NEB Spring Meet, 2009 !
The Images!
Pictures in chronological order.
The week prior to the spring meet, I started on and built a set of great bellows. This is the top pannel being joined together with wood glue and pegs
This is the center pannel, put together and drying
Here's the bottom pannel, ready for the last join, you can see how I did my edge joins in this picture, with dowels
I forgot to take more in progress pictures, but this is the bellows getting close to functually finished
Friday before lunch, Dan Nauman was doing the repouse work for part of the base of the candle stick he was making
The half finished baseplate
The tools arriving to get setup at the pavilion just after lunch
Unloading Ralph Sproul's very heavy metal workbench
That eyehook was at the center of balance... before the 100lb vice was stuck on the corner. Care had to be taken so the table wouldnt tip.
Lowering the table to the ground, bit by bit
Once it was to the ground, 8 or 9 of us all picked it up and moved it into position, on the corner is attached a let plate for repouse work
Tailgating had begun early
Supper time!
Dan starts a talk about the buisness of being a full time blacksmith
My bellows setup on the hill for some tweeking and tuning as time allowed over the weekend
One of the 3 benches that was made at the 2008 NEB Spring meet, set up at the Brentwood park
My bellows at night from the side
John and Courtney Mead doing some late night forging
Some various basket twists hanging on the wall
One of the two indoor forges at the Brentwood center
Saturday morning tailgating got started again early. Spreda couldnt wait for the auction so started helping sell stuff for other people !
A nice little 20lb Fisher that looks like it had never been touched
A VERY rare complete champion shop smith, combination vice, anvil, grinder, drill, forge + blower
The Green Coal area just geting set up in the morning
Dan went over his buisness of blacksmithing talk again for a much fuller audiance before he got started on the metal work
Dan and the crowd, there wasnt a seat left unfilled
The Asabet valley kids working at the green coal area
A nice ratchet crank buffalo forge blower, and a lever ratchet blown forge beside it
Another picture of that shopsmith tool from the other side
A very nice forged bench vise
Work in progress leaves for the candle stick
The tools that Dan Nauman used for his demo
Many of the in progress parts for the candle stick
Moving a massive overhead belt driven pedestal drill press from one truck to another
A nice pair of tongs that Fred Mickelson forged that were donated for Iron in the Hat
Some of the auction items, a few letter openers and cooking forks
A nice ram's head and double twist that Keith Clark donated to the auction
A set of knives made from an old saw blade by Bob Menard
The fanciest toilet paper holder I've ever seen
I forgot to write down whose portfolio book this was, but i loved the copper and iron dragon
A few more pieces from the same portfolio
This was supposed to be a picture of the water leaf being held up, but it got moved just before i took the picture... so here's the candlestick base!
Another water leaf since the previous picture didnt come out so well
This was an adventure, getting this huge bandsaw from one truck to another
Thankfully someone brought some heavy duty boards to the tailgates could be lined up
Ed volunteered to roll the thing over with the dolly
This was a big enough operation to attract quite the crowd of spectators
Right at this point there was a very loud CRACK... thankfully it turned out to be some other board that was under Ed's foot and under the cross boards, and not the boards in the center
Success ! You'd think at one of these meets someone would have a truck crane or something... but then again I guess we all like doing thigns the hard way
A nice pannel forged by Carl Close
I didnt see a name tag to go with this little balancing man, but it was nicely done
The two thirds done candle stick that Dan Nauman had been crafting for his demo on the table to be auctioned off (to be finished still for the winner)
People getting their iron in the hat tickets put in the cups
The tenon die and the bark texture die that Dan made for the stem of the candle stick
You could tell it was just about supper time, people started to congregate early
The line for supper, which my camrea didnt like, deciding to focus on Bill Czerwonka's head instead of beyond it
The line behind me
A top down view looking at the inside of the candle stick
The stem of the candle stick
The auction begins !
Even people who had no intention of bidding hang out for the auction, because Spreda does a fantastic job
More auctioning
Spreda getting up close and personal with the candle stick, determined to get the most for it. Dan Nauman later said he thought there was going to be blackmail or something if the price didnt get high enough
Carl Close taking an up close look at the unfinished candle stick
Jim working on a bottle opener late at night down the hill
Sunday morning, cold and rainy... but there were pancakes and sausage!
Master Chef Bob Menard making pancakes
Everyone gathered down at the shop for Dan's forging out the acorn and oak leaves for the candle stick
Creating the acorn spring swage
Finishing the spring swage, though i let the torch holder get in the way of the picture
After forging an acorn with the swage, file work needed to be done to clean it up.
the details on it were done in the vice with a center punch to add texture to the acorn cap
A close up of the acorn cap detail work being done
Ralph's raincoat, bringing back memories of last year =)
After welding together the oak leaves and the acorn, the weld and stems are cleaned up with a file
The ends had to be very clean so that they would braze cleanly to the candle stick
The leaves brazed to the side of the center
The torch was used for localized heat to bend the leaves and acorn into position after they were afixed
A not so good photo of the drawings Dan made describing how to position things like leaves and grapes to give them more 'life'
Necking down the candle holder cup with a spring fuller
A few heats later and the cub is almost done, with just the end to be flared out
The finished candle stick
The finished candle stick balanced precariously ontop of a vise while a few people took photos
Probably teh finest looking oak (spalted) that I have ever seen on a knife, knives by Jeff Springer
Trying to clean up the top of a stump anvil that I won in Iron in the Hat, there was a big missing chunk in the steel plate on the top of the stump anvil
A picture from the side of the stump anvil, about 35 lbs
The 30lb Fisher anvil that I bought tailgating
Ground down some more and found that the steel plate on the top had seperated around the missing chunk, and I was going to have to remove a good bit more material than I wanted
blurry out of focus picture of the top
Close up showing all the cracks in the steel plate
Another of the same, incase the last didnt come out
the cleaned up and polished stump anvil with a hofi-like hammer on top
The top of the stump anvil without the hammer on it. Unfortunately the steel plate on the top was not very thick, nor very hard, and not a whole lot is left after cleaning it up.
My bellows, and how I fixed the problem of the top not inflating enough. It turns out that the top pannel was about 3lbs too heavy
I hung a 3lb hammer head from a pulley attached to the back of the top pannel,and the bellows works perfectly now.