Ashokan dates and schedule

Less than a week away, now we have 75 that are registered for the New England Bladesmiths, not sure how many for the Blacksmiths, it will be an interesting weekend having both crews there !
G2
 
Kevin,
I just came in from the shop. I dropped a bunch of steel and other things in a box for you .... Christmas in September ... Yeah!
 
He's all that and a bag of chips ;)

Just a few days to go, hope to see some of you guys there !

Right now we have 77 folks signed up for the Bladesmiths, not sure how the Blacksmiths are doing, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out this coming weekend !
G2
 
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how many attended last year ? i am just about done packing :D don't forget to bring safety glasses.
 
At least 130 were signed up last year but the big draw was that it was sword year which is every fifth year so folks look forward to that a lot

G2
 
Packed the wood and ivory last night. Have my gear in the living room to add tonight. Heading out at 5:30AM.

Does anyone remember the year where I had my calendar marked wrong and thought it was a week later?
There were all these posts about people packing and getting ready to leave and I couldn't figure out why they were so excited they were doing things a week early .... until I looked at the Ashokan website and saw the date was different than I had marked back in the spring. They had moved the date up to accommodate scheduling of the demonstrators. I called Tim and said Don and I wouldn't make it because we both had scheduled our time off for the next weekend. He said he would hold it over to the next year's seminar ... we were thus the first people registered for the next year.
 
I've decided to bring a handful of things for the tailgate sale that have been cluttering my garage for the last several years. I've got a 70 pound 'anvil shaped object' that was given to me, my old 129 pound clapped out Armitage Mousehole, a small 120v flux core wire feed welder, and a really cool horizontal forge I made out of a 20 pound propane tank, thinking for sure I was going to spend every waking moment making tomahawks, and then never even fired up...

I'll also have a six pound bag of gummy bears.

I shit you not.

SIX FRICKEN POUNDS.

:eek:...the horror...:eek:
 
A few folks are here now, an amazing day weather wise too !
G2
 
I wasn't able to get any photos this year, weather and also being the gopher held me up with that, but on the way to Ashokan, I stopped and grabbed some shots, beautiful day on Friday at least and we ended on a beautiful day today as well, nice to see all the folks there this year!

IMG_6931 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


In Downsville NY, I had to turn around and go back to get a few shots of these magnificent creatures, amazing horns on them, not sure what type they are but, wow !

IMG_6917 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


IMG_6920 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


IMG_6924 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


G2
 
My pick up while at Ashokan this weekend was from John April, while it wasn't one he had on the table to show/sell on Sunday before we left, it was one I saw him carrying during the weekend and bugged him enough that he was kind enough to sell it off his belt, it is just that cool I had to have it. Very well made, thought out and great shape, it's what most will call a three finger type handle, it's small, but for an EDC that works great, I added my bob tail fob on there and that acts as a stop for your 4th finger so you can have a secure grip with that in place, also attractive and handy for drawing the knife from the sheath.

Over all lengthy is 6" long
Blade is 3" and I'll leave the math for you to do to figure out the handle length ;)

Blade is hollow ground and made from 1084 and from sharpening it, feels like it is pretty hard and it took a razors edge. Nice on that John!

Handle scales are snake wood, very attractive.

Now...please note that any thing that looks like it's not new, is, well, not new, it was John's daily carry and he really did not want to part with it, for a few reasons, one it was in used shape, tape stuff on it, handle a little scratched from use, but I could see below all that and really liked it so I pressed on. I did some cleaning on it but of course not to the extent that it would be like new from John, I saw some of his larger knives on the table and they were pristine works, so please note that this is NOT a new knife but one that was pressed into use every day.


IMG_6950 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


IMG_6951 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


IMG_6952 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Thanks again John see you next year sir!
G2
 
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John does great work, and he's a great guy as well. I'm blessed to have been able to meet him and pick his brain this weekend.
 
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