[TheForge] Re:ABANA Kagele

[Ries Niemi]

>
> and the reason abana still exists is?
>
> -- 
> terry l. ridder ><>
>


Simple- because, even though it has political disagreements, every 
gathering of more than one person on earth has political disagreements.

Abana offers a much needed link between blacksmiths around the country. 
It puts on great conferences which bring together people from around 
the world. It publishes a magazine, which, for many years, was the ONLY 
place to find ads for companies selling blacksmith equipment, and 
articles about other smiths.
It played a pivotal role in raising the spirits of all those isolated 
individuals around the country, who each believed they were the only 
one trying to recreate some of those old techniques.

Nowadays, we are a bit spoiled, with more magazines, websites, forums, 
email groups, guilds and chapters.
But when Abana started in the 70's, there was none of that stuff, and 
if Abana hadnt existed, a lot of the current blacksmithing scene might 
not either. Virtually the entire idea of a local blacksmiths group, or 
indeed a virtual one on the internet, is based on the model of Abana.

And regardless of what you think it has done for you lately, it is 
still the best, most accesible way for newbies to find out about 
blacksmithing, to link up with others, and to see the incredible range 
of modern work being done.
Blacksmiths, even more than most people, love to argue, think they are 
right, and get into pissing contests. So gather 5000 of them together 
into Abana, and you get a lot of these arguments. But overall, the 
organisation does a lot, and helps a lot of people. If you dont want to 
join, dont. No problem. But dont try to deny all the good it has, and 
continues to do.

ries