March Hammer Inn Featuring Randy McDaniel

[HWHII]

This event will be held on March 17,18, 2012. Registrtion 8am demo starts at 9am till 4pm on Saturday, 9am til 1pm on Sunday, at Holy Hammer Ironworks In Tucson,AZ on the school grounds of the Abby Loveland Tuller School. Cost for this 2 day event will $20 for AABA members, $25 for non members. A true bargin to see this excellent blacksmith. Plenty of dry RV parking available.

Here is what is scheduled to happen;


AABA Tucson Demonstration

Saturday Randy McDaniel will do a demonstration of the ironwork of Bethlehem, PA. He has chosen this city due to the amount of colonial ironwork from the 1740’s still in place there and the connection with the book, Early American Wrought Iron, by Albert Sonn. He will forge a German/Moravian style shutter dog and a slide bolt. Time permitting he will stray from this theme and forge a cowboy hat.

Sunday will be a demonstration of the forging of animal heads in a two part demonstration. As tools are required for facial details, the first segment will be on tool making using scrap tool steel. The second segment will be forging of animal heads. He will show you how to make heads for a dragon, ram, mouse and human in bar stock and other materials.

Biography:

Randy McDaniel began his experience in blacksmithing with a class from an 81-year-old blacksmith in 1972. That was the spark that ignited his passion for forging hot metal. Randy also learned from other “retired” smiths, researching the craft in libraries, by taking craft schools classes from various skilled smiths such as Frank Turley, Francis Whitaker and Ivan Bailey, and by participating in blacksmithing conferences. Mr. McDaniel traveled to England in 1987 to participate in the British Artist Blacksmith Association’s International Conference in Hereford and to study ironwork in London. In 1988 Randy was baptized as a smith by Manfred Bredhol from Aachen, Germany.

Originally specializing in Colonial reproduction ironwork taught him the basics of forging hot metal. Randy’s blacksmithing experience now includes a wide diversity of works that runs the gamut from designing and producing personal and whimsical items from business card holders and furniture to large-scale lighting, gates, grilles, fountains and sculptural pieces. His design and forging of the artwork for the Children’s Garden entrance arbor at Hershey Gardens is an excellent example of his art and whimsy. Besides forging steel he enjoys working in copper, bronze and titanium. Currently he is experimenting with the effects of a sixty ton hydraulic forging press on hot metal.

Randy has taught basic and advanced workshops for more than twenty-five years. These include workshops at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Penland School of Crafts, J.C. Campbell Craft School, Appalachian Center for Crafts, New England School of Metalwork, Peters Valley Craft School and for many regional blacksmithing groupsin the U.S. and Newfoundland. Randy was also a lecturer and demonstrator for the Artist-Blacksmith Association of North America’s International Conference at Alfred, New York in 1990 and at LaCrosse, Wisconsin in 2002.

Mr. McDaniel has also gained recognition and acclaim for writing and illustrating “A Blacksmithing Primer, A Course In Basic And Intermediate Blacksmithing”. Originally self-published, due to its’ success is now being published as a second edition by Finney Books. Blacksmiths, blacksmithing groups and even schools around the world are using this book to teach basic to intermediate forging. This book has also been professionally filmed as a 6 hour video/DVD.

[Randy]

Just got back from a wonderful weekend in Tucson, Arizona. I had a lot of fun demonstrating, seeing the sights and meeting a number of IFI members! That was great! Thanks so much, it was a special time that I will always cherish.

[HWHII]

We should be thanking you, and we were glad to have you Randy. You put on on great demo!

If anyone else is looking for first class demonstrator for there group, Randy come highly recommended. You won't be sorry.