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Chilling and Planning
at Kleb Woods Nature Preserve
in
Tomball
We had a schedule conflict with the planned program this month but we are adapting as we always do. The new plan is still for the conference center at Kleb with its wonderful indoor air conditioned seating facillity. Yes we have been toughing it out this summer, but now is the time to take our thermal loading more seriously than ever. It has been a long hot summer. Stay hydrated!
We will have a fun get together/talk about the future of HABA/show and tell meeting, and we encourage as many members and interested people as possible to come out and hang with us. Guitars and banjos optional, but bring ‘em if you have ‘em.
We will discuss meetings and upcoming plans, recent projects, show and tell, interesting book reviews, and general chatter. And we will have a specail tour of the barn and our new shop.
NOTE: Anyone who has show and tell items which cannot be hand carried down the short trail into the Nature Center should arrive at 8:15 AM. Loads will be consolidated/convoyed in the parking lot and driven in to avoid a traffic jam on the one lane road into the park. Any show and tell items too big or not suitable for display inside will be offloaded and viewed at the barn.
Dave Koenig prepared a nice summary flyer for you to download by clicking HABA Planning and Chilling 2010.
Click to our web page from 2009 Blacksmith Talk-In for more info and downloads of the presentations from the similar cool event last year.
HABA's Forge Fest is planned
for October 1-3, 2010
Plan now to attend the HABA Forge Fest in Oldenburg first weekend of October. We will feature CHAD GUNTER from Albuquerque, NM as our ForgeFest weekend demonstrator.
Chad Gunter is a second generation blacksmith who started working in his fathers shop at the age of five. Chad has demonstrated at many regional conferences and schools around the country, as well as the 2000 ABANA conference in Flagstaff, AZ.
His craft work incorporates traditional and contemporary techniques and is quite diverse. HE is proficient at making a vast array of tools for many different applications. Chad along with his brother Brad work out of their shop near Albuquerque,NM. This shop is also the new home of The Forgery School of Blacksmithing, which was started by his father Robb Gunter in the 1980's. They teach a variety of blacksmith classes which range from basic to advanced along with other specialty classes.
Chad will demonstrate a number of his forging techniques that he uses in forging craft items and tool making. See G3 Tools web site g3blacksmithing.com for examples. As time permits he will demonstrate some material testing and heat treating techniques while providing some metallurgical tips.
We will have our event Auction on Saturday at 11:30 am and will feature many items worthy of your attention. These include new tools and books, used tools, materials, and the custom pieces made by talented smiths. This is always a unique opportunity to acquire and donate special and unique tools and art. So forge or donate something special you have made or collected, or shop at our Sponsors Page and bring a cool tool or item to donate!
The ForgeFest and Round Up weekends give Blacksmiths across Texas, Louisiana and all points from there an opportunity to gather for the day, work and show their wares during the Antique Show Weekend of Round Top at Oldenburg, TX. The Round Top, TX antique show expanded over the years to include the neighboring towns of Warrenton, Shelby, Oldenburg and a few other places in between. The show occurs in April and October each year.
Oldenburg is located about 90 miles northwest of Houston. During the weekend over 1,000 vendors sell and 200,000 buyers enjoy the shows, buy and drive the beautiful countryside.
Five acres of land is available to blacksmiths, during the famous Round Top Antique Show, thanks to the late Kennie Hall and the ongoing support of his wife Susan . Kennie had an interest in smithing and played in the Oldenburg blacksmith shop while growing up. The original site of the Oldenburg shop is just a few stone throws away from the five-acre site. The original Oldenburg shop is now operating again at the George Ranch Historical Park south of Houston.
Again, thanks to our gracious host Susan Hall, there is no cost for the general grounds. A hat is passed to defray the expenses for power, water and porta-jons. Camping is available on-site with a hot and cold running water shower!
More info is posted on our event website HABA ForgeFest 2010!
HABA's early Newsletters 1-13 were found and re-published
Dave Koenig found his early newsletters and found a way to open the obsolete file formats. HABA Letters 1-13 describing the early days of meetings and formation of HABA in the 1990's are now available for your use. See The HABA Letter Archives
HABA makes Shop at Kleb Woods Nature Preserve July 17, 2010
HABA continues to develop the farm blacksmith shop at Kleb Woods near Tomball. Dave Koenig has been making a lot of progress with the help of several members to prepare for a working day for HABA.
What would be great to get done at this meeting are:
- To install the door frame on the short inside wall and build a plank door to fit the frame.
- To cover the short inside wall with plank siding.
- To cover the outside wall with plank siding.
- On the outisde wall build two 3 foot by 4 foot window openings 40 inches above the ground.
- To build two hatch coverings for the window openings.
- To install the 13 foot work bench 40 inches above the floor on the outside wall even with the bottom of the window openings.
- To cover the long inside wall with plank siding from the floor to 40 inches above the floor.
- Install 1 inch by 10 inch planks on top of the inside wall to form a continuous shelf.
- Frame a 'horse panel' 5 feet by 15 feet and install it to rise from and lower to the shelf at least 4 feet.
- Cover the opening from the top of the inside walls to the roof with wire fencing.
Dave has supplied a flyer for the event that you may download. Please click Kleb Work Day.
And Dave has supplied a summary of how well the build work day went. See Kleb Update for the download.
HABA makes Priceless Anvil Tools June 19, 2010
Bob Hensley says "I call them priceless because most smiths make their own, and I am not sure any of these tools are available commercially." We will make 3 handy anvil tools – a spring fuller, a hold-down, and a third man (or third hand). They will all have to be customized to fit your anvil, but I will show you how to do that as well. The 3 tools will require 6 feet of ½” round stock (or whatever size your pritchel hole is), you may need to provide this but HABA has a limited amount of stock for use. This meeting will be held at our new storage container location, directions to follow. If you have a tent, it will be helpful if we have a sunny day, we don’t have a shelter at this location yet. Bring your gear, this is a hammer-in.
The location is at the site where our new storage container is kept at: 27914 FM 2978, Magnolia, TX 77354 (east of Tomball and 4 1/2 miles north of FM 2920). Some might call it "HABA in a box". Dave Koenig also posted a lot of photos of the move in at Storage Day.
Please see our web page for the event for directions at Priceless Tools.
Photos of the demo are posted in our Flickr site June Activities.
HABA Annual Board Meeting was June 14, 2010
Our Annual Board Meeting with Officer Elections was Monday June 14 in the Conference Room at Stress Engineering Services, 13800 Westfair East Dr, Houston, 77041.
Please welcome Dana Flanders to our HABA Board of Directors!
Russell Parrish has faithfully served HABA and has selected to become a Past President while remaining active on our Board. Please thank him for his dedicated service!
Officer elections were held. Please welcome our new Executive Committee! If you have been attending our monthly meetings and Board meetings, you should know these people well and we look forward to another great year of HABA growth and service.
President: Bob Hensley
Vice President: Pat Bossart
Secretary: Richard Boswell
Treasurer: Ed Malmgren
Additionally we have serving:
Assistant Vice President: Pierre Coppola
Assistant Secretary: Bob Nichols
Please see our Board of Directors page for more information.
HABA Board Meeting September 20, 2010
Our next HABA Board Meeting is scheduled for Monday September 20 at 6:30 pm until 9:00 pm in the Conference Room at Stress Engineering Services, 13800 Westfair East Dr, Houston, 77041. Please contact Bob Hensley or Richard Boswell if you have suggestions or business for The Board to include on the agenda. All Board Members and the Advisory Committee are requested to attend.
Planned Board Meetings for the 2010 year are for September 20th and November 29th.
HABA Forging Hardware Hammer-In at Bucksnort Forge was May 15, 2010
In May we are going to Tee Hines shop in Magnolia to try our hand at forging hardware. Tee plans on demonstrating several pieces of hardware along with forge welding strap hinges. This is a “Hammer-In” so bring your forges.
For more info please visit our page at Forging Hardware.
Photos by Dave Koenig are posted on our Flickr site at HABA Hardware.
HABA Demos in April
HABA continues to provide blacksmithing demonstrations at public events in our area. Dave Koenig recently demoed all day at the Katy Folk Life Festival on April 10.
April 17 was Depot Day in Magnolia. Bob Hensley, Pat Bossart and Richard Boswell had a grand day working their forges and anvils with lots of visiting and entertainment on a rain free day in the Magnolia Historic District. Photos are posted to our Flickr page at Depot Day.
HABA Blacksmith Round-Up was April 2-3, 2010
HABA returned to Oldenburg on April 2-3 this spring featuring our popular Hand's On Training Progression. All smiths are invited to bring themselves and forges for a weekend of fun forging. Since this is Easter weekend, we will focus on Friday and Saturday activity. This is an excellent training progression program where basic skills and exercises will be performed by new and experienced smiths working side by side under the big pavilion at the Hall's country home. We will return in the Fall with a featured demonstrator.
Dave Koenig and Tee Hines will be doing the demos at Oldenburg. Tee will be doing the “Forging Right Angle Bends” demo, and Dave will be doing the “Forging Two Sided Shoulders” demo, both from the recent CHF docs on ABANA’s website. After the demos, any new members can get hands on help with other basic forging processes that they need to learn as well as the processes demonstrated by Dave and Tee.
Please visit our event web page for more detailed and general info at HABA Spring Round Up 2010.
Event photos are posted on our Flickr site at Round Up 2010.
HABA Exploring Bowls and Vessel Making was March 20
In March we featured our perennial favorite (five years running!) exploration into bowls and vessel making, while enjoying an interesting weather First Day of Spring in the country at Dana Flanders’ new shop in beautiful nearby downtown Simonton.
We don’t plan to have specific “demonstrator” at the front, but will be looking to build on the collective experience of prior year’s efforts and take our experimentation to new heights. Russell Parish and Dana will facilitate an opening “show & tell” dialogue session, where we hope various members will step up, show some of their recent vessel work, and / or briefly describe an interesting element / technique / idea for consideration by the group. Hopefully, this brainstorming will stimulate further creativity in areas such as raw material, shape, sinking techniques & tools, line, texture, finish, etc. and we will see these individual decisions play out in the work that gets progressed during the Hammer-In that follows.
You may download a flyer for the event including address and directions by clicking HABA March 20, 2010 .
More details are on the event web page at Exploring Bowls and Vessels
Photos are posted on our Flickr site at Copper Bowl Making. This marks the beginning of our third year of Flickr photos from our meetings.
Bogus Email sent to HABA Members
Ed did not have an emergency in Scotland as described in an email earlier today (March 1) that many of the HABA Membership received. Ed sends his thanks for everyone that has checked in with him and his friends about this.
After not responding to hundreds and hundreds of phishing emails he got caught on an official looking one from Yahoo where he managed some membership email addresses. This scamming scheme has been in play for several months now and there are even websites out there instructing you how to do it, as well as many more telling you to beware of the realistic looking phishing attempts for essential information. Ed will now be the next to testify that one should never comply with such requests for information from any source. He was later able to gain control and recapture his email address, so everything appears to be in working order now.
Forging Wrought Iron February 20
We gathered at Tudor Forge in Magnolia with Dave Koenig to forge wrought iron rod obtained from a recycled 1880s waterfront grain elevator in Superior, Wisconsin. The 10" long 5/8" diameter rods were obtained from Wisconsin Woodchuck. Plan now to bring your forge and tools or to just attend and learn about this once common material.
Dave Koenig rehearsed the demo and provided this pdf download about what we will do and all the info you need for the event. Simply click Wrought Lighter and our web page at Wrought Lite .
Photos are posted on our Flickr Collection site at Forging Wrought Iron Lighter.
Fantastic Metal Art Show at HCCC runs 'til May 16
Iron: Forged, Tempered and Quenched is the current exhibition at the Houston Center For Contempoary Crafts and will run from Jan 16 thru May 16, and fetures several Smiths from HABA and Balcones alongside some of the greats we already know and admire. Dave Koenig says this is very special and should not be missed. He provided a lecture on opening day of the show.
"Iron features more than 40 pieces by 38 artists from across the U.S., including Elizabeth Brim, Frederic Crist, Carl Jennings, John Medwedeff, Lee Ann Mitchell, Noellyn Pepos, Jon Shearin, Lee Tribe and James Wallace. Local and regional artists in the show include Dave Koenig, founder of the Houston Area Blacksmiths’ Association (HABA), members of the Austin Metal Authority, and Texas artists, such as Todd Campbell, Tim Bailey, and Lars Stanley. Contemporary works on view include sculptural and conceptual works and interior furniture, including select pieces from the permanent collection of The National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis, Tennessee."
Balcones Forge Bluebonnet Demo
The big annual Balcones Forge Bluebonnet Demo and Blacksmith's Dinner and Auction will be held Saturday and Sunday, April 24 and 25 at John Crouchet's Sycamore Creek Ranch in Marble Falls. Make plans to be there!
HABA Annual Knife Making Work Shop and Auction was January 16
It is a new year, so it time to make a new knife at our annual Knife Workshop, and to donate and bid at our Annual Fund Raising Auction. This year's workshop will again feature Cowboy Szymanski of Phenix Knives at Mike Newman's Castle near Bellville, Texas.
This year we featured the Smith's Knife made of spring steel with a few new features which evolve into a letter opener. Our web page is at HABA Smith Made Knife for more information and links.
We also had the Big Annual Auction during the Knifemaking Workshop. We want to thank the generous donors and HABA Sponsors for their contributions. Check our Sponsors and tell them you saw their link here and appreciate their donated support for our Auctions.
Photos of the event are posted on our FLICKR page Knifemaking, Auction and Dragons at the Castle .
Little Giant Rebuild Class Schedules
Sid Suedmeier has announced the schedule of classes for rebuilding and adjusting the old and new style Little Giant Power Hammer. Two classes in Nebraska City, Nebraska are set for March 19-21, 2010 . Click Registration Form to download their brochure.
HABA Article Scanner Project
Bob Hensley, our scanner person of projects and interesting items from newsletters and magazines, is looking for old copies of the "Anvil's Ring", especially early issues from the 70's, 80's, and 90's. These items would be scanned for projects and other info useful to our members, and would then be cheerfully returned to the original owner.
Or send him a scanned article (pdf) to use!
Bob has some of these issues scanned already, but there are articles that continue into issues he doesn't have access to. This information will become available to members in the future, as additional time is available for him to ready them for access thru our website.
Please email bhensley@mctitle.com with dates or volume and issue numbers of any issues you may have that you will let us share with the group, and he will make arrangements to get them from you and scan and return them in a timely manner. PLEASE mention HABA ARCHIVES in the subject line, since he gets so much spam that he sometimes miss things that don't jump out at him.
Thanks for your help!
HABA Happy Hammer Holiday Moves into 2010
HABA Members have again been blessed with another great year of demonstrations and activity that gives us an exciting start towards another New Year.
Last year's meeting schedule and topics have been archived on our HABA 2009 Calendar page.
Once again as this year packs up, we can step back and see it has been busy, fun, and full of opportunity. For this we are grateful to the many HABA volunteers and participants who have kept the flag held high. Now is a good time to look over the pages of this website you may not have visited lately. Now is also a good time to suggest what you would like to see HABA do in 2010. We are laying out plans now.
As you do the seasonal shopping, please give a look at our HABA Sponsors page and tell them you saw their link here and appreciate their donated support for our Auctions.
Come back often this month as the new web pages will become active and the Calendar updated.
We've had a really good year. Let's do it again. Until then, have a Safe and Joyful Holiday Season!
HABA Calendar for 2010 is Online
It's the annual clean-up and revise season here in the web shop. If something seems put away too good please let your web feller know. Last year's meeting schedule and topics have been archived on our HABA 2009 Calendar page. The 2010 meeting schedule and topics will be announced on our HABA 2010 Calendar page which will be updated as often as possible. We hope you can attend and contribute to each meeting demonstration.
This front page of meetings announcement was trimmed back in December, and the complete listing for all of 2009 is still available at HABA 2009. Each of these sites contain links to each summary, photos, and announcement page we published for your convenience.
Membership
Please Join and be a part of HABA today to receive the current Newsletter ! Contact Ed Malmgren (832-381-8155) for the latest information. To receive your Family Membership Card or to update your records please send Ed an email with a Membership Application.
Annual Memberships are due at start of the year! Click Family Membership Form to download a pdf of the application.
Family Membership for 2009 are still only $20. Special offers are available for the 3 and 5 year Memberships. See the Membership page and ask Ed about these for this year!
Thanks for your continued support!
HABA Events Calendar for 2010
Please visit our Calendar for details.
Notes about this Website This website is Under Development and will continue to evolve for HABA Members.
The use any of the material from this site is at your own risk. All persons associated with this material disclaim any responsibility or liability for damages or injuries resulting from the use or application of this information. They assume no responsibility or liability for the accuracy, fitness, proper design, safety or safe use of any information presented here.
The webmaker's speller-checker does not always work and your tolerance for those items not caught and fixed has been and will continue to be appreciated!
Please send all feedback/correction/omission/suggestions to your webfeller, Richard Boswell .
Enjoy!
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Last updates were on August 16, 2010
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