What A Geat Day!

A

Aldo Bruno

Joined
Jul 30, 2004
Messages
805
This past Tuesday I delivered a load of steel to Joe Szalaski in NY before going to see Mace in Conn. He showed me around his shop and home and we had some good conversation before heading out.

On the way home from Mace's I realized Joe had called my cell and when I called him back he informed me that on Thurs a guy was coming to the shop to forge with him and asked me if I wanted to come up as well. YES, was the answer.

When I got to Joe's he sat me down to breakfast(HE EVEN COOKS GOOD!)after which we went down to to his forge room and I spent the rest of the day forging under his direction . Seems the other guy never showed up so it was just the 2 of us and that was fine with me.

It was Joe, that I 1st called to find out about the ABS 5 years ago and I finally met him at the N.Y.Hammer-In that he and his wife Lori put together near Albany. I have sat at his table at shows and seen him at different functions and have always been welcomed with a smile and the answer to all the many questions I've approached him with. A more patient teacher I will never know.

Joe will be teaching at the New Northeast Hammer-In up in Vermont in July at Derrick Wulf's on the weekend of the 22nd. If you haven't had the opportunity to meet Joe and learn from him in any capacity this would be a good one. If you have ever seen his Tomahawks or Art pieces you won"t want to miss it.

I walked away with a hunter on Thursday all forged and ready to grind. Forged in a very unique way. Before I left the shop he slipped the patch knife he forged out of a tiny piece of W-2 into my shirt pocket and told me to finish it up for him(A Szalaski/Bruno collaboration!):D

Enough said!

Aldo

stovetop58@yahoo.com
 
I'll get some up when my cameraman son Billy gets out of bed(around 2:00PM).

Jacob, do you ever sleep?
 
yes...... just at random times. but now that i have a job i need to get back on track. ive been awake since 5pm cst yesterday and i start my new job today in 2 hours. id rather be awake for 24 hours and have just come home from work than to sleep and be very late to work.
 
Aldo Bruno said:
This past Tuesday I delivered a load of steel to Joe Szalaski in NY before going to see Mace in Conn. He showed me around his shop and home and we had some good conversation before heading out.

On the way home from Mace's I realized Joe had called my cell and when I called him back he informed me that on Thurs a guy was coming to the shop to forge with him and asked me if I wanted to come up as well. YES, was the answer.

When I got to Joe's he sat me down to breakfast(HE EVEN COOKS GOOD!)after which we went down to to his forge room and I spent the rest of the day forging under his direction . Seems the other guy never showed up so it was just the 2 of us and that was fine with me.

It was Joe, that I 1st called to find out about the ABS 5 years ago and I finally met him at the N.Y.Hammer-In that he and his wife Lori put together near Albany. I have sat at his table at shows and seen him at different functions and have always been welcomed with a smile and the answer to all the many questions I've approached him with. A more patient teacher I will never know.

Joe will be teaching at the New Northeast Hammer-In up in Vermont in July at Derrick Wulf's on the weekend of the 22nd. If you haven't had the opportunity to meet Joe and learn from him in any capacity this would be a good one. If you have ever seen his Tomahawks or Art pieces you won"t want to miss it.

I walked away with a hunter on Thursday all forged and ready to grind. Forged in a very unique way. Before I left the shop he slipped the patch knife he forged out of a tiny piece of W-2 into my shirt pocket and told me to finish it up for him(A Szalaski/Bruno collaboration!):D

Enough said!

Aldo

stovetop58@yahoo.com
Click to expand...

DUDE!!! You are a luck man to have Joe as a mentor.:thumbup: He (Joe) is one talented person.:cool: Could you elaborate more on his forging techniques????:D
 
Well George....,

Joe,as most of us know, is a Smith from way back(47 years). He trained under 3rd and 4th generation Blacksmiths and was making Butcher knives and cleavers when he was 14 years of age with his Teacher because he saw promise in his abilities. He made his 1st damascus out of horse shoe nails at 15 under that same mans tutelage years before we saw any of it in the U.S.

Joe uses methods that usually start arguments on this forum. We reduced a piece of 3/4" W-1 down. He made a Camp Knife in the AM to demonstrate the technique and I made a Hunter after lunch under his direction.

Joe upsets the steel before hammering it out and he thermo cycles in oil during the whole forging process. He says every knife he makes goes through this method and he's never had one come back. As far as hammering, I never once raised my hammer more than 6 or 8 inches and never drew out the blade. His blades come straight off the ricosso. Just light overlapping taps. The blade never swept up like a banana either, straight as a pin through the whole process. This alone was worth learning. Seems I spend 1/2 the time forging and the other 1/2 straightening.
 
Aldo, you're too cool, man! I'd be interested in seeing these techniques, but I guess I'll have to wait until the HI at Derrick's... unless you're planning on making the drive to Harley's in two weeks...?
 
Can't make it to Harley's. Starting a new job on the 30th(again). But I'm going to Georges next Sat. How about you?
 
Can't make it, bro... George will never forgive me, as I am part of the Irish quota required to make his Hammer-In's complete!

Looks like I'll see you in July, unless I can weasel my way somewhere else! Good luck at the new job, btw.
 
May 26th is the (OTHER) Necka Hammer In. I've got steel for you! Mace said you want to split it up between the 1084 and W1 +W2. We're bringing a load up so if you can make it let me know and I'll be sure to have with us.
 
Aldo I'm jealous! What a great way to spend a day. Joe Szilaski is not only an accomplished bladesmith, he's also an experienced instructor. A lot of people would pay good money to have a full day of one-on-one instruction with Joe.

Did you get to pick his brain about hawks and axes at all?
 
Hey Aldo, Nice to hear you fired up! I'm still waiting to see the new plummer series knives. Not the ones with the crack. :D
 
MrPurple said:
Can't make it, bro... George will never forgive me, as I am part of the Irish quota required to make his Hammer-In's complete!

Looks like I'll see you in July, unless I can weasel my way somewhere else! Good luck at the new job, btw.
Click to expand...

Matt, to bad you can't make my HI, because the Irish quota is down to 1 1/2 attending.;)
 
Aldo!!! Isn't Joe Szilaski doing the forging demo's at the ABS HI in Vermont????? Damn I wish I could go.:(
 
Yes George, he' ll be there. He'll probably be speaking on Tomahawks. He was working on a walking stick with a small Hawk Head on it. He was engraving it when I was there last Thurs. He also had a couple of small, very fancy, pack axes.(Nothing I'd ever take hiking.) It's well worth the trip up to Wulf's see him. It should be a damn good weekend all around. I've never been to a bad ABS Hammer-In. Me and Mace always have a blast and we've gone a long way to get to some of them.
 
Which reminds me, I need to talk to Joe and get that agenda finalized. The great thing about Joe is that he's both qualified and experienced enough to talk about pretty much anything... hawks... damascus... heat treating... metal carving... wood inlay... etc.
 
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