One Month Until Ashokan!!

Kevin R. Cashen said:
I have to second that. For example, last year during my damascus demo I had questions dealing with stacking up multibar twists, all while none other than Jerry Rados was sitting in the front row, I gave my take on it but then made sure to tell them that they needed to get with this guy after the demo if they wanted to take their learning to the next level.
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I rode with him and I was sitting next to him - don't "I" even get a mention!!??
 
Mace, if I recall, you had six foot lengths of each. I would be happy to take 12 feet of the 1.5 x 1/4" off of your hands. Just remind me of the price so that I have enough cash on hand. Thanks. -Chris
 
Chris,
The 1.5" comes in four footers...so 12' will be $45.-
Just come and see me, I'll have it set aside for you.
Mace



On a side note:
I have not been able to find any info on the "New England Bladsmiths Guild".
Nor do I remember anyone talking about how to join this guild at Ashokan.
Is there such an organization? Or is it just a name that is still used?
Mace
 
Mace, thanks for bringing the steel.

As far as the New England Bladesmiths' Guild, it's a psuedo organization with no dues, no membership requirements and, most importantly, no hassels. It's really just the group of people who attend the Ashokan seminar, and provides an entity to collect the fee and pay the bills for the seminar. The leadership is floating, with the leader being the person willing to organize Ashokan for that year. Incidently, the leader is known as the "Grand Pooba".
 
Chris Meyer said:
Incidently, the leader is known as the "Grand Pooba".
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I meant to ask if he wears a fez or a moose head hat, so remind me this year, Chris!

... and Mace, don't try to distract everyone from your fear of total defeat at the Bridge of Trepidation and Perpetual Motion by peddling your steel here!;):D (Did you get my check yet, btw?)

TekSec - I learned more about proper hollow grinding in 15 minutes with Jim Siska than I had the entire previous year trying to figure it out by myself.

Karl - I saw Burt's clay coat demo at Wulf's HI, and it was great! Burt's an incredible smith, but he's also a born presenter, and I can't wait to get the chance to talk with him again! I'm really looking forward to finally meeting you there, too Karl!

Mr. Zawacki, everything you said in that response was a mirror for how I felt last year. I'm rarely one that lacks for words (no comments out of you guys, you weasels!:D), but I remember feeling totally overwhelmed most of the weekend because of who was there. Guys, there are lots of names in the seminar's lineup, but you won't believe who shows up to attend, either! I think I described it last year as walking the halls of Olympus and mingling with the gods...


Kevin, did you actually give me a Partagas Black and I smoked it, or did I give it away again... cuz it's gone, and I can't remember! Apparently, this will be the Forever Unsmoked Cigar for Matt!
 
MrPurple said:
I meant to ask if he wears a fez or a moose head hat, so remind me this year, Chris!
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Matt, I believe the Grand Pooba gets to select his own garb. The classy one's usually choose something like a custom cowboy hat, while the more eccentric one's wear smoking jackets and the like.

Tim-Zowada.jpg


cashen_garsson_smoking_jack3.jpg


​
 
Don't let the conservative garb fool you, guys... Kevin's really a party animal!

He spent weeks modifying 100lb. propane tanks to hold and dispense his favorite beer (St. Anky's, of course!). This is one of the rare photos of his malt beverage storage 'disguise' so that his wife continues to believe that he's really out in the shop working.
 
Chris Meyer said:
Mace, thanks for bringing the steel.

As far as the New England Bladesmiths' Guild, it's a psuedo organization with no dues, no membership requirements and, most importantly, no hassels. It's really just the group of people who attend the Ashokan seminar, and provides an entity to collect the fee and pay the bills for the seminar. The leadership is floating, with the leader being the person willing to organize Ashokan for that year. Incidently, the leader is known as the "Grand Pooba".
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Actually Chris the nature and structural hierarchy of the Ashokan Poobanate is a little more complex in its political intrigue with a rich and interesting history. The first era of the guild is shrouded in mystery as there is little in the historical record from this time but it appears to have been a loosely organized group of incredibly talented smiths that included names such as Fogg, Fikes, Schmidt and others that split and reorganized during the formation of the ABS.

For many, many years Maragni enjoyed total control in overseeing the New England Bladesmiths Guild after rising from the original group of loosely assembled demonstrators and consolidating his power as the first Grand Poobah (Also sometimes spelled “PuBah” in some bladesmithing regions). Around 1995 at the end of the second era (also know as the Pax Ashokana) of the guild, which is defined my Maragni’s reign from the original rebellion which resulted in the guild, and the event known as “Maragni’s last stand”, there was a upset in power when Zowada, one of Maragni’s generals and best demonstrators had gained enough popularity to challenge his authority. Although Maragni probably could have successfully suppressed this mini-rebellion, the years had now worn on him and he instead saw an opportunity to diversify the group and extend the New England Bladesmith Guild’s reach much farther across the continent. So a diplomatic division of authority was achieved ending the Maragni dynasty and dividing the Poobanate into two distinct seats of power. In the area of general bladesmithing Zowada would have control to conduct the seminars for most years and deal mostly with shorter blades, with the provision that every fifth year Maragni would preside over all things dealing with swords. This was the guilds 3rd era and worked well for a period, giving us the current tradition of the bladesmithing seminars on every year not ending with a “0” or “5” which are reserved for all things sword.

It is during this period that Zowada came to rely heavily upon his own generals but ruled them with a heavy handed approach which included such practices as condemning trouble makers to life doing the dreaded heat treating lecture, or forcing them to weld in a tired coal fire in order to promote discipline. Circumstances reached the critical point in 2004 in an event known as “The Bloodless Coupe” when one of Zowada’s more rebellious lieutenants took advantage of his absence and seized control of an entire seminar and gained a political toehold. Once again the sitting Poobah saw the wisdom of forgoing violence and using this to the guilds advantage in expanding its influence to an even broader base.

Thus the Poobanate was again divided into the triumvirate structure we currently know today, with Maragni ruling over the division of the guild concerned primarily with swords and the power to conduct a sword seminar every five years, and all the years in between controlled by Grand Poobah Zowada and Grand Poobah Cashen, yet all in delicate balance with each maneuvering for ultimate power*

(Ultimate power being the power to get the others to do more of the seminar organizing so they can relax a little more;))

Of course all of the above is utter tongue in cheek nonsense since while there can be no dues, no membership requirements and no hassles the absolute most important thing is that there can be NO POLITICS. The New England Bladesmith Guild was formed to offer an alternative to virtually all the other knifemaking organizations where petty politics can get in the way of simple truth and facts. Thus there are no dues, no newsletters, no official membership lists and the group has always described themselves as a “non-sanctioned shadow organization”. The only thing that matters at Ashokan is the sharing of verifiable facts and information regardless of how famous or popular the source may be, if it does not meet that criterion, it simply will not fly. It is one of the oldest and most highly regarded knifemaking gatherings in the country and to be invited to talk there means you have demonstrated that you stand out, in a field that is littered with BS, with your factual information. Just doing a demonstration there is one of my proudest achievements, being a Grand Poobah is a service I offer to repay the honor of allowing me to speak on the same spot as some of the greatest craftsmen our field has even known.
 
MrPurple said:
Don't let the conservative garb fool you, guys... Kevin's really a party animal!

He spent weeks modifying 100lb. propane tanks to hold and dispense his favorite beer (St. Anky's, of course!). This is one of the rare photos of his malt beverage storage 'disguise' so that his wife continues to believe that he's really out in the shop working.
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And at home I rigged up this sweet little apparatus:
Forge.jpg


Yes, if you look you will see a beer keg mounted atop that gas forge. It is so sweet, you set the feed line going into the burner tip at just the right drip rate and the entire shop is filled with a wonderful alcoholic lager or ale steam! I spend all of my days in an inebriated bliss from just breathing the air! That is why you will see me at shows slapping people away from my table if they have been to my shop as they are always trying to taste the blades! Keeping the rust off is impossible with these beer lovers literally drooling all over them! :mad:
 
i dont go to ashoken for the seminars (although they are top notch)
i dont go to ashoken for the brotherhood of cutlers and their kinship (although a wonderful faternity)
i go to ashoken to screw with maces head till he bleeds out his ears..
that being said.
chris meyer; i hope you are bringing dvds
mace ;bacon is meat candy !!!!
 
I sent my check today! See you all there :)
The last time I was there was for a week long field trip in the 5th grade :eek:
Do they still raise giant pigs??
 
I think that one huge pig is still there, I LOVE the sign that says "i can make it from the house to the fence in under 3 seconds" with the picture of the pig by it, meanwhile that pig has got to be around 600 pounds, and his belly almost touches the ground hehe, i think they meant 3 minutes.
 
These pigs wouldn't be the source of the bowls of bacon, would they?
 
Kevin, that's not one of those old watercooled-nozzle forges, is it? What shape's the chamber in that forge?
 
Kieth, Your meat candy!:barf::D What did I do to deserve a friend like you!:eek:
Musta been something good.:D
I just got back from Fla. and I got you the "new" style Waffle House hat!


Mace
 
fitzo said:
Kevin, that's not one of those old watercooled-nozzle forges, is it? What shape's the chamber in that forge?
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Sorry for the late reply, I was in OH for the ABS gathering. Yes it is the old water cooled design, I put it together myself at least 14 years ago. I also cast my own shell for it and in those years I have only replaced the shell twice. The first one shouldn't really count though since I did a bad thing to do it in and I would have used it for many more years otherwise. The second shell still sits in the corner of my shop and I will proably find another use for it, but I wanted to give one of Tim Z's precast shells a try and that is currently what I am working with.
 
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