[TheForge] Help a sinking ship?

[Andrew Vida]

Chris Worsley wrote:
> Within a few days of  Keenjunk closing down,  http://www.forgemagic.com 
> came online and picked up almost all of the same participants and 
> threads.  You should check it out.
> It is not the responsibility of ABANA to take care of anyone's failing 
> website, no matter how much content it holds.
> Perhaps you should be talking to your congressman......get a little 
> "pork" money for Jock. Lesser efforts have received funds!
> 
> On another note, is anyone on theforge living in Mesa AZ or the 
> surrounding area? What's the blacksmithing situation there?

	I used to live in Scottsdale, about 20 miles from Mesa... give or take. 
  There are quite a few blacksmiths in AZ and the association is veyr 
active.  George Cavalliere (crap, I'm spelling it wrong...) is third 
generation running his grandfather's shop in Old Scottsdale.  He and his 
wife, Elizabeth, are cool people and the shop is worth a visit by all means.

	There are also a large number of professional and part time blade 
smiths in the valley.  Tim Hancock was my neighbor about 1/4 mile from 
me.  His work is fantastic as is that of D. Holder.  Mike Mooney is down 
in Queen Creek as was Ben Corsetti (moved to FL last I heard).  Travis 
Wuertz is a very talented young smith, though I hear he's now making 
musical instruments more than knives.  Peter Sevin is in the west 
valley... GLendale or Sun City or maybe Peoria... he hosts a big 
smithing blowout every year at his shop and had his hands in the 2000 
conference in Flagstaff.  Jeff Jones is in downtown PHX...  there are a 
lot of smiths there, so if you're looking to move, you should have 
little trouble finding friends.

AZ is a good place for smithing.

	-Andy