Ashokan 2010 photo's

[Gary W. Graley]

A great time was had at the Ashokan weekend held Sept 17-19th, here's a few photos of some of the things going on there,
also have a couple of vid's but they take a while to upload to youtube

Here are a couple links to some additional photos that others also took during the weekend

Page aka Sunshadow on the forums Page's page of photos

Justin Mercier aka Justin.Mercier on the forums, Justin's page of photos

Matthew Gregory aka Matthew Gregory...Matt's page of photos

A thread with video's from this Ashokan's weekend is shown Here

And the original starting thread about the Ashokan weekend, Stacy, aka Bladsmth, has some very nice photos near the end of that thread,
it's a lengthy thread so move down to the end, starting on post # 108 Finally-the offically news on Ashokan 2010

The 'star' of the weekend was Sam Salvati, he was the knighted helper this
year at Ashokan and he brought some transportation along to make his
NUMEROUS trips back and forth not so exhausting, a smart idea!

IMG_1179 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Video of Sam's ride, check it out but select HD viewing for a better image;

Met Matthew Gregory and his lovely wife, she scooted away to enjoy the area
with a friend after disposing of Matt properly...

IMG_1180 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

we did have a couple of Scot's on hand, well at least guys in Kilts and they
certainly looked sharp for the occasion, caught this one as he was walking
across the field, kinda bright sunlight for a good photo but you get the idea;

Stacy, aka Bladsmth

IMG_1236 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

and Justin Mercier also was festive with his kilt as well,

IMG_1261 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

This year Deker was one of the presenters and did a fine job, here's a shot taken
at the forge late at night, in the background you can see Delbert Ealy, who also
was a presenter and showed how mokume can be made;

IMG_1230 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Dave Martell was on hand, he is known for his Japanese Knife Sharpening , High Performance Edges,
as well as making knives and brought a couple lectures on the subject of
those knives and a followup of sharpening using water stones;

IMG_1262 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Dan Maragni was also around the campus as well;

IMG_1274 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

a new comer, at least as far as I know, John C. Larson of Iron Kiss Air Hammers
brought a very cool power hammer that was used throughout the weekend;

IMG_1259 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Jim Siska was in good form with his grinding demos, he's simply one of the best
grinders I've had the pleasure to meet,

IMG_1246 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

and JD Smith was on hand showing some forging techniques as well;

IMG_1254 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

continued next post due to 10 photo limit...
G2

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Jerry Rados was also on hand, BUT you'd not recognize him this year,
what a change a little facial hair can accomplish...

IMG_1247 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Roger Pinnock and Peter Gill provided a lecture on a 'Knife Buyer's Perspective'
PLUS he brought some very cool knives, some of his own making as well for
us to drool over...

IMG_1263 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Bill McGrath was on hand showing some Pekiti-Tirsia, axes and machetes,
a martial arts type of hands on training, Nathan Zowada was available for
a small beating by Bill, all in the name of training... of course...

IMG_1294 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Chef Michael kept us well provided with food, as always such a great job!
here he is out at the grill making some steaks for us that night hmmmmmm...

IMG_1306 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

A few more to post later on as I get them processed, and Justin has a LOT
of photos as well.

G2

 

[Gary W. Graley]

It gets kinda dark at night around the forge, so these were a bit hard
shots to get without using any flash, but the light of the forges provided
some interesting shots, so pardon the grain on some of these plus a few
have motion/blur not so nice, but you'll get the drift;

Mace was hammering away, while Sam, wearing a Fez? was off in the background;

IMG_1188 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Kevin Cashen was of course on hand and helping with the forges, which
we had SEVERAL running, it was handy for folks to be able to get to use them this year,

IMG_1190 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

JD Smith and Jerry Rados looking into the forge;

IMG_1328 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

captured this one of JD Smith using the power hammer, welding multi bars together;

IMG_1331 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

and keeping close watch on the billet;

IMG_1219 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Aldo was there too with his truck of steel, he did have a look that night about him though...

IMG_1227 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Aldo and Sam have a unique relationship, to say the least, all in good fun of course!

IMG_1264 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

IMG_1266 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

but Sam did bring along some protection, pretty vicious looking deal, nicely welded and SOLID...

IMG_1295 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

IMG_1296 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Page was also there and with his apprentice gave a nice fencing demo
I also have a couple of videos of that once I get them uploaded;
note: Page is the one on the right in this photo, after he neatly dispatched his opponent...Ryan Rathsam

IMG_1300 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

IMG_1301 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

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[Gary W. Graley]

A shot from the end of the field showing the pavilion where the demos were held;

IMG_1210 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Here's a shot of Tim Zowada also tending one of the many forges running that night;

IMG_1195 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

and a shot of his son Nathan, a brave smile, knowing the beating that was forthcoming from Bill's demo...on him, lol

IMG_1284 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Rick Barrett and Josiah Boomershine provided a lecture/demo on Habaki and fittings;
Herb was looking on from the sidelines;

RickBarrett by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

IMG_1314 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

IMG_1313 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Jim Siska doing a grinding demonstration, he is always an inspiration;

IMG_1293 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

The wiggly bridge was still available to take us up to the pavilion, next year will
be the last year as the facilities are moving up hill to allow the water to flood
through as they need to release from the Ashokan reservoir needs to have done.

IMG_0760 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

IMG_1309 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

there was also a pretty cool boa, got a shot as he came out to see what was up;

IMG_1268 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

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[Mace]

Some great shots Gary! Thanks for posting them.
Awesome weekend!
Mace

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Thanks Mace, here's a short video of the fencing, I have one more short video
that's uploading, will put that in here tomorrow;

View this in HighDef if you can

second short video of them;

also a few more images of the fencing;

Nice job Page and Ryan Rathsam.
G2

 

[sunshadow]

Nice shots Gary!

That's my apprentice Ryan Rathsam

-Page

 

[Mr. Clean]

Great shots as usual Gary! Dave M is a pretty cool guy for us kitchen dudes!

 

[NickWheeler]

Man, I wish it wasn't so damn far away!!! I would have LOVED to have been there!!!

If for no other reason, to make fun of all the guys wearing skirts and all the weird hair-do's


One of these years I'll get out to see this in person!!!

Thank you for the pics Gary!!!

Sam looks like he was having too much fun!

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Nick....It is only a skirt if you wear underwear.

 

[NickWheeler]

Nick....It is only a skirt if you wear underwear.

ROFLMAO!!! Oh I think I should be scared now.



This really looks like an amazing event...so jealous!

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Thanks guys, and Nick, you should make the attempt to come out next year,
as that is the Sword year and should be a real nice weekend!
AND you actually were there in spirit this year as your name was made
mention during one of the lectures...

Howard Schechter was there also with his many very nice sharpening stones!

And here are some more images taken from this weekend, I also carry a very very
small camera, a Canon SD1400, it has a miniature mode, makes things appear as
if they were a toy model, took a shot of the wiggly bridge;

and one looking down on the setting up;

and if you slapped a pair of monkey wings on the back of Sam, I'd swear he just flew in from the Wizard of Oz !

a few of the guys early on Friday setting up the pavillion, left to right it's; Justin Mercier, Sam Salvati and Deker.

A shot of Stacy working the forge

Aldo watching on in the glow of the coals

Delbert's lecture/demo on Mokume;

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[Gary W. Graley]

The martial arts demo, Nathan Zowada against Bill McGrath...you do the math!

and it can really smart during training

Josiah showing how to put the friction grabbing marks on the Habaki

and heating up another part of the fittings, there was some comments from the peanut gallery warning them not to cross the streams...lol

and then striking it down while hot, there is an opening beneath the metal that the strike drives the material into;

G2

 

[Gary W. Graley]

and a few more shots from the weekend;
JD Smith;

Delbert Ealy

Deker

Nathan and Jim preparing for the grinding demo, in the background you can see a tv
that they used to help so the crowd, which was just over 80 guys! could follow along.

And Matt, freshly shaven, Tim Zowada helped by sharpening his straight razor...

G2

 

[DaveMartell]

Great pictures Gary! :thumbup:

What a blast meeting all of you guys and seeing what you do up close. I'm already looking forward to future Ashokans.

Dave

 

[deker]

Awesome pictures Gary! You really should try to take lower quality shots though...If everybody sees how ugly we all actually are, nobody new will EVER show up!

By the way, for other folks who have pictures to share, I'm going to be setting up an image gallery site where everybody can upload their Ashokan pictures. I figure if we gather them all in one place then I can burn a DVD of all of them to send to Tim, Kevin, and Dan for posterity. I will finish setting it up later today. Drop me an email if you have pics you want to send up and I'll make you an account.

-d

 

[Justin.Mercier]

Thank you for taking such awesome photos. The differnce in quality between cameras is so amazing... it's got me tempted to invest in the future in a real nice digital SLR camera and maybe a class in basic photography =P

A great time was had by all... and next year will be even better... swords!

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

Here are my pics
Absolutely beautiful around the area, unfortunately my GPS screwed up and I spent over an hour driving through this stuff

Bill testing for his ABS Journeyman(sorry Bill, I can't remember your last name)
Before and After

Delbert Ealy with his mokume still in the press and right after forge welding

Last, but not least, Stacy making railroad spike crosses. I got to help with one of these.

I have video, but will post the youtube links later. Someone remind me to bring some big LED spotlights next year so we can get better pics without a really nice camera like Gary has.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Wow, I missed the rope cutting thingy!!
that makes me annoyed and we all know
how bad that can be

Thanks for the shots posted!
G2

 

[Mace]

I didnt get very many shots...just a couple. I tried to take some one morning, my my camera was in my truck and must have picked up some moisture and was taking foggy pics...seems to work fine now... anyhow...here are a couple.
Mace

The Fireman!

Sams mini bike....hehehe....

Evil shenanigans....Someone(Not me, but I know I'll get the blame)decided to help Sam get some dates by "fixing" his ABANA sticker!