Heavy Metal

A number of years ago, a group of us were doing blacksmithing demonstrations at the local history park.
One visitor identified himself as a retired blacksmith from Germany, and we got to talking shop. When he asked about the work in the forge, we offered it to him for his examination.
He declined, saying that it was too "heavy".
Since he had a strong accent, we asked him to explain...
"Only a fool will pick up something that's too hot, but it's perfectly reasonable to put something down quickly because it's too heavy" he replied.
JK

This sounds like the joke about the cowboy that picked up a hot branding by the wrong end and threw it back down quick!
When asked "was it hot? ;)" he replied- "no, don't take me long to look at a branding iron :/"
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Alvin in AZ ps- a cowgirl wouldn't talk to me all day after I repeated an observation her uncle mentioned to me "barrel-racin' can't be too hard, barrels don't go all that fast ;)"

Exactly!!! :>}
JK
snipped-for-privacy@XX.com wrote:
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snipped-for-privacy@XX.com wrote:
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Thank you! This makes a joke I read in Randy McDaniel's book _A Blacksmithing Primer_ very clear now. Something about a smith making nails and tossing them on the floor as they were finished and a city-slicker asking to see one. The smith said that no because they were too hot. Then the smith finished a nail and it went skittering across the floor. The city-slicker ran over, picked it up and then dropped it. The Blacksmith said, "I told you not to touch it you fool. It's hot." The city slicker said, "Hot?! How long does it take to look at a nail."
This confounded me, but with your explanation above, it's all clear and funny now. I guess the wording had me bamboozled. :)
rvb