Bill Clemens

Any news on how clay is doing?

It is with great sadness that I must report the passing of Ivan Bailey Monday morning 9 Sep 2013 at 8 AM. Ivan was a great Blacksmith and Founding Member of ABANA Condolences & prayers from all of us at ABANA. We will post more information when arrangements have been. Sincerely Bill Clemens ABANA Secretary

Delaware State Fairgrounds in Harrington, Delaware (Red Outline Shows Conference Area) 1. Gallery 2. Indoor Vendors/Registration/Meeting /Auction 3. Outside Vendor /Tailgating Pavillion 4. Tailgating/Vendor Space 5. Camping Grove (Additional camping is available on fairgrounds to left(south) of Conference Area) 6. Demonstration Tents

ABANA 2014 Conference August 13-16, 2014 Delaware State Fairgrounds Harrington, Delaware Theme - Joinery: Come Make Connections $175 for ABANA Members ($125 before 15 Jan 2014) $225 for non - Members ($225 before 15 Jan 2014) Details: www.abana.org/2014 Registration: www.abana.org/2014Register Hope to see you all there Bill Clemens & David Hutchison Conference Co-Chairs Delaware State Fairgrounds in Harrington, Delaware (Red Outline Shows Conference Area) 1. Gallery 2. Indoor Vendors/Registration/Meeting /Auction 3. Outside Vendor /Tailgating Pavillion 4. Tailgating/Vendor Space 5. Camping Grove (Additional camping is available on fairgrounds to left(south) of Conference Area) 6. Demonstration Tents

It is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing of my friend and fellow blacksmith Tom Anderson. Tom passed away last evening at the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, PA The viewing will be at Shaw's funeral home in Lewisburg, PA this Friday 15 June from 6 to 8 pm with Funeral Services at the same location at 8pm Tom's Wife Donna has requested that donations in Tom's memory be made to the Blacksmith Guild of Central Maryland PO Box 593 Randallstown, MD 21133-0593

ABANA Conference Central States Fairgrounds RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA JULY 18-21, 2012 Central States Fairgrounds RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA JULY 18-21, 2012 Demonstrators Claudio Bottero will be working by hand and power hammer with a team of blacksmiths to create a large sculpture. Punzo Family Coppersmiths will take scrap copper and turn it into beautiful copper vessels. All work is done by hand with very few tools. Håvard Bergland will make a true Viking Axe. Håvard’s book, that has been translated into English, will be for sale. Patient Order of Meticulous Metalsmiths will be making a Scandinavian style door with custom engraved hardware. They will be available to answer questions as they work Becky Little will create a coat rack with her whimsical style. I cannot wait to see what else she has prepared for us! Brian Brazeal and his assistant Lyle Wynn will do some hard hitting to make hammers and tooling. The Smelt Team - Lee Sauder, Steve Mankowski, Shel Browder will be building a furnace on site. The first smelt will be on Thursday along with a talk about theory on site. Friday will be the second smelt. The first bloom will be transformed in to sculptural piece; the second one will be made into steel and forged into an axe. Two smelts will give everyone a chance to see the process. Knife Makers will demo: Making and patterning a damascus billet, Making Mokume Gane ( Copper, Brass, Nickel Silver ) They will be demonstrating other interesting and exciting variations of knives. Teaching Station Mark Aspery, Darryl Nelson and Gerald Boggs have the teaching station well staffed.The guys will be instructing the National Curriculum along with other projects. Classes Nathan Roberts will be hosting a hammer making class, each participant will take home a hammer. There is an additional fee for this class. Programs / Lectures The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology will put on seminars at the school. ALL classes will be free of charge and sponsored by Nucor Steel. Limited enrollment and pre-registration suggested. Smith Busting: The Science of Blacksmithing. Steel Making for the Non-Metallurgist. Student Success Stories: Examples of successful student projects from SDSMT. This will be hands on and will highlight the making of a Samurai sword and a furnace. Drawing, Creative Visualization: From Cocktail Napkin to CAD A tour of SDSMT Metallurgy department will be offered. Ellen Durkan will talk on her work and drawings that are in the Apex Gallery. The John Deere Historic Site director will give a talk about John Deere the blacksmith and their upcoming event. There will be slide shows with demonstrator talks. We will also have a poster gallery of all the Poster Contest entries. FAMILY PROGRAMS German Braided Rug Weaving Class Quilt Magic Class (No Sewing Required) German Braided Rug Weaving Class “Kanzashi” Japanese Folded Fabric Flowers Class Basket Weaving Class Local sight seeing tours will arranged if needed. GALLERY The Gallery will be open to the public to showcase the work of our members. There will be a “show-and-tell” area along with a business card exchange table and portfolio table. The Apex Gallery at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology will have a gallery reception on July 17, 2012. Ellen Durkan from Delaware will be the featured artist. VENDORS Indoor and outdoor vendors with those hard to find tools and wares will be selling hard to find tools and equipment. TAILGATERS An area of the parking lot will be set aside for tailgating. Please register to tailgate. LODGING ABANA has made arrangements with local hotels and the School of Mines for special rates for lodging. The fairgrounds offers onsite camping for those who wish to camp. COST Registration Fee - $275 Per Person. $50 discount for ABANA members - $225 Per Member Family members - $25, spouse, child under 16. Saturday Banquet Dinner included. Registration: http://www.abana.org/Conferences/2012ConferenceRegistration.shtml

Dave, I decided to give my hand hammer and sledge a try. Posted the results in a new thread: http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f57/biologically-powered-hammer-test-12762/#post119376 Bill

Decided to take Dave up on his challenge. Hope others follow suit and submit their results. Used 1 inch a36 First test was with my normal forging hammer a Clark/Hofi hammer 2 lb 12 oz Face is only1 3.4 inches square with rounded edges resulting in only 1 1/2 inches of contact. Next I used a 8 lb sledge first as a hand hammer and then striking while Tom Anderson held the bar for me. I have video clips that I'll post later. Using a Hand Hammer and Sledge results in the "squished" area not being of uniform thickness. The forged area is a plane that slopes in 2 direction. What I decided to do it take four measurements ( Front and Back left and right of the 2 inch section) and then average them. This gives the equivalent thickness (thinness?) of the forged area. Here are the results: 2 lb Clark/Hofi 5 hits - .906 10 hits - .781 8 lb Sledge (One Hand) 5 hits - .756 10 hits - .687 8 lb Sledge (Striking) 5 hits - .687 10 hits - .594 The four measurement for each bar were measured using a ruler and were to the nearest 1/8 inch (rounded up) Pictures show the bars left to right 2lb12oz 5 then 10 (actually 11 hits*), 8 lb sledge one hand 5 then 10 hits and finally 8 lb sledge striking 5 then 10 hits Here are the 4 measurements 2lb 5 - 1, 1, 3/4, 7/8 10 - 7/8. 3/4, 3/4. 3/4 8lb hand 5 - 3/4, 3/4, 3/4, 3/4 10 - 3/4. 5/8, 3/4. 5/8 8lb strike 5 - 3/4, 3/4, 5/8, 5/8 10 - 3/4, 5/8, 5/8, 3/8 Bill * Seems my biological hammer has some control issues and it hit 11 times not 10 as you'll see in the video