Search the Community

Hey all! Been fairly quiet lately but wanted to post a reminder for my California friends and neighbors that CBA Spring Conference is once again at hand, and will be in Vista (just north of San Diego) at the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum! Check out the website for up to date details and registration infos. Cheaper registration cutoff is presently April 10th, so strike while the iron is hot! (Shameless, I'm sorry >.>) http://calsmith.org/event-2418120 Demonstrator list as of this posting: Daniel Miller Brett Moten Monica Coyne Tony Swatton Gary Brown Jay Burnham-Kidwell Helmut Hillenkamp There's a wide variety of projects slated for the education barn under the tutelage/lash of various guest instructors. This is a coal forge zone, so read up a bit beforehand if you haven't had much time playing with them yet, they will show you how to do it but it makes it so much easier for you to learn if you do some homework beforehand! The food is great and plentiful, I suggest adding the meal plan (so much easier...). The museum itself is really cool to check out too, they have hundreds of old steam powered machines on the grounds and a vintage lineshaft powering tools in the barn off a really old kerosene (if memory serves) engine (fingers crossed that it's still in working order! :-D ). The power hammers are a lot of fun sound off if you will be attending! I'll be flying an IFI T-shirt at least once, might figure out another insignia at some point, TBD. hope to see some of you there!

The Alabama Force Council (AFC) will be holding its Fall Conference the week following Labor day. There will be some excellent demonstrators. Please join us! Details can be found on the AFC website. WWW.alaforge.org

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

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