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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 |
 The Blacksmith Shop at The Ashokan Center Directions
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Editor: Carl Davison 112 N.Puttcorners Rd. New Paltz, N.Y. 12561 carlrd@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
Frank Turley May 3rd, 4th and 5th We were very lucky to have had Frank Turley as our demonstrator for the Spring Meet at Ashokan. Frank has taught blacksmithing for over 40 years and was a key player in the blacksmithing revival that occurred in the late 1960’s early 1970’s. My first blacksmithing class was with Frank in 1975 and it has had a lasting influence on my work. Frank is well known for his clean, careful forge work and his entertaining character. Trained as a farrier in California in the early 1960’s, Frank soon moved to Santa Fe NM, where his work shifted to more general smithing with commissions for items such as fireplace tools, screens, branding irons, architectural hardware, ornamental work and tools. In 1970, he opened Turley Forge Blacksmithing School, which he bills as "The Granddaddy of Blacksmithing Schools," and was even included in the "Whole Earth Catalog” (for those of you old enough to know what that was). Frank worked for a while as a conservator at the Museum of New Mexico, and was able to study the early Southwestern Hispanic ironwork in their collection, which led to the book, “Southwestern Colonial Ironwork” that he co-authored with Marc Simmons. Franks demo: forge welded hinge barrel, combo mandrel/drift for hinge, hispano-gothic ornament on the diamond (claraboya), portions of aldaba construction and bolt tongs For more info on Frank (also check out the article on Victor Vera):
Well here we are in 2013 and we are looking forward to our first opportunity to use the new buildings at the Ashokan Center. We will finally be in the new bunkhouse and dinning hall. This is the most dramatic change to the Campus we have witnessed over the 35 years we have been meeting here. It will be interesting to see how it feels in the new digs. On a sadder note we have lost a few members and family in our group. John Olsen, long a member of the NBA has passed away. He was a volunteer at Hancock Shaker Village after his retirement from AT&T, and was always an active participant in our Saturday evening business meetings. This past November, the week after Hurricane Sandy, James Stapleford and his wife Susan of Shokan NY, died as a result of consequences of the storm. Jim and Susan were always a part of our group, though due to health reasons they had become less active the past few years. Jim was the editor of the NBA’s newsletter for many years and both he and Susan could be found demonstrating at numerous historic sites and festivals in the region. They called themselves ‘Spinster & Smythe', Susan would demo spinning and weaving and Jim would be working at his portable forge set-up, both in period costume. They were also involved with the Berkshire Smiths. Our condolences also go out to Fletcher and Debra Coddington, of Arrowsmith Forge in Millbrook NY, who lost their son Baylin in December. Baylin was due to be married and sadly drowned a few days before the wedding. Changing gears here, I would like to mention a bit about shop safety. I recently had a minor accident while working in my shop. I usually observe all the obvious shop safety rules, such as safety glasses, leather shoes, etc. But one of the things we don’t often mention when talking shop safety is how we are feeling. I knew I was not 100% “on my game” that day and had busied myself with other work in the shop to avoid working at the fire. Ignoring my gut feeling, I pushed myself to do some work at the forge to “just finish the job”, and that is when the accident happened. A few stitches and a couple of weeks later and I am fine, but it could have been avoided if I had paid more attention to my intuition. Safety is as much about how sharp you feel as it is about wearing your safety glasses. If you are not feeling up to the task, I would suggest you do something else that needs attention and come back to your forge work when you feel more attuned to the task. As the saying goes, “Safety is no accident”.
See you at Ashokan,
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
Pennsylvania, 30 Mi west of Philadeliphia If you find this position filled please let me know so I can remove this announcement, Larry Brown, Webmaster
Available at Ashokan Stock up from this new batch |
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