- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
- 270
Hey guys,
I need some help with something. Anyone who's an ABS member saw the story about Jason Knight going to Nicaragua last year to work with a guy named Mike Diebert who's an American missionary running a blacksmithing trade school in Nicaragua to teach a valuable trade to men who have very little options when it comes to supporting their families.
After Jason got back, he and I talked several times about returning together to work more with Mike and his students on different aspects of making knives. A big part of our reason to return was the idea of building a power hammer for the school (specifically a Clay Spencer-style spare tire hammer). These guys do a ton of forging and it's all done by hand. Large work is done by gang hammering with 2 or 3 strikers and one man holding the steel. It works but it's not efficient and it takes a lot of time. Another problem is that Mike is training these guys so they can return to their home towns, open up shop for themselves and become self-sufficient. This is hard when they face the possibility of going home and having to figure out how to do the work of several men alone.
However, the more we thought about, it, Jason and I weren't sure we could find what we would need and build the whole hammer in the week we were there. I've committed to Mike that I'll get him a hammer one way or the other, and the best option as I see it is to buy one here and have it sent down on a container. One obvious benefit of this style of hammer (basically a junk-yard little giant) is that once these guys get a hammer down there and start using it, they can figure out how it works and begin to build others. This way, when a guy returns home, he can take with him a tool that he can use by himself to run his own shop and support his family.
What we'd like to do is to raise $3000 for this project so that we can buy a hammer in nice condition and have enough left over to send him some grinding belts and other things they very much need. (And Mike has connections that will allow us to ship the hammer for no cost to either him or us).
I think we can send money through his parent organization so I don't have to personally take the money, and you can use it as a tax write-off if you're so inclined.
For those interested, Mike's web site is:http://www.esvoministries.com
If you can give anything at all, please do. $20, $100, whatever. This is a great cause, this guy has a big heart for God and wants to show the love of God to these people in a very tangible way.
Contact me at burt@burtfoster.com and we'll nail down all the donation information.
Thanks Guys,
Burt
P.S. If anyone has a line on a hammer, please let me know.
I need some help with something. Anyone who's an ABS member saw the story about Jason Knight going to Nicaragua last year to work with a guy named Mike Diebert who's an American missionary running a blacksmithing trade school in Nicaragua to teach a valuable trade to men who have very little options when it comes to supporting their families.
After Jason got back, he and I talked several times about returning together to work more with Mike and his students on different aspects of making knives. A big part of our reason to return was the idea of building a power hammer for the school (specifically a Clay Spencer-style spare tire hammer). These guys do a ton of forging and it's all done by hand. Large work is done by gang hammering with 2 or 3 strikers and one man holding the steel. It works but it's not efficient and it takes a lot of time. Another problem is that Mike is training these guys so they can return to their home towns, open up shop for themselves and become self-sufficient. This is hard when they face the possibility of going home and having to figure out how to do the work of several men alone.
However, the more we thought about, it, Jason and I weren't sure we could find what we would need and build the whole hammer in the week we were there. I've committed to Mike that I'll get him a hammer one way or the other, and the best option as I see it is to buy one here and have it sent down on a container. One obvious benefit of this style of hammer (basically a junk-yard little giant) is that once these guys get a hammer down there and start using it, they can figure out how it works and begin to build others. This way, when a guy returns home, he can take with him a tool that he can use by himself to run his own shop and support his family.
What we'd like to do is to raise $3000 for this project so that we can buy a hammer in nice condition and have enough left over to send him some grinding belts and other things they very much need. (And Mike has connections that will allow us to ship the hammer for no cost to either him or us).
I think we can send money through his parent organization so I don't have to personally take the money, and you can use it as a tax write-off if you're so inclined.
For those interested, Mike's web site is:http://www.esvoministries.com
If you can give anything at all, please do. $20, $100, whatever. This is a great cause, this guy has a big heart for God and wants to show the love of God to these people in a very tangible way.
Contact me at burt@burtfoster.com and we'll nail down all the donation information.
Thanks Guys,
Burt
P.S. If anyone has a line on a hammer, please let me know.
, I will donate a knife to be auctioned with the proceeds going to the project. I seldom have knives that aren't spoken for, but just happen to have just completed a boot knife that was laying around while I was waiting for my last batch of blades to come back from Paul Bos.
