ABANA Event July 19

[primtechsmith]

Background: Earlier this year the ABANA Board put in place a membership drive for the affiliates. Any affiliate to gain 20+ new or renewed members got a free demo. Well, The Blacksmith Guild of Virginia got its 20+ and will be holding a special event on July 19 for ALL BLACKSMITHS!!!!!!

Date: July 19th 2008
Location: Yesteryear Forge 15421 Five Forks Rd. Amelia VA 23002
Time: 9am-4pm
Lunch: Provided with $5.00 Donation

Demonstrator: Doug Merkel
Topic: Doug will be doing a very special demonstration in honor of the late Doug "DR. Iron" Henderickson. The demonstration will be Fry pans, forks, ladles, choppers, etc. as Mr. Henderickson used to demo. He lost his life to a prolonged battle to ALS but never lost his love or passion for blacksmithing and his students. Doug Merkel will be keeping his spirit alive at the anvil where he knew "Dr. Iron" would always want to be remembered.

There will be an area for tailgaters to come and set up!

Also there will be a huge IRON IN THE HAT with all proceeds going back to help ABANA fund the upcoming 2010 Conference.

This is FREE to attend and enjoy the day with us. We do ask that you strongly consider participating in the Iron in the Hat not only for the funding, but to keep the tradition going of sharing tools, forged items, and other useful things around the shop!

This is not limited to ABANA members, or any guild. If you have an interest then you are MORE than welcome to come and be a part of such a special demonstration and day of great fellowship!

If anyone would like to send in anything for the Iron in the Hat here is the guild office address:
Blacksmith Guild of Virginia
309 Second Avenue
Farmville Virginia 23901

I certainly hope to see you all there!

PLEASE RSVP HERE OR BY PM OR EMAIL OR PHONE! WE NEED A HEAD COUNT FOR LUNCH ASAP!!

Peyton
president@blacksmithguildofva.com
434.390.6203

[jimbob]

I'ed pay to get in, if you'ed just help out with the gas to get there!

[KevinD]

Peyton - You guys are an asset to the ABANA and blacksmithing in general. Thanks and keep up the good work! I hope to get up there one of these days.

Originally Posted by jimbob

I'ed pay to get in, if you'ed just help out with the gas to get there!

Jim - OBG got their 20. As of May 28 the Bealer guild still needs a few more. If you hear anything about a demo please let me know.

Alex Bealer Blacksmith Association

[primtechsmith]

That is one of the reasons there is no gate fee. In these times our money can be pourd into other places... A year or so ago I could charge a gate fee and you would spend the same amount of money you would today without one due to the cost of fuel. We are trying to keep it as affordable as possible so anyone can attend.

Come on up. There is a nice hotel less than 5 miles from the forge!

Peyton

[primtechsmith]

Kevin unfortunately the cut off date has past to reach the 20 for the demonstrator...

I am glad to hear the OBG got theirs! I know of a few other who did also. That is Great!

Peyton

[jimbob]

Originally Posted by KevinD

Peyton - You guys are an asset to the ABANA and blacksmithing in general. Thanks and keep up the good work! I hope to get up there one of these days.



Jim - OBG got their 20. As of May 28 the Bealer guild still needs a few more. If you hear anything about a demo please let me know.

Alex Bealer Blacksmith Association

I hasn't come up on the web site yet...moght find something out at the July meeting at Jarrell Plantation.LINK to OBG Ocmulgee Blacksmith Guild :: Home

[primtechsmith]

I forgot to mention we will be attempting to get the webcam up and running just like we do for our meetings.

I think this go round we will call it: "ABANA-VISION"

[primtechsmith]

THIS JUST IN.....


Tom Clark contacted me to let me know the following:

"I am sending you two pair of Tom Tongs and a hot cut hardie, this is a true hot cut (most hot cuts available are actually cold cutters) made of 5160 and the cutting edge is heat treated..." for our Iron in the Hat!

There will also be at least 3 Board Members there for you to talk to and ask any questions....

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!!!!!!

Please let me know (if you haven't yet) if you are planning on attending. I need a lunch count.

Peyton

[primtechsmith]

Well...

The day was extremely HOT!!! But we are blacksmiths and thankfully Mike put in a few new windows, hung some box fans and went and got his big 4ft fan from his other shop! We were all a big fan of that!!!! HA! HA!

Doug Merkel did a wonderful demonstration on several items. I am not afraid to say this guy is my most favorite smith I have seen and learned from. He truly is a great in my books!

We had three members from the ABANA Board there: Linda Tanner, Wayne Coe, and myself. The new Central Office Administrator was also there to hang out.

A big thanks to those who donated.

The BIG news is the Iron in the Hat proceeds went to ABANA as seed money for the upcoming 2010 Conference. With the help of the 50+ people there and their donations of items and opening their pockets to show their support we were able to raise:

Drum roll please............... $1,020.00 dollars!

I hope we can get more affiliates involved in this and really help put ABANA back on track and help get the next conference off the ground!

Thanks to everyone who came out. I got to meet a lot of our new guild members and a lot of new members here on IFI. It always great to put faces with names.

THANKS AGAIN TO ALL THAT PARTICIPATED!

Peyton