Well, I did it.

I agreed to do a seminar on take-down knife construction.<img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//ohmy.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':o' />

What was I thinkin'??!!

In fact, I think it could be a lot of fun.

Some parts of it will be very, very boring, and other parts will be very interesting!!

I hope all skill levels will attend.

I also encourage verbal participation/questions/comments/etc. We've got two slots to fill so the more we can cover - the better.

I hope to cover basic hunter style assembly - 3-4 different ways, Bowie style with spacers and butt caps, and even some time spent on frame handles.

It will be my first time doing this and I still have no idea how I'm going to do it. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//blink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':blink:' />

This will be my first Heartland Symposium. I look forward to it. I have invited a guest for which this event will be his first like it to attend. It will be the first time to visit with him other than in a law enforcement situation. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> It should be fun.

If anyone who is attending has a forging issue that needs discussing, please give me a heads up. I plan to address the forging process, grinding, and, as time permits, heat treating. Write down any questions you may have and bring em with you.

Great line-up. I'm looking forward to it. Always a good time and I have never failed to come away from it without some great technique tips.

Gary

This will be my first time at this event as well. I have demonstrated both silver wire inlay and leather sheaths at other hammer ins though.

As a demonstrator, I am working for you so I would like input from anyone and everyone attending of what you would like to see in the areas I am covering. I would really like to cater my demos to what the audience wants to see. This is especially true for the sheaths. Do you want to see how to do inlays, tooling, stitching, basic sheath start to finish, bowie sheath, hunter sheath, etc. I cannot cover all of this in 2 hours, so I would like your input so everyone can get the most from it.

Something else that I do is use an old Singer sewing machine to do the finer stitching around inlays that I do. This is the old cast iron household type not the newer plastic ones. These old machines are readily available at auctions, garage sales, eBay etc. and certainly strong enough to do this job and I can go over how to set up one of these machines to do this task.

For silver wire inlay, I plan on covering design, common design mistakes and how to avoid them, actual inlays, how to avoid problems with the inlay, tips and tricks that I have come up with to make the job easier. I will be doing some actual inlay work and hope to have some sort of setup to allow people to be able to better see what I am doing during the demo.

Make sure you read everything on the flyer as well. There will be an opportunity for everyone to get some one on one training with the demonstrators with any areas that they are having problems with. This is something new and I think it will be a lot of fun.

I look forward to this event and will do my best to make it a great event for you as well.

Brian

I will be demonstrating how I make wrapped frame handles. A photo of one of my San Francisco knives with this type handle is below. I haven't had a chance to observe how other makers build these handles, so I don't know how similar my process is to theirs. I am pretty certain that there are at least a couple of things that I do that will be unique to my method.

We will not be having a live auction at the Heartland Symposium this year. But, we do need to raise additional funds to pay for the expenses of the symposium. So, we will have a raffle. The intention with doing a raffle instead of an auction is to maximize the amount of time available for demonstrations. Rather than use demonstration time to conduct an auction, we will instead have raffle tickets available for purchase. The ticket drawing will be Saturday evening, after the demonstrations are completed.

Donated items will be placed on tables, with buckets next to them. We will have two young ladies selling raffle tickets. Purchase your tickets and drop them in the buckets next to the items that you are interested in. Please consider bringing something to donate to the raffle, as well as buying some tickets to help with covering the symposium expenses.

Sunday is all about helping attendees with their knifemaking projects and questions. We will have two hours of hands-on knife project assistance. Bring a knifemaking project that you would like hands-on assistance with. We will have everyone who brings a project, fill out a small form and drop it in a bucket. We will select projects by drawing them from the bucket. One of the Demonstrators will help with each of the selected projects. All other attendees are invited to watch the projects. This should be a lot of fun, but we realize that it could become a "stump the Mastersmith" situation. We'll see how this goes.

After the hands-on project time, there will be a knifemaking question and answer session, for all. If the attendees want to continue with hands-on projects, rather than the roundtable, we can do that.

What was I thinkin'??!!

Karl, you're going to do great!!

Brian,

I for one, would be interested in seeing how you use the old Singer machine. I have one of them, but have not tried it yet.

Looks great Steve. I am more than willing to help with "stump the mastersmith" and whatever else you need me to do. I am curious to see how you do your handle. Looking forward to it.

Brion

Brion,

Great to hear that you will be able to attend again! Actually, I was hoping that you would be willing to help out, as well as any other skilled maker who comes to the symposium. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//biggrin.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />

I figured that we would just start drawing projects and our instructors can volunteer to take on whatever project that they feel is in their area of expertise to teach. Those of us who intend to help with the instruction would do well to bring along a few tools that they use in their shops, to be better prepared for whatever may be asked.

Obviously, there is no way to predict how this will go. We may have more projects that we can do in two hours, or we may not have anyone bring a project. If it works out well and everyone likes it, I may include it in future Heartland Symposiums. If it sucks beyond repair, we won't do it again. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//blink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':blink:' />

If anyone reading this intends to attend the Heartland and will be bringing a project, it would be good to let us know so we can bring the tools to help you with it.

I plan to be there Steve so you got me. I am sure there will not be great suckage <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//biggrin.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' /> , I think it is a great idea. But letting us know what projects they have in mind would be great. It will be something new and I think it will be a good morning and a great Hammer In.

Brion

Just to so everyone is clear on what we are talking about, this is a copy of what is outlined in the flyer.

Sunday will be all about helping attendees with their knifemaking projects and questions. Bring a knifemaking project that you

would like hands‐on assistance with. There will be a drawing to select projects for assistance. One of the Demonstrators will help

with each of the selected projects. All other attendees are invited to watch the projects.

After the hands‐on project time, there will be a knifemaking question and answer session, for all.

This is a great concept and I am very interested in seeing how it goes. This is a new idea that Steve came up with and really shows that these events are for you. What a great opportunity to get hands on instruction on something that is troubling you. Do not be shy about this as it is part of what everyone is paying for with their registration.

Some suggestions that I will throw out are fitting guards, grinding -- avoiding 2" mark, grinding clips, grinding plunge cuts even, etc. These are just some ideas to get people thinking, but let us know what is troubling you and bring it with you and we will do our best to get you on the right track before you head home.

Brian

Steve

I will cover using a sewing machine to sew inlays. This is a real time save and makes for a higher quality sheath. Because inlays look nicer to have stitching around them and the stitching needs to be finer to look right, using one of these sewing machines makes the task very easy.

I have only used the old cast iron type as they are very strong and will not flex when stitching leather. Maybe the plastic ones will work as well, but have never tried them.

The above is a picture of a sheath I used this method on.

Brian

My sewing machine is one of the cast iron models. I think it might have originally been a treadle machine. I may dig it out and bring it to the Heartland.

Steve

That would be fine. I am planning on bringing mine as well. This is the type I use. It is a treadle type, but I just turn the flywheel by hand. Even on a large Bowie sheath,itonly takes a minute or two to sew around the inlay.

I'm looking forward to this event. I will be bringing my uncle and hopefully my father. Both of them have dabbled in the forge but are not that experianced in knifemaking. I will truly enjoy sharing this with them both. Their influences on me is the reason I started knifemaking in the first place.

We have some great demos lined up this year! Ought to be a lot of fun.

If you are planning to attend the Demonstrator's Dinner, please let me know. I need a head count to make sure that we have enough food. I am going to have Dickie's Barbeque cater in the meal. I've got to give them a count on the number of people to feed.

Thanks!!