Battle of the Bladesmiths photos

Great photos. Thanks for posting them, Bill. I believe everyone enjoyed themselves!!!

The Battle was the highlight of the hammer-in for me. The trash talking didn't stop just because these guys were busy making knives. In the final vote tally, Jason came out on top in a very close vote. I will highlight each competitors knife--

Russ Andrews- Russ forged out a pretty big camp knife. He was the only one to grind his knife completely clean of any forge scale or hammer marks. Russ had heat treated his blade and was back at the grinder when he found that his blade was cracked. He was forced to drop out at that point. Breaking his blade, we learned that it had been cracked before quenching. The grain was very tight and everything looked right about the heat treat. My guess is that it cracked during forging.

Jim Rodebaugh- Jim made a 8'' Bowie. He spent a lot of time thermal cycling his blade, and run short on being able to do much finish work on the handle. Honestly, I don't know how he was able to do anything with all the trash talk pointed at him from Burt and Jason. His knife proved to cut very well.

Burt Foster- Burt jumped out to an early lead during forging. He used his whole piece of steel making a nice recurve bowie. He had everyones attention when he done his final forging work with a textured hammer face. He also clay coated his blade before the hardening phase. Everything went smooth for Burt until he had trouble at the drill press, breaking a bit off in his tang. We might have had a different winner if not for this. Burt's knife proved to cut very well.

Jason Knight- Jason just worked at his pace, unaffected by what was going on around him. He would only look up to keep reminding everyone he was working with a broken finger..... Jason made a very "Jason looking" bowie. Instead of using the Maple scales provided, he chose to do a cord wrapped handle. There was a lot of attention on him as he wrapped the handle. His knife also proved to cut very well.

We are already planning on doing this again in the future. And a BIG thank you to Russ, Jim, Burt and Jason for doing this!! It was a pleasure to watch four guys with so much talent, and without them, this type of thing would not happen.
 
Sounds like an awsome time! We need more pics please! Someone must have some pics of the knives.
Mace
 
wiggins said:
Russ Andrews- Russ forged out a pretty big camp knife. He was the only one to grind his knife completely clean of any forge scale or hammer marks.
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All of us that know Russ' work realize this would be the case. :thumbup: Sorry to hear about the flaw that appeared. :(

Great report. Had to be lots of fun observing this competetion. Congrats to Jason, and his wife for coming up with the idea. :thumbup:

- Joe
 
That's a bummer for Russ, but demonstrates the reality of bladesmithing - sometimes the quench brings heartbreak.

Sounds like a terrific event - one that I hope will be repeated.

Roger

PS - Just curious - did the makers also have a knife or two for sale at the event?
 
PS - Just curious - did the makers also have a knife or two for sale at the event?[/QUOTE]

Roger, yes they did. There were quite a few knives for sale. I got a little laminated knife from Burt and a big bowie from Jason. Sorry, no pictures yet.

Bill
 
Roger, there was some beautiful knives there. And as Bill said, quite a few. Many makers had 4-5 knives some even more. Johnny Perry had part of his jaw dropping collection there. Jim Tracy had some beautiful pieces from his collection. Steven Rapp had a beautiful stag bowie and a little dress SF dagger with silver sheath. Jim Rodebaugh had outstanding pieces, Jason had one of his big typical awesome fighters, a couple BIG cord wrapped chopper bowies, a killer tactical fighter, Stephan Fowler didn't have any for sale but brought some very nice pieces to share. I hate to start listing makers and knives because you can't list them all, but I think you get my point. It was a very good place to pick up some great knives. I wasn't really expecting it, considering there were not many collectors there.

I enjoyed meeting Bill North. Didn't even know he made very nice sheaths.

Hammers-in are typically more put on by makers for makers, however they have A LOT to offer collectors. Education, the demonstrations were great. Jason's forging/grinding demonstrations were excellent and put on in his cool/laid back style, Steven Rapp's demonstration on making a sliver sheath left me amazed and he made it look so easy, Terry Vandeventer's handles and guards demonstration had the room filled and people listening from outside the room.

The "Battle of the Bladesmiths" was A LOT of FUN. As I said above, there was great knives there at good prices and the collector didn't have to compete with a thousand other collectors for them.

We had a little discussion about ways we could start promoting/advertising these Hammer-in to collectors.

Sorry to go on so, but had a great time.
 
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That sounds like a blast, I hate to have missed it.

Thanks for the reviews and pics!
 
Steven Rapp does make it look easy and is very generous about sharing information about how he does things. Kevin neglected to mention that he gave an excellent talk in one of the classrooms that was of benefit to both makers and collectors. Hammer ins as good as this one are a great place for collectors to meet and get to know makers, as well as see and have the chance to buy knives without the rushed atmosphere of a big show.

Thanks to Bill Wiggins and the folks at Haywood Community College who put a lot of effort into this event and it paid off.

Bill North
 
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Are the knives made in this competition for sale, have they been sold?

Thanks for the pictures and review of the hammer in, all who have contributed.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
Are the knives made in this competition for sale, have they been sold?

Thanks for the pictures and review of the hammer in, all who have contributed.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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The knives were donated to the Auction held on Sat,

I know Bill Wiggins got Jason Knight's, can't remember off hand who got Burt's or James' knives

I have most of the event on video, unfortunately my battery died and I managed to forget my charger so I'm missing the last 20 minutes of the buildoff
 
stephanfowler said:
The knives were donated to the Auction held on Sat,

I know Bill Wiggins got Jason Knight's, can't remember off hand who got Burt's or James' knives

I have most of the event on video, unfortunately my battery died and I managed to forget my charger so I'm missing the last 20 minutes of the buildoff
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Oh, "donated"....thanks.;)

That's very helpful, Stephan....remind me not to hire you as a videographer:D

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
Oh, "donated"....thanks.;)

That's very helpful, Stephan....remind me not to hire you as a videographer:D

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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Well, gee


Haywood Community college had a Video Communication student there with a much nicer camera, he probably got the whole thing.

:o:o
 
Generally, anything made during the event as a part of the demonstration is sent directly to the auction table by the maker (Used to be a good way to score a Moran!). It's their contribution to the ABS, the school, and to the students. They receive nothing but thanks which is more than enough for any of us. Demonstrators do get a small stipend and mileage for their time, travel, and expertise.

I really enjoyed doing my classes and greatly appreciate the kind comments.

I also enjoyed seeing both old and new friends. I particularly enjoyed meeting Stephan, face-to-face, at least the best I could do while looking up the whole time! :D You do great work, and guys, he was a gentleman through and through.

The venue was fantastic and the snow covered Smokies were a sight to behold. Try to make it sometimes and I guarantee, both makers and collectors will have a great time.

Cheers,

TV


Terry L. Vandeventer
ABS MS
 
tvandeventer said:
Generally, anything made during the event as a part of the demonstration is sent directly to the auction table by the maker (Used to be a good way to score a Moran!). It's their contribution to the ABS, the school, and to the students. They receive nothing but thanks which is more than enough for any of us. Demonstrators do get a small stipend and mileage for their time, travel, and expertise.

The venue was fantastic and the snow covered Smokies were a sight to behold. Try to make it sometimes and I guarantee, both makers and collectors will have a great time.

Cheers,

TV

Terry L. Vandeventer
ABS MS
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Gee, Terry, that is very thoughtful of the makers to donate their knives, time and expertise to the ABS like that.

If a maker is part-time, it seems like a stint at the school would be almost like a vacation, but for a full-time maker who depends upon the sales of their knives for all income, it seems more like a tax....of course, this is my opinion.

I'm an ABS apprentice, btw, and have been for about 5 years. Someday, it might be cool to test for my JS stamp, but that is about as far as I would take it....awfully hard to set up a forge in this part of SoCal. My beef has never been with the ABS itself, at the core, it is a fantastic organization with top notch ideals.

It is however, lorded over by a bunch of self-serving despot rulers who prop themselves up on the backs of their members, and ensure that there is no one who will stand up to them.

I would like to attend one of these Southern hammer ins...hopefully in the near future...they do look like great fun!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Gee, Terry, that is very thoughtful of the makers to donate their knives, time and expertise to the ABS like that.

If a maker is part-time, it seems like a stint at the school would be almost like a vacation, but for a full-time maker who depends upon the sales of their knives for all income, it seems more like a tax....of course, this is my opinion.

I'm an ABS apprentice, btw, and have been for about 5 years. Someday, it might be cool to test for my JS stamp, but that is about as far as I would take it....awfully hard to set up a forge in this part of SoCal. My beef has never been with the ABS itself, at the core, it is a fantastic organization with top notch ideals.

It is however, lorded over by a bunch of self-serving despot rulers who prop themselves up on the backs of their members, and ensure that there is no one who will stand up to them.

I would like to attend one of these Southern hammer ins...hopefully in the near future...they do look like great fun!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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Steven,

I drove 950 miles each way to attend this hammer-in. It was a great event. I have been to 6-7 ABS hammer-ins and never had anything but a great time. They are informative and a fun time. In my opinion they are one of the best ways for the ABS to teach both makers and the Public about forged blades. More collectors should attend, they won't be disappointed.

I doubt very much if any of the makers had a problem with donating the knives made in 2 1/2 hours to the ABS. They had fun battling each other. There were I believe 11 Mastersmiths attending this event. They did not mind taking time off from knifemaking to have some fun.

You should attend a hammer-in, they are not just Southern events, since the ABS has them in many different locations. In October they have one in California that you could go to. Here is the info from the ABS website:

October 8-10, 2010
California Bladesmithing Exposition and Knife Show
Visalia, Calfornia
Contact: Mike Vagnino 559-636-0501

Jim Treacy

PS, Terry it was nice to meet you and attend your class on Handles and Guards.
 
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jjtjr said:
Steven,
You should attend a hammer-in, they are not just Southern events, since the ABS has them in many different locations. In October they have one in California that you could go to. Here is the info from the ABS website:
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I went to a hammer in at Bill McHenry's house after the Providence, RI show in 1994, and went to Josh Smith's hammer-in last year, Jim.

Would like to go to a Southern one, if only for the accents, scenery, hospitality and the food.

WRT to California hammer-in, past years have had a problem, as the Plaza Show was held at the same time, or within a few days...it gets expensive, as you know
:thumbup:
Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
STeven,

James Rodebaugh is currently at the Haywood County school but he asked me to say "Steven, I hope you are having a good day."

Bill
 
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