FIF Forging Weekend

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Some of the FIF guys (Yataghan episode) came to visit Dave Catoe at his forge. We had a great day Saturday forging and making damascus. A few other smiths came by to join the fun.
Weather was great - cool and sunny. We went for lunch at Don Agee's BBQ place - Megallon's Gourmet BBQ … where blades are always part of the conversation.
Don't worry that Dave looks like he isn't having fun ... that is his smile. In the shot of him alone, I called his name and caught him off guard …. and he actually has a smile on.
The photos are prepping billets, welding them up, grinding, forging blades, etc. The Power hammer and press shots were too dark to be much use here, so sorry, no action shots there.

In Dave's compact shop, which resembles a Medieval dungeon with vines hanging down from the rafters (no kidding), there is a ton of equipment, and there were at any one time five to seven people working. We all worked together, calling out WELD, HOT, etc. as we moved about. Teamwork was the theme of the day, with most projects having two folks doing things.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

A few more: Quenching a large blade one of the guys brought to be done in Dave's big vertical HT oven. Gabe quick grinding a billet to check it. Gabe forging a damascus blade from the billet he was grinding clean. If you look close at the last forging shot, he forges so fast and hard he throws sparks.

 

[Ken H>]

SOunds like a GREAT weekend - and just the right number of folks to have fun.

 

[gabe4183]

Stacy Apelt Does actually Exists! I met him