[TheForge] ABANA conference

[Steve Smith]

Here's my writeup, I'm still working on getting the pictures to a useful 
state.

Steve

--------------------------

I thought things were very well organized. The web page demo schedule 
was updated so you had a good idea in advance how to organize your time. 
The web page was hard to find things on, but it could be figured out. 
Too many similar sounding pages. Just a couple of last minute 
rearrangements announced on site--pretty good score for this large an 
event. If you can do better, you're a miracle worker. Remember this is 
coordinating over 30 demonstrators from all parts of the world with a 
rigid time schedule.

Someone I was talking with said there were 1200 present, but I don't 
know if they were official. I've also heard 1000.

I really enjoyed the conference (not to mention being in real serious
need of a vacation). Here's what I saw:

The dorms were pretty basic, but the food was pretty good. Breakfast at 
the dorm and other meals on site (catered, pretty expensive). Noise was
a bit of a problem, especially at the demo tent that was also where they
were assembling the ring project.

The opening ceremony had a large number of thank this person and that.
Goes with people's expectations I suppose. The Aussies had talked an
aboriginal friend into coming along. He played a number on a strange
bush instrument and strongly encouraged people to be tolerant and open
minded about other cultures. He had us do a chant stomping our feet and
waving our hands. Later (at a demo) he had us do another chant "Now,
clooose your eyes. Put your hands on your hips. Put your right foot
in..." i.e. the Hokie Pokie. It took us awhile to realize what was 
happening.

Two people did a Souix Indian chant praising Nahum Hersom (Nahum is part
Indian and has spent significant time with the Souix). Nahum does hammer
and stake repousse' par-excelance if you haven't seen him before. I 
didn't get any pics at this conference, I've seen him several times at RMS.

Thursday morning I wanted to see Winterstein talk about design. He
hadn't shown up at the pavillion yet at 9, so I went next door to listen
to Toby Hickman talk power hammers--just for five minutes or so. I
didn't get up until lunch time. Not only is Toby a good demonstrator,
but he showed some pretty useful stuff. I've seen the like before, but 
somehow his presentation really helped me get the point of using tools 
under the hammer. He is really skilled--he made upsetting 3/8 x 4" plate 
look trivial. Toby feels very strongly that the hammer treadle should be 
worked with the heel, putting your toes on the hammer foundation. The 
muscle group is much
stronger, your position is more stable, less fatigue and more control.
Not having tried it yet, it sure sounds reasonable. Quote: "You can
finesse anything, but there is no substitute for power".

If you have a die that profiles stock, like 1/4 x 2, make the profile
part stick up above the base die by 2". This way you can size any edge
squeeze-out in the same heat as the profiling. Toby gave one of the
clearest examples of how to make a blown over leaf scroll I've
seen--even if he did get it backwards. He basically bent the leaf as he 
walked around the horn. He kept going the wrong way. Toby strongly 
recommends
"Blacksmith Manual Illustrated" by Lillico as the bible for power hammer
setups.

Hank Knickmeyer was next on my list, but somehow he had given over part
of his slot to the guy from Swan forges in England. He showed us how to
make a horse shoe, the pineapple twist, those two were as advanced as he
got. He'd ask if he should do this or that and every time Claire Yellin
would sing out "You bet!". I wandered for awhile. When I came back, Hank
and Tom Clark were on. Hank put together a picture pattern welded
billet from metal powders. 1084 and a 4% nickle alloy were the two
powders he used in a fairly simple image. Then Tom Clark took over and
made three hammers. His 18" long eye drift broke "Don't do this at
home" he says. He uses S7 and water quenches it--I'm surprised it 
doesn't happen more often. He has a new high temp lube that he (of 
course) highly recommends (he sells it). It did seem to do a good job.

Hank's billet--he started with 3" square x 6" tubing (maybe 11 gauge).
The bottom was welded shut. For dividers to keep the different powders
from mixing he used *paper*. What an easy approach. Of course, if you 
want a nice bright line you need nickle sheet. A big note on using 
powder was made that nickle is toxic--don't breathe the dust. He tapped 
the tube a lot with a hammer to settle the powder, put in maybe a 
teaspoon of oil on top to scavenge oxygen, and they welded a top and 
handle on. Hank has a special billet forge, small inside volume that 
gets really hot; the conference had mistakenly provided low temp 
insulated bricks--they kept melting on him. You soak the billet at heat 
to solidify the powder, makes it much easier to forge. The sealed/no 
flux approach is only good for the first heat (it pulls oxygen in and 
scales as it cools); if the tube walls don't weld the first heat, you 
will probably have to cut it open and add flux (this is what happened to 
him).

Hank said that a Norton Charger wheel on his grinder lasts him 8 months,
it will actually peel up curls of metal instead of dust. Highly
recommended. Powdered metals can be had from Matt Lerch and Jeff
Carlyse, who I assume can be found on a knifemakers web page.

I went back to the dorm and crashed about 9pm. Not a lot of sleep the
previous day (July 4th and flying from Maine to Seattle)...

Friday morning--Garri Dadyan did repousse'. Stunning work, your jaw just
drops. I got a dvd, I may be back for a class. Small tools I associate
with chasing, plasticine backup on thin copper sheet, a fairly usual 
approach I thought, but what incredible results. He's in the Seattle 
area. His daughter did most of the talking--they're Azerbaijani. I spent 
way too much money on a repousse' plate for my wife--but she sure likes it.

Ries Niemy (from TheForge) gave an interesting talk on public art. He
says there are several ways you can try to make money:
1. Make small items and figure out who to sell to (note: small is a
relative term).
2. Make larger pieces for rich people's houses, never to be seen again.
3. Do large pieces for functional public art. People see and use it daily.
Each of the above has different tradeoffs, good and bad. He likes #3.
Ries, I know this doesn't do justice to the wealth of info you gave us, 
please add on if you wish.

I sat in most of a lecture/discussion on Art Deco, specifically Edgar
Brandt given by Joan Kahr. She has a book on Brandt with lots of nice
pictures in it, worth picking up if you like Art Deco.

Phlip from TheForge tried to set up a friday evening dinner for us email
folks, but things didn't work as planned.  The next idea was to meet for 
a barbecue in the parking lot; I walked out there three times or so, she 
came in looking for me, no dice. The rest of the group had fun but I 
missed the oysters.

Saturday morning I saw Corky Storer. This was a pretty good demo. He
works 1/4-1/8" plate into large repousse' sculpture, mostly faces. He
lays the sheet on top of 6" square tubing to space it off the acorn
table, then clamps it in place with holddowns. His holddowns are made
from 2" solid round stock, maybe 3' on each leg with a 45 degree bend in
the middle. He sets them in place with a sledge. He heats the sheet with 
a rosebud (oxy propane), then hammers with a large size air chisel (with 
a rounded end or a peen shape hammer tool in it). He just starts to heat 
the sheet and notes which way it starts to bow. If it is moving up, he 
whacks it so it moves down. The heat allows you to localize the effect 
of the hammering--only the hot part moves. In addition, pretty much all 
of the hot part moves to some extent, not just the small 1" you are 
hammering on. Sharp edges can be had in a similar fashion to doing a 
square upset corner, moving extra material in, then hammering to final 
shape. He says you really need 25 cfm to do this (the ABANA compressor 
wasn't keeping up with him). I'm after an acorn table if anyone knows of 
one in New England.

John Croucet gave a great flypress demo. He has a dvd for sale. He said 
his demo is normally 8 hours, was doing it in one, just the high points. 
He holds his tooling and fences down with welding type vise grips. He
pushes the flypress as a speedy  money making tool for smiths. Much work
can be done cold, including veining. If you don't use the depth stop
nut, you get a little variation which looks better than completely
uniform. A double ball tool can be used to bevel or decorate the edges
of a piece of plate.

Huge numbers of items on display, I shot most of them.

Neat horizontal hydraulic press in the vendors folder (pics). Table with
multiple holes in it for tooling, the unique feature was the ability to
set multiple electronic stops. This would be great for repeat work where
everything has to match. You can also do this with kiss blocks of
course. The machine sells for $100k!

Another guy was selling neon anvil signs. He says they don't cost money,
they make money. They started at $235 I think. He can ship. D. Mayeron 
"I can do that in Neon", (510)841-1800.

Good people all over the conference.