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Northeast Blacksmiths | ||||
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President: Jonathan Nedbor 496 Tow Path High Falls, NY 12440 Phone:(845) 687-7130 jonned@hvc.rr.com |
Editor: Carl Davison 112 N.Puttcorners Rd. New Paltz, N.Y. 12561 carlrd@worldnet.att.net | ||||
Hi, I would like to welcome you to the Northeast Blacksmiths'Association web site. Browse the links on the side or bottom of the page to get to information on educational, upcoming and past events. Our mission is to promote blacksmithing through education and sharing to all those who are interested, be they hobbist, professional or just curious and want to learn more. This is done through demonstrations, workshops and hands on training. Please check out our site, if there are any questions please contact one of our board members through the links or if there are questions or problems with the site please contact me, Larry Brown
We had a successful Fall Hammer In with our guest demonstrator Arie Haksteen, from Holland. Hosting Arie was in keeping with the celebration of the Henry Hudson Quadracentennial in 2009.
Arie was very personable and happy to share his knowledge. One of the interesting “imports” he brought to us was the making of a “Nail Tree”. This is a European tradition that is actually seeing a revival there and is something we are instituting for our own group, as well as to share with other Regional Affiliates. The Nail Tree is simply a large wooden beam or section of a tree trunk, decorated by “signature” nails made by attendees and demonstrators at our meetings. We are starting from scratch at this point and want everyone who can, to participate in creating the NBA Nail Tree. To get us started, Arie contributed a large nail with his signature Wooden Shoes as the head of the nail. What we would like is for all of you to make a large nail that you create as your “signature”, your own idea that will be identified as yours. If you are really motivated, you could make several nails with different designs. You might want to stamp your name and the date somewhere on the nail so we can identify your work in the future. This should be a fun project that will “grow” over the years. Coincidently, ABANA is also planning to create a nail tree at the upcoming Memphis, TN Conference, The Capitol District group held a meet at the Palkowics Blacksmith Shop in New Paltz this past January. It was a warm, sunny day and there were close to 30 attendees. Eddie Kara, Jim’s nephew, is now running the shop. Eddie demonstrated a few items for the group that highlighted some of the dies that have been made in the shop over the decades. The group members were able to use the dies to make either a candleholder or a pair of tongs. It was a good meet and lots of people got to work with some of the tooling in the shop. With that in mind Mark Emig and I are hosting a meet here in my shop that we hope to schedule every few months and develop a following. Our idea is to present a couple of short demos and then have an open forge so people can try their hand at doing what was demonstrated or get help with some other forging challenge. We can discuss this at our Spring Hammer In and see if there is enough interest to continue with more of these meets every few months. The goal here is to give our members an opportunity to work at a fire and get instruction or inspiration more than the 2 times per year that we meet at Ashokan. Hope to see you all at our Spring meet, with your Nail Tree donation and some other forged masterpieces.
April 30, May 1 & 2 We have Lucian Avery, a New Englander, as our demonstrator. I have met Lucian a number of times over the years and his work always stood out. His forgings are clean and neat. Much of his hardware is traditional and sometimes he uses a traditional design to which he adds his own detail or style to the piece. Lucian started blacksmithing to make tools for gardening and woodworking but was soon captivated by the process of blacksmithing itself. He is primarily self-taught. He says that he gleaned bits and pieces of the craft from many sources such as, old-time local smiths, contemporary smiths, books, and a few classes. He feels that most of his learning has been through the hands-on work and experimentation in his own studio. He started forging full time in 1993, focusing on custom designed, commissioned pieces. Over the years he has grown to enjoy making door hardware and that has become his primary focus. Lucian teaches classes in blacksmithing and demonstrates in the New England area. Lucian works and lives with his family in Hardwick, Vermont. You can see more of his work at www.lucianaveryblacksmith.com. Back by popular demand, we have a Friday Tour on April 30. We are meeting at the “Walkway over the Hudson” a pedestrian park on the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge. The walking tour will be led by Charlie Hulsizer. Charlie is very enthusiastic about sharing what he knows about the building of the bridge and its history. This is not just any railroad bridge, when it opened in 1889 it was said to be the longest bridge in the world, 1.25 miles long with the deck 212 feet above the Hudson River. At its peak, 3,500 train cars crossed the bridge daily. It is a marvel of Industrial Revolution engineering. In addition to leading the walking tour, Charlie Hulsizer has offered to present a Friday evening slide show on the building of the bridge, with period photos, blueprints and lots of interesting facts. The bridge is an exciting place to visit with great views. Bring your binoculars and wear weather appropriate clothing, it can be windy on the bridge. For more info: http://www.walkway.org/index.php http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfYmBySg_do&NR=1 **At the moment I am not sure what time we will meet at the bridge, estimate around 3pm. Will update with that info soon. Directions: Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge “Walkway over the Hudson” On West side of the River (Highland): Take NY 218/Route 9W to Haviland Road. Parking: 87 Haviland Road, Highland, NY (Ulster County), parking is allowed along the north side of the road, with ADA-compliant handicapped parking spaces at the entrance to the bridge.
The ABANA 2010 conferenceThe ABANA 2010 conference will be held at the AgriCenter International in Memphis, Tennessee. Opening ceremonies will be on Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Thursday, June 3rd through Saturday June 5th will be full days of forging demo's and excitement ABANA style. Click HERE for more information.
Available at Ashokan Stock up from this new batch |
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