Calif Blacksmith Assoc. Conference April 25-27, 2019

[Glenn]

California Blacksmith Association Spring Conference 2019

Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/25/2019 - 04/27/2019
All Day 

April 25-27, 2019 – Nevada County Fairgrounds

An amazing lineup: 

• Stenico Brothers
• Maria Cristali
• Maegan Crowley
• Andrew Meers
• Andrew Kyte
• Elijah Burnett
• Heather McLarty
• Jack Da Silva
• Pat Downing

Education:

• Mark Aspery
• John Williams. 

[Shabumi]

Finally something local-ish for me to go to. Anyone else going?

[Shabumi]

I had a blast this Thurs-Sat at the CBA spring conference in Grass Valley CA. It was my first ever BS conference so my head is still swimming with names and information. Made a ⅞ inch slitter in the education area with Mark Aspery and Victoria Ritter in the education area. Mark showed me that I needed to loosen up my tong shoulder to be able to swing the hammer more smootherly. Joined a pendulum contest and won!! You can see it under "Show me things that move" in the metal sculpture and carving section). 

The Stenico brothers, Martino and Jadran, from Italy made a beautiful grey heron as their demo.

Megan Crowly from Colorado was making vases out of different sized pipes for her demo.

Did a link making contest for destruction testing. They couldn't find the 3/8 in round stock so we made 1/2inch links instead. They took a 20ton press and rigged it to pull, and put a device that measures the pulling force in 5 lb increments. We had to stop halfway through because the press started warping at 22,000 lbs and wasn't safe to test anymore. That link didn't break either. The lowest tested was 6000 lbs, and that one looked like the weld didn't take, so even though mine wasn't tested I know it'll hold at least 6000lbs

Won a decorative lantern and a rr spike letter opener at the iron in the hat.

And there were alot of cool things in the gallery.

[Rojo Pedro]

Thanks for sharing. Did they have a tail gate sale or swap meet?

looks like fun and love the herron

[Frosty]

Oh MAN I have serious living in the sticks too far from conferences envy. <sigh> I THINK we're being planned to start RVing next year. I have my fingers crossed till they hurt!

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daswulf]

Awesome event! Sounds like there was a ton going on. 

[Eventlessbox]

God that looks like fun. Is the yellow item a Lego power hammer?

[Shabumi]

Rojo, Yes they did have a tailgaiting section, but it wasn't as large as I was expecting, maybe 6 or 7 tailgaters, and they were picked over pretty good by the time I made it out to them. There was a 10 ton fly press i wish I could've afforded after I got to use one in the pendulum contest, but I can't justify spending more than $500 on any tool. At least not yet.

Frosty, I lucked out, it was at my local fairgrounds so it was only a half hour drive for me. I haven't been able to go to any of the other "local" conferences because I'm so far out myself and can't be gone for more than 1 night. I got alot of comments on how jealous everyone was that I got to sleep in my own bed every night 

Das, I think I heard one of the event planners say that there were a little over 300 people who showed up for the event, not counting volunteers, demonstrators, or family members who came to watch. There were 5 or 6 other demonstrators that were there too, but I didn't get to see what they were doing, so I didn't mention them earlier.

E-Box, yes that is a fully functional Lego power hammer, they even had a lego guy with a leather apron and tools to use with it, someone had grabbed him to look at when I was taking pictures though so no pics of him.

[Eventlessbox]

That's awsome!

[horse]

Shabumi I am pretty sure I am familiar with the fairgrounds you are talking about. Right there in Grass Valley beautiful grounds lots of redwoods. I have announced the draft horse classic there for years  they have a farrier competition every year. There is a blacksmith on the grounds that does a bit of demonstrating but doesn’t seem to draw a lot of interest. I love the hit and miss engine club.