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Dedicated to the revival of the “King of Crafts”

Volume 17 Issue 06. June 2005

COMING EVENTS June 4th Party at Sandy & Don Moloneys 642-3096 June 26th VIBA Meeting starting at 11 AM July 10 - July 11 Langford Lavender Days, VIBA Demonstration. Please Volunteer. July 24th VIBA Picnic at Luxton Forge. Pot Luck and Ray Orchard cooking the spit BEAST! Also VIBA Meeting scheduled. August 13 - August 14th Coombs Fair. More VIBA members to Volunteer for this Demo. August 19 - August 21st Vancouver Island Exhibi-tion in Nanaimo. August 27th Cobble Hill Fair August 30 - September 2nd CanIron V. Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. September 3, 4, 5 Saanich Fair September 16, 17, 18 Luxton Fall Fair September 17 & 18th Saltspring Island Fair

INDEX Corvallis Blacksmith Conference.........................8, 9 An Old Farmer........................................................10 Membership Renewal.............................................10 A Heart Hook............................................................5 Forge-In: City of Fitchburg, MA..............................3 Blue Moon Press......................................................4 Buzzard’s Bash.........................................................1 New Member............................................................3 Notices......................................................................3 Prez. Report..............................................................2 Louie Raffloer’s Demo..........................................6,7 Jeremy Clare............................................................ 7

It’s the Old Buzzard’s Bash! Sandy & Don Moloney

Invite You to the 7th Semi-Annual party at 2396 Sooke River Road

Saturday, June 4th Morning till whenever you drop!

Pot luck barbeque, music, live bands (with luck), jam-ming, visits to the potholes, bonfire, etc...

Bring food, drink, an instrument if you play, your tent if you want to stay.

Gourmet breakfast next day! Kids, significant others and pets welcome

(as long as they don’t go after the livestock) PS - Save your beer receipts for Pacific Western :-)

2005 - Executive President: Keith Kupitz 478-4095

Vice Pres.: Charlie Low 479-6712 Secretary: Clint Montgomery 360-

6910 Treasurer: Norm Norby 478-3589

Librarian: Skip Kennedy 478-8172 Editors: Sandy Sydnam & Dennis Gil-

lett Publishing Info: "Forge" is published monthly by and for members of the Vancouver Is-land Blacksmith Assoc. General Correspondence for VIBA: 1040 Marwood Ave, Victoria, BC, V9C 3C4. (or directly to appropriate executive member) Permission granted for repro-duction of any part of "Forge" provided credit is given to the original source, and the item is not marked 'copyright' or spe-cifically stated to be for the sole use of "Forge". Unless other-wise stated, the editors are the authors of all material. Dis-claimer Notice: "Forge" makes every effort to ensure accuracy of the information contained therein, but the executive offi-cers & general membership of the Vancouver Island Black-smith Association including the editors, specifically disclaim any responsibility or liability for damages or injuries as a result of any construction de-sign, use or application of infor-mation contained in this news-letter. The use of any informa-tion is solely at the user's own risk.

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Submissions & Contributions Submissions to “Forge” can be made at any monthly meeting or by snail mail to:

VIBA - The Editors 1040 Marwood Avenue

Victoria, BC Canada V9C 3C4

OR Email: sydnam@telus.net Email: dgillett@shaw.ca

OR Fax: (250) 642-7055

President’s Report By: Keith Kupitz

President’s Letter May, 2005 Many exciting events have kept your board members very busy recently---- As mentioned in The Anvil’s Ring, the ABANA EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENT TRUST has been completed. It is seeded with the funds from the old Scholarship and Trust funds, together with general funds for a total of $150,000.00. The scholarships and grants made possible by the trust contribute to the ar-tistic blacksmithing community in many ways:

1 The individual receiving a scholarship grows in ability, while sharing gained knowledge in demonstrations and arti-cles to trade to affiliate and ABANA publications.

2 Grants to facilitate extraordinary events not otherwise possible are made avail-able to the blacksmithing community, which similarly benefits us all. Just a single example, an ABANA grant of $500.00 was given to make a Metal Working Merit Badge booth possible at the National Boy Scout Jamboree this year. Filling an interest, educational outreach and potential future new members in our fold, what a deal!

3 For details or an application, visit the ABANA website: http://abana.org/resources/education/index.shtml#pdf"

An excellent way to foster the artistic commu-nity we belong to, would be to contribute to the TRUST. The trustees, Dorothy Stiegler, Bill Callaway and Doug Learn can help with any questions that arise. Speaking of grants, the Controlled Hand Forg-ing Committee that produces the excellent teaching articles in Hammer’s Blow is seeking grants. They would like to expand on pub-lished articles in the Hammer’s Blow and com-plete a book to make the information even more widely available. Contact committee chair Dan Nauman with information to help the committee achieve their goal.

Hi Everyone, We recently worked the Luxton Pro Rodeo. From a Blacksmiths point of view it was a success. We made a hockey sock full of loot. Come to our next meeting to find out how much you will be pleasantly surprised! Its times like this that the importance of production days comes to mind. We had no meeting May 29th but some business was able to be con-ducted. I sent our insurance policy to Norm Norby, so that it be paid. Ya just can't play without it!

The Demo

Two really good days of How To's and Hot Tips.

Louie Raffloer of Black Dog Forge went all out for us. I'm sure that no one went away without some new trick or idea, that they can put to use. The Mexican Hack Saw was an instant hit and six or so were made after the demo. NO shop has enough hacksaws! And the electric ones are too big for your tote sack. Well that is the good part of my report. Here comes the part you don't want to hear: Part of our rental agree-ment with M.F.I. (our home) is that we do 200hrs of work on the grounds or work projects. It is to be noted for those of you who don't know, the weekend before any of the activities of the M.F.I is a clean up weekend. To cut grass and fix up whatever needs doing. So far we have only put in eight hours. If M.F.I would send us a note or letter through one of the directors, we would be better able to assist in these matters. That's All For Now, Go make a hack-saw.

ABANA is always looking to in-crease communication worldwide with other artist metalworkers. Most recently we have increased our liai-son with the British Artist Black-smithing Association. Going fast are The Anvil’s Ring back issues, available for $1.00 on pur-chases of twenty or more, hurry to fill out your back issue library. Also available is a CD, picturing the gal-lery items at the 2004 ABANA Con-ference, thanks to our own editor, Brian Gilbert. The ABANA website is rotating pictures from the CD when you access it, check it out! Remember you can renew your dues for two years at the current $45.00 per year fee when you receive your notice. Dues will increase to $55.00 on January 1, 2006. Just think of it as a way to save a buck, and make the board work a little harder to fill all our organizations needs at budget time! It is with GREAT sadness that I re-ceived Tim Ryan’s resignation from the board! Tim has been a long time board member and positive supporter of ABANA. We all owe Tim a round of appreciation——HEAR! HEAR! Elected to the board was Louie Raf-floer of Black Dog Forge in Seattle, Washington. Louie is a full-time smith and runs a multi-staffed shop in Seattle. The shop is involved in all aspects of artistic metalwork and known for its many creative produc-tions. Please join us in welcoming Louie as he begins the work ahead. Having the newest board member at ‘Ground Zero’ of the 2006 ABANA Conference will be a Big Help! The 2006 ABANA Conference in Seattle will be the most diverse to date! Tours and demos will be held at the University of Washington Metals

Department, which is probably the most high-tech in the United States! Three-dimensional and digital design techniques will give smiths a view of the cutting edge of what’s to come in metal design and execution! There will be an array of new and exciting smiths from around the Pacific Rim. A new feature will be the ‘Smithy Social Cen-ter’ where smiths can relax from the demos, chat with old friends, and enjoy a soft drink, snack or microbrew right on the water! On-going smithing activi-ties and entertainment will keep the conference exciting from early morning to late at night!!! With so much smith-ing, you may be ‘Sleepless In Seat-tle’!!! May your fire be hot and your clinkers few! Don Kemper 20100 NW 61st Avenue Ridgefield, WA 98642 (360) 887-3903 dkemper@abana.org

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Wayne Wonnenberg refurbishes a wagon at the Metchosin Farmers Institute.

1.) You can now tell when your own membership is up for re-newal. Beside your name on the envelope is a year, at the end of that year please renew promptly. 2.)Viba Newsletter and executive are missing the addresses for the following members: Greg Har-stone, Evan Morris & Henry Belanger. If anyone knows of them kindly report to us :-)

Bryan Bruchall, Cherryville, BC

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A Day In The Life of LYNDEN, 1915

This year’s reenactment will take place over two evenings: June 24 & 25th. One week prior to the 4th of July celebration. Residents in 1915 explored issues of the time and con-trast between different cultural ide-als.

Charlie’s Plate Dragon

Roger’s Bolts

Neil’s Flatter

Keith’s Moose

“All right. Billy, you just go right ahead!... I've warned you enough times about

playing under the anvil tree!”

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Hot Tip No. 16 - Crazy Glue for Blacksmith’s It works like this: Cut yourself while smithing? You just know that band-aid will never stick to all the dirt, sweat or whatever. Clean the cut and disinfect. Take a new razor blade and slice off that hard earned callus. Preferably not the one on your hammering hand. Apply a small amount of Crazy Glue to the cut and place the removed callus on top. Let set. Please Note: we did not intentionally glue the eyelids!

Hot Tip No. 22 - The Wet Sack of Washers Soaking a bag of washers and applying it to the end of the hot steel you want to keep on the anvil works as a gravity hold down.

photo’s & text by: sandy sydnam

Hot Tip No. 37 - Hit Cold Steel To save yourself cleaning scale, use an orange heat in propane or natural gas forge.

photo’s & text by: sandy sydnam

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Louie provided us an enjoyable fun filled weekend. Some new methods were learned, some old ones revisited. We learned all sorts of new hot tips and laughed at our trials and tribulations during the ex-changing joke program. Ray Orchard prepared us hamburgers faithfully on both days for lunch. During that time we had a chance to meet with Louie and view his portfolios. All were inspired with tales of Louie’s crew on a Mexi-can “lala” commission. While Jeremy took right to the Mexican hack saw and later demonstrated how to make one! Fantastic. Saturday night pizza was ordered by Skip and Elva and a good time followed afterwards. Louie came prepared with a demonstration and hands on session of Repousse. And my oh my...that Willy, he put out an enormous pancake breakfast Sunday morning. Home made bread, griddle eggs and lots of coffee. Thanks Willy. We were introduced to bronze and aluminum forging and watched as Louie explained the basic details and methods. Louie forged an alumi-num crucifix on Sunday. Overall the event was very informative, a great gathering and the VIBA members tried not to make too many skirt jokes. Many thanks to Skip Kennedy for organizing this demo and to Louie for traveling to Victoria to accommodate our interests.

North West Blacksmith Conference Corvallis, Oregon

photos and text by: s.sydnam

Maria Cristalli Seattle, Washington

Maria’s first blacksmith class was at Black Dog Forge in Seattle. Realizing her obsession furthered her training at Fire Mountain Forge with Darryl Nel-son. She says this was one of the best learning ex-periences of her career. Maria now operates her own shop in Seattle design-ing and building for specific clients. Of late, an Eng-lish Garden overlooking Puget Sound. Maria tries to design new elements on every new piece. Cristalli demonstrated a mortis and tenon join for a garden gate. Some very elegant steel and bronze leaf work using the treadle hammer and some tooling techniques.

NWBA SPRING CONFERENCE GALLERY

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Left - R Back Row: Raynier Pipke, Dennis Gillett, Charlie Low, Clint Montgomery, Dave Winestock. Left - R Front Row: Sandy Sydnam, Neil Gustafson

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Frank Turley Master Blacksmith

Frank Turley founded one of the first blacksmithing schools in 1970 and continues teaching his art at his “real” blacksmith shop in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Frank was once the Conservator at the Museum of New Mexico researching and handling the Spanish colonial artifacts. While demonstrating or teach-ing Frank is focused on his posture and body mechanics and after one of his demos gave us all a quick lesson in Tai Chi, a little Yoga and stress reduc-tion exercises for the black-smith. Indian dancing is an-other of Franks’ passions from his Boy Scout days. All of Franks teachings were very entertaining and a pleasure to watch.

Jerry Henderson St.Helens, Oregon

Repousse Jerry demonstrated some of what he calls “basic stake repousse” techniques. He reviewed some of the tools used in the art and spoke about pattern cutting. We learned that some skills in repousse can be done hot while others cold. As Jerry held his breath, we all got to handle his beautiful set of hammers and even had some hands on instruction. All very informative and an interesting idea to add to a blacksmith’s bag of tricks.

Vancouver Island Blacksmith Association Membership Application

Name: ______________________________ Address: ____________________________ City: __________ Prov./State: __________ Post/Zip Code: _______________________ Email: ______________________________ Phone: (_____) _______________________ Fax: (_____) _________________________ Are you a: New Member [ ] Renewal [ ] [ ] Regular Membership $30.00 Annually [ ] Contributory Member $100.00 Annually Make cheques or money orders payable to:

Vancouver Island Blacksmith Assoc. (VIBA) 1040 Marwood Avenue Victoria, BC CANADA

V9C 3C4

Artist Blacksmiths Assoc. of North America Membership Application

Name: ________________________________ Address: ______________________________ City: ______________ State/Prov.: _______ Zip/Postal Code: _______________________ Phone: (_____) ________________________ Fax: (_____) __________________________ [ ] Full Time Student……….........….$35./year [ ] Regular Membership….........…….$45./year [ ] Senior Citizen (age 65+)…........…$40./year [ ] Overseas Surface Mail….......……$60./year [ ] Oversea Air Mail............................$80./year [ ] Contributory Membership............$100./year [ ] Public Library Subscription...........$35./year

Credit Card Payment Card No. _______________________

[ ] Visa [ ] Mastercard Expiry Date: ____________________ Signature: ______________________ by Phone: (706) 310-1030 by Fax: (706) 769-7147 Mail: ABANA, P.O. Box 816, Farmington,GA,USA.306380816

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An Old Farmer's Advice: * Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong. * Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance. * Life is simpler when you plow around the stump. * A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor. * Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled. * Meanness don't jes' happen overnight. * Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads. * Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you. * It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge. * You cannot unsay a cruel word. * Every path has a few puddles. * When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty. * The best sermons are lived, not preached. * Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway. * Don't judge folks by their relatives. * Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. *Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time. * Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't botherin' you none. * Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance. *If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'. * Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got. * The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin'. * Always drink upstream from the herd. * Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment. * Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in. * If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around. *Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.