Travis Covington

We have already reserved the Fairgrounds for May 4,5 & 6 2012 . What would bring you to Virginia for this conference? What would you like to see? Glen if you would like to have a IFI area there is a lot of room. I'm sure we can work it out.

The Gathering was our May meeting our next meeting will be June 19 2011 The location will be anounced soon.

Thank you Gerald. I was going to get to The Learning Station in my next post. Gerald spent the weekend teaching. Mostly Boy Scouts. He has no idea how much this meant to those young men. Everyone of them personally thanked us for having them. Lyle, You have an idea there. IFI is welcome to come out. Or another weekend during the year. The fair grounds are a great place expecially yesterday when it was raining & we didn't have to worry because everything was under a roof. The photo of the three is Brian, Dave Hutchison from ABANA & Me. I had forgot to mention ABANA was well represented & a lot of questions & misconceptions were straitened out. Thanks to Lance Davis for listening all weekend. Gerald , Lance and Dave represented ABANA well. The phote with Brian & the fork & spoon is for the Fair Committy to display with the items for all to see. I also forgot to mention thanks to Hunter Perkinson for the great sign & the Pineapple for the auction also all of your work.

Well The Gathering of the Blacksmiths is over. I would like to thank everyone that helped and supported us. The attendance was low but we had a great time. Brian Brazeal was awsome. We literally had to take his anvil & forge to get him to stop. Thanks to John Richter for forgin Damascus all weekend & Keith Hicks for his Demo. Joel & Ken did agreat job with the viking demo. Here are the links to the last 2 albums.https://picasaweb.google.com/covforge/GatheringOfTheBlacksmiths572011?authkey=Gv1sRgCKrfpr3eqa_owAE# https://picasaweb.google.com/covforge/GatheringOfTheBlacksmiths5782011?authkey=Gv1sRgCOvZvNCX1NKo4gE#

We are having a great wekend at The Gathering of the Blacksmiths Yester day was nice Brian strated out early and stayed late. Keith Hicks has been busy too. Today is just perfect. Gerald has been teaching Boy Scouts all morning. Here is a link to some of the photos I took yesterday. https://picasaweb.google.com/covforge/GatheringOfTheBlacksmiths2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCLnxmYnprvvJNA#

Hunter did an awsome job on the sign. Friday is the opening day.

Joshua, Why don't you find some real charcoal? I don't know about your area but Walmart & Lowes both carry it here. I'm sure there is a comparable or much better home store near you.

You might try a pully set up for a c belt . That belt is usually about the right size for a pipe like you are talking about. lawn mowers & farm equipment use a lot of these. You should be able to find one cheap. Just pin it to something and pull the pipe around the sides will keep it from kinking. Stick a strait rod inside for leverage and help hold the part you don't want to bend strait. I hope this helps. I have used this several times in a pinch.

We will be raffleing a newly built coal forge with a new hand crank blower. This is a nice demo forge.

Our suplyer has gone from 10# to 40# now 50# bags go news is it works out to be less a pound. We still have to drive 3 hours to pick it up. But we are still at $12 per bag to our members. Mark add another 30 minutes and you will be at most of our meetings.

I would suggest Clay Smith formerly a Williamsburg Gunsmith. Clay's website

Brian Brazeal has agreed to make something to give as a special Mothers Day gift for some lucky lady.

Brian Brazeal has agreed to make something to give as a special Mothers Day gift for some lucky lady.

Steve, Tidewater blacksmiths uses The Hartford $475. per year for 2 mil liability. We just got our new bill Here's the info we have; The Hartford, 301 Woods Park Drive, Clinton, NY 13323 1-866-467-8730. Virginia Bureau of Insurance, 1-804-371-9185 or (VA residents only) 1-800-552-7945. Also one of our members says he uses Nation Wide said they have a Blacksmith policy for around $200 per year . I don't know about the blades though.

Friday night we will offer a Ring of Fire to anyone who wants to do some forging. We should have plenty of forges & anvils. Saturday night we will be intertained for a couple of hours by the Shilo Grass Band. They are a traditional Bluegrass Group.

Friday night we will offer a Ring of Fire to anyone who wants to do some forging. We should have plenty of forges & anvils. Saturday night we will be intertained for a couple of hours by the Shilo Grass Band. They are a traditional Bluegrass Group.

I have it set up so that you can now register and pay thru the http://tidewaterblacksmiths.com/ website. Scroll down on the home page to the registration link.

I have it set up so that you can now register and pay thru the http://tidewaterblacksmiths.com/ website. Scroll down on the home page to the registration link.

Prayers and thoughts coming from our way. Get well soon.

Ironstein, All of this is good advise. Make sure you clamp it to some thing solid across the weld if you don't there is a good chance of ending up with a V instead of a flat plate. Also making a couple passes and letting cool helps. You should be fine just take your time.

Thanks for the Photos. They really tell a story each time. We to are looking foreward to Brian & Karen's visit with us in Virginia in May.

Joseph, check out Blacksmiths Guild of the Potomac http://www.bgop.org/ . They might be closer to you. The're a good group.

We finally have the Info & Registration flyer ready. Get your Gallery Items ready to show. The Paypal link will be on the website http://www.virginiablacksmithconference.org/Master.html soon. Gathering of the Blacksmiths May 2011.pdf

Here is the info flyer & registration form for the Gathering. The Paypal link will be added to the Website http://www.virginiablacksmithconference.org/Master.html soon. The website is being developed a little per day as we have time to do it. Gathering of the Blacksmiths May 2011.pdf

Kenna is in our prayers.