Visalia Hammer-In

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lambertiana

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Today we had a hammer in at the home of Mark Wohlwend. Also in attendance were Ray Laconico, Christof (Koyote knives), Mtnfolk Mike, CBryant, Stingray (I am more familiar with their forum ID), as well as a few family members (Koyote Girl, Mike's father-in-law) and a Master Bladesmith whose name escapes me (Ray will fill in that detail). Here is a group shot:
HammerIn008.jpg


We got to look at a wide variety of blades (these pics don't show all of them)
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They made a sample blade for us, here is Ray cutting out the basic shape from bar stock:
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And shaping it:
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Then Christof took over on the bevel:
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And a little cleanup before hardening:
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I left while it was still in the oven for tempering, so someone else will have to post a picture of the finished blade.
 
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Then they fired up the forges, here are a few shots:
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Then there was a little sample chopping:
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We all had a great time, and Mark's better half supplied some excellent chili. I was only going to spend a few hours there because I had other things going on, but it was too much fun and I stayed for most of the day. We need to do this again soon.
 
That's a mighty impressive group of knifemakers assembled there :thumbup: looks like a blast.
 
Man I would love to go to something like that, to bad CA is about 2k miles away for me....
 
Blast. Total fun. Good to meet new people, and many thanks to Mike for hosting, he's undoubtedly got a bit of mess to clean up.

Nice shop, and a much appreciated visit from Mike Vagnino- ABS MS, with some good commentary for us makers.

A few more shots are here: I didn't scale these down yet as I figured mike, mike, or labertiana would want to crop and edit.

http://old.koyoteknives.com/photos/shop/hammer-in-2010-01-30/

A ghost guest appearance by David Farmer in the person of one of his boar blades was made, that's the one I'm using to chop 2x6. Mtnfolk mike was a bit worried about the thickness, but I've already abused this blade while having it here for a sheath job, so I knew. Excellent blade and the edge is perfectly sound... still. that's a few dozen soda and red bull cans and a couple 2x4 and that 2x6 now.

And yes, that's Mike trying to split a knot :)
 
Our guest ABS Mastersmith was Mike Vagnino of Visalia CA. Mike was kind enough to drop by and answer questions and give pointers....and my first name is really Mark, but after years in law enforcement, I respond to about anything!!!! LOL

We had a great time! Thanks to everyone who came to my shop!
 
very cool John... thanks for putting some pics up, you beat me to the punch...:thumbup: we just got home about 20 minutes ago...

the day went by really fast.. it was a great time, we had a blast.. it was cool to hang out with Ray, Christian, Christof and John again.. i also want to thank our host Mark, for having us all over and letting us play with all of his cool toys...:D it was cool to finally meet you man...:thumbup: Sierra too..:)

i'll try and get some pics up tomorrow.. i have abunch i have to download and sort through them...
 
It was a really great time.. Even better than I expected. ABS MS Mike Vagnino was kind enough to critique some of our work and give advice. Thanks to everyone for showing up and I know most of you had long drives.. A huge thanks to Mark Wohlwend for hosting this gathering and letting us play with his toys.

There was a blade that we all kind of did a little work on.. First, Nick drew the design on the barstock. I profiled the blade. Christof did the bevel grind. Mark did the heat treat. Nick will put the handle scales on. Mike will do the sheath. It should be fun to see a knife that we all had a part in.

Some guys also did some forging and got to take home their blades.. We shall do this again. I'd be happy to host next time.
 
I'm still smiling, what a great day. Thanks for hosting Mark, and thanks to all that showed up. It was a fantastic time.
 
6shooter said:
Very cool! Anybody have finished pics of the blade?
Click to expand...

It's not done. We only got done heat treating it. It's still being passed around for handle and sheath work. I'm sure someone will post pics of it when it's done. I think it looked pretty good so far.
 
Very cool get together guys. I bet that is a great learning experience for all, just comparing and taking notes and watching each other work.
 
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