About PHil Spark
My first memory of metal work was going to the local blacksmith with my mother to have him fix a toy truck. He welded the cab back on. School, metalwork classes and when I was 15 or so a visit to Sheffield and one of the steel works.
We stood at the end of a rolling mill where huge orange hot ingots were rolled into sheet . A man at the end of the line clipped the still red hot rough end from the sheet and threw it into a skip behind us, – ”watch out lads”.
I left school, traveled and moved to London where there were very accessible galleries and museums. I did a very loose degree centered around wind turbines and I cycled a lot.
Then to Australia and bicycles. I worked in a bike shop and did mechanical repairs and then frame repairs and then built complete frames. Exotic steel tube put together with a flame and bronze. Very precise work and I have to admit I found
that sort of precision a struggle; the material was lovely but
one false move and it was over.
I did some blacksmith classes at Sydney Tech and read a lot of books (no internet), went to the iron corroboree at Braidwood, built a forge and began to make a few things that weren’t bikes.