Hey folks, I've been voted to be in charge of the knifemaking contest at my blacksmith guild's 2007 "Blacksmith Days" (our big once a year hammer-in/show) and I'm in need of one thing. A judge or two.
Last year we had a pretty informal setup and the winner was selected by popular vote. Afterwards a bunch of discussion led to a new set of rules I wrote. The one major change I'd like to try to get in this year is to have some more formal judging to determine a winner (though we're keeping the popular vote as a "people's choice" award).
I have the rules settled out, and will be picking a theme soon (something like "knife from recycled materials" or "Bowie" or "Skinner" or something that provides a direction but nothing too specific). What I don't have is anybody to judge. I'd love to be able to have a full-time bladesmith or two come up and do the judging for this competition. We have a lot of new knifemakers in the guild and everybody would love to have their work critiqued by someone who does this for a living.
The event will be in May (I'll get real dates soon) in Westminster, MD at the Carroll County Farm Museum. We'll also have a couple of demonstrators going all day Saturday/Sunday in the tents, other smaller demonstrations running as well, forging competitions, tailgating, an auction Saturday night, dinners, etc. John Larson (builder of Iron Kiss power hammers) always loans us a couple of hammers for the show and last year had a "hammer test drive" session for anybody who wanted to try one out as well.
Would any makers in the area be interested in doing some judging? I can't offer you any appearance fee, but I can offer you free room & board at my place (in Hanover, PA about 20 minutes from the farm museum) and free entry into the show all weekend (a $30 value!
) and depending on my own financial situation in May could possibly help reimburse you for some travel costs.
Any of you fine professional bladesmiths interested? If not, what could a guy do (while keeping costs down) to sweeten the pot?
Thanks in advance for any advice or volunteers!
-d
Last year we had a pretty informal setup and the winner was selected by popular vote. Afterwards a bunch of discussion led to a new set of rules I wrote. The one major change I'd like to try to get in this year is to have some more formal judging to determine a winner (though we're keeping the popular vote as a "people's choice" award).
I have the rules settled out, and will be picking a theme soon (something like "knife from recycled materials" or "Bowie" or "Skinner" or something that provides a direction but nothing too specific). What I don't have is anybody to judge. I'd love to be able to have a full-time bladesmith or two come up and do the judging for this competition. We have a lot of new knifemakers in the guild and everybody would love to have their work critiqued by someone who does this for a living.
The event will be in May (I'll get real dates soon) in Westminster, MD at the Carroll County Farm Museum. We'll also have a couple of demonstrators going all day Saturday/Sunday in the tents, other smaller demonstrations running as well, forging competitions, tailgating, an auction Saturday night, dinners, etc. John Larson (builder of Iron Kiss power hammers) always loans us a couple of hammers for the show and last year had a "hammer test drive" session for anybody who wanted to try one out as well.
Would any makers in the area be interested in doing some judging? I can't offer you any appearance fee, but I can offer you free room & board at my place (in Hanover, PA about 20 minutes from the farm museum) and free entry into the show all weekend (a $30 value!
) and depending on my own financial situation in May could possibly help reimburse you for some travel costs.Any of you fine professional bladesmiths interested? If not, what could a guy do (while keeping costs down) to sweeten the pot?
Thanks in advance for any advice or volunteers!
-d
