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Done! I say the ABS should have an Instagram account. There’s one, but you already had me, now you only need fourteen more votes, you can find them here:

http://www.americanbladesmith.com/index.php?section=pages&id=151 all some of the finest people I have met, but will have to be mostly on the same page as us.

Now who can we find to run it?

I am not experienced with Instagram so bring me up to speed here, about how many times per week should an Instagram feed be updated in order to be effective? Once we establish that, we can then get an idea how many more hours our Instagram person will need to devote to shaking the bushes, sending e-mails and begging for those photos. It may seem like the supply is available and endless, but other resources like the forum, the YouTube channel, the e-mail newsletter or the Journal have found it a challenge to keep the supply of submissions going.

Don’t get me wrong I am not against the idea at all, quite the contrary- I proposed the Instagram idea about two years ago, so I am actually way ahead of you on this. But I also now have the perspective of how tough it can be to run something the size of the ABS if you don’t have a solid stream of volunteers ready to make things happen. As a board member I can always do better in serving the membership, but "membership" implies that we are part of something, which means each and every one of us can do more to make our wishes reality.

This actually brings up a whole new, and perhaps even better, question. How does the ABS inspire, engage and energize our membership to want to do what it takes to make our ideas happen? Before we find those answers, so many of our ideas will remain on the wish list.

Opinions will vary on this, but I would suggest almost daily instagram posts initially - just to build out the page and get some momentum going - after which it could slow down to maybe one or two posts per week. As Matthew pointed out there's a wealth of photographic material already available to choose from, and my own experiences in working with professional knife photographers suggests that they would be willing and eager to contribute images. ABS school administrators could be asked to share class schedules and perhaps a photo of an instructor or the workspace so that class updates can be advertised alongside the knife photos, and we could ask hammer-in attendees to share their own images or even live-stream a demo here or there. It would take a bit of coordination, but I believe it would be very manageable.

Heck I'd be happy to do the work myself, or contribute where needed. I really don't think it would take up too much time to pull off effectively. Editorial control can be shared with multiple admins so there's no risk of any rogue posting getting through, and I have a bit of experience in media and public relations work from my prior career so I know what not to say to keep things professional. I understand that most of the board members don't know me and would feel uncomfortable giving a stranger permission to speak on the organization's behalf, but in the spirit of helping I figure I should at least make the offer.

But this brings me to my next point, by now a familiar refrain for me and a direct response to your last question about how the ABS can "inspire, engage, and energize our membership to want to do what it takes to make our ideas happen" - as I feel this must begin with communication. It's hard to inspire, engage, or make things happen when you're invisible and refuse to talk to anyone.

This isn't the ABS' first appeal to the membership for feedback and engagement either. Remember this thread - http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/index.php?/topic/3147-we-want-to-hear-from-you/ - and the new sub-forum that was created for it? Where did that go? The new sub-forum was quietly removed and merged into a "Town Hall" forum, while contributors' ideas and suggestions were summarily ignored. Again.

Frankly I think its unfair that the entire burden of member outreach has been placed solely upon your shoulders, Kevin, while the rest of the board apparently does nothing with the ideas and feedback you bring back to them. As good as you are at this, you've got a full plate already. Nor have you been given the tools you need to effect any real change. I should certainly credit new board member Brion Tomberlin for being equally accessible, but that's still only two out of fourteen. And, again, though you're both members of the board, you're not the Chairman.

It is often said that the best way to lead is by example, but the example being shown by much of the ABS leadership is to hunker down and shut off communication to the outside world. While you seek to engage the membership, the rest of them, it seems, have disengaged. Myself and many others have tried to help, but our ideas have been ignored, our efforts have been dismissed, and our engagement has been rejected, leaving more than a few of us feeling a bit uninspired at this point. If it's inspiration and engagement you're seeking, my best suggestion at this point would be to look to the top.

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This isn't the ABS' first appeal to the membership for feedback and engagement either. Remember this thread - http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/index.php?/topic/3147-we-want-to-hear-from-you/ - and the new sub-forum that was created for it? Where did that go? The new sub-forum was quietly removed and merged into a "Town Hall" forum, while contributors' ideas and suggestions were summarily ignored. Again.

That was my doing entirely, but let me explain and clarify. Nothing was removed, that thread, and that forum, remained and another forum that served identical function was merged into it, it is all still right where it was, still waiting for participation. Last year I was going over the stats on this forum and noticed some sub-forums were almost entirely inactive, so I looked at the overall structure and noticed that we had a lot of redundancy with very similar forums, some even having almost the same names and functions. That is when I did a little re-organizing and merged several forums. I was very careful that nothing was deleted or removed, which meant hours of sorting and moving individual threads. The "topic of the month" was particularly labor intensive as I added labels to each thread so that people would know where they came from and where they went to.

The feedback forum was ne-named "ABS Town Hall" to make it more of a two-way communication directly between the membership and the board, another forum that included meeting minutes and other ABS business, of concern to the membership was moved to that forum. At the same time, the "ABS University" section was created to serve as an educational benefit, with more in-depth information, just for our members.

The “Topic of The Month” thread is very good case in point of how you can only do so much on the backs of a few. It doesn’t seem like much to come up with an idea for a thread and post it every month, in fact, it sounds a lot easier than some of the proposals we are currently discussing. But it simply wore our moderator staff out keeping it going, some even pulled back from the forum in general before we all decided we had to pull the plug on that forum and take a rest.

This is all very concerning to me because it has been my observation over the years that forums die from the top down, when the guys with the best answers just get burned out and management becomes apathetic. I myself go in cycles. For reasons I cannot explain, I will suddenly become energized again and will enjoy typing long, involved answers but, between work load at home and answering those same questions, burn out takes it toll. I know that the secret ingredient is somewhere in the membership’s questions. When there are engaging questions asked, and they do not need to be advanced questions, they can be very basic questions that are engaging because there is that sense of multiple “eureka!” moments where you know you are really helping, it recharges the batteries.

I guess this post is mostly to drive home the point that it is a two-way street. You do have some dedicated experienced bladesmiths here, waiting to engage, but they can’t carry it all. If Karl Anderson and I wanted to carry on a conversation by ourselves, we could pick up the phone and get a lot more accomplished. We need everybody in the Society, not just MS, stopping by the forum occasionally and giving their $0.02 or asking a question. This is not my forum- it is yours (the memberships). I just help keep it running for you if I can.

Derrick, the last couple of posts caused me to review both this thread and the discussions in the “ABS Town Hall” subforum and it made me see what I have done here to let the membership down. I see that I have been presenting these requests for input in the way that implies that I, single handedly, have the power to provide the solutions. When I create this impression, and people’s suggestions are not acted on in the manner that I lead them to believe they could be, the ABS pays the price of the resentment that causes. For this I must wholeheartedly apologize.

Let me please make this clear- I am just another member of the society, like all of you, I happen to get to vote on proposals now and then, but aside from that, I have no special pull or influence to make things happen that any of you wouldn’t have. The society belongs to the membership, the reason I ask these questions here is that I assumed the task of administrating the forum and the YouTube channel, and I am looking for direction on how those resources can best serve that membership.

All I can say is that somebody has to start the discussion. Yes, talk is cheap, but everything has to begin with a dialogue. If we decide not to have the discussion if we cannot have immediate results, then its over before it started.

I think we've had some good discussions here, and I commend you for starting the dialogue. On this front you've truly been a beacon of light. But as is probably clear from my posts I've been a bit disappointed in the the lack of participation here from the other board members, and the lack of follow-through or progress on many, if not most of the issues discussed. I know I'm not alone here. Things just tend to move very slowly through the ABS plumbing, it seems.

And I really don't think it's any one person's fault that things move so slowly; instead I think it's a structural issue. Bear with me here.

In the early years of the American Bladesmith Society there was just a small handful of Mastersmiths and a fairly tight membership concentrated primarily in the southern and southeastern United States. The ABS back then had a couple of hammer-ins each year and most of the guys knew eachother pretty well. Management of the organization and administrative duties were handled by a few volunteers on a part-time basis, and everything was dandy.

Since those early days the ABS has grown tremendously and has matured to become a well known and highly regarded professional organization. It now boasts over 2,000 members on all six inhabited continents. It hosts numerous events and hammer-ins throughout the year, while offering classes at nine different schools in North America, Europe, and South Africa. It publishes a newsletter, maintains an extensive directory and website, runs an internet forum and a youtube channel and hosts an annual knifeshow and it does all this... with a handful of volunteers working on a part-time basis.

It's pretty amazing when you think about it. The folks behind the scenes - the board members, their spouses, the local volunteers - they accomplish so much, including an awful lot that most of us never even see.

I think I speak for all of the members when I say that we're truly fortunate to get to be a part of such an extraordinary effort.

So when I and others express frustration about the lack of progress on certain initiatives that have been talked about for years and years, it's certainly not for lack of effort by the ABS leadership. Instead, it speaks of an organization that has far outgrown its early spartan ways. The time for running the ABS by a small group of part-time volunteers is long past. It needs a full-time executive director. Someone who has the time, resources, and know-how to get things done. Someone who has the authority to make decisions and delegate responsibilities without having to convene a slow-moving committee. Someone who is paid a salary for his efforts, treats it like a full-time job, and has full accountability to the board and membership.

I know it's quite a departure, but it sure would get things moving.

Quote by Derrick Wulf:

"In the early years of the American Bladesmith Society there was just a small handful of Mastersmiths and a fairly tight membership concentrated primarily in the southern and southeastern United States. The ABS back then had a couple of hammer-ins each year and most of the guys knew eachother pretty well. Management of the organization and administrative duties were handled by a few volunteers on a part-time basis, and everything was dandy.

Since those early days the ABS has grown tremendously and has matured to become a well known and highly regarded professional organization. It now boasts over 2,000 members on all six inhabited continents. It hosts numerous events and hammer-ins throughout the year, while offering classes at nine different schools in North America, Europe, and South Africa. It publishes a newsletter, maintains an extensive directory and website, runs an internet forum and a youtube channel and hosts an annual knifeshow and it does all this... with a handful of volunteers working on a part-time basis.

It's pretty amazing when you think about it. The folks behind the scenes - the board members, their spouses, the local volunteers - they accomplish so much, including an awful lot that most of us never even see.

I think I speak for all of the members when I say that we're truly fortunate to get to be a part of such an extraordinary effort.

So when I and others express frustration about the lack of progress on certain initiatives that have been talked about for years and years, it's certainly not for lack of effort by the ABS leadership. Instead, it speaks of an organization that has far outgrown its early spartan ways. The time for running the ABS by a small group of part-time volunteers is long past. It needs a full-time executive director. Someone who has the time, resources, and know-how to get things done. Someone who has the authority to make decisions and delegate responsibilities without having to convene a slow-moving committee. Someone who is paid a salary for his efforts, treats it like a full-time job, and has full accountability to the board and membership."

I have to lend my echo to the above. I believe that sticking to the old guard's sentiments have largely bottle necked the efforts of the general membership's desires for the ABS. This is in no way an expression of disrespect. It has served an important service up to this point and can be credited duly and with GREAT respect. But, the time has come for technological and structural change, in my opinion. It is my wish that the Board of Directors listen to the membership and preserve it's ability to grow on pace with the need of this organization. It's world wide now. Every member, but especially every ranked maker has investment of time, money, and extreme effort in supporting, promoting, and working through the mission statement and judging process laid out by the ABS. They thus have an intense interest in seeing, not only the ABS, but the perception of the ABS and it's values held in high regard.

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As a newer member I am going to second what Matt said. While attending a 1 or 2 week class or a big hammer-in would be well worthwhile in the long run, it is a big investment in terms of time and money. Starting local chapters might be one way to reach people. Another way might be to have local/regional calendars or listings of smaller classes or workshops being offered. There are MS and JS scattered throughout most states. If they would offer small classes or workshops (I think many do?) and there was a way to make this information available, perhaps there might be more interest. Speaking for myself, I'd be more inclined to drive a couple of hours for a 1 or 2 day class a few times than to travel halfway across the country for one major educational event. If there was a section on the website that listed classes and workshops by state or region I'd be checking it frequently to see what was in my area that would be feasible to attend.

Thanks,

Dave

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I really like this thread too!!! The idea of a small local group has quite a bit of appeal with some folks that live around me (NE Indiana). I’m willing to invest some time and effort and see what happens.

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A little late to this party, but I also have to agree with David on local/regional chapters with shorter classes. My goal is to eventually make it to the 2 week class in Troy, Ohio. I can't complain too much since it just 2 hours away, but it is still a big time commitment that I am just not able to make with my work schedule. If there were shorter classes like David suggested at 1-2 days it would be much easier for me to make it. I understand that not a lot can be covered in that short amount of time, but for me, a little is better than nothing since I am still very much in the beginning of learning the craft...

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Happy New Year! I love the idea of having a local chapter. One idea that might support this is listing the Apprentice Smiths on the ABS website. I think that this would promote community. If nothing else, it lets guys like me know if there are any other aspiring bladesmiths in the area. Maybe there's a good reason not to, but just a thought. It might be worth reaching out to Master Smiths across the organization and see if they would be willing to do a one day demo out of their home shop and cap it at 5-10 people. If you're turning people away you know there is a demand.

A term that is always on my mind these days, when considering real threats to any organization that has grown like the ABS has, is "mission creep". I have been thinking a lot about how we measure success, and to what end that success is for. Just this thread has seen little drifting. So I would like to bring it back to one very good concept that was proposed immediately, and the beauty of it is that any of us can accomplish it entirely free of the bureaucratic nature of any organization. Going back to the local grass roots and empowering brand new members to organize is as anti-mission creep and non-bureaucracy as it gets. So I'm going to focus on this for a bit and see what we can make happen.

David, Pete, Andy, Travis, and all others interested in the local chapter idea, what would you suggest you need to get a local group of new ABS smiths together and sharing?

Pete, I know you are close enough that I could drive to a gathering and offer whatever help I could. As Vice-Chairman I do have a title that gives me a little more responsibility to be available to the membership, when the Chair himself has more than his share to deal with already. So, as I said before, I would be happy to represent the ABS at any local gathering our members wish to have. Local groups can fill in the gaps between official ABS events, and may even be able to grow enough to have a hammer-in that could serve and area that is currently under-represented.

And guess what- nothing can stop a local group from establishing any social media presence that they want, so long as they are careful with the ABS name. If getting things done from the top down is too difficult, let's see what we can do from the ground up!

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David, Pete, Andy, Travis, and all others interested in the local chapter idea, what would you suggest you need to get a local group of new ABS smiths together and sharing?

A quick first thought I have is to organize the regions as large or as small as would be appropriate. For example:

"ABS Smiths: Northeast Chapter" or "ABS Smiths: Ohio Chapter"

and then each of these groups have an individual section of the forums under the "General Discussions" heading. This could provide a place to post for more localized events that wouldn't get buried in other topics. They could also hold be organized in person meetings with minutes submitted to a board appointed liaison, just to keep a check and balance with overall ABS policies.

My main issue being a new member is not having a personal relationship with any other member, which means I really don't know how close the next smith is to me other than a select couple. I know the only way to forge these relationships, pun intended, is to go to events, which I am more than fine with. The problem with that is fitting them into my schedule when they are at least 2.5 hours away and my work schedule. I'm not trying to make excuses, just as of now bladesmithing is a hobby that I'm passionate about and unfortunately sometimes I have to focus on other aspects of my life that do not cooperate with what I want.

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David, Pete, Andy, Travis, and all others interested in the local chapter idea, what would you suggest you need to get a local group of new ABS smiths together and sharing?

I second some of what Andy said about not knowing who is around me. However the most difficult thing for me is that I don't know who would teach? I certainly don't know enough to show anybody anything. I also don't know that if I called a recognizable smith they'd be up for teaching a class out of my garage for a day. With that being said, I haven't asked, so I can't say that anyone would say no.

The last two post by Andy Knipp and Travis Briles shows the willingness it's going to take to keep the mission of the ABS alive. Things like this are indeed inspiring. Keep it up guys. Make it happen.

In their posts are good ideas that are not difficult to do (chapter sub forums)and will provide tools to make the communication easier and requesting of visits by instructors direct.

Would a sticky thread, under the "Members Events" serve the same function? If that thread then grew to warrant a sub-forum it could always be done.

As I said before I am more than happy to host meeting here at my shop , I am also more than willing to act as coordinator for a CT or even north east chapter.

That said, either this is sanctioned by the ABS or it is not. I'll open my shop up either way but I do feel we need to be open and on the same page. I allready hold an organize several events each year at the shop as well as help run and host events for the local blacksmith guild. This would not be so different what what I am allready doing.

I am happy to host a monthly meeting and form a local group but I am not sure how that has anything to do with or helps the ABS?

At the least a subform and public listing of contact info and/or schedules for each chapter I think. Either a local group is endorsed or it is not.

I see a need for a frame work, nothing to demanding just something that defines each sides part in this, that is what the chapters responsiblitys are to the abs and vice versa.

Something like "the chapter is required to follow the ABS's rules as far as discrimination and his agreeing to holding to the abs's high standards. The ABS in return sanctions the group and gives a space on the forum for it.

There are other ways both local and international groups could benefit from each other but this at least ties the two together.

One other thing that should be mentioned is Insurance and liability.

I hate to bring this up but it is a real worry. Any place one holds a meeting needs to be insured In a way that covers it. if any was to happen with out insurance any local group and the abs as a whole would be leaving it's self open to liability.

For the local blacksmith guild I help run we only hold meetings in shops that are insured for it. That has ment shops insured as schools for the most part. I don't know what if anything the ABS can do to help this situation but it is something we should all be cognizant of.

I would love to host or be a part of a ABS group. One of my biggest frustrations is not being able to find like minded Smith's in my area it seems like most are in the eastern half of the country.

Kevin, I think a sticky for each chapter would work fine to test it out. It would probably be a lot easier to manage that way until necessity requires it to grow beyond that.

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As I said before I am more than happy to host meeting here at my shop , I am also more than willing to act as coordinator for a CT or even north east chapter.

That said, either this is sanctioned by the ABS or it is not. I'll open my shop up either way but I do feel we need to be open and on the same page. I allready hold an organize several events each year at the shop as well as help run and host events for the local blacksmith guild. This would not be so different what what I am allready doing.

I am happy to host a monthly meeting and form a local group but I am not sure how that has anything to do with or helps the ABS?

At the least a subform and public listing of contact info and/or schedules for each chapter I think. Either a local group is endorsed or it is not.

I see a need for a frame work, nothing to demanding just something that defines each sides part in this, that is what the chapters responsiblitys are to the abs and vice versa.

Something like "the chapter is required to follow the ABS's rules as far as discrimination and his agreeing to holding to the abs's high standards. The ABS in return sanctions the group and gives a space on the forum for it.

There are other ways both local and international groups could benefit from each other but this at least ties the two together.

One other thing that should be mentioned is Insurance and liability.

I hate to bring this up but it is a real worry. Any place one holds a meeting needs to be insured In a way that covers it. if any was to happen with out insurance any local group and the abs as a whole would be leaving it's self open to liability.

For the local blacksmith guild I help run we only hold meetings in shops that are insured for it. That has ment shops insured as schools for the most part. I don't know what if anything the ABS can do to help this situation but it is something we should all be cognizant of.

Thank you for these points Matt. These realities of any action are exactly what I have been trying to say about how getting things done is not always that easy. This is not an ABS phenomenon, every committee, or group, I have ever been a part of experiences the same thing. What seems a simple, and straight forward, proposal comes open for discussion and each person in the conversation has their own ideas about it, so the discussion grows. Then, as every angle is examined, it turns out the simplest of ideas are never all that simple and, if you are not careful, can be parsed until things often come to a standstill. It may seem like a simple idea, one that could be accomplished by any two, or more, members who wanted to get together. I don’t need authorization from the ABS to visit Pete Crowl’s, or anybody’s, shop if they invite me. But I sure as heck do if they want the ABS to sanction it.

The liability thing goes both ways, and the reason the ABS is hesitant to sanction freelance events is that they don’t want the liability either. To be honest, as a board member I don’t care to assume liability for an event I have never attended and have no control over. At least the folks at the local level know what they are taking responsibility for, and if the liability is too great at that level, i.e. a handful of guys hanging out at each other shops, then our modern society is the problem, that any organization would be hard-pressed to overcome.

If I want to have a friend over to my shop, I just do it. But if I promote a Matherton Forge event that is open to the public, you are darned right that my insurance company will know about it. And if I advertise an ABS event at Matherton Forge, I am going to get the full approval of the board and meet all the legal requirements, as well as present an approved ABS program. Until then, just having some friends over to my shop is pretty simple, and if one happens to be an ABS Mastersmith, who wants to talk shop while he is there, so much the better.

I think this proposal is coming more from folks who are not already doing it and would like to know how to connect up with other area smiths. Nobody can stop them from doing that. I can even help them with an area on this forum if they like. The reason I suggested a sticky thread, is that there is already a forum dedicated to exactly what we are suggesting, called “ABS Member Events”, creating a sub-forum would only add another redundant forum with its traffic slowed by the split. If a group grows enough that they could benefit from daily, or even weekly, conversation, I would be happy to give them their own space.

I would like to find any way, that I can, to help in the most immediate fashion.

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Thank you for these points Matt. These realities of any action are exactly what I have been trying to say about how getting things done is not always that easy. This is not an ABS phenomenon, every committee, or group, I have ever been a part of experiences the same thing. What seems a simple, and straight forward, proposal comes open for discussion and each person in the conversation has their own ideas about it, so the discussion grows. Then, as every angle is examined, it turns out the simplest of ideas are never all that simple and, if you are not careful, can be parsed until things often come to a standstill. It may seem like a simple idea, one that could be accomplished by any two, or more, members who wanted to get together. I don’t need authorization from the ABS to visit Pete Crowl’s, or anybody’s, shop if they invite me. But I sure as heck do if they want the ABS to sanction it.

The liability thing goes both ways, and the reason the ABS is hesitant to sanction freelance events is that they don’t want the liability either. To be honest, as a board member I don’t care to assume liability for an event I have never attended and have no control over. At least the folks at the local level know what they are taking responsibility for, and if the liability is too great at that level, i.e. a handful of guys hanging out at each other shops, then our modern society is the problem, that any organization would be hard-pressed to overcome.

If I want to have a friend over to my shop, I just do it. But if I promote a Matherton Forge event that is open to the public, you are darned right that my insurance company will know about it. And if I advertise an ABS event at Matherton Forge, I am going to get the full approval of the board and meet all the legal requirements, as well as present an approved ABS program. Until then, just having some friends over to my shop is pretty simple, and if one happens to be an ABS Mastersmith, who wants to talk shop while he is there, so much the better.

I think this proposal is coming more from folks who are not already doing it and would like to know how to connect up with other area smiths. Nobody can stop them from doing that. I can even help them with an area on this forum if they like. The reason I suggested a sticky thread, is that there is already a forum dedicated to exactly what we are suggesting, called “ABS Member Events”, creating a sub-forum would only add another redundant forum with its traffic slowed by the split. If a group grows enough that they could benefit from daily, or even weekly, conversation, I would be happy to give them their own space.

I would like to find any way, that I can, to help in the most immediate fashion.

I just read this four times. I don't think I understand your point. Or maybe I don't understand what you are proposing? Or perhaps I misunderstood what you were proposing originally.. It seems like you are saying that we should all just invite folks over and do what we want, but not to bother the ABS with any of it? In a thread about the ongoing mission of the ABS...

That is fine in one sense, and I see it as worthwhile enough I think ill start something at my place whatever comes out of this thread , but I don't see how any of that helps the ABS fulfill it's mission in anyway.

Am I missing something here?

MP