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| NEWSLETTER HIGHLIGHTS | |
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Organized in 1978, the
Appalachian Blacksmiths Association is an affiliate of ABANA. We represent blacksmiths,
bladesmiths, and farriers in West Virginia and its surrounding states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky. To join the ABA, click on Appalachian Blacksmiths Association
© 2010 Nothing herein may be reproduced unless permission of the submitter and/or the Appalachian Blacksmiths Association is given.
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President's Message After more cabin fever than we wanted, it was good to visit with our blacksmith friends this spring. The Joint ABA-PAABA Hammer-In at Rice’s Landing was well supported. I would like to thank our demonstrators, Boyd Holtan, Brian Riley and Joe Harris and all of those who helped, for putting on a good day of demonstrations for the public. With help from the Rice’s Landing and Fort Allen events in April, we were able to sell the remainder of our ABANA raffle tickets. Thanks also to John Steel and Chris Holt of PAABA for keeping us informed about the things to come at Rice’s Landing, such as a new roof, walk ways and restrooms. I opened our Spring Conference with a short business meeting since our regular business meeting was snowed out. Our members voted to keep present officers. The Nominating Committee will be looking for someone to carry on Boyd's position Secretary/Treasure in 2011. We owe many thanks to Boyd for his 32 years as ABA Secretary/Treasurer and for all of the help he's given me and our past presidents. We will be in touch to sell raffle tickets for a power tire hammer to be built for a fund raiser to help keep our dues low. Ted Banning is heading up the project. As of now, we still need a 1-1/2 hp electric motor, 1750 rpms. Those interested in helping with this project should contact Ted Banning (304-863-5349) or myself (see page 2). The drawing date for the raffle is Saturday, October 9th, the first day of the Fall Conference. Complete information about the raffle and ticket sales will be posted at our website and in the September newsletter. It was decided at the meeting to clean and paint the white part of the walls at Cedar Lakes Blacksmith shop. This “work party” will take place early morning the day of the ABA picnic, Saturday, August 28th (Note the date change so as not to interfere with Sunday). The picnic will be at the first pavilion nearest the blacksmith shop. Bring a covered dish. Please come and visit and bring your family and friends. My family will furnish the hot dogs, hamburgers, buns and condiments. We talked about wanting to have more hammer-ins and work shops. We welcome input dates, subjects and interest. Our Spring Conference demonstrator, Eugene Ratliff (one of our own members), worked very hard not only to educate but to complete his demo items towards another great auction. Paul Brown got called away from Cedar Lakes—bees were visiting his house. Thanks to Joey, Rachel, and Hunter Browning for their help with the Iron-in-the-hat. Thanks to Boyd Holtan for the donation of a new torch for the auction. I am working on promoting Blacksmithing at the Monongalia County Fair in August. I will bring a trailer—anyone interested in demonstrating, please contact me. I am looking forward to a long, warm summer with lots of hammer time. Thanks, Tim
Spring Conference Demo by Eugene Ratliff ABA Spring Conference; May 1-2, 2010; By Aaron Cutright The Appalachian Blacksmith Association held it's annual Spring Conference on Saturday, May 1st and Sunday, May 2nd 2010 at the Blacksmith Shop at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley, WV. Attendance was good, with around 50-plus members in attendance. Eugene Ratliff, of Oak Hill, WV was our featured demonstrator.
Eugene brought many years of experience as a working blacksmith to the
demonstrator area, which was a treat for many of us in attendance. Eugene
demonstrated and completed many different projects on Saturday of the
conference, including a small belt ax. The belt ax was the highlight of
Saturday morning, as Eugene demonstrated how to layout the material. He
then used a broken anvil he had modified to set down the poll section of
the ax. Then he set down the opposite side of the piece to form a thinner
section that formed the “wrap” which would become the eye of the ax. The
piece was then heated and bent to form a “U” shaped piece, with two
heavier areas to weld the higher carbon bit into. The higher carbon insert
was then inserted in Borax and welded between the sides of the “U”. (Some
of those in attendance said Eugene made the welding look easy!!! Guess
that comes with much practice!!) The welded-up ax head was then heated and
drawn out into a proper profile for the blade. (I was lucky enough to have
Eugene later draw up some notes on this method of ax construction, which I
have included. Thanks Eugene!) Eugene also showed us his method for shearing a large saw blade in a post vise. He also demonstrated his way of forging and riveting tongs; how to forge and weld a drive-in double hook to hang axes and other tools; how he makes a small drive-in type hook to hang harnesses and such, and how to make a shear punch to be used in conjunction with post vise to shear out slots in sheet metal. Eugene, along with some striking help from Joey Browning, also gave us a nice little demonstration of making a hot-cut hardy from a broken jack hammer bit. Eugene first drew an approximated taper to the size hole he wanted using the air hammer. Then with Joey's help, he set it into the proper hole on the swage block. Most important, he noted, was to turn piece 90o while setting it in to make sure the hardy shank wouldn't stick in the hardy hole. He then finished the cutting edge out using the air hammer. Saturday's demo festivities ended with Eugene making a nail header and forging some nails out using the just made tool. What an action packed Saturday to be had for such a small admission price, folks!
The first day of Conference ended with a rousing iron-in-the-hat—lots of
goodies to be had for the price of a ticket and a little luck. We then had
our auction of donated hand-forged iron work to cap off a great day of
demonstrations and fellowship with our brother blacksmiths. Remember
folks, all the money raised goes to keeping our dues low by off-setting
printing and mailing costs of our great newsletters!! Sunday morning's festivities focused on making wood carving chisels using cut masonry nails. Eugene took all those in attendance through the steps of forging out the head end into the desired shape and/or profile. He also showed the rough grinding of the bevel that does the work. Then he demonstrated how to make different cutting shapes out of those blanks using the swage block to set a round or “V” shaped profile. After all the chisels were finished, Eugene demonstrated heating, quenching, polishing on a granite stone and drawing the desired temper. He then let any of us in attendance try our hand doing to same. Everyone that wanted a chisel to finish out at home and put a handle on, took one home with them after they were all cooled.
Another fine demo by a fine demonstrator. Eugene, you truly are an asset
to the Appalachian Blacksmith Association. Thank you for all you did at
the conference. Boyd Holtan’s notes: I arrived Saturday afternoon at the ABA Spring Conference at Cedar Lakes. I just couldn't pass up the Willie Nelson concert in Morgantown on Friday night. Eugene Ratliff did a nice job as the demonstrator.. I noticed that he COMPLETED more demo items than most other demonstrators. He made a small axe, a hot-cut hardy, a pair of tongs (including installing the rivet!), a tool to shear light metal, some small chisels, some hooks and other items. ---------------------------------------------------- Tim Schiffbauer’s notes: Eugene is a master at forge welding. He makes it look so easy. I noticed that Eugene really piled the coal high over the firepot. He did not manage the outer fire with water. Instead, he let the coal burn to form more coke, which in turn gave him more heat to bring the iron up to welding heat. Eugene really connects with the crowd as well. He explains what he is doing as he forges. We signed a “Thank You” card for Cedar Lakes to show our appreciation for moving the air compressor.
The ABA picnic will be Saturday, August 28, 2010. I also signed our
contract for the 2011 Spring Conference. The dates are April 29 through
May 1, 2011.
What Is Art? (A new feature)Bob Rupert As we look at art together, we may raise more questions than answers. But lets give it a whirl for a while and see what we come up with. This is my approach to new works—just get started and give the piece time to communicate. Look back about 30,000 years to the Paleolithic Age. Prehistoric art had its origins in that distant age, an age which continued to provide us, through the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages which followed, with a record of life and culture unparalleled in its fascination and variety; it is rich aesthetically and also as an expression of ideological messages, though these are the more difficult to interpret, belonging as they do, to a people who have not left us their thoughts and ideas in written form. We consider those sketches as art today. Art has to be a form of expression. Is it the medium or the method? What I mean by this, is if a story teller is a writer and a chronicler, are we to consider not only the story he is telling to be his form of expression or his skill as the chronicler? To continue, let’s say you were a painter during the Realism period. They painted with such detail that it would be hard to distinguish what they painted from real life, communicating what they saw in their art form. Then along comes Monet. He paints or communicates what he sees in the abstract and with color. Free air painting for the moment. Painting in the moment captures us today with the feeling of that setting. It's almost like explaining what an orange tastes like. I will leave you with a thought. Creating an object, that which is "Art", in time with the proper setting will communicate the magic that I consider to be called Art.
March 11th—Pittsburgh, PA H. Budden What is Art . . . "If it don't look good, it probably ain't." April 15th—Harman, WV
Dan Hinton Here is my take on the question of how to define art. Art is the creative expression of the human experience - life. That's the short version. Art can then be further divided into "public art" and the more intimate, private forms (like that found in our homes for example). It is the former which is most often debated and interpreted, I think. Maybe that's because it is "out there" in the open and harder to avoid if you don't happen to feel an affinity toward it. Public art has always been hotly-debated and always will be, I think. I suppose that in itself is a part of the human experience, isn't it?
April 17th—Watertown, OH
The Big Picture By Dave Allen, Editor The current issue of ABANA’s Hammer’s Blow magazine contains a sad note. Editor Brian Gilbert is hanging it up to pursue some of the endeavors he previously had to shortchange to be the editor. You can’t blame him for that. He has been the editor for a decade, and every issue has been a good one—full of projects and tips for the beginner and intermediate smith. The HB offers what I call the meat and potatoes of blacksmithing. No matter how good you are, you still have to pass through this stage of learning the basics of blacksmithing. Since it’s inception, HB has focused on the basic teaching points. If you aren’t a HB reader, then you might remember Brian as our demonstrator at the 2004 fall conference. Or you may have one of Brian’s books on sailing (Fix It and Sail or Complete Trailer Sailor.) Or you may have one of Brian’s E-books on blacksmithing (see ad in the classifieds.) Brian is also a location sound producer for the various major networks. So you can see why he needs to give up something, and editing the HB doesn't exactly pay the rent. In his letter to the readers, Brian announced that a search for the new editor will begin immediately. I am sure that ABANA will find a qualified editor. But based on my own experience as editor of this newsletter, the transition between editors takes time to develop because readers need time to adjust to the new editor’s style. Brian is a master at this, and he will not be “replaced” overnight. The HB has been ABANA’S lifeblood link to the beginner and hobbyist blacksmith. For that reason, I have always felt that the HB is ABANA’s most important publication. I hope that the next editor carries on in this tradition. Brian, I will miss you as editor of the Hammer’s Blow. You have a great talent for getting information to your readers—the HB has always been jam-packed with tips, book reviews and projects with you at the helm.
Best wishes to you from your friends at the Appalachian Blacksmiths
Association.
Print and Publishing Information The Appalachian Blacksmiths Association Newsletter is composed and written by the Editor(s) except as noted. ABANA Blacksmith Affiliate Newsletter Editors may reprint material herein provided its use is for non-commercial, educational purposes and appropriate acknowledgements are given. For all others, the material printed herein may not be reproduced without permission of ABA and/or the submitter. The ABA, its officers, its members, contributors, editors and writers specifically disclaim any responsibility, or liability for any damage, or injury as a result of the use of any information published in the ABA Newsletter or demonstrated at an ABA meeting or conference. Every effort is made to insure the accuracy and safety of information provided but the use by our members and readers of any information published herein or provided at meetings is solely at the user’s own risk. The Appalachian Blacksmiths Association is a non-profit, WV corporation, formed under Sec. 501(c)3, and is an affiliate of the Artist Blacksmiths Association of North America.
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