Sounds like a great line-up. You know that I'll be there.

Gary

Thanks Gary!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

I'm looking forward to going to this one. Looks like a great lineup. Steve I have my knife ready and tested. I made a total of 3 and tested two at the house the third is ready to be tested "officially".

Jared is going to take his JS performance test at the Heartland Symposium.

Steve I have my knife ready and tested.

Jared,

Sounds good! Send me an email and we'll discuss when during the event you would like to take your test.

Great group of demonstrators you have pulled together Steve. Should be excellent weather.

You guys have a great time.

Mike

Steve,

I am looking forward to the Heartland and the demos of others. I am particularly excited to do a demo on making wood lined sheaths. Back in 1983 Bill Moran did an explanation of how he made his sheaths at the first Wyoming Hammer In. Almost all of Bill's sheaths were wood lined and then wrapped in leather at that time. Some of the knives made then and today are so sharp that it takes very little to drive a blade through a leather only sheath. A wood lined sheath has definite safety advantages as well as a few others. I have been making wood lined leather sheaths for all my knives for close to twelve years or more. Hopefully, attendees will find it a valuable demo.

I look forward to seeing everyone.

Dan L. Petersen, ABS-MS

This will be a really good weekend covering a lot of subjects. I would say a not miss hammer in. I will be covering hamons, specifically the polishing steps I go through to get the hamon and other structures to stand out. I will also give a little information on hamons, what they are, historical information, and japanese styles. I will be polishing a blade during the two hours. Should be interesting. Steve and I will also cover judging standards. This will specifically cover JS judging and what we look for. If you are planning to submit knives for JS ranking it would be worth it to attend. A lot of information in the two hours.

Looking forward to seeing everyone. A big thank you to Steve for getting this organized and putting on an excellent hammer in.

Brion

Thanks Dan and Brion for commenting on your demos.

I don't know of anyone who has demonstrated wood lined sheath making since Bill did it years ago. Dan's Applications of Mettallugical Theory demo will also be very informative.

I need to watch how Brion does his hamon polishing. I'm certain that he knows some things about it that I haven't picked up on.

Anyone considering testing for JS, REALLY needs to attend a judging standards seminar.

More info on the demos to come!!

The Heartland event is going to be great with something for everyone. Steve has made it interesting for all.

Steve has invited me to demonstrate forging a tomahawk. Since he has given me two sessions, I plan to forge a wrapped eye hawk in one session. A standard wrapped eye hawk can be left as forged and then fitted with a hickory handle. This makes a great tool for hunting camp, or with a lot of file work and sanding, along with a pipe bowl you can turn a rough forged tomahawk into a presentation grade pipe tomahawk. It all depends on the time you put into it when the forging is done.

The other method I plan to demonstrate is slitting and drifting the eye. With this process you can make anything from a small bag axe or a hammer poll tomahawk. Other possibilities with this method are a pipe hawk or a felling axe. The finished product depends on the size of material you start with and the finish time you put into it.

I will see you in a couple weeks. I feel lucky not to be demonstrating at the same time as the wood lined sheath demo, I will be sitting in on that one.

Butch

Hey everyone!

I'm looking forward to this quite a bit. My demo on complex damascus will be pointed towards mosaic damascus. I'll be talking about how the billets start out all the way through to how you end with a mosaic damascus blade with twist damascus around the spine and edge that all comes together at the point. I'll be using a white board to help show the process and progression of the various damascus patterns I'll be going over. Be sure to ask question too if I don't explain what's going on well enough or if there is something else related that you are interested in. For my other demo I'll be talking about how I make my frame handle knives, the process, the assembly and what's going on inside the handle construction. I'll also be showing how I fit a guard which is a bit different than what is done in the norm. My guards are made to fit over the ricasso about 0.015 of an inch so there's a really nice fit and so you can never see light at all and you don't see any epoxy because of a poor fit that way. Looking forward to seeing you all there. 🙂

Hey guys! Caleb Royer here. Interested in knife photography? I’ll be demonstrating how to quickly shoot high quality knife photos without spending a ton of money. We’ll go over making a simple lighting setup because without good lighting we have nothing. We’ll start with an iPhone and then move into some more advanced cameras and techniques. I’ll explain some basic camera settings so you can take control of your images. I'll answer any questions you have about knife photography and depending on how we do on time, we’ll talk about software and editing so you can make your knives look their best. It's going to be a kool 2 hours so don't miss out. Thanks!

I will also be set up to photograph knives.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CalebRoyerStudioPhotography?ref=bookmarks

Website: http://calebroyerstudio.com/

This is going to be a great hammer-in, with some unique demo information that has never been offered before.

I feel, as many do, that Kyle Royer is one if the finest knifemakers in the world. Kyle has never before done a demo on his processes for making complex damascus and knife handles and guards. You can be among the first to learn Kyle's methods for these knifemaking skills.

Caleb Royer is rapidly becoming recognized as one of the premier knife photographers. His skills with lighting and composition are amazing. I have attended knife photography demos before, but have never seen anyone show how to take quality photos without expensive cameras and equipment. Caleb's demo will be a great opportunity to learn how to take quality photos on a budget.

Jerry Rados has for decades been considered to be the Master of Turkish twist damascus. Jerry will explain how he prepares the damascus, show the tooling he uses to twist the rods and then forge weld the rods into damascus bar stock. He'll also explain how best to utilize the Turkish twist damascus in a knife blade.

Having the skill to make wood lined leather sheaths, opens a whole new field of knife carry options. Dan Petersen's demo on how to make them, will allow you to expand your sheath options to your customers.

Dan's demo on Applications of Metallurgy at the Forge, will cover knowledge that every knifemaker must have. Heat treating and control of the steel's grain structure is critical to making a quality knife blade. Dan will explain what it is that you need to accomplish in the steel and then take you to the shop and show you how to do it.

Being able to heat treat a blade to create a hamon is a fine skill. But knowing how to finish that blade to display the subtleties in the grain structure that you have worked so hard to create, is quite another skill. Brion Tomberlin will show you how to make your hamon lines pop. If you are interested in making blades with a hamon, don't miss Brion's demo.

Ryan Hayes is a well known knife collector and a member of the Custom Knife Collectors Association. Ryan will tell you what it is that the knife collector is looking for in a knife purchase. He will also answer your questions about what you need to do to attract knife sales. Ryan told me to tell attendees of his seminar to "Come with your guns a blazing". He also said that you should be prepared to be fired back on. LOL!! Seriously; if you expect to attract sales from the knife collector community, you need to understand what they are looking for. No business can succeed without knowing the needs and desires of the customer.

As with all hammer-ins, the opportunity for learning does not end with the demos. There is always plenty of sideline knifemaking discussion going on. I have often learned as much about knifemaking by talking to the other makers at a hammer-in, as I have from the demos. With all of the skilled makers in attendance at this event, you will certainly have the opportunity to learn a lot.

I hope you will agree that the Heartland Symposium is worth your time to attend!

See you in Topeka!!

Hi guys, with the Heartland being just over a week away, registration for the event will be closed this afternoon. You will be able to register at the door, no problem, but if you know you are going you have a couple hours to register on line, or call me, 419-832-0400. I am Eastern Standard Time and will close the event sometime about 2. Butch and I are excited to be going and seeing friends we don't see very often. I will not have very many items of apparel there, so if you want something specific, shirt, t-shirt or jackets, order before Wednesday, Oct. 1st and I will bring it along.

Thank you all for your support, we appreciate it very much.

Sally and I attended the Heartland Hammer-In in Topeka, Kansas last weekend and I want to thank the demonstrators for their outstanding presentations which covered not only basic methods but also advanced techniques. Mary Culver and Tammy Stice did an excellent job at the registration table. Steve Culver with the assistance of many volunteers planned and presented a well organized event complete with delicious onsite food service.

Carolyn Kaberline wrote an article on the Heartland, for the Topeka Capital Journal newspaper. It was printed yesterday. Here is a link to the online article, Click: http://cjonline.com/...-tech-symposium