Hello all. The second demonstration at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum was yesterday in conjunction with The National Day of the Cowboy. I was the presenter amd did three forging sessions and two short talks on Bowie history and knife making today.
The number of people was much smaller. The main reason was the heat. The temperatures were in the mid 90's by 9:00 am and in the low hundreds by noon. We had a few spectators and there were some good questions.
One thing that I really enjoyed was a young man with his parents. He really seemed interested by the forging and knife making in general. I passed around a blade I had forged earlier for them to look at and he asked me if I sold just forged blades as he would like to work on one. I told him no, not really, but if he liked it he could have the blade. The look on his face was great. That is one big reason why we do this. The more we can get these young people interested the better for the ABS and knife making. He was probably eight to ten years old and I hope to see him making knives in the future.
I also want say how helpful and nice the staff at the museum are. Especially Gretchen Jeanne the Education curator. Any thing we needed was there within minutes and they provided water for us along with tables and chairs. Great people to work with and I hope that we can do similar demonstrations with them in the future. A big thumbs up to the museum for doing first class work.
Overall a good demo and good place for doing one. The more we can educate the public and get them interested in our art the better. Demonstrations are a great way to do this, so check your local areas for opportunities like this and take advantage of them.
Brion
Brion Tomberlin
Anvil Top Custom Knives
ABS Mastersmith
Brion and Diane:
My thanks to both of you for representing the American Bladesmith Society at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. I takes real dedication to demonstrate blade forging with a heat index of 107 degrees in Oklahoma City!
Dan Cassidy
Journeyman Smith
Send an email to Dan
Thank you Dan. It was a little tough, but the museum staff was great and they had us in the shade. Gretchen Jeanne is great to work with. I hope that we can do another demonstration with them, and I told them that.
Brion
Brion Tomberlin
Anvil Top Custom Knives
ABS Mastersmith
Brion;
You did good.
I was thinking of you Sat. morning; it was terrible hot. I was out in the shop at four that morning and it was all ready 85 degrees. It has been a tough summer so far as the forge is concerned for most of us here in the south.
I think what you have done at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum is great in the fact that we are exposing a whole new group of people to bladesmithing and knives. We are so often at bladesmithing demo's; " preaching to the choir". In that I mean we are talking to people that are already involved in bladesmithing.
By doing the museum demo we have allowed a completely new audience to see what we do and why we do it. That there are still artisans of steel working in our country today.
This is hugely important to the ABS and knifemaking.
M
Mike Williams
Master Smith
Thank you Mike, I appreciate the comments. I totally agree. We need to show more of the general public what we do and teach them about the ABS and the artists involved.
Hopefully we can do more, like your demonstration at Beavers Bend. I am going to look into events around here and see where it goes.
Thanks again.
Brion
Brion Tomberlin
Anvil Top Custom Knives
ABS Mastersmith
