A Gun Becomes a Garden Hoe
Several years ago, I was given the opportunity to participate in an arts initiative called “Guns to Gardens”. Inspired by the biblical phrase “swords to plowshares”, “Guns to Gardens” gave blackmiths the opportunity to forge decommissioned firearms that had been used in crimes into garden tools.
A Living Garden Tool
My garden hoe was forged from the barrel of a pistol, and left several of the markings from the original steel. I also took the opportunity to turn the swan-neck of the tool into a representation of a literal swan, bringing an ugly tool of destruction into the most elegant of birds.
I took care to keep the bolster of the tool untouched, to show the material’s past life.
