[TheForge] "Official" news from ABANA

[Mike Linn]

That is the point of view of most of the "rebels" of the southern 
affiliates who were tossed out a few years back. ABANA may not want to 
acknowledge it but ABANA began its decent when it kicked out nearly 1/2 of 
its chapters over an anvil shoot. I for one never again purchased an ABANA 
item, attended an ABANA event or worried one whit about what ABANA did I 
can name dozens if not hundreds of similar minds.  For lack of a better 
word it was over chapter rights... sound familiar???

ABANA lost touch with its base, the hobbyist blacksmith who was eager to 
learn how... it got caught up in the power struggle to control the 
direction of blacksmithing. and tried to be the end all, be all,  for 
ironworking for the professional.

The glossy mag with welded diamond plate water towers was great for a 
fabricator, but for a newbie blacksmith trying to learn how to forge a 
fork... not even close. A beginning blacksmith couldn't even relate... Im 
not dissing the work, but it really belongs in the NOMMA mag.. not the 
ABANA mag..

I have an advantage that while Im relatively new to blacksmithing (been at 
it since 1993) Im fairly close to those who were there at the beginning of 
ABANA. And to a man they still are active at the LOCAL level... ABANA was 
begun in the back woods of Georgia, a few fellow enthusiasts got together 
to form a club that would help ensure the survival of a waning if not lost 
art form in the US.

They succeeded admirably... but the club became a corporation that had put 
its needs over that of the membership...It grew with the existing 
membership expertise  but left the newbies in the dust... I learned 40 
percent of what I know of blacksmithing from the local group meetings, 10% 
from the AFC annual meetings, 5% from the regional meetings and 50% from 
getting out there and practicing...I learned little if anything about 
forging from ABANA. I got ideas for design and construction but I honestly 
learned almost nothing of the forging techniques from ABANA.

ABANA has to show some VALUE to the membership to be a viable 
entity...putting on an overpriced conference every two years wont do it.

let the flames begin...


mike


At 08:26 PM 2/19/2007, you wrote:

>All of this discussion about ABANA, we should look to
>see if we really benefit from membership. What is the
>percentage of members that go to the national events,
>and how many members go to local or regional events.
>
>I want to learn about smithing, but the ABANA route is
>too expensive for me and this discusion is causing me
>information overload. Let go out; do some heating and
>beating!
>
>Jerry


            Mike Linn
      Artist Blacksmith
          McCalla, AL

________________________________________________________________________________

Did you know that in the human body there is a nerve that connects the 
eyeball to the anus?
It's called the Anal Optic Nerve, and it is responsible for giving People a 
crappy outlook on life.
If you don't believe it, try to pull a hair from your arse and see if it 
doesn't bring a tear to your eye.
_________________________________________________________________________________