The Postman was the last movie I worked on. I started as a carpenter building scenery in Metaline Falls, WA. In the movie business a carpenter is called a "Propmaker". After a few months of building sets I was laid off. I took the opportunity to switch to Set Decoration, and took over the assembling of several blacksmithing shops.

The location used for the postal carriers' encampment was the Pendorielle Mine, a Kominco lead and zinc mine that had been shut down for 20 years. There was a skeleton crew onsite of mine maintenance crews and geologists plotting out future areas of exploration if they ever decided to reopen the mine.

A lot of the blacksmithing gear came from the mine's own defunct shops, including the 400 lb. anvil, the forge and the massive post vise.

Since I am a trained blacksmith I used the smithie I had built to make forged items for use on all the sets. After several weeks on "set deco" it was decided that I looked very good as a smith so they made me an extra and put me in costume as the postal encampment blacksmith.

I have included shots of the smithie I built for the show. It really was the best smithie I have ever had.

To get a sense of scale on the post vise the jaws are 4 feet from the floor. Yes it is the largest post vise I have ever seen, and I really wanted to take it home with me.

All the other equipment was either mine, which I rented to the show, or was bought or rented locally.

The hammer and tong collection is all mine, along with the cone mandrel and the forge blower.

The photo of the brands burned into the post shows the WB brand made by the head of the special FX crew, and "The Postman" brand I made on set.

The bell was used in the movie to gather the postal carriers. It was made from old gas cylinders.

The shot of the guy holding the knife is the head of the welding crew from LA holding a cable damascus knife I forge welded on the set in my smithie and sold to him.

The screen captures show me in the movie. All the close up shots of my forge were cut from the movie, so the only remaining shots of me are background blurs. The shots are labeled by running time in the movie incase you choose to see them on the DVD.

After all these years I feel better about the movie now than when I was working on it. Warner Brothers is a tough studio to work for, but the on set catering was magnificent.