[TheForge] "Official" news from ABANA

Tue Feb 20 09:18:01 EST 2007

Jerry Smith wrote:

>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.
>  
>
The issue was liability for ABANA.
Some groups, after being warned,  still insisted on their rights., to do 
as local  decisions dictated.

The decision to change the term "chapter" ( which placed them under the 
authority of the national ABANA) to "affiliate"
(which  means that each is independent) covered that problem. This is 
much in the same way that you can be held liable for what a member of 
your household does, but not what your golfing buddy does..

>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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>>
>
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