Hello To All,
On April 14 some of us met in Spring Lake Park for the Boy Scout Jam. We had a pretty good day to be outside and doing a little blacksmith work. Charlie Smith, Billy Templeton, and I tended the fire while Jerome LeGrand was with his Boy Scout troops and showing up every now and then to crank the forge or someone. Ha! I think we all had fun. There were a lot of Scouts and I think all of them wanted to build a knife. The Knife Makers last year must have made a good impression on them. The Knife Makers were not here this year.
On our normal meeting day, we showed up at Wes and Marla Davis' shop. Wes showed us his shops where he made his knives and the area where the damascus billets were made. The equipment and shops were very nice. This was my first time to see how a hydralic press was used in forging. Kinda made my mouth drool after that. Ha! Just shows what you can do with all the right equipment.
In all there were about 14 people. Around noon we had a great lunch with brisket and sausages, beans, potatoe salad, and cake. If you weren't there, you sure missed out on some good eats.
Wes built several billets for damascus and showed us various ways to get the design in the metal. It was a great learning experience for me and in all I think everyone had a good time.
It took a little time to get to his shop, but it was well worth it. If he lived a little closer, I know he and I would be a lot better friends.
Now here is a bit of news all have been asking about. On June 9 and 10 we will have a demonstrator.... Brian Brazeal. Right now we are penciled in for those dates. Diana will be making the down payment to secure the dates. Members will be free for this, but all will be invited for a small donation. More on this part later.
We still have not shown our project.... This was to make something out of a 1/2" square bar 10" long. We will show this at our May 19 meeting.
The May meeting will be at my shop. If you get lost my number is 903-838-4144. Directions are out there on Facebook and Wed page still I hope.
I think I have hit most of the high lights for April. If you get a chance, look at the Saltfork monthly news letter and read the article that James Allcorn did. It was a very nice article about when we were at Wes Davis shop. (he was one of the people there). It will give you a good insight of what we did also.
Well Folks for now... Just keep Hammering!
Thank You,
Calvin Moore
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