Northeast Blacksmiths
Association

Northeast Blacksmiths
Association

Northeast Blacksmiths holds its meets twice a year at the Ashokan Center of New York State. The Ashokan Center is in Olivebridge, N.Y., several miles west of Kingston, N.Y. The meets are held the first weekend in May and in the first weekend in October every year. The main demonstration is in the blacksmith shop and there is a "Hands On" workshop for beginners.

Current Newsletter available near bottom of page

It has been a long Winter, there has been snow cover here for months. So thoughts about Spring and our Hammer-in are very welcome. But before looking forward to May we might take a moment to look back to last September when we hosted the 1st Atlantic Coast Blacksmithing Conference (ACBC). This was the first time that a cooperative event of this sort has happened on the East Coast. It was a dynamic and exciting weekend.

To recap: the ACBC was a group effort that involved, at its core, members from our group (Northeast Blacksmiths Assoc.), the New England Blacksmiths Assoc., Pennsylvania Artist Blacksmiths Assoc., and the Blacksmith’s Guild of Central Maryland. This was our chance to establish a loosely knit organization that would promote cooperation within the region. We tried to include as many interested volunteers as possible with the idea that this would create an “experienced” group to produce future events of this sort at different sites throughout the East. We had 3 great days of events and demos, nearly 200 attendees and no problems that interfered. And, it is noteworthy to report that the 3 groups that put up the money to finance the event each received a share of the profits. Not bad for a first time out.

To name all who offered their time and effort that made this a success would fill a whole newsletter, so this is a general thank you to all who contributed, you know who you are:

First there is the ACBC Committee, whose members worked out all the details of the event, from advertising to porta-potties, you name it they got it.

All the volunteers who made this possible, some of you we all know as well as those of you who helped but were not in the spotlight. Without the many “hands” this would not have worked out as well as it did.

Thanks go out to our 3 main demonstrators, Peter Ross, Mark Aspery and David Norrie, as well as those who offered a demo, talk or workshop.

The gallery show was an eye opener. Thanks to those who worked to set the show up and to all who brought work for this exhibit. We can’t forget the Iron-in-the-Hat lottery and the Auction.

The set-up crew worked smoothly and many problems were avoided. The tear-down/clean-up was equally efficient, thorough and fast.

We should thank our hosts from The Ashokan Center as well, it is a great site. And thanks to all of you who made the commitment to attend. It was a great conference, a first class event, enjoyed by all.

The 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.

Clean Forging Coal Now
Available at Ashokan
Stock up from this new batch

They can email Jonathan Nedbor for more info.

For information on
The Ashokan Center go to,
www.ashokancenter.org
and to Contact Tim Neu, Director,
neutim@ashokancenter.org
To view the Ashokan Newsletter click,
Ashokan Spring 2006