[TheForge] "Official" news from ABANA

[Jerry Smith]

Mike,

I am a full time worker of metal, but I agree with
you. I learned more from being around other smiths, in
a small class situation, many times one on one, than
at any large gathering. 

If ABANA dumped some chapter for an anvil shoot, what
was the basis for that? I would have expected a strong
warning or probation if this violated any of the tenat
of the ABANA Charter. Otherwise dictating policy to a
chapter is not a good thing to do.

I was an ABANA member for a few years and really
didn't get anything out of it. I join a blacksmith
group in Canada and I get invited over for lessons
with other members. Now I am in the states and a
member of the ABA. A good group, has a great news
letter and some really nice guys.

I don't see the point in ABANA at this moment. I can't
afford the membership or the conferences based upon
the return for my money.

This thread is getting to the point it is not going
any where. So why bother?


Jerry



--- Mike Linn <bamablacksmith at comcast.net> wrote:

> 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.
>
_________________________________________________________________________________
> 
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