[TheForge] Southeastern Blacksmith Conference

[Mike Linn]

2005 Southern Regional Blacksmith Conference
         May 19, 20 & 21 , 2005   Madison, GA

         Demonstrator Information


Peter Happny,  Portsmouth, New Hampshire

In 35 years in business, he has taught in many craft schools and 
demonstrated throughout the U.S.A. and in Europe.  He is an active member 
of ABANA and attended his first conference in Lumpkin, Georgia in 1973,

Peter's demonstration will focus on blacksmithing techniques that make 
money in this new century.  Over the years of doing business in New 
Hampshire, Peter has been challenged to come up with good designs to sell 
at a reasonable cost.  He will explore solutions in solid, hollow, and 
sheet materials.
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Audra Draper,  Riverton, Wyoming

Audra passed her Master Smith test with the American Bladesmith Society in 
2000. She is the first woman to become an ABS Mastersmith.  Audra Draper 
forges all her knives. She forges her blades from 52100 bearing steel and 
layered Damascus. Since she started making Damascus in 1996, this has been 
a real passion for her. Most of the time her Damascus is made from 1084 and 
15N20.  Though Audra makes many different kinds of knives, she most 
frequently makes "using" knives such as Damascus hunters, with 300 plus 
layers and blades that range from 3 1/2" to 4 1/2". Each knife Audra make s 
is tested for flexibility and cutting ability before it leaves her shop. As 
she says, "A good using knife should look good, but the most important 
thing for a knife to do is perform."

Audra will be demonstrating her techniques for making a damascus 
billet.  She will then  develop a knife from the billet and teach the steps 
she takes to produce her spectacular knives.
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Mark Hopper,  Kennesaw, Georgia

Mark has been blacksmithing since age 13 and has been a professional smith 
for 10 years. Growing up In England, he studied at Hereford's Smithing 
College with Adrian Legg and Derrick Lloyd.  He understudied at Dick 
Quinel's workshop 'London' under Ian Lamb. Later he moved to Cranbrook 
Forge in Kent, and then began his own workshop. After this time as a 
journeyman he moved to Kenya, East Africa where he taught tool smithi ng 
for four years. On returning to Europe, he moved to France where he opened 
his business again, honing his skills in traditional and modern smithing, 
bladesmithing and silversmithing.  Mark has been visiting and working in 
the U.S. the past two years.

Mark will be demonstrating some traditional tool making on the first day- 
punches and chisels, and their hardening and tempering; tong making the 
English way; and also a scroll fork.  His main focus as always will be on 
surface finish and quality, two aspects that are slowly being lost in 
modern smithing.  On the second day he will demonstrate some traditional 
forged elements, Snub-end Scroll, Blow-over Leaf Scroll, Beveled Scroll, 
and a Heel Bar with picket.  He will show how all these elements could fit 
together into a screen.

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Dereck Glaser,  Auburn, Maine

Dereck Glaser started forging at 14, and in his late teens and all through 
college he worked in shops and pursued metalworking of all forms.  He 
earned a Bachelors of Science Degree in Industrial Art Education and a 
minor in Art.  Dereck has taught at various schools across the country and 
is a licensed educator in most of New England.  His work reflects a 
traditional European flavor and emphasizes the methods and reasoning behind 
traditional joinery and the design aspects of many of the past and present 
masters that he has studied. His metalwork is spread throughout the eastern 
United States.  In 1997 Dereck moved his family to Maine to teach metal 
arts at the high school level.  He is now the Director and Resident 
Blacksmith of the New England School of Metalwork in Auburn, Maine.

Much of this demonstration will focus on the design development, tooling, 
forging and forming of the Acanthus leaf. The application will be to 
architectural ironwork, where the use of heavy gage sheet (10 ga.) is 
important for larger outdoor accents. Single dimension and 
three-dimensional leaves will be shown. Different ways to then attach these 
leaves to scroll work will also be demonstrated. Discussions on forging and 
the forming of the leaves will shed light on the use and development of the 
tooling required to make these leaves a part of your ironwork.



            Mike Linn
      Artist Blacksmith
          McCalla, AL
        AFC Webmaster
http://afc.abana-chapter.com

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"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how
   close they were to success when they gave up. "
   ~ Thomas A. Edison
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