[TheForge] ABANA DUES

[Marc Godbout]

I agree that any education can only help speed up the learning process
over DIY. But I have to wonder how much extra education that $55 ABANA
fee gets you in today's Internet age. For FREE, or at most, voluntary
donations, I can get tons of textbook-type knowledge from the various
forums out there, including TheForge.  IForgeIron.com has a very nice
"Blueprint" section with lots of step-by-step articles. Anvilfire has
the iForge section with many project ideas and more step-by-step. And
all of those, plus a few others, like ForgeMagic, have excellent
people who are willing to answer pretty much any questions.

ABANA, on the other hand, is now just a couple magazines. No
conferences any more. And even when there were conferences, the fees
were much higher than the $55 ABANA membership. For $20, I'm a member
of the New England Blacksmiths, and we have a great newsletter with
how-to articles. Our meets cost as low as $25 for a day-only fee that
could get me some real hands-on experience, if I want it. Other
workshops might run $40. Again, these are all hands-on with very
knowledgeable instructors, who just happen to be friends of mine.

So $55 is for two magazines. If you like the magazines, then that's
great. But I just don't see any educational benefit worth $55 over and
above what I can get for free, or at least cheap.

--Marc




On 10/26/07, Cindy and James <jallcorn at suddenlink.net> wrote:
>  I agree that $55 is $55 and $55 is more to some than others, and if you
> don't have $55, it can mean the world.  I was there once and with the
> Good Lord's Providence I never will again - so I understand.
>
>  But when you are starting out, you have to spend MORE to play catch-up
> with those established.
>
> We call this EDUCATION.  Education costs money, be it attending a
> conference, joining a group to learn what they know, going to school,
> subscribing to magazines, etc.
>
> You can learn from the School of Experience and perhaps that is the best
> education of all, but it takes TIME and TIME = MONEY.
>