50th Anniversary of Abana

  As I find myself more and more drawn into the world of blacksmithing, I wonder what kind of smith I should become. Over the past several years, I have found myself expressing my craft in a more artistic vane. Someone suggest to me that I join the Artist Blacksmiths of North America to see if that resonates with my journey. Come to find out it did just that even if only on a small scale.

  This is my 25th wedding anniversary year, so I wanted to something romantic of my wife. Scratch that ...."lets go on a series of adventures to celebrate our time together." So we did just that as Linda and I signed up for the 50th anniversary of Abana conference in Johnstown, PA. Before I get to far into the weeds, we are planning two other trips this summer, one that my wife has been asking about for half a year now. It's just a short 11-hour car ride across four states. We used to do it all the time.

  I cannot possibly begin to go into all the events of the conference, but I want to witness then all or as much as two days would allow us. We listened to talks by well-known smiths, both male and female from (Mark Aspery and Becky Schimpf) from around the country. Some were technical in nature and others just entertained the audience. One woman from MA (Jennifer Petrilla) with 30+ years' experience was a wealth of know and experience on many worldwide subjects from small business management to short cuts in metal fabrication. We walked all across town to sit in on some team blacksmithing competitions and to just chat with the vendors from around the country. I bought a lot of stuff for the shop at bargain show prices and Linda picked up gifts for folks back home. Like the homemade brooms by (Alan Curboy). The best part of the conference was networking with smiths from around the country. They were outgoing, friendly and helpful to us at every turn. Many folks would start up a conversation with you in the elevator or while waiting for a speaker. Even though we came from different background and regions of the country, this craft of metal forging seemed to unite us in ways I did not expect. Lastly, we watch (Patrick Quinn) at the Center for Metal Arts give a lecture on power hammering a set of tongs. IT was the derelict steel plant which was attached to it that we found the most fascinating. Many smith brought their spouses and were treated to nightly art galleries of iron or an auction of pieces and gallery of tools. It was well worth the trip and i plan on going again as time presents itself.