[TheForge] Re:ABANA Kagele

[Larry Brown]

I agree completely with Ries, I remember when there was no information 
available. It took me years to find out about ABANA which became a valued 
source of information. The internet has made so much available people don't 
remember

Larry Brown




>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