Demo – Rapper Sword making with Frank Lee
For anyone curious about how rapper swords are made … Frank Lee reveals all from his workshop in Brampton, Cumbria.
Frank will explain the processes involved in making rapper swords, the way he has made them since 1977, and demonstrate them using video clips. The processes will start from raw materials and work through to a finished product. Frank will explain how the processes have evolved, and mention alternative methods as he goes.
Your host
Frank was brought-up in the North-East, where his forbears all worked in the shipbuilding and coal industries as blacksmiths and engineers. His teaching job took him just over the county boundary into Cumbria, but he learned his rapper dancing with Newcastle Morris Men in the Cumberland Arms, Byker, and his work as a swordsmith began after volunteering to repair their swords. After finding a small supply of spring steel, he then made a complete set of rappers from scratch for his own team in Carlisle. As that team travelled to festivals, interest grew in the rapper dance, and then in obtaining rappers, so Frank set about increasing production, and has since made over 2,500 rappers. He has sent them to teams all over the world, quite a substantial amount to the USA, and more recently to China, Taiwan and Japan. He has also made many sets of longswords.
Frank is a member of Carlisle Sword and Clog, Hexham Morris, Feet First Appalachian Cloggers, and Flag and Bone Gang.
See his web site: http://www.rapper-swords.co.uk/
Programme
Demo and talk for just over an hour, followed by Q&A.
To register
Please complete this online form: Register for the Demo – Rapper Sword making with Frank Lee; you will receive a confirmation email immediately (check your spam/junk/promotions folder!). We will send you a Zoom link a couple of days before the event. Open to all – you don’t have to be a member of a team in The Morris Federation.
Optional Donations
If you enjoy this event, then it would be wonderful if you could send a donation, small or large, to Halsway Manor, National Centre for Folk Arts: halswaymanor.org.uk/support-us/donate
