[TheForge] Fwd: FW: Mastermyr

[Rob Fertner]

I had mentioned Andy earlier. He was the first project manager. Back in the 90's I knew Andy from  theforge e-mail list.
I got to meet him in person at the 1998 ABANA conference in Asheville, NC. We were hanging out by the vendors
when we stopped by Norm Larson's booth (God rest his soul). We both looked at the Mastermyr book. We thought it
was an awesome book. Andy was the first to say it that there were great projects in the book. Hell, the whole thing would be
a great project. We talked about how to get a project like this done, like getting different clubs to join  together on this.
I told him that maybe we could get the members of theforge group to do it since we a virtual chapter of ABANA. I also told Andy
I thought he was the best qualified to get this organized because he had the ability and was well known to a lot more smith than I was.
I could tell that he was hooked on this project and he called me an evil SOB, or was it genius, for putting the bug in his ear.
After the conference, Andy started selling the idea to others on theforge and laying out the ground work. Some personal issues came up
later on and Andy couldn't continue leading the project. He called me to tell me I needed to take over the project because it also was my fault
this project was started. He talked me into it. Fortunately, the major projects were already assigned. I mostly had to monitor and coordinate.
I also said at the time managing this many smiths on a project was like herding cats.  The final finished project stood as a testimonial to
all the smiths who participated.	
It's been a few years since I last talked with Andy. I hope he's well and doing well.

Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net <theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Bruce
Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2020 9:48 PM
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Fwd: FW: Mastermyr

Rob,
Actually I'm glad someone feels so strongly about this collection.  I never contributed to it because I didn't feel up to the task, but I at least one contributor is a good friend of mine.  More to the point -- and many of you may not recall this -- the idea for the whole project was conceived by my friend Andy Vida.  Long time ago, it seems....
Bruce
NJ


On Thu, Sep 10, 2020 at 10:15 PM Rob Fertner <rfertner at cox.net> wrote:

> I just got home from work. I'm still thinking what I want to say to 
> the Board.
> I'm going to sleep on that. I'm tired and I don't want to set the 
> wrong tone.
> Thanks Bruce, for getting an answer. Someone authorized by ABANA (not 
> necessarily a Board member) needs to get into that trailer and confirm 
> whether the collection is there or not.
> This project was special to me, not because of being the project 
> manager/coordinator, but because a bunch of smiths from all over the 
> country got together to do this project. The smiths who are no longer 
> with us who contributed are memorialized by the existence of this 
> collection..
> When the collection is located, it needs to be preserved and exhibited.
> This is blacksmith history.
> Let me know what you think. I'm going to bed.
>
> Rob
> Wichita, KS
>
>