Heartland Bladesmithing Symposium T-Shirt

This is the final proof of the art work for the Heartland Bladesmithing Symposium T-Shirts that Cindy Sheely, our ABS Store manager, just sent to me. The event T-Shirts will be dark red in color.

I received this email today from Steve Culver with more details about the Heartland Bladesmithing Symposium set for October 2nd and 3rd in Meriden, Kansas.

From: Steve Culver

Subject: Heartland Bladesmithing Symposium

Hey Everyone,

The Symposium is only a few days away! I've heard that we have about 30 pre-registered attendees. I've also heard from several people that they plan to come and register on site. Pre-registration on the ABS web site is now closed. But, anyone can come to the Symposium and register on site.

We have a bunch of great knifemaking demos planned for the event and Bill Miller will be here selling knifemaking supplies. Also, Sid Suedmeier (the Little Giant Trip-hammer guy) will be here.

The Friday evening demonstrator's dinner will be on site. We are having Dickey's Barbeque cater the meal. On the menu is pulled pork, marinated chicken and pork ribs. Also, barbeque beans, potato salad, cole slaw and rolls. Mary is planning to make apple and cherry cobbler for desert. Dinner will be around 6:30pm, Friday. Price per person is $10.00.

We will have an auction Saturday evening to raise money to help cover the costs of the event. If you are planning to attend the symposium, please consider bringing something to donate to the auction. It can be anything that you would be willing to offer; doesn't have to be knife related. Oh, and bring some money to buy something. 🙂

We will have a cutting demo on Saturday. So, sharpen up your bowies and join the fun!

A side note here: I received a thank you card from Ray and Barbara Kirk for the donations raised to help them with their medical costs. Below is what was written in the card:

"To all the members of the Kansas Custom Knifemakers Association. I was hoping to find a card with all my appreciation already written out. There are non on the market that can express the appreciation of the generosity of your Association. A great big "Thank you" from both Barbara and I. It gives me great pleasure to know that I have the best friends in the World. God Bless You All."

I hope to see many of you here for the symposium. If you have any questions about the event, don't hesitate to call or email me!!!

Steve Culver

President-Kansas Custom Knifemaker's Association

Culver Knives

Meriden, KS

www.culverart.com

The 1st Heartland Bladesmithing Symposium this weekend in Meriden, Kansas began Friday as a very successful event with excellent attendance. We want to thank our hosts Steve and Mary Culver and the Kansas Custom Knifemakers Association who are making us feel welcome and at home at this well equipped shop and beautiful home. The demonstrators were outstanding and include Jim Crowell, Steve Culver, Dan Petersen, Ray Kirk, Brion Tomberlin, Dr. Jim Batson, B.R. Hughes, Carolyn Hughes, Jim Bevin, and Dave Sloan. Everyone was welcomed and assisted at the registration table by Sally Cassidy and Carolyn Hughes. Cindy Sheely handled pre-registration and the event T-shirts. The Demonstrators dinnner was served on site on Friday night.

Master Smith Jim Crowell on grinding

Master Smith Steve Culver on Jigs

Master Smith Ray Kirk on Integral Blades

[/center]

I'd like to extend a great big "thank you" to all involved. I had a great time and Steve is the ultimate host. Not only was it a very enjoyable event but I learned a ton of techniques from those who demonstrated.

Well done!

Gary

Gary it was good to see you there. Great group of people and a lot of fun. I also want to thank Steve and Mary for their hospitality and for hosting a wonderful event. Definitely two thumbs up from me. I am looking forward to next year.

Brion

Sorry that it took me so long to get a post up here. Things have been nuts around here since the event and I am trying to catch up.

We had a great time hosting the symposium. Mary and I feel honored and privileged to have had the opportunity to have the event at our home. Now that we have been through the experience, we have plans to make the site better for future events. We were blessed not to have it rain during the event, but it usually isn't so cold during this time of year. In case we have another cold front come through like we did this year, I will have some sort of heater available to take the chill off in the building that we used for the lectures.

Jim and Jenni Crowell stayed in one of our spare bedrooms for the weekend. We had a great time visiting with them and getting to know them better. Sunday after the symposium was over, I did some trigger work on one of Jim's rifles and then he and I went out to have a little fun. Jim was interested in seeing what it was like to shoot my Ruger Redhawk, chambered for .480 Ruger. So, we went to the back of our property and shot it a few times. I think Jimmy liked it. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmiths.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

I want to thank all of the guys who put on demos for the event. And a special thank you to everyone who helped with clean up and loading of the tables and chairs Sunday afternoon. Mary and I had pretty much worked ourselves to exhaustion preparing for the event and so by Sunday afternoon were very grateful for any help given to put things back in order. Thanks too to Dan Cassidy for the great photos and videos of the symposium. It's amazing what can be done with a cell phone these days.

Now that we are done with the symposium, I'll try to do better at posting on this forum. Though I am on this forum numerous times each day, for the last couple of months I have not felt that I had much time for sitting at the computer and typing. As is typical of me, I planned more preparations for the event than I had the time or energy to accomplish.

Mary and I are looking forward to next year's symposium; if the ABS will bless us with the opportunity to host it again. I hope that all of you will consider coming to it.

I forgot to mention that Dave Sloan won the cutting competition, with second place going to Jim Crowell. If I remember correctly, we had nine competitors. Dave received the coveted "Teddy Bear" award for his accomplishment. I seriously considered turning the Teddy Bear into a knifemaker look-alike by making little burns all over it, shaving some hair off of the arms and putting a band-aid on one paw. I shoulda' done it.......

|quoted:

I forgot to mention that Dave Sloan won the cutting competition, with second place going to Jim Crowell. If I remember correctly, we had nine competitors. Dave received the coveted "Teddy Bear" award for his accomplishment. I seriously considered turning the Teddy Bear into a knifemaker look-alike by making little burns all over it, shaving some hair off of the arms and putting a band-aid on one paw. I shoulda' done it.......

Don't forget to put a little super glue on one of the fingers. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmiths.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Had a great time and wish I could have stayed another day. Looking forward to the next one.

It was especially good to see all my friends and share some time with them.