Luke March Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 So I have heard/read that quad state is THE blacksmithing event to go to, and I think I might be able to make it this year. The SOFA website (http://www.sofasounds.com/conference2011/2011index.htm) has some information, but not enough to satisfy my curiosity. I know there will be: Demos Buy/sell/trade beginners classes But I still have some questions.... Should I bring my own forging equipment? I don't have a portable forge, so I would have to build one... I don't really have a 'portable' anvil, as mine is 180lbs (it weighs more than I do), and the only thing I have that's lighter is my HF ASO.... Can anyone use the beginners forging area? While I'm not highly skilled by any stretch of the imagination, I don't quite consider myself in the beginner category anymore ( I do know how to draw tapers, make square stock round, round stock square, upset, forge weld, etc.) Registration fee - Is that just for the one who would be doing 'smithing' stuff? Can "family members" include your parents/siblings? If anyone wants to share their experiences, stories, highlights, and/or pictures from previous quad-states, please do so; I'm very interested to get a better idea of what it's all about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FieryFurnace Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Hope you. (*sniff sniff*) have a lot of, (*sniff sniff*) fun. (*sniff sniff*) I was really hoping to go this year but don't have the cash to get up there. (*sniff sniff*) There are two contacts on the SOFA website for the guys who organize it all. Call or email them for all the details! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Some folks bring forges to their camps but it's not common. It's a conference so most folks are there to watch the demos, tailgate and jaw with other smiths late into the night around the raised campfires. Bring items or pictures to hand around or place in the display area. Family members include extended family in my experience there but they would really like the folks attending the demos to be fully registered---it costs a lot to bring some of these top notch folk in from far away trying to avoid contributing is a bit like cheating your friends! Of course you need to contact SOFA for specifics; it's been a while since I was a member as after more than a dozen years of being one I moved 1`500 miles away. I will say that SOFA was noted for trying to help people out and doing what was right. I once had an emergency business trip and at the last minute they were happy to cancel my pre-registration and return 100% of my money. This isn't done as a business. SOFA puts on Quad-State as a "labour of Love" for the blacksmithing Community and I'm happy that they do clear their costs and then some as it allows them to do even a better one next time! I plan to drive in from NM in a 22 year old pickup with no cruise control of air conditioning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FieryFurnace Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Swing by KY an pick me up! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 I was planning to take the "northern route" Albuquerque-Amarillo-OKC-Ft Smith-Joplin-Rolla-St Louis-Indianapolis-Dayton As I'll be visiting kinfolk along the way (and hopefully get a chance to blow my diet on concord grapes in eastern MO!) So I'm sorry I can't throw you in the back as I travel along. (I generally do it 1 day from Socorro to Ft Smith and 1 day from Ft Smith to Dayton. Visiting my grandkids and grandfather will make the trip not so much a death march... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptree Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 FieryFurnace, I drive up on Thursday from Floyds Knobs Indiana. I will probably have a spare seat. I come back leaving Sunday about lunch or a little later. If interested e-mail me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Luke, I live in Ft Wayne IF i am able to go, and IF you can get here, I should have room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
781 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Dont bring a lot of heavy things cause you will want to buy a lot of heavy things and will not have room on the trip home. The conference starts Friday night but people start arriving monday Maybe 100 people tailgating with some things selling for as little as $5 up to having at least one steam hammer on the grounds for sale I dont get there till Wed night but it is a fair drive from Minnesota They will have more people there Wed night than most conferences have on a Saturday The tailgating is to die for large gallery inside and outside vendors Maybe a couple of lies told around the fire I have heard of the occasional head ache in the mornings A bicycle works out well to keep up with what is new in the tailgate area. Some just jump on a trailer as it comes in. Does it sound like I am going? Had a couple of calls wanting me to deliver a 50# LG they had bought here in MN but I dont have the room for 1800#s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke March Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 Good info, keep it coming! Steve - I'm not the one who would need a ride, that would be Dave. Is the tailgating good enough to be worth it even if you only have like $100 to spend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
781 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 depends on what you needed to buy no $100 power hammers or floor cone mandrels plenty of small tools top tools tongs maybe over 100ith tools tailgaters one could spend $100 pretty fast or nothing at all depends on how easy you fall in love wy I wonder why I needed that next daith tools some days I cant live without something and the next day I wonder why Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkunkler Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Is the tailgating good enough to be worth it even if you only have like $100 to spend? Yes, lots of bargains to be found. If you have stuff you're not using, you can bring it to sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Steve - I'm not the one who would need a ride, that would be Dave. I know Dave wants to go, but its closer for him to go there direct than to here, I was telling YOU to come along if ya wish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Several of the blacksmith supply companies will be there selling on-site; so if you like to actually pick up the tools and see how they feel in your hands *before* buying then Q-S is a good place to go! Also books, knifemaking supplies, etc. Richard Postman often attends and so I've lugged anvils there to get his opinion (Unfortunately it was a Powell anvil not a Powers anvil---all I could read of the stamp was POWE...) As for deals it depends on how much you hunt. I picked up a 6" post vise last year for $50---*not* a common price for such a vise there. I also saw old farrier's rasps selling from $3 to 50 cents a piece---same brand and condition; so I bout $10 of the 50 cent a piece ones as I make 15 to 20 rasptle snakes a year. There was one table of "junk" that the price was lowered each day and every day there was something that hit my buy point. One of the aspects is that there is often a *lot* of something there to pick and choose from and often haggle over! Before gas got so high I have seen over a dozen powerhammer's for sale *on-site*! And every once in a while you just "luck out": last year I was passing by a box of "scrap tongs" for $10 each---about double what I would pay for one in that condition generally---and suddenly I stopped and went back and piked up out of that box a small set of tongs in good condition that I gladly paid $10 for---they were made from Titanium! Some years all I have spent is $20, some years $200; ALL years I could have spent $20000. I had a friend who was setting up a smithing school in Canada who came to quad-state to outfit his school as he could do it all at one place and at a much better rate than back home. However it's the sharing of ideas and methods and just jawing with other smiths that is the real pay off. It's easy to see something in the display area and figure out a totally different way to use it or how to make it. A groups of us "internet smiths" that originally hung around the keen-junk forum camp together (well some wimp out in motels...) and have potlucks together. It's where I see a lot of friends from back on the east coast and make new friends and mourn old friends who have passed on. One of the nice parts of Q-S is that you are not forced to sign up for the demos you attend and so can wander from one to another---or be front and center for a particular one that intensely interests you. Your registration is good for everything---watching demos, tailgating no extra fees required. (A lot of folks "tailgate" by marking the price on their stuff and leaving a can for the money letting them attend the demos or go buy stuff. I've never had a problem doing it that way. I hope to show up Wednesday evening myself though the big day for Demos, Tailgating, etc is Saturday though prices often are lowest on Sunday---but people are leaving then too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNewman Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I hope to show up Wednesday evening myself though the big day for Demos, Tailgating, etc is Saturday though prices often are lowest on Sunday---but people are leaving then too. Not always lower. I remember the one year there were two 25lb Little giants that sold for $500 ea the price was then marked up and one of them resold 3-4 times before it was unloaded from the truck, and it resold again after being unloaded. The other resold at least once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 (and then there was that fellow who bought 30 anvils at *1* quad-state---had to go out and buy a trailer for his truck.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohio Rusty Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Myself and the other half will be there Friday morning for the day. Hopefully I'll find the couple things I am looking for at a fair price. Ohio Rusty ><> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KST1-Derek Fultz Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I'll be going for the 3rd time this year with my father, and I think I'll bring my 9yr. old son as well. He's really starting to take an interest in blacksmithing and should be able to sit through a couple demos now. We'll be camping again. Probably on the far side like last year. Can't hear the dog pound over there. Besides what has already been said, Quad State is just plain neat. A whole bunch of like minded individuals doing what they like to do. Something about it just feels right. -Derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke March Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Thanks for the feedback you guys have been giving. I enjoy hearing about your previous quad state experiences, it certainly seems worthwhile to go, if I can get the details worked out. Steve - I see! I should have looked more closely at your location. My "mode of transportation" will mostly depend on if my family wants to take a trip that weekend... Unless the schedule changes, my last final exam is on Friday of that week, then I will be free to leave, straight from Flint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Quite a few people from that general area show up. You could probably arrange to carpool if you checked with people ahead of time. Is there a meeting of the local ABANA Affiliate between now and then? (Note the special price for students and camping on-site is pretty cheap and fun if you can sleep through the dog pound at the end of the camping area.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.