Last modified: Monday, January 7, 2008 12:21 AM EST Dan West of South Attleboro's bird collection has doves, pheasants, ducks, including Mandarin ducks from China, and this peacock. (Staff photo by MARK STOCKWELL) For the birds BY JAMES A. MEROLLA/SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ATTLEBORO - There's a lot of the Old West in Dan West. West, 68, who retired from the high tech world as a manufacturing engineering technician, designing and building equipment for making precision switches for aircraft at Texas Instruments, now pursues several Old World hobbies: blacksmithing, building primitive black powder firearms and raising exotic birds. He breeds silver pheasants, ducks and other pheasants native to China, and peafowl, native to India, among others. West has worked as a blacksmith with the Boy Scouts all over North America - at the last Jamboree in Virginia, two regional Jamborees in Canada, Camp Discovery in Canada, and a National Jamboree in Canada; at Massjam on Cape Cod; Maine Jam in Oxford, Maine, and Moosehorn International Camporee in Calais, Maine He also made the pikes (spears) for Disney's second "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. And, West was one of the blacksmiths you may have seen at Fire and Ice, and he continues to work with local schools, giving blacksmith presentations. A Cape Cod native who has lived in Attleboro for 45 years, his dedicated Boy Scout activities include training adult leaders, organizing and supporting new Scout units, serving on the district committee for Norton's Annawon Council and serving on the faculty of Scouting University in Worcester, among other activities in Scout Councils in Rhode Island, Old Colony Council, Cape and Islands Council, as well as Annawon Council. SUN CHRONICLE: Of your interesting hobbies - blacksmithing, building primitive black powder firearms and raising exotic birds - which is the most difficult to master? Why? DAN WEST: Blacksmithing is by far the most difficult. There are so many angles to the trade, from very practical, to artistic. I don't shoe horses. That's a farrier. I have much more of an artistic side. For instance, I had a Huron Indian in Canada tell me I was at one with nature after seeing some of my work. I felt compelled to prove him right, and so I came home and made one of my safety stanchions in the shape of a vase, and in the body of the vase are flowers, a bird and a butterfly. All in metal. It's my favorite. My blacksmithing employs all of my basic smithing skills, plus my welding, machining and tool-making experience, and tossed into the mix are my creative skills, and the sheer fun of it all. It creates a challenge. My next favorites (sculptures) are my nine Scout candle holders. They are all five feet tall, each depicting a different achievement. Building the black powder guns is mostly finish and final assembly, but I am currently getting into more actual building from scratch. There are strict limits imposed by safety and function, but I do some engraving on them, just for fun. Raising birds is basic care and concern for the welfare of them, and it's a seven-day-a-week hobby. You can't set it aside for a while and get back to it later. It's not hard, but it is fun. SUN CHRONICLE: How did your interest in the "primitive" ancient skills begin? Were you a student of history? WEST: No, I was a terrible student. I hated history, but my love of the trades brought me into it. I took industrial arts in high school, before dropping out. Then, oddly enough, I was a substitute teacher at Attleboro High, teaching welding and fabricating, and we had a blacksmith, George Martell, come by to demonstrate. I had done some smithing in high school, and when I smelled that coal smoke, I fell in love. It sort of brought me full circle. Of course, by then, I had an education. The black powder gunsmithing started as a fluke. I bought a black powder gun that needed work, got the bug, and haven't quit. SUN CHRONICLE: What's the hardest physical thing you ever had to do in blacksmithing? WEST: I tend to avoid the 'brute' aspect of the trade, but much of my work is done cold. Cold bending and cold twisting are tough. But it tends to be practical. SUN CHRONICLE: Did one hobby ever accidentally ruin the other, as in gun powder musket shot hitting one of your ducks? WEST: No. Safety is always of paramount importance, no matter what. Respect for hot metal, and certainly for any firearm ALWAYS comes first. SUN CHRONICLE: Why these particular birds, more of the game variety, and not the talking, on-the-shoulder variety? WEST: Oh, I have them, too. In the house. (Laughs) SUN CHRONICLE: Are they endangered birds? Is it difficult to hatch them? WEST: No endangered species. Unusual, very colorful, but not rare. Hatching is tough! If the birds don't like something, or get frightened, or leave eggs long enough so that they get to cool, no babies. SUN CHRONICLE: We first heard of you in October when one of your silver pheasants got loose and was found in someone's yard. Does that happen a lot? WEST: No, fortunately, not a lot. Bird are very vulnerable when on their own. The pen is the safest place for them to be. Stories? The silver pheasant is the best one. When I arrived with a Havahart trap, prepared to wait several days and maybe recover him, the homeowner said, 'He may come if I call him.' Then, he hollered, 'Here bird, here bird,' and it walked out of the woods to him! I put down some food on the ground near the trap, and as the bird walked under a low spot in the fence, I grabbed him. It was simply that easy. I still smile when I think of him calling for that bird. I'm still grateful to him. SUN CHRONICLE: Is it true you made the pikes (spears) for the second "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie? How did that come about? WEST: Yup, I sure did. Two styles, thirty in all. I do work for Revolutionary War and Civil War re-enactors, and my work is on the Civil War Web site. Disney Studios saw it, contacted the gentleman I deal with, and he asked me if I wanted the job. He handled all the business aspect, and the direct dealing with Disney, and I made the pikes. I never did see the movie, but I saw the check! SUN CHRONICLE: Is that the most unusual thing you've ever been called upon to make? WEST: A couple that had returned from Italy had me make a horse hitching post ring because while they were there, they learned of a tradition where the bride and groom and the guests put padlocks on the ring, then throw the keys into the river, thereby bonding the marriage forever. I made them a ring and base, and they attached it to a granite post, and it was at their wedding. SUN CHRONICLE: All of this must keep you very busy, do you have time for other things? WEST: Yes, I'm very involved with Boy Scouts locally. It keeps me off the streets and out of the pool halls. KNOW A SUBJECT for this column? Contact Jamie Merolla at 508-236-0431 or at jmerolla@thesunchronicle.com.