact us at 745-4426 or 205-4849, or by Email: thecurranhomestead@gmail.com.Curran Homestead Village is a 501c(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to hands-on, experiential learning. It uses the lessons of the past for the challenges of today and the future especially our school’s science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics learning objectives.

 

Sincerely,
Robert Schmick, PhD

Museum Director
Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond & Newfield
372 Fields Pond Rd.
P.O. Box 107
Orrington, Maine 04474
(207) 205-4849
Email: thecurranhomestead@gmail.com
Website: curranhomestead.org
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Think about this as a present for a loved one for the holiday. We can give you a gift certificate or register you for this January 23 class in time to present that as a present! Starting Tuesday, January 23, 6-9PM, Six Weeks of Beginning Blacksmithing Classes, Tuesdays and Thursday Evenings, at 19th Century Curran Homestead Village, 372 Fields Pond Rd., Orrington, ME 04474. The class covers all the basics of coal fired forging including safety first, tools and materials, heating, bending, piercing, and forming steel objects. Students will start off with a small project and build on their knowledge with a variety of tools that they will subsequently use in the class and after, hooks, a nail, spoon, and more… Students will be introduced to forge welding. Time permitting, students may forge a knife blade, if desired. This class also includes Saturday morning studio by arrangement; you can practice and get more forge time in. Cost: $395, tools and materials provided. Students required to supply their own 2lb. hammer. Registration is required and is first come, first serve by cash, check payable to “The Curran Homestead” or credit card (MasterCard & Visa only). Call: Robert Schmick, Museum Director at (207) 205-4849, email: rpschmick1@aol.com, or  Irv Marsters, 745-4426, email: irv@bangorlettershop.com