New MS and JS

[m l williams]

Congratulations to all of you that recieved your stamps at Atlanta. The level of quality of the applicants continues to rise. Your future work will be more demanding. Each piece you complete you will scrutinized to a new level, I guarantee. On another note: To those of you who have not had the opportunity to apply for a rating and to stand outside those doors and wait on the review board; you should reserve comments on the review procedures until you have done so. Again; CONGRATULATIONS! new smiths..... Mike Williams

 

[Bastid]

Mike,
The level of work by those applicants sure raised the bar. As a friend and outsider of a few folks who were waiting outside those doors it was a nerve-racking and emotional experience. It is hard to explain my emotions and the makers of those knives had to have been going through more than I was since it was their work and many months of time and effort put into the work that was being judged.

The rest of the day was a haze. I really did not return to normal until Saturday morning and noticed that my maker friends who tested did not either.

The judges had a very tough time this year, from what I can tell they did a fine job.

To all those who tested congratulations. No matter what the outcome was the task had to be one of the greatest learning experiences. To those approved congratulations again. Mikes words ring true. No matter what the level the steps still go up!

 

[SharpByCoop]

As you guys have mentioned--the testing bar has been raised and there are a BUNCH of fine men who stood the test. Excellent!

But this begs the difficult question: Were there makers whose work will have to wait until next year to pass? I don't want to say they 'failed', because that is too harsh, but who did NOT pass the latest standard? JS or MS.

Coop

 

[Bastid]

Coop,

I am not sure that one needs to be answered. It is very hard to imagine everything that goes into these test knives and the committment towards the future that they represent (not to mention the wait outside the judging rooms.) .

Every one I knew well enough brought up the subject of not passing and they had prepared themselves for it so that they could gain more knowledge and be better off when they tried again.

Many single examples of these knives represented weeks if not months of effort. Under those circumstances it is easy to see how something could be missed by a maker. (That is why it is always good to seek critiques from other makers as Mike said in the other thread.)