Kohai999
Second Degree Cutter
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2003
- Messages
- 12,554
Me, and my business partner, Pete, spent the better part of Thursday in Seattle,looking for a sleeping bag at a reasonable price, and found a nice flannel Coleman for $50.00 at Big 5. We picked up Phil Baldwin at his studio, parked our car downtown, grabbed a cab and caught a redeye from Seattle to Newark, landing at 6:30 am on Friday, September 16.
Newark airport is the least of the 3 evils flying into the Metropolitan Area, JFK and LaGuardia being unspeakably bad. Newark still sucks, and getting out of New Jersey took 30 minutes of extra time, just because the signage placement blows chunks. We took the Palisades Parkway up to Nyack and stopped for breakfast. Nice little town, but I found it somewhat generic.
After breakfast, we drove to SUNY New Paltz to check out the Art building and studios. As Ashokan is formally called the SUNY New Paltz Field Campus at Ashokan. There were some flyers posted around the metalworking and sculpture studios, which we were pleased to see, and wanted to see if any students would make the trek.(As far as we could tell, they did not)
I went to the Sword 2000 seminar, and it was COLD and dry. This year, it was quite warm (too warm!) and humid, like a steam bath. The drive to the campus following the directions provided, during a torrential downpour was somewhat scary. We loaded up on cheese, non-alcoholic beverages, crackers and water at the Market in Boiceville, NY. Amazingly well stocked grocery store, polite clerks, and fair prices. We recommend you stock up, because you get three good squares a day when you are in attendance, but little provision for between meal snacking.
After an excellent dinner of barbecued pork loin, Dan Maragni opened/introduced the format for the weekend by stating that the Goal is to clean out the BS, and present the facts, as researched. This from the website, http://www.vikingsword.com/dikon/sword2005/index.html
"The goal of the Ashokan Sword Seminars is to gain an understanding of the sword. Not just a specific sword from a particular time or culture but swords from all over the world and throughout time.....
....The study of the artifacts and literature is usually the focus of academicians- archeologists, historians and metallurgists are necessary to clarify these aspects of the study of the sword. We also need the input of craftsmen, skilled artisans who can, through study, reconstruction and experimentation, create the steel by smelting and crucible melting, forge blades and produce finished weapons utilizing techniques not all that different from those used on the original artifacts. Finally we need the input of the martial artists who train in the use of the sword and who provide the final test on the accuracy and completeness of our understanding of this subject, for only in use can any tool be judged. After all, it is the effect of the cut or thrust which defines the quality of the tool, not the tool itself....."
Lee Jones, who has an excellent website: http://www.vikingsword.com, gave a fascinating lecture using Powerpoint, on Blade Patterns Intrinsic to Steel Edged weapons. This included blades from China, the Middle East, Japan, and Europe. One of the more interesting points of his lecture was what happens to pattern welded steel patterns when you remove material in 5% increments.
After Lee, Scott Rodell spoke on the two main types of Chinese Swords, the Jian and the Saber. For the last 25 years, Scott has devoted himself to Yang Family Taijiquan, seeking out the last of the old masters, he has worked to preserve the martial aspects of this system that were in danger of being lost. As director of the Great River Taoist Center (headquartered in Washington, DC- www.grtc.org) he has taught Taijiquan in America and Europe for over 20 years. He is particularly well known for having fathered Taijiquan in former Soviet countries and was awarded Honored Judge status by the Russian Wushu Federation. Today Rodell is recognized as one of the major exponents of Taijiquan as a martial art and is an Internationally recognized teacher of Chinese historical swordsmanship.
Scott spent most of his discussion time showing different types of Jian and Sabers, and briefly touching on how they would be used.
After Scott's presentation, I did some show and tell with people, including some time with Phillip Tom who is one of the two most knowledgeable Chinese sword experts in the county, interested in what I had brought with me.
Being that this was a sword seminar, but not wanting to schlep good swords all the way across the country, I settled on ten pieces; Phil Baldwin Damascus knife, Boye Dendritic 440C Basic III with post-grind acid etching, Cashen Damascus Pocket Bowie, Cold Steel Imperial O-Tanto, Evans Khukuri, Fogg Single Edge Shiv, Burt Foster Bowie, Himalayan Imports Royal Kothimoda Khukuri, Pendray Wootz knife, and a J.D. Smith Damascus tanto(somewhat traditionally mounted).
I met knifemaker Mace Vitale, and a group of his friends, Aldo, Marty, Keith Kaiser (who put together the Twin Towers Tribute knife collection, SOOO cool), Larry, and a bunch of other guys who's names I forget for the moment, forgive me, but you will all always be remembered in face and spirit.
I also met Delbert Ealy, the damascus phenom. Very interesting person.
Then, it was time to crash hard.!! There is little if any ventilation in the "bunkhouse", and no storage areas like dressers either. If there is one thing that I don't like about the Ashokan Field Campus, it is the accomodations, you have to bring a sleeping bag and towels, the mattresses are vinyl covered . Those of dainty constitution need not apply for "native" berthing. There are hotels within driving distance, and tent camping is permitted.
Saturday morning 8:00 am, I started chain smoking Lucky Strikes, and had a non-alcholic beverage wakeup, with a natural, non-alcohol induced buzz that remained constant for most of the weekend.
I sort of got the basics of the Bloomery Smelting with Michael McCarthy at 9:00 am. Michael got exposure to the work and period of interpretation at the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown, and shifted his focus to pre-industrial methods of forging. After three years of apprenticeship Michael was chosen to run the blacksmith shop at the museum. In 2003 he relocated his own shop to a building in Ames NY, where he works during the winter months, while the museum is closed. Michael's current focus is on iron smelting and the tools and hardware of pre-industrial America, although he still produces contemporary items in both metal and wood. Michael is also a very cool dude.
After Michael did his thing, Scott Rodell went through some basic movements with the Jian, and sabers. Very fluid, very competent and very deadly, is about all I can say, without video.
After that, John Clements of ARMA was to have started with some European Swordsmanship, but Katrina impacted a lot of his family, and he had other things to concern himself with. He graciously provided two of his students from Provo, UT to demonstrate longsword techniques, and these two fine gentlemen seemed quite competent in their forms. Those interested in learning more about ARMA can click here: http://www.thearma.org
If memory serves, after the ARMA lecture, Ric Furrer, gave a lecture on Crucible Steel smelting that was actually quite interesting. http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/about.htm.
After Ric's lecture, it was time for lunch, which was Rueben Sandwiches and french fries. The kitchen staff at Ashokan works really hard, and they make mealtime quite pleasureable.
Ashokan Field Campus is divided up into the living areas (bunkhouses, instructor's quarters, mess hall/lecture area) and the "field" area which is like a big lawn with a serious piece of concrete slab covered with a corrugated steel roof.
After lunch, Kevin Cashen delivered a lecture in the field area, covering laminations/pattern welding. http://www.cashenblades.com/
I find this to be very interesting, and was the first bit of "hot work" shown during a seminar. Much, much hats off to Paul Champagne who hauled out a lot of gear from his smithy to make this event work. We are talking about a BIG propane canister, a forge, firebrick, anvil, hammers.....
Kevin fired up the forge, and started to laminate 3 layers of material together, handing out sheets showing actual carbon content of pattern welds, and immediately putting to bed the myth of "high carbon/low carbon" pattern welding. The results, as shown in his handout, say that we wind up with "medium carbon" throughout. I cannot remember Kevin's favorite mix, but the other smiths that I spoke with said that it made a lot of sense, and was grounded in science.
After Kevin's lecture, Tom Walter demonstrated the art of tameshigiri, or Japanese test cutting. After cutting a variety of "Samurai lollipops" (beach mats wrapped around green bamboo) people got to try out their knives/swords on the left-over test media. I used my Imperial O-tanto to try some cuts and could only make it about 3/4 of the way through, but am very satisfied with that. The o-tanto would have successfully cut through an arm without much difficulty, and that works for me. Cutting is always a lot of fun. Jens Luckman made the cutting stands for Tom, and he made some quite functional and well thought out stands, which has given me some ideas for us to use at the JKI Honbu Dojo.
Ann Feurbach, PhD, gave a lecture on the history of Crucible Steel, which I missed most of, choosing instead to drink lemonade, and BS with a bunch of the attendees. It is not that she did not do an interesting lecture, she did. The room was just oppressively hot. http://moltenmuse.home.att.net/
As far as I could follow from her presentation, crucible steel has evolved from two distinct sources. I plan to research the concept further, so that I may understand it in more detail.
After Ann's lecture, we had dinner, excellent steaks with the fixin's.
After dinner, Tim Zowada http://tzknives.com/
and Kevin Cashen gave a demo on high- tech heat treatment, using 2 salt pots and a digital pyrometer. This allows one specific temperature for the hardening phase of steel work, and another specific set of temperature controls for the tempering. I am very familiar with this technique, it is one that Nick Wheeler uses, and has explained to me at length. This lecture was given in the Blacksmith shop, which I did not even know existed until this trip, my 3rd to Ashokan Field Campus.
After the High-tech portion of the seminar, Phillip Baldwin, http://www.shiningwave.com
gave a lecture on Low-Tech heat treatment, using a trench in the ground, a hand-cranked blower, and a pipe with holes drilled in it to force the air/fuel mixture to a temperature satisfactory for the proper heat treat. I saw the demo in 2000, and it really is impressive. Phil is also one of my favorite people on the planet.
At the same time, Michael was cranking on the forge and he, Phillip Tom and some others were forging a bloom into a billet. At this juncture, there was a lot of fires going on, and me and Kevin Cashen strolled around in our smoking jackets. I brought my fez too. We got to bed around 1:30 a.m. Totally awesome day!!
(To be continued.......)
Newark airport is the least of the 3 evils flying into the Metropolitan Area, JFK and LaGuardia being unspeakably bad. Newark still sucks, and getting out of New Jersey took 30 minutes of extra time, just because the signage placement blows chunks. We took the Palisades Parkway up to Nyack and stopped for breakfast. Nice little town, but I found it somewhat generic.
After breakfast, we drove to SUNY New Paltz to check out the Art building and studios. As Ashokan is formally called the SUNY New Paltz Field Campus at Ashokan. There were some flyers posted around the metalworking and sculpture studios, which we were pleased to see, and wanted to see if any students would make the trek.(As far as we could tell, they did not)
I went to the Sword 2000 seminar, and it was COLD and dry. This year, it was quite warm (too warm!) and humid, like a steam bath. The drive to the campus following the directions provided, during a torrential downpour was somewhat scary. We loaded up on cheese, non-alcoholic beverages, crackers and water at the Market in Boiceville, NY. Amazingly well stocked grocery store, polite clerks, and fair prices. We recommend you stock up, because you get three good squares a day when you are in attendance, but little provision for between meal snacking.
After an excellent dinner of barbecued pork loin, Dan Maragni opened/introduced the format for the weekend by stating that the Goal is to clean out the BS, and present the facts, as researched. This from the website, http://www.vikingsword.com/dikon/sword2005/index.html
"The goal of the Ashokan Sword Seminars is to gain an understanding of the sword. Not just a specific sword from a particular time or culture but swords from all over the world and throughout time.....
....The study of the artifacts and literature is usually the focus of academicians- archeologists, historians and metallurgists are necessary to clarify these aspects of the study of the sword. We also need the input of craftsmen, skilled artisans who can, through study, reconstruction and experimentation, create the steel by smelting and crucible melting, forge blades and produce finished weapons utilizing techniques not all that different from those used on the original artifacts. Finally we need the input of the martial artists who train in the use of the sword and who provide the final test on the accuracy and completeness of our understanding of this subject, for only in use can any tool be judged. After all, it is the effect of the cut or thrust which defines the quality of the tool, not the tool itself....."
Lee Jones, who has an excellent website: http://www.vikingsword.com, gave a fascinating lecture using Powerpoint, on Blade Patterns Intrinsic to Steel Edged weapons. This included blades from China, the Middle East, Japan, and Europe. One of the more interesting points of his lecture was what happens to pattern welded steel patterns when you remove material in 5% increments.
After Lee, Scott Rodell spoke on the two main types of Chinese Swords, the Jian and the Saber. For the last 25 years, Scott has devoted himself to Yang Family Taijiquan, seeking out the last of the old masters, he has worked to preserve the martial aspects of this system that were in danger of being lost. As director of the Great River Taoist Center (headquartered in Washington, DC- www.grtc.org) he has taught Taijiquan in America and Europe for over 20 years. He is particularly well known for having fathered Taijiquan in former Soviet countries and was awarded Honored Judge status by the Russian Wushu Federation. Today Rodell is recognized as one of the major exponents of Taijiquan as a martial art and is an Internationally recognized teacher of Chinese historical swordsmanship.
Scott spent most of his discussion time showing different types of Jian and Sabers, and briefly touching on how they would be used.
After Scott's presentation, I did some show and tell with people, including some time with Phillip Tom who is one of the two most knowledgeable Chinese sword experts in the county, interested in what I had brought with me.
Being that this was a sword seminar, but not wanting to schlep good swords all the way across the country, I settled on ten pieces; Phil Baldwin Damascus knife, Boye Dendritic 440C Basic III with post-grind acid etching, Cashen Damascus Pocket Bowie, Cold Steel Imperial O-Tanto, Evans Khukuri, Fogg Single Edge Shiv, Burt Foster Bowie, Himalayan Imports Royal Kothimoda Khukuri, Pendray Wootz knife, and a J.D. Smith Damascus tanto(somewhat traditionally mounted).
I met knifemaker Mace Vitale, and a group of his friends, Aldo, Marty, Keith Kaiser (who put together the Twin Towers Tribute knife collection, SOOO cool), Larry, and a bunch of other guys who's names I forget for the moment, forgive me, but you will all always be remembered in face and spirit.
I also met Delbert Ealy, the damascus phenom. Very interesting person.
Then, it was time to crash hard.!! There is little if any ventilation in the "bunkhouse", and no storage areas like dressers either. If there is one thing that I don't like about the Ashokan Field Campus, it is the accomodations, you have to bring a sleeping bag and towels, the mattresses are vinyl covered . Those of dainty constitution need not apply for "native" berthing. There are hotels within driving distance, and tent camping is permitted.
Saturday morning 8:00 am, I started chain smoking Lucky Strikes, and had a non-alcholic beverage wakeup, with a natural, non-alcohol induced buzz that remained constant for most of the weekend.
I sort of got the basics of the Bloomery Smelting with Michael McCarthy at 9:00 am. Michael got exposure to the work and period of interpretation at the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown, and shifted his focus to pre-industrial methods of forging. After three years of apprenticeship Michael was chosen to run the blacksmith shop at the museum. In 2003 he relocated his own shop to a building in Ames NY, where he works during the winter months, while the museum is closed. Michael's current focus is on iron smelting and the tools and hardware of pre-industrial America, although he still produces contemporary items in both metal and wood. Michael is also a very cool dude.
After Michael did his thing, Scott Rodell went through some basic movements with the Jian, and sabers. Very fluid, very competent and very deadly, is about all I can say, without video.
After that, John Clements of ARMA was to have started with some European Swordsmanship, but Katrina impacted a lot of his family, and he had other things to concern himself with. He graciously provided two of his students from Provo, UT to demonstrate longsword techniques, and these two fine gentlemen seemed quite competent in their forms. Those interested in learning more about ARMA can click here: http://www.thearma.org
If memory serves, after the ARMA lecture, Ric Furrer, gave a lecture on Crucible Steel smelting that was actually quite interesting. http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/about.htm.
After Ric's lecture, it was time for lunch, which was Rueben Sandwiches and french fries. The kitchen staff at Ashokan works really hard, and they make mealtime quite pleasureable.
Ashokan Field Campus is divided up into the living areas (bunkhouses, instructor's quarters, mess hall/lecture area) and the "field" area which is like a big lawn with a serious piece of concrete slab covered with a corrugated steel roof.
After lunch, Kevin Cashen delivered a lecture in the field area, covering laminations/pattern welding. http://www.cashenblades.com/
I find this to be very interesting, and was the first bit of "hot work" shown during a seminar. Much, much hats off to Paul Champagne who hauled out a lot of gear from his smithy to make this event work. We are talking about a BIG propane canister, a forge, firebrick, anvil, hammers.....
Kevin fired up the forge, and started to laminate 3 layers of material together, handing out sheets showing actual carbon content of pattern welds, and immediately putting to bed the myth of "high carbon/low carbon" pattern welding. The results, as shown in his handout, say that we wind up with "medium carbon" throughout. I cannot remember Kevin's favorite mix, but the other smiths that I spoke with said that it made a lot of sense, and was grounded in science.
After Kevin's lecture, Tom Walter demonstrated the art of tameshigiri, or Japanese test cutting. After cutting a variety of "Samurai lollipops" (beach mats wrapped around green bamboo) people got to try out their knives/swords on the left-over test media. I used my Imperial O-tanto to try some cuts and could only make it about 3/4 of the way through, but am very satisfied with that. The o-tanto would have successfully cut through an arm without much difficulty, and that works for me. Cutting is always a lot of fun. Jens Luckman made the cutting stands for Tom, and he made some quite functional and well thought out stands, which has given me some ideas for us to use at the JKI Honbu Dojo.
Ann Feurbach, PhD, gave a lecture on the history of Crucible Steel, which I missed most of, choosing instead to drink lemonade, and BS with a bunch of the attendees. It is not that she did not do an interesting lecture, she did. The room was just oppressively hot. http://moltenmuse.home.att.net/
As far as I could follow from her presentation, crucible steel has evolved from two distinct sources. I plan to research the concept further, so that I may understand it in more detail.
After Ann's lecture, we had dinner, excellent steaks with the fixin's.
After dinner, Tim Zowada http://tzknives.com/
and Kevin Cashen gave a demo on high- tech heat treatment, using 2 salt pots and a digital pyrometer. This allows one specific temperature for the hardening phase of steel work, and another specific set of temperature controls for the tempering. I am very familiar with this technique, it is one that Nick Wheeler uses, and has explained to me at length. This lecture was given in the Blacksmith shop, which I did not even know existed until this trip, my 3rd to Ashokan Field Campus.
After the High-tech portion of the seminar, Phillip Baldwin, http://www.shiningwave.com
gave a lecture on Low-Tech heat treatment, using a trench in the ground, a hand-cranked blower, and a pipe with holes drilled in it to force the air/fuel mixture to a temperature satisfactory for the proper heat treat. I saw the demo in 2000, and it really is impressive. Phil is also one of my favorite people on the planet.
At the same time, Michael was cranking on the forge and he, Phillip Tom and some others were forging a bloom into a billet. At this juncture, there was a lot of fires going on, and me and Kevin Cashen strolled around in our smoking jackets. I brought my fez too. We got to bed around 1:30 a.m. Totally awesome day!!
(To be continued.......)
just my luck!