Oct 23, 2015
ABANA’s Conference Competition at Salt Lake, UT July 13 – 16,
2016
I recently received my latest issue of the Hammer’s Blow, a
periodical that comes four times a year with an ABANA
membership.
This latest issue, Volume 23 #4 Fall 2015, lists out the plans
for the teaching tents and the forging competitions for each day of
the conference.
The teaching tents will be split into two areas. Each with about
ten forging stations, with a mix of coal and propane forges.
There will be six half-day teaching sessions and will be staffed by
Darryl Nelson, John McClellan, Gerald Boggs, Gerald Franklin and
Mark Aspery.
Within the teaching tents there will be a dedicated
demonstration station, this is where each competition will start
with a demo by the competition judge, of the competition subject
will occur, every night at 7 pm with the competition beginning at
7:30 pm. Some projects will be covered in the hands-on
workshops during the day as well.
Each competition will be divided into three levels:
Novice – Beginning or novice smith
Intermediate – Amateur smith
Open – Professional or strong amateur
All competitors are expected to provide their own PPE such as
safety glasses, hearing protection and closed toed shoes.
Wednesday’s Competition – Chain Making
with Mark Aspery
How many links can you forge weld together to make a chain in a
20 minutes?
Material provided – 3/8” round stock cut at 6 inches, flux
Resource: Jay Close wrote an article on making chain in the
summer of the 2011 Hammer’s Blow issue, you can buy it here for $4,
http://www.abana.org/store/ABANAStore.shtml
Thursday’s Competition – Animal Heads with Darryl
Nelson
Novice level – Create a two-dimensional animal head, tooling and
flat bar provided
Intermediate level – Create a three-dimensional animal head from
1-inch square stock, tooling provided. Open mouth
optional.
Open level – Create a three-dimensional animal head from 1 ½”
square stock. Provide your own tools.
Resource: Darryl has submitted two articles in the Hammer’s Blow
on making a two-dimensional bear head (Summer of 2011 issue) and
sea eagle head (Fall 2015 issue). He also has DVD videos for
sale on making other animal heads, here http://darrylnelsonblacksmith.com/Sit_1./Home.html
.
Friday's Competition – Tong making with John
McClellan
Novice level – Create simple twist Jaw tongs from 3/8” by 3/4”
flat bar. Tongs should be able to hold ¼” flat bar.
Tooling and material provided punched rivet hole and factory
rivet.
Intermediate level – Creat scrolling tongs forged from 1” by
3/8” flat bar. Punched rivet hole and factory rivet.
Open level – Create flat or open jaw tongs to hold ¼” flat
bar. ¾” stock will be provided with a ½’” round bar for forge
welding on reins, extra points for this! Punched rivet hole,
factory rivet or handmade rivet from 3/8” bar.
Resource: Simple twist tongs were covered int eh Spring 2014
Hammer’s Blow issue by John McClellan. Open and box jaw tongs
were covered in the Fall 2012 Hammer’s Blow issue, you can buy them
here for $4 http://www.abana.org/store/ABANAStore.shtml
.
Links:
ABANA Conference Registration page -
https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07eb61zvlc01203e72&oseq=&c=&ch=
Past Issues of Hammer’s Blow - http://www.abana.org/store/ABANAStore.shtml
Darryl Nelson’s DVD videos - http://darrylnelsonblacksmith.com/Sit_1./Home.html