Viewpoints of Our New Journeyman on Preparing for Judging at the 2014 Atlanta Blade Show
I answer many questions asked by our Apprentice Smiths every week who are preparing to take the JS Performance Test or are preparing to have their presentation knives judged in Atlanta about the ABS rules and other procedures. I am familiar with the rules and can answer those questions. From a practical point of view I thought that it would beneficial to have a discussion about how our newest Journeyman Smiths from the 2014 Blade Show in Atlanta prepared for their JS Performance Tests and the Judging Panels in Atlanta. This year we had candidates from outside the USA who faced additional challenges because they were a distance away from Master Smiths, some had language issues, and some had to obtain visas from the US Embassy located in their country. I had 12 JS candidates on the list before Atlanta and only 6 candidates remained at the time of the judging.
What experiences did they have? What advice would they give to prospective Journeyman candidates? How long did it take to build their presentation knives? What advice did they receive from Master Smiths or Journeyman that they found valuable? Did they ever attend any of the seminars at an ABS Hammer-In on JS/MS testing standards?
This is a discussion that all of us can participate in and learn from. In the true spirit of our educational mission we can learn from each other.
Ben Breda, JS - Maine
Ramon Morales, JS - Nicaragua
Joel Worley, JS - Ohio
Keith Fludder, JS - Australia
Kurt Swearingen, JS - New Mexico
Dan Cassidy
Journeyman Smith
Send an email to Dan
I look forward to this thread as an aspiring JS.........thanks for posting this Dan and I'll say in advance thanks to those who post up
Rob
[font="Comic Sans MS"]'Never Quit On Improving'[/font]
Following
Even though I plan on waiting as long as I possibly can to present. I will be watching this closely.
I will also be following this one with a lot of interest. Great thread Dan!
Hi all,
Somehow I managed to wait until the last minute to make my knives. Not a good idea, the extra pressure does not help. Start at least 6 months prior. I did not have time to have Mastersmiths look my work over and was only able to bring five knives to Blade instead of having the recommended 6 or 7 to choose from. I completed my knives in a little over three weeks before the show. One thing I know that helped me greatly was having a plan for each knife before I started working on it and sticking with that plan. This left a lot of the guess work out of it. It wasn't easy by any means but I'm glad I pulled through. Some advice I received from Mastersmiths was have clean lines, have a variation in design and techniques, of course good fit and finish, and be confident in my work. Getting my JS stamp was a very fun and rewarding experience and made me a better knifemaker. Those are a few things that stood out to me, feel free to ask me any questions.
Ben
I received an email from Dan Cassidy advising me of this topic and inviting me to add my 2 cents. Thank you Dan.
First of all. Performance test knife.
I did some research here on what previous Journeyman Smiths used and 5160 stood out the most. This is what I went with. Basically a camp knife I geuss. I made 2 knives following the same procedure for both. Triple edge quenched and tempered. I conducted my own cutting test with one of them to be sure I had it right. Test performed with MS Mr Shaun Mc Intyre May 2013. Yay.As Ben mentioned earlier I also made a plan for each knife and stuck to it. Its less stressfull this way thats for sure. I started making my judging knives 6 months out and hence had a couple of extras to choose from. I live in a country where distance between makers is problematic let alone getting critique from Journey and Master smiths is concerned. I'm glad I had a few extra pieces to choose from. My good friends MS Mr Bill Burke and JS Mr Bruce Barnett had a look over my knives on the Thursday evening prior to the judging. Thanks Bill and Bruce.
Tips. Try and make a diverse range of styles. Nice clean lines. Crisp finnishes ( no fish hooks ) and fit. Feedback from the 7 judges is in my opinion priceless, for me it was to round my handle contour a bit more. All good. I hope this helps future appliacants and dont stress about it. Just do your best. Happy to answer any questions and good luck!
Cheers Keith
|quoted:
Hi all,
Somehow I managed to wait until the last minute to make my knives. Not a good idea, the extra pressure does not help. Start at least 6 months prior. I did not have time to have Mastersmiths look my work over and was only able to bring five knives to Blade instead of having the recommended 6 or 7 to choose from. I completed my knives in a little over three weeks before the show. One thing I know that helped me greatly was having a plan for each knife before I started working on it and sticking with that plan. This left a lot of the guess work out of it. It wasn't easy by any means but I'm glad I pulled through. Some advice I received from Mastersmiths was have clean lines, have a variation in design and techniques, of course good fit and finish, and be confident in my work. Getting my JS stamp was a very fun and rewarding experience and made me a better knifemaker. Those are a few things that stood out to me, feel free to ask me any questions.
Ben
some really good points here Ben, thanks
[font="Comic Sans MS"]'Never Quit On Improving'[/font]
|quoted:
I received an email from Dan Cassidy advising me of this topic and inviting me to add my 2 cents. Thank you Dan.
First of all. Performance test knife.
I did some research here on what previous Journeyman Smiths used and 5160 stood out the most. This is what I went with. Basically a camp knife I geuss. I made 2 knives following the same procedure for both. Triple edge quenched and tempered. I conducted my own cutting test with one of them to be sure I had it right. Test performed with MS Mr Shaun Mc Intyre May 2013. Yay.As Ben mentioned earlier I also made a plan for each knife and stuck to it. Its less stressfull this way thats for sure. I started making my judging knives 6 months out and hence had a couple of extras to choose from. I live in a country where distance between makers is problematic let alone getting critique from Journey and Master smiths is concerned. I'm glad I had a few extra pieces to choose from. My good friends MS Mr Bill Burke and JS Mr Bruce Barnett had a look over my knives on the Thursday evening prior to the judging. Thanks Bill and Bruce.
Tips. Try and make a diverse range of styles. Nice clean lines. Crisp finnishes ( no fish hooks ) and fit. Feedback from the 7 judges is in my opinion priceless, for me it was to round my handle contour a bit more. All good. I hope this helps future appliacants and dont stress about it. Just do your best. Happy to answer any questions and good luck!
Cheers Keith
thanks Keith, some more good advice ........and I too can relate to having no JS or MS within a reasonable range, I hope to lean on a couple Masters south of the border 8-10 hours away when the time comes for some in person critique , experience and any other beneficial info !
[font="Comic Sans MS"]'Never Quit On Improving'[/font]
Keith, good advice. I used 5160 on my performance knife also. I think it is a great steel to use for the test and I would recommend it to others going for their JS.
Rob, thank you. I think having Mastersmiths look at your work is very helpful and important part of the presentation phase. I definitely wish I had been able to have Mastersmiths look at my knives in person prior to presenting.
This year at the New England hammer in there will be a mock journeyman judging. For those attending and planning on going for their JS in the future this is a great opportunity to have your knives, or see others knives critiqued and discussed to prepare for judging.
Ben
