Thank you Dan.

The new MS are:

Haley Derosiers

Veronique Laurent

Jean Louis Regel

David Lisch

Andrew Meers

All excellent work.

Brion

Congratulations to all of the new Master and Journeyman Smiths!!!

Whoohoo...great job folks!

Where can we see the knives? <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Thank you Dan!

We would have liked Veronique and me to see you at the Blade Show.

Next year I hop!

Jean Louis

I look forward to visiting with you Veronique at next year's Blade Show in Atlanta.

Congratulations to both of you on earning your Master Smith stamps.

Thanks Dan!

It's truly an honor and humbling to be associated with such fine knife makers and people!

Thanks to all those that work tirelessly behind the scenes of the ABS!

Bob

Bob

Congratulations again on earning your JS rating!

It has been a privilege to serve our ABS members "behind the scenes" over the years.

JS Presentation Knife set of Nick Rossi, JS

-------------------------

JS Presentation Knife set of Stephen Fowler, JS

------------------------

JS Presentation Knives of Bobby Wetten, JS

Thanks for starting this thread Dan. I learned so much from all of my fellow JS & MS awardee's ... There are so many bright futures in this group ... Congratulations to all!

Bobby

You are welcome! And congratulations!

I feel that it is important to recognize the outstanding talent and hard work of our newest Journeyman Smiths and Master Smiths.

In Atlanta, Facundo Montenegro became the first ABS Journyman Smith from Argentina. Congratulations Facundo!

Facundo sent an email today to the ABS about his experience at the Blade Show in Atlanta. The email was in Spanish and ABS member Tom Blair who teaches English to native Spanish speakers translated the email from Facundo for us below. Thank you Tom!

English translation:

"Hello friends. How are you?

After a prolonged absence I tell you that I went to Atlanta to the Blade Show (one of the most important events in the knife world).

On the one hand, I went for the experience and to submit myself to the American Bladesmith Society to complete my test for Journeyman Smith (which is an international certification for knives) which I passed with no problem, though not without getting laughed at. (I was very nervous, but luckily I was surrounded by Brazilian friends who went with (me) at this time.

Well, thus becoming the first ABS Journeyman Smith from Argentina was a very emotional time for me.

I'm posting the picture of the awards ceremony.

The knives that I took...

The performance test knives...

Some photos with big-time knife makers who came to say hello

And finally, where they were giving us the certificates"

Facundo

ABS Journeyman Smith

WWW.MONTENEGROKNIVES.COM.AR

Congratulations to all of the testing smiths.

I know Facundo and Sandro well and I know how much it meant to them achieve this milestone. They have worked hard for it but now, like most people who have received their stamp it is now time to dig deeper and go forward to a higher level than what you were on.

Once again, congratulations and go forth Ladies and Gentlemen.

Congratulations again. It was a pleasure to observe the process.

Also for those who had their test group professionally photographed, you deserve commendation. You can not know who or how this will help. But be assured it will help those in the future who will stand in your shoes. The ABS, this website, and Dan and Sally are to be thanked for storing these images for those coming along as time goes by. Prior to this site, finding group photos was not easy. I'm hoping to see even more added to the thread.