KAYLIN                                                                                      

##### Read the latest update and show your support at: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sandramartin1

##### Viewing CaringBridge on Your Mobile Phone?
Read the latest update on (http://m.caringbridge.org/visit/sandramartin1) Don’t forget to sign the guestbook!

 * Got to go: Lonnie Burns (40+ son of Lloyd Burns) from WV (over 3 &1/2 hours away) will arrive soon (8:00 am) to take a Free Beginner's Blacksmithing Class with me.

*  Blacksmithing Guild of the Potomac (BGOP) "Spring Fling" April 20--22 Berryville, VA: Click "HERE" for invitation and "HERE" for Registration forms.
Note: Ron Howard is planning on going and would like to know if anyone else is planning on attending. Contact Ron at ldecowboy@aol.com

* ODBSA will not have its own April Event but in lieu of it we have two Events the 2nd Sat in April that you are invited to attend, as is the public. NOTE: We will not be asking if you are planning on attending either Event!
1. The first is Glen Bryant's own Hammer-in in Clifton Forge VA. This will not be held at Glen's beautiful farm this year but will held at the Clifton Forge School of the Arts.


                                                                             
                                                                             OR

2. Clover Hill Village near Appomattox where there is an  Civil War reenactment Event. They first had it scheduled for the 1st Sat. but recently change it to the 2nd Sat..ODBSA members Richard Bartelt and David Wine will be demonstrating in the small blacksmithing shop there but they have asked us to please provide other demonstrators outside, as we have done the last three years when it was our schedule monthly Event.
       Norman Mckenzie, ODBSA 1st VP, will be in charge of all the ODBSA outside demonstrators at Clover Hill Village, If you have a forge station, and would like to bring it and demonstrate or do not have a forge station & would like to demonstrate or be a helper, please contact Norm at 434-332-4113 or fallingriver2@gmail.com
Dress period or at least with bib overalls. All demonstrators and their helpers with name tags get in free plus gets a free meal at the end of the day. All vehicles must be unloaded and out by 8:30 am. Only the demonstrators or helpers can park in Church parking lot if they are there before 8:30 am. Only the ones that tell Norm ahead of time will be issued a name tag. Everyone else must pay the $10 entrance fee, pay for parking $5.00 and no free meal. As in the past you are allowed to sell any items that you have hand forged or period items.
1. Norm Mckenzie will bring 1 forge station
2.
3.
Directions:
From route 460 at Appomattox proceed East on Route 24, then approximately 1/2 mile past the National Historic Park Entrance, turn right on Route 627. Cross the next intersection (Route 631). The Village is about 500 feet on the Right


*  ODBSA Hats & T-shirts: I will only order the hats when we have at least 10 members that want them.
Hats:
1. Tom Luftus----------4
2. L. T. Skinnell -------1
3. David Wine----------2
4. Bill Roy---------------1
T-shirts: You must give me the size or sizes that you want :
     1. Bill Roy-----------1 Large
Note: Both are $10 each, like last time. The last time that I ordered them the hats were sold at our cost and the T-shirts were sold cheaper than we paid for them.

* I have no intention of ordering coal anytime soon. Here is a list of members that are now interested in getting some:
1. Tom Loftus
2. Dave Wine
3. David T.
4. Jonathan Falls
5. Norman Mckenzie
Note: These are the first members that I will contact with how much they want when we order more.

* Dave Brown send me a 9 min. movie (1920's) of an old blacksmithing shop & saw  mill operated by water power In Sweden.
1. The single chamber bellow is operated by foot power.
2. Note the Swedish hammer being used by main blacksmith in mading the blades. (I have one)
3 .See how precise the smith and the striker work together.
4.. Interesting anvil and nail header operation.
5. I don't know what kind of blades that they were making, do you? 
6. The saw mill is slash/recipical saw operation as compared to pit sawed or the use of a cirular saw blade. The pit saw was used in our area up to late 1700's, The slash saw was used here until about 1850's when the circular saw started to take over. There was a slash/recipical operation on the Stauton River near our Plantation that was still operating in 1910. 
Click "HERE" to see the movie.

* Wendell is off to WV today in anticipation of this Sunday's snow storm over there. He works for the power co. He said he went to Mickey's yesterday and bought a Midway Champion blower from him.

 * Some of you have asked: Why do we use the abbreviation ODBSA instead of the correct abbreviation of ODBA? When I applied for our two domain names for the internet 7 years ago (Old Dominion Blacksmith Association and ODBA), the initials ODBA was already taken.Therefore, I chose ODBSA. Either Old Dominion Blacksmith Association or ODBSA, when you Goggle them, will open to our Web site. ODBA will not. Please use Old Dominion Blacksmith Association or ODBSA in any postings & not ODBA. Thanks! 

*This was posted on our Facebook by Bill Roy (ODBSA information Officer):
News of note: Young Blake Gilbert gave a blacksmithing demonstration to his classmates and a plug for ODBSA. Way to go, Blake!



* Buford Hodges was planning on tailgating at our Event at Danny's but suffered a heart attack on Thurs. (9th). I talked with Buford Thurs (16th) and he had a heart bypass surgery on Tues (13th ) and hopes to leave the hospital this Sat (18th).I asked him what happen. He said that he was walking up a hill Thurs. afternoon when he gave out of breath and felt like he had indigestion. That night when he was sleeping he woke up with chest pains and when to the hospital.

* From Ron Howard: I had a GREAT time Saturday. It was the first time I had had the chance to learn from L.T.  He is an EXCELLENT demonstrator and I feel like I learned a lot from him.
From Biil Roy (fb): Great ODBSA event! Thank you Mr. Danny Ward for welcoming us to your school AND treating us all to some terrific fried chicken!
From Anothony Rago (fb): Today was awesome. Thanks to everyone.
From Richard Bartelt (fb): Good Day! Thanks for the pictures and the experience.

* Maybe it's time for every member to sign up for "Facebook" and become a friend of Old Dominion  Blacksmith Association's "Facebook.". Why? Because it's happening now. More and more members and interesting parties are posting photos,comments,communicating with each other by posting directly to our Facebook. The following are two of the more recent examples of this.
1. Anthony Rago
I tuned into a show called "Gunsmoke" on Discovery. I've never heard of it before, but it's a show about gunsmiths. I learned that to antique steel, take a container and fill with moist coffee grounds. Heat the steel and bury it in the grounds. The steel's pores expand, absorb some of the grounds, and looks antiqued.
11 hours ago ·
You and Thomas Loftus like this..
Thomas Loftus I haven't seen that show. I'll have to look for it. Thanks, Anthony!
10 hours ago · Like.
Bobby Floyd Thanks Anthony!!
about an hour ago · Like.
2. Old Dominion Blacksmith Association (note: anytime you see this is because Bill Roy,ODBSA Information Officer, posted it because he is the one that Maintains Facebook for ODBSA.
 A touch of brass to add a little class.
.
You, Richard Bartelt, Steve Irby and Anthony Rago like this..
Bobby Floyd That's beautiful Bill!!!
about an hour ago · Like
Note: If you do not sign up for Facebook and Friend Old Dominion Blacksmith Association, you will be missing a lot of good stuff! Oh yea, this is Bill Roy's heart hook that he made at Danny's.

* I just updated the Active Members Page: These are members who have attended at least one ODBSA Event in the last 12 months. If you are not listed or the telephone number is not correct, please let me know. This is a great list to check if you are looking for ride or to carpool..

* Welcome ODBSA two newest members:
On left is Ben Clark from Farmville, VA and a student at Longwood College. This photo was taken when he was auctioning off Davd T's hand forged nail header. He has already been practicing blacksmithing with David Wine at this home and I think he is joining Clover Hill Village as a volunteer blacksmith with David W, Richard B., Buck O. and Ted C.  
On right is Ed Meadows from Eagle Rock, VA. He has already had two blacksmithing classes with Glen Bryant.

* Twenty one more photos were posted on Facebook at our last Event at Danny's. Photos were taken by Bill Roy. Click on the following to see:   ODBSA Feb 2012.   

* As of Feb. 15th at 1:00 pm ODBSA Web site has been viewed on average 56 times a day in the last 48 days.

*  I was late getting to our Event at Danny's!!  Not really late for the meeting because I was there at 8:20 am and to my surprise I was not the first to arrive to see what Mickey had in his truck.These early birds did get the worm! Standing, talking, looking  & purchasing what Mickey had were: Wendell, Norm, Ron, David T. and inside was Scotty who already had started the coal forge fires and before 9:00 am there were at least 14 other members that had arrived early.  

* A better chance of being late: Don't go by the directions given on Web site. More than once in the last 7 years the GPS or Map Quest had misguided us. Some of you might remember Lee's shop outside Lexington in the mountains where some of us used Map Quest to get us there. CB and I were an hour late from the time we wanted to be there. Others going to the same shop used GPS only to find themselves on wet dirt roads and crossing creeks with no bridges. Once coming back from a big blacksmithing Event in Ohio, Andy & I were using the GPS that had this sweet girl's voice that told us to go West. It took us an hour driving time to figure out that she was wrong.  We should have been going East. We stopped and bought a map.  My advice to you is to check the GPS or Map Quest againt the written directions on our site, if you're interested in being on time.

 
* Normally we have an event the first part of the year where we do not have a paid demonstrator. By doing this it gives us a cushion or surplus to help pay for future Events when we do not have enought attendance to pay the full amount for our professional  demonstrators.  Because of John Elliott's generosity by paying for ODBSA next Event in Waynesboro, this afforded us the opportunity to do something that we have never done before: (1) most of our members who helped at Danny's did not have to pay any admission fee. (2) cut the admission fee from $15 to $5  for the March Event at Fred's (3) Old Dominion Blacksmith Association made a donation to the Kaylin Fund. (4) all the admission fees that we receive at the next Event in March at Fred's will be donated to the Kaylin Fund, along with ODBSA share of the 50/50 raffle will go to the Kaylin Fund.


* Everytime we have an Event,  I think that we will never have one as good as some that we have had before.. Wrong again, This monthly Event at Danny's was exceptional, Thank you all for coming and participating.
Special thanks to the following  members for making this a wonderful experience: 
1. Danny Ward our host. Not only did he provide us the use of his many forge stations, but paid for a "finger licking" delicious fried chicken lunch for us all, drinks & coal.
2. Our own Gifted blacksmith L.T. Skinnell  (non paid) demonstrator. He did an excellent demonstration but also helped everyone that needed some and he also, before the Event, bought  and cut the metal to size for the three small projects that we did after the chain link presentation, L.T. did the demo for free and the metal was provided for free also. 
3. Ron Howard provided us with our morning coffee/refreshments and he donated all proceeds from the donation jar to the Kaylin Fund. Ron also, before the Event, bought the metal and cut it to size for all chain links (over 80 pieces) and would not take any money from us.
 4. Wendell Wyland brought the Library to this Event, provided us all with free bottle water and I also spotted him helping one of our young members at the anvil.
5. Scott Lovell was there at 8;00 am getting everything ready for us like starting all the fires and bringing us coal during the day besides providing us all with what we needed during the day.
6. Our newest professional Jonathan Falls spent the day teaching a new member some beginner blacksmithing basics at one forge station.
7. John Riddle, Mickey Surrett  & Charlie Hudson provided us with some great tailgating. I saw  a lot of things  being bought like anvils, pole  vises, forges, hammers, grinders and tongs.
8 .Master Blacksmith and our Educational Director David Tucciarone helped anyone that needed it. When Danny Ward observed David working with everyone during the day asked me "What are you paying David to do this?" I think he was truly surprised to hear the answer. Nothing!!
9. Bobby Ricketts took photos all day. I told Bobby in the morning to grab one of the forges because I knew that he  wanted to hand forge some of the things L.T. was showing us. He responded  to me, no, I got to take photos.
10. David Oakes for providing "free" fresh baked donuts for us all.
11. How about the new member Ben Clark? He auctioned off David T's nail header and I think everyone was shocked at how well he did. Yes, he has to be a professional auctioneer besides being a student at Longwood College in Farmville.
Please Note: It was the above 25 percent of our members in attendance that help made this day a great success with what they provided.! Thank you all for your help!

* How did we do at the Last Event at Danny's?
    1. Admission Fee-------------- $225.00
    2. 50/50 raffle----------------------  48.00
    3. Auction---------------------------- 40.00
    4. Sell of 1 hat-----------------------10.00
___________________________________
Total---------------------------------- $323.00  donated to the Kaylin Fund (ODBSA)

* Thank you to the following for donating to the Kaylin Fund at Danny's Event:
     1. Steve Irby
     2. Ron Howard
     3. Tom Loftus (2nd time)


* Click "HERE" to see 112 photos taken at our Feb 11th monthly Event at Danny Ward Horseshoeing School in Martinsville, VA. Photos were taken by Bobby Ricketts. If you have photos of this day and want to share them with us all, please send them to me. Please use Photo Bucket to send them to me. Thanks!