Kilt gives blacksmith memorable edge

[furrycelt]

Found the following...


WHO IS THAT / RAY BOWEN
Kilt gives blacksmith memorable edge
By A. SCOTT WALTON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/05/06

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/livi...whoisthat.html




Encountering a professional blacksmith is rare in this day and age.

It's rarer still to meet a blacksmith who customarily wears kilts — to work and social outings.

But Ray Bowen of Avondale Estates is one of those seldom-seen entities.

Bowen, 40, began wearing kilts two years ago, after making the impulse buy at the Stone Mountain Highland Games festival. For him, switching to kilts wasn't as radical a decision as it might be for other men.

"I'm from Scotland County [N.C.], where wearing kilts was a matter of pride for my high school's marching band, and where half of the families are of Scottish descent," he said. "Growing up, it was never odd to see someone wearing one. And I'd always thought about wearing them before. I just never did because real ones are so expensive."

Style initially spotted Bowen near the Five Points MARTA station downtown. In a phone interview from his Hammerdown studio near the Carter Center, the artist explained his unique fashion philosophy:

Q: Who even knew that blacksmithing was still a viable profession?

A: I actually started in '94. I'm a sixth-generation blacksmith. I studied the craft in France, and my specialty is wrought iron gates and railings for private residences.

Q: Was making the switch from wearing pants to kilts easy to do?

A: I started wearing them almost exclusively about three months ago. I hardly ever wear pants anymore. I even have an authentic "nine yard" kilt, which is where the expression "the whole nine yards" comes from. But I don't wear that one to work. It would be too hot wearing all that wool while working the forge.

I have five kilts right now, and I've only held on to a couple pairs of jeans and some dress pants, just in case I really need them. I wear [canvas] Utilikilts brand kilts for work, and the other [wool] one if I'm going out to a restaurant or something.

Q:What sort of reactions do you get from people who spot you on the street?

A: It's always positive. Women tend to like it. And they always ask the question: What do you wear underneath it?

Q: And your answer is?

A: Nothing. Kilts are so comfortable that I can't imagine going back to wearing pants every day. They're warmer than you would think. It's kind of like a greenhouse effect. It holds the heat in, unless you're walking up some stairs and a stiff breeze hits you.

Q: Where does one go to buy a kilt?

A: You can find them on the Web. The two kinds I know best are by Utilikilt and Practikilt. The Practikilts are much thinner, and they're not really made for taller people like me. I'm 6-foot-3 and I find that they're too short. I don't want to look feminine.

I plan on buying many more, but they're not cheap. With Utilikilts, you pay according to how big you are, or how much material is required. For me, that adds up to about $200.

Q: What are you supposed to wear with a kilt?

A:Whatever you want. What you first saw me in is what I usually wear to work: boots, socks and a T-shirt.

Q: Besides comfort, are there any other advantages to wearing kilts?

A: With the economy in the shape it's in, business can be tough. But I've found that wearing a kilt generates an initial interest in me and helps me to stand out. It gives me a reason to show my portfolio to strangers I happen to meet. It's an "in" I wouldn't have otherwise.


_

[furrycelt]

Q: Was making the switch from wearing pants to kilts easy to do?

A: I started wearing them almost exclusively about three months ago. I hardly ever wear pants anymore. I even have an authentic "nine yard" kilt, which is where the expression "the whole nine yards" comes from.

I should point out that the "whole nine yards" expression does not come from kilts but from giving someone nine yards of ammunition. *ouch*

-ian

[Southern Breeze]

Great article. I know from experiance that blacksmithing while kilted is not as hazardous as it looks.

[bubba]

I should point out that the "whole nine yards" expression does not come from kilts but from giving someone nine yards of ammunition. *ouch*

-ian

Yup, the length of WW I ammunition belts

[Sherry]

He needs an invitation to X Marks.

[Shay]

I wonder if he knows about leather kilts? IIRC- blacksmiths use a leather apron when working, I'm thinking a whole leather kilt might be too hot though.

(And I believe the story about gun belts is apocryphal- it's from a dirty joke say most sources. The phrase dates from the 60's- a little late for WWI anyway!)

[macwilkin]

There are many theories about the origin of the phrase. For every source that says that the phrase comes from the Second World War (nine yards referring to the ammunition belts in aircraft), another one disproves it.

Wordorigins.org makes this statement -- I like them because they actually note their sources:

The Whole Nine Yards
This phrase is of unknown origin and is the subject of some debate. At issue is to what does nine yards refer. The meaning is clearly the entirety or everything, but nine yards is not a significant measure of anything. All we know about its origin is that the phrase cannot be traced any earlier than the mid-1960s and that it is American in origin.

Perhaps the most common assumption is that it is from American football, but the canonical distance in that game is ten, not nine, yards. Also common are explanations based on length of cloth, but there is no standard length for a bolt of cloth (which measure anywhere from twenty to twenty-five yards), and nine yards is not a significant measure for any type of garment (a man's suit uses about seven yards of a thirty-inch bolt, double folded; sarongs, saris, kilts, kimonos, bridal veils and any number of other garments have been suggested, none with any accompanying evidence).

The explanation that is currently circulating around the internet most frequently is that nine yards was the length of a belt of machine gun ammunition carried by a WWII fighter plane. To "give it the whole nine yards" was to expend all of one's ammo. This explanation is almost certainly false. For one thing, the type of fighter varies with the teller, sometimes Spitfires in the Battle of Britain, sometimes varying American fighters in the South Pacific. Another reason to doubt it is that ammunition is either counted in rounds or by weight. It is never measured in length of a belt. Chapman points to an origin in the Army and Air Force, which fits in with the post-WWII-era origin, but is otherwise unexplained. **emphasis mine -- TW

Newspaper columnist and language commentator James Kirkpatrick favors the explanation that it is a reference to the capacity of ready-mix concrete trucks (Fine Print: Reflections on the Writing Art). Safire also plumps for this explanation. This explanation, however, is somewhat questionable as the August 1964 issue of Ready Mixed Concrete magazine gives an average concrete mixer as having a capacity of four and a half cubic yards "just a few years ago" and an average of under six and a half in 1962. A 1988 source (Cecil Adams in More of the Straight Dope), states current mixers range from seven to ten cubic yards, with a rough average of nine. While current averages may be on target, when the phrase arose, the average cement payload was less than four and a half cubic yards. So the cement truck explanation is probably incorrect.

Chapman also suggests that it may be related to the British phrase dressed to the nines, where presumably nine has some numerological significance. He also suggests that yard may refer to the slang usage of that word to mean one hundred dollars.

Other explanations include:

The amount of dirt in a large burial plot;
The number of properties, or yards, in a standard city block in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Levittown, (pick your city);
The amount of cloth used in a burial shroud;
The capacity of coal trucks; and
The number of yards on a square rigged sailing ship (yards being the horizontal poles that hold the sails), even though it was not uncommon for such ships to have eighteen yards.
One final possibility is that it does derive from American football, but was originally intended to be ironic. To go "the whole nine yards" was to fall just short of the goal.

In summary, this is just one of those idiomatic phrases that defy explanation. This may not be satisfying, but it is not uncommon in English.

An additional source for this entry was Cecil Adams; More of the Straight Dope; Ballantine; 1988; ISBN 0-345-35145-2.

-- http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorw.htm

Cheers,

Todd

[Shay]

Okay, I still like the dirty joke explanation, I'll start a new thread on it.

[Nick]

Fun article

I've been blacksmithing and pursuing other metalworking areas for a few years now. I consider myself more of a hobbyist, though less than a professional.

I've smithed for an extended period twice. Once for two straight days at a renfaire and another for a day at another fair. Both were in my greatkilt, with thin leather shoes.

My one problem with working in my kilt is that sometimes red-hot steel does fly out of the tongs. I work small pieces, so that happens more than if I was working large pieces. I normally can dance out of the way, but there have been a couple occasions where, if I had been wearing a kilt, I could have been seriously burned, either from getting hit in the knee or something falling into my boot.

Of course, once I get going, I don't even think about it.

Shay, I barely ever wear an apron while working. I have one, certainly, but have only worn it while doing heavy grinding.

[FeanorMacFinwe]

Have almost always worn a kilt to blacksmith in, though I am as well more of a hobbyist than a professional. Working now with some interesting Damasteel rods, initial attempts at braiding three 1/4 inch rods have proven promising, more to come