Author: tdr

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Forging History – Metalworking and the 1798 & 1803 Uprisings

On Saturday, 15 August, TOG Hackerspace will be turning up the heat for a very different kind of heritage event.

As part of National Heritage Week 2026, we will be joined by heritage blacksmith Fínín Líam Christie for a day-long workshop exploring traditional blacksmithing and the metalworking skills associated with the United Irishmen, the 1798 Rebellion and Robert Emmet’s 1803 Rising.

The event will run from 9am to 5pm and is completely free, with places available both for people who want to take part directly and for those who would prefer to watch the demonstrations.

Blacksmithing, history and making

While Robert Emmet and the United Irishmen are familiar names from Irish history, less attention is usually given to the practical skills, engineering and craft knowledge behind the preparations for the uprisings.

During the day, Fínín will demonstrate traditional forge work, including setting and maintaining the fire, controlling heat with bellows, shaping hot metal, joining and finishing components, tempering and cooling, and preparing forged pieces for mounting.

The workshop will look at how these techniques were used for everyday ironwork and tools, while exploring how similar skills were applied to objects associated with the uprisings, including pike heads and the metalworking involved in Robert Emmet’s experimental rockets.

This is a heritage and skills demonstration rather than an attempt to recreate functional historical weapons. The aim is to explore the materials, techniques and practical knowledge behind this fascinating part of Irish history.

Have a go yourself

There will be 10 Hands-on Metalworking tickets available for people who would like to take part in selected stages of the forging process.

These sessions will take place under close supervision, with appropriate safety measures in place. No previous blacksmithing experience is needed.

There will also be 30 General Admission tickets for people who would like to watch the demonstrations, ask questions and follow the work as it develops throughout the day.

The example pike head made by Fínín gives a good idea of the traditional metalworking techniques that will be explored during the workshop.

About Fínín Líam Christie

Fínín is an experienced blacksmith and heritage craft practitioner and a member of the Irish Artist Blacksmiths Association.

He trained at Lucan Technical School and volunteered at the Ulster Folk Museum before establishing his own forge in Coolgreany, County Wexford. His work includes architectural ironwork, tool-making, training and heritage blacksmithing experiences, making him ideally placed to bring the practical side of this history to life.

And afterwards…

The day does not end when the forge goes quiet.

That evening we will be holding our TOG Open Social Night, when the pieces made during the workshop will remain on display. Visitors will be able to see what was produced, chat with participants and organisers, and explore some of the other craft and technology projects being worked on by TOG members.

And, as with any good TOG social night, there will also be fresh pizza cooked on site.

Event details

Workshop on Metalworking of the 1798 and 1803 Uprisings

Saturday, 15 August 2026
9am – 5pm
TOG Hackerspace

General Admission: Free – 30 places
Hands-on Metalworking: Free – 10 places

Advance booking is required.

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/forging-history-metalworking-and-the-1798-1803-uprisings-tickets-1994131024575?aff=oddtdtcreator

The workshop will also be professionally filmed, with an edited and captioned video published afterwards. The resulting material will form part of an online heritage resource and will help us continue sharing the project beyond the live event.

This project is funded by The Heritage Council and takes place as part of National Heritage Week 2026.

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TOG Hackerspace at Dublin Comic Con Summer 2026

TOG Hackerspace will be at Dublin Comic Con Summer 2026 this Saturday and Sunday, 8th and 9th August, at the Convention Centre Dublin.

You will find us on Level 2, where we will have a selection of projects made by TOG members. Drop by to see what we have been building, meet some of our members and learn more about the hackerspace.

Whether you are interested in electronics, fabrication, radio, coding, crafts or simply making things, come over and say hello. We are looking forward to another brilliant weekend surrounded by makers, cosplayers and sci-fi fans.

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More Test Equipment from Testwall

Back in 2024, we wrote about a generous donation from Testwall that supported our electronics lab, Repair Cafés and member projects. We are delighted to say they have supported TOG again, with another collection of professional test and measurement equipment.

This latest donation includes an Advantest R3754A network analyser, an HP 75000 Series B modular test system, an Anritsu data transmission analyser and other RF and communications test equipment.

The equipment has already made its way onto the benches. Members have been carefully checking each unit, powering it up and opening up some of the equipment for inspection where needed. The next job is to find out what can be brought back into regular use.

Older test equipment can still be extremely useful. It gives members hands-on access to specialist tools that would otherwise be difficult for a community workshop to purchase. It also creates plenty of opportunities to learn about fault-finding, repair and how professional test systems are put together.

Keeping useful equipment in service is also much better than seeing it become electronic waste.

A big thank you to everyone at Testwall for thinking of TOG again. Their continued support gives equipment a second life and gives our members new tools to learn, repair and build with. Testwall works across a broad range of RF, communications and electronic test equipment, making this a particularly fitting donation for the space.

Companies sometimes have equipment, tools, components or materials that are no longer needed but still have plenty of life left. If you think something could find a useful home in a community workshop, please get in touch with us.

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EI0MEOW: TOG’s Cats Take to the Air

TOG Hackerspace has registered the special event callsign EI0MEOW, and throughout August we will be getting on the radio in support of cats.

With around 100 members in the TOG community, it will probably come as no surprise that many of us are cat people. For the month of August, our radio operators will be taking part in two international amateur radio activities celebrating cats and raising awareness of animal welfare.

Cat Day on the Air

Cat Day on the Air runs from 1 to 31 August, with amateur radio stations around the world getting on the air to support cats and the organisations that care for abandoned, abused and homeless animals.

Listen out for EI0MEOW during the month and give us a call when you hear us.

Find out more on the Cat Day on the Air website.

Cat Pix on the Air

We are also taking part in Cat Pix on the Air, an SSTV activity taking place on International Cat Day, Saturday 8 August.

SSTV, or Slow-Scan Television, allows amateur radio operators to send pictures over the air. Instead of only exchanging callsigns and signal reports, operators will also be exchanging pictures of cats.

TOG members have contributed photographs of their own cats, and we have created a gallery of 14 special EI0MEOW SSTV images.

We are revealing the first one here: Swanson, Cat 01.

To see the other 13 cats, you will need to find EI0MEOW on the air and receive the images yourself.

More information about the activity is available from the Cat Pix on the Air website.

Find us at Hamfest

EI0MEOW will be operating from Hamfest in Mullingar on Saturday 8 August, where we will be transmitting images from the gallery throughout the day.

Come over and meet the TOG radio operators, see SSTV in action and find out how pictures can be transmitted using amateur radio.

Everyone else can listen for EI0MEOW on the bands throughout August. Have a QSO with us, exchange a signal report and see which of TOG’s cats arrives through the noise.

Can you collect all 14?

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The Irish Embassy Returns to Electromagnetic Field 2026

TOG members and friends are heading to Electromagnetic Field 2026 from 16 to 19 July, where we will once again be helping to run the Irish Embassy village.

Electromagnetic Field, better known as EMF Camp, is a volunteer-run camping festival for hackers, makers, artists, engineers, scientists and anyone interested in technology and creativity. The festival brings together talks, workshops, installations, projects and villages for four days at Eastnor Castle Deer Park in the UK.

At EMF, villages are self-organised camping and activity areas built around shared interests. The Irish Embassy is a loose collective of people with a connection to, or interest in, Ireland.

Despite the name, we are not connected to the Irish Government. Expect tea, projects, power adaptors and microcontrollers rather than passports and visas.

Following on from the Irish Embassy at EMF 2024, we have another busy programme planned.

Landing, Setup and Getting to Know Each Other

We will begin on Thursday with an informal landing and setup session. Drop by the village, meet your neighbours and help us get the shared space ready for the weekend.

Hardware CTF

On Friday, the Irish Embassy will host a drop-in Hardware CTF challenge.

Participants will use one of our custom ESP8266 challenge boards to solve a series of hardware and software puzzles. Bring a laptop and see how many flags you can capture.

Make Your Own Extension Lead

Our Make Your Own Extension Lead workshop will introduce participants to safely wiring a Type G plug and extension lead.

The session will cover cable preparation, plug wiring, fuses, strain relief and basic electrical safety.

IoT with Arduino Cloud

The beginner-friendly IoT with Arduino Cloud workshop will show participants how to connect an ESP32 and environmental sensors to the internet.

Participants will collect sensor readings and display them through an online Arduino Cloud dashboard.

Build Your Own Satellite Ground Station

In the Build Your Own Satellite Ground Station workshop, participants will assemble a TinyGS station and antenna.

TinyGS is a community network of low-cost ground stations that can receive signals from LoRa satellites, CubeSats and other objects passing overhead.

Build Your Own Air Quality Sensor

Our Build Your Own Air Quality Sensor workshop will introduce participants to environmental monitoring and citizen science.

Participants will assemble an internet-connected sensor that measures particulate matter, temperature, humidity and air pressure.

Visit the Irish Embassy

When there is no workshop or challenge running, the Irish Embassy will be a place to meet people, share projects, compare notes and relax with a cup of tea.

Anyone attending EMF with a connection to, or interest in, Ireland is welcome to visit. Check the Irish Embassy village page for our location and the latest programme information.

You can also follow the Irish Embassy on Mastodon at @irishembassy@chaos.social for updates from the village during EMF Camp.

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Building Hardware Flags for WICC 2026

We were delighted to be one of the community organisations supporting the Women’s International Cybersecurity Challenge 2026, held at St Laurence’s on TU Dublin’s Grangegorman Campus on 9 and 10 July.

WICC brought together teams of women cybersecurity competitors from Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas for two days of technical competition, collaboration and international networking.

Fifteen ESP8266 hardware flags

As part of TOG’s contribution to the event, we built 15 hardware flags for use during the Capture the Flag competition.

Each flag was based around an ESP8266 board and housed in a custom 3D-printed case. The finished devices were prepared and tested at TOG before being brought to TU Dublin for the competition.

The different cases featured a range of coloured designs, helping turn the electronics into distinctive physical flags for the competitors to find and interact with.

WICC’s Capture the Flag competition included challenges across areas such as cryptography, reverse engineering, digital forensics, web exploitation, binary exploitation, hardware security and open-source intelligence.

Building physical devices for a cybersecurity competition was a great example of the overlap between making, electronics, programming, 3D printing and cybersecurity that we regularly see at TOG.

Thank you, Ambrose

A huge thank you goes to Ambrose for all their work building, printing, assembling and preparing the flags. Getting 15 devices ready for an international competition takes a significant amount of careful work, and it was fantastic to see them in use at the event.

Thank you also to Zero Days for running WICC and inviting TOG to be part of it. Zero Days runs Capture the Flag competitions and cybersecurity challenges in Ireland, helping participants develop their skills through practical and engaging technical challenges.

Events such as WICC demonstrate how community organisations, universities and industry can work together to create practical and engaging opportunities for people to develop technical skills.

You can learn more about the Women’s International Cybersecurity Challenge at wicc.ie.