(back to Forum on line index)
March 2002     Vol 4 Issue 3

Please!

Video rental form
GoM on the web (front cover)
Metalsmith Back Issue Service
Membership application (back cover)
Publishing data
Call for Metalsmith Articles
Special Copy Deadline, April Forum
Educational Grants
February membership meeting
Directory updates
Letters
Want Ads
Next Meeting
Northern Minnesota Conference
Workshops:
Mar.
Poz Tongs
April
Tools from the Study Guide
Folding Knife workshop

March 28^th, 2002.
Due to the fact that I will be out of town at the end of March. All copy for the April Forum (May events, workshops, meetings) ads, letters, et. al. must be in my hands by March 28^th, 2002.
Editor

The February Membership Meeting:
Arms and Armor Feb. 13, 2002:

President Dave Feterl called the meeting to order.
He reminded everyone that there is money in the study grant fund and said that several proposals have been received.

Financial Committee report:
checking account $23,265.40 or $4417.24 more than last Feb 2001.
328 members.

Education Committee report:
The workshop schedule for the year continues, please note that workshops have been added, watch the Forum for registration material. Remember to make use of the very large resources in the Guild videotape library, now managed by Rich Herman, and the Metalsmith reprint service managed by Pete Stanaitis.

Program Committee report:
The next meeting will be at Gladwin Machinery in North East Minneapolis (actually Fridley).
Two of the fall conference demonstrators are confirmed and they are working on the third.
Karl Close, Brad Silberberg are demonstrating, their programs are still being fleshed out. Silberberg will be doing something with a power hammer. Karl Close, well Walt Scadden said he figured that 20 years from now Karl would be looked at about like Francis Whittaker is today.
(Since the meeting John Medwedeff was confirmed as the third demonstrator, and in connection with his demonstration we would like to use a fly press. If you have one or know of one we could use, contact Don Hammer. It sounds like we are going to have another interesting conference. )

Publicity Committee report: Forum is out. The email list, TheBellows, is working. If you are not getting it and want to, send an email to "Webmaster@metalsmith.org"

Other Business:
St. Paul Boy Scout Council, Indianhead Council, has a summer camp called "Tomahawk" near Rice Lake WI. Part of the camp is called the "Fox Fire Facility" a history re-enactment area. It has a Blacksmith shop and areas for other trades as well. Basically designed so scouts can hike in and experience the area. They are looking for a smith or smiths to staff the shop for the summer
A couple thousand kids go through in a summer.
They need someone to manage and supervise the area. The kids are allowed to use the equipment.
Volunteers needed for however much time one is willing to give.
Anyone interested should contact Don Hammer.
Rich Herman says: This is where he got involved in blacksmithing and actually found out about the Guild and that the well there has excellent drinking water. He even makes a special stop when in the area, just to fill a couple jugs.

Show and tell:
We had quite a number of things on the Show and Tell table.
John Adams brought a section of a bamboo style stair railing that he had forged.

Jim Moenck showed us a door latch he had formed of some pure iron for a fiddler friend of his.

Bob Fredell showed some bicycle chain damascus letter openers with some interesting handles.

There was a very nice cyclone style dust collector that one of the members had made from plans he had found on the internet.

Also displayed were some of the projects made in workshops over the last several months: the pot rack, a bracket candleholder from the beyond the basics class, and a spring fuller sample of what will be made in an April class.

Finally, Bob Beck brought a piece of bullet resistant kevlar armor from the cockpit security door replacement project at Northwest. The crew at Northwest was curious as to just how well modern armor stood up to medieval/renaissance weaponry. It was determined that if the armor was held rigidly (which it is not in the plane where it's mounting allows it to deflect incoming blows) on a stump it could be pierced by the spike side of a sharp battle axe. Moreover we feel it would be rather difficult to get one of these battle axes through security. <g>

The Program:
Host Chris Poor showed us several of the items from the Arms collection that is coming to Minneapolis and reported on his progress in finding a site to house the collection when it gets here.
The pieces that Chris had already received included an Italian knight's set of weapons from around 1492 and a 7 ring hilt rapier from around the time of the musketeers. The date for the broadsword comes from the style of the handle. Much like clothing, styles of decoration on weapons went in and out of fashion and varied across the continent. Chris said that the sword had been rehafted (the handle replaced) in a style peculiar to Florence in a short window after 1492. The weapons were recovered from a tomb when an old church was worked on.
The broadsword was amazingly light and at 2.1#, it actually weighed less than the rapier. Chris suggested that this was due to the fact that the knight of the 15^th century was wearing his armor while most of the musketeer's armor consisted of the elaborate hilt on his weapon and his skill in keeping that bit of armor between him and his opponent's weapon.

Directory Updates:

We left space . Get out your pen.

A hearty welcome to our
New Members:

Caesar, Bob

Hermann, Richard
Stacy MN

ed note. This Richard Hermann lives in Stacy and spells his name with two n's.
Richard and Cathy are still living in Rosemount.

Johnson, Craig

Pajari, Lowel
Aalcon Creations For Your Garden
3300 190^th St E
Prior Lake MN 55372
Email: kate@aalcon.com

Saline, W

Wilson, Scot

Zahradka, Gary and Suzy
Omega Artworks
Web site: www.omegaartworks.com

Address Changes:

Ayers, Wayne

Bergman Bob
Iron & Wood Inc.
N8126 Postvill Road
Blanchardville, WI 53516
Work Phone 608-527-2494
Fax: 608-527-6908
email: postvilleblacksmith@tds.net

Brittain, Larry

******

******Gene:
This is Jimmy Pedersen's oldest sister, Pat. If it is not too late for the metalsmiths guild's newsletter I would like to include a "thank you" to all who attended Jimmy's visitation or funeral and have been praying for us. We know that others are also grieving. He had so many friends! We would also like to thank the Metalsmith Guild for the beautiful flowers.

Would you also please extend our "thanks" to the members of the planning
committee who sent the beautiful, unique flowers.

If you think it would be appropriate I would like to have the poem that my daughter (Jimmy's niece) read at the funeral included with our "thank you" in the newsletter.

Thank you, all,
Drusilla Pedersen (Jimmy's mother)

Pat, Linda, Vicky, and Sandy
(Jimmy's sisters)
Here is the poem that Jimmy's oldest niece, Shari Flakus, wrote and read
at his funeral.

Just Jimmy

Many knew my uncle as a collector
or even a pack-rat
But Jimmy was so much more.

We all knew him as a heart-warming,
hard-working man
who would always fulfill a favor

Jimmy's hands were stained and rough,
evidence of his dedication and service to all who knew him.

As outgoing a man as anyone I knew,
Jimmy had a knack for striking up a conversation.

Machinery parts and tools overloaded his truck
He was always prepared to lend a helping hand with no complaint or fuss.

He was a craftsman of all sorts
A member of the Guild,
Jimmy was a creator and inventor,
A wizard with his hands.

He could turn a scrap piece of metal
into a functioning work of art.
Even built me a unicycle when I was seven --
a piece of Jimmy's art that I will always treasure

His passions were many
Never a trip to Oshkosh would he miss.
You see, he loved airplanes every since he was a kid.

Jim wasn't an extravagant man, nor did he care for material things.
Yet he was a man of quality to say the least.

A faithful and loving son, brother, uncle, neighbor and friend
He will be remembered by all who had the privilege to know him.

His words that we will never forget?
Two in particular come to mind.

"Can I help you with that?" and last but not least
"Pass the potatoes, please."

******
A final note from Iceville
all yall,
it's a beautiful day in mactown. yesterday's snow crunches under foot, i'd guess it's around 20 degrees and as sunny as it can be. it's my last day on the ice. it's actually my last few minutes before walking up the road to cargo for check in. my room is empty and clean. my carryon bag and bunny boots are at my feet. i've tried to say good by to as many friends, neighbors and coworkers as i could find. it's more difficult to leave than i thought it would be. i just 'dashed' up Ob Hill to finish my season the same way that i started it. i can see open water from up there about 15-20 miles north of town. one of the coastie cutters is in the channel. there are some icebergs in the distance. the air is so clean that it seems like you could see a hundred miles. as i got back to town i saw my ride on final approach to pegasus field. it's time to go, to leave my town, my home, my ice people. most summer people have already left. i'll be in Christchurch, NZ in several hours, soon to meet up with hundreds of them who are no doubt celebrating right now. i will hang out there too for a few days waiting for beth to join me for a vacation. i could easily return here to mactown. the ship off load went quickly. i was a grunt in cargo for five days. we removed pallets of stuff from milvan containers bound for the south pole, and re-palletized them for loading into C-130's. it was a fun distraction and i got to drive a delta out to willy airfield and drive loaders a few times too. well i'll have to finish this in NZ...it's time to walk.

here i am in christchurch! nice. i could smell flowers when i stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac, somewhere out there. been to the beach a couple times, a nice 2 hour hike in the hills, the botanical gardens once, and walked all around city center many times. i've gotten the visitor permit thing done, replaced traveler's cheques, accomodations, meals, separate my belongings so i can send stuff home, laundry, etc, etc. everything takes time. oh and of course celebrating with 'ice people.' that's good and bad. it's nice to see friendly faces and talk about things in common. but it would be nice to get away at the same time. we can't go for more than a couple hours without bumping into each other around here. there's been a big cricket tournament in town and this is a tourist area, so it's impossible to rent a car or get travel reservations on the spot. oh well. beth shows up on friday and things will get better when we get out of town. forgot to mention that we had a visit from Princess Anne in mactown and scott base. she celebrated the 100th year anniversary of the Discovery Hut that Captain Scott had built, with a plaque on a rock near the hut. she made a speech which i couldn't hear, but she apparently is an icon for the preservation of these historical landmarks and conservation efforts worldwide. she walked past me in the galley at lunch that day, and didn't have to carry her tray back to the dishroom! it must be way cool to be royalty. so that's the deal. the party's over. it's been...different, i liked my time, i met interesting people from 19 to 70-something, i worked a lot, i'd recommend it to anyone, i'd do it again. soon i'll be back to remodeling my bathroom as i imagine that i didn't get done on it's own. during the season i sent many digital images home. i didn't take these pictures myself, they were taken by many people, who then posted them for the rest of town to see. i appear in some of them, look for a red hat or a kilt. if you're interested, go to a friend of mine's website www.oddwidget.com . thanks scott, and thanks to everyone for your emails. i'm looking forward to seeing you again soon. hey, when's fishin opener?
al

Want Ads:
Any notice MUST be in my hands by the end of the month.

****** On line want ads are listed in the exchange section of the website.

Here in March Monty Bygd's poz tongs workshop Coming in April The April membership meeting will be at Gladwin Machinery in Northeast Minneapolis Tools from the Study Guide workshop Folding Knife workshop The Northern Minnesota Spring Conference

return to issue index

April Meeting

Gladwin Machinery and Supply Co.

5170 NE Main Street Fridley MN 55421

763-574-9000

As per usual, pot luck at 6:30 and the meeting starts at 7:00 For the program: The crew from Gladwin will be showing off some of the machinery they handle and everyone gets to look at acres of clean powerful new and used toys. Ranging from HUGE down to man powered.

return to issue index

Northern Minnesota Blacksmiths Spring Conference

Just north of the north entrance to Itasca State Park.

Lake Itasca Steam Show Grounds

Demonstrators:

Jim Batson, Knifemaker
Dan Nauman
Mark Pearce

For more information contact Nathan Robertson (jpine@paulbunyan.net) 218-659-4590 or Keith Johnson (keith@greatriverforge.com) 218-751-9433

Larry Brittain will be sending out the registration material soon. If you don't see it in the next couple weeks give Nathan or Keith a call.

return to issue index

Poz Tongs Workshop

On:March 23, 2002.

A Poz Tongs workshop will be held at Monty Bygd's shop in Eau Claire, WI, on On:March 23, 2002.

Poz Tongs Workshop- March 23

Send this coupon with your check made out to the Guild of Metalsmiths for $25 to:

Monty Bygd

1928 80^th Street

Eau Claire WI 54708

Please fill out the other side

Poz tongs workshop
The $25 cost will include materials.
Enrollment is limited to five students.

Make your check payable to the Guild of Metalsmiths, and mail to Monty Bygd at 1928 80^th Street, Eau Claire, WI 54703.

He will send a map and other information to students after they register.

You need to bring: Safety equipment and your favorite tool bucket. Contact Monty for other particulars.

Cut here

Poz Tongs Workshop- March 23 cost $25 make check out to The Guild of Metalsmiths and send to Monty Bygd.

Name:____________________
Address:_____________________________________________
City:__________________
State:______ZIP:_____
Phone:______________________

Tool Making Workshop
Study Guide Projects:
spring fuller, twisting wrench, scrolling fork.

When:
Saturday April 13^th, 2002
9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.

Where:

Class will be held at the Minnesota School of Horseshoeing
6250 Riverdale Drive

Teachers: to be announced

Description: We will be working on projects from the Study Guide, making tools to use for future blacksmithing projects.

Back side of Tool Making Workshop coupon

fill out other side and send to

Jim Moenck

661 Dorland Road S.

Maplewood, MN 55119

with your check for $20

made out to

"The Guild of Metalsmiths"

Tool Making Workshop

Study Guide projects

cost of class: $20.00

Send registrations to: Jim Moenck
661 Dorland Road S.
Maplewood, MN 55119

What to bring: Participants must have their own safety glasses, ear plugs and a good hammer or two. Bring your favorite bucket of tools, and measuring and marking devices if you have them.

Bring a lunch or eat at a local establishment.

cut here

Tool Making Workshop- Study Guide Projects:

spring fuller, twisting wrench, scrolling fork.

Sat. April 13 , 2002 from 9am to 400 pm
Mail to: Jim Moenck, 661 Dorland Road S., Maplewood, MN 55119
Cost: $20.00 Check payable to: The Guild of Metalsmiths

Name:____________________
Address:_____________________________________________
City:__________________
State:______ZIP:_____

Phone:______________________

return to issue index

Making an Antique Style Folding Knife

Date:April 20th, 2002

Location: Minnesota School of Horseshoeing
Time: 9:00 - 4:00

Teachers: John Adams & Jim Moenck

Class description. Participants will make a folding knife in a circa 1800 style, with a forged blade and a deer antler handle.

Class size: 8

Back side of the Folding Knife coupon, fill out other side

What to bring: Participants muxt bring their own eye and ear protection. Also a couple of your favorite hammers, a 2# and a smaller one if you have it. Straight and/or cross pein will be useful. Also bring your favorite bucket of tools; tongs, wire brush, measuring devices and files - flat, half round and round in various sizes. Cotton clothging is preferable and suitable footware (ie. leather boots) is required.

Materials: all materials will be furnished

Lunch: Bring your lunch with you, or eat a one of the local establishments.

To reserve a spot in this workshop, send your check for $25.00 to:
Jim Moenck
661 Dorland Road S.
Maplewood, MN 55119

e-mail to jrmoenck@yahoo.com
or bymonks@aol.com

day phone is 651-439-3138 ext 210
home is 651-735-4461

cut here

Antique Style Folding Knife Workshop-

Date: Sat. April 20 , 2002 from 9am to 400 pm
Mail to: Jim Moenck, 661 Dorland Road S., Maplewood, MN 55119
Cost: $25.00 Check payable to: The Guild of Metalsmiths

Name:____________________
Address:_____________________________________________
City:__________________
State:______ZIP:_____

Phone:______________________

(back to Forum on line index)