Greetings All,

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Don and I am a full time Bladesmith and teacher of Whole Foods as Preventative Medicine.

I have been working with Tai Goo as my mentor and teacher since 2006 when I made my first knife. My primary focus for the first 3-years was in creating integral knives from round bar. More recently I have been focusing on Chef knives and Camping knives. It is time for me to come out of my studio more-so and exhibit at shows outside my area, attend some hammer-ins, and meet more of you in person. I invite you to click on the image-link below and visit my website and to also go to see what I have been up to by visiting my Blog.

Thanks so much for taking the time to say HI. I look forward to meeting more of you here on the forums and in person when we can.

-DON:)

Don

Welcome to the American Bladesmith Society and the ABS Forum.

There are many posts on the ABS Forum that contain informative and useful technical information for bladesmithing. Please ask any questions that you have about bladesmithing and I am sure that your question will be answered by one of our ABS members. Also take a look at the ABS Hammer-In schedule and try to attend one of our events including the California Hammer-In in October which is the event closest to where you live.

Hello Don and welcome to the forum. I look forward to meeting you at a future event.

Brion

Hi Don!! It's great to have you here on the Forum!

Thanks so much everybody! I am really excited to finally be an ABS member and to be here on this forum.

-DON:)

Hi Don! Great to have you involved here! Been a long time since we've spoken. Your work is looking fantastic! Guess the time with Tai, and all the paractice have really paid off. Looking forward to meeting you in person one of these days.

Adam.

Hello everyone,

My name is Jeff Clover. Born and raised in central Iowa. I currently live in Urbandale, IA, which is a suburb of Des Moines. I'm 43 years old, married with 3 kids and I have 3 grandchildren. I am a computer programmer working for a small company in Des Moines.

Just got back yesterday from the Heartland Bladesmithing Symposium. Great learning opportunity for a newbie like myself. Coming in with very little knowledge, some of the terminology can be a bit confusing, but I've got time to learn. The symposium definitly fueled my desire.

I got really interested in bladesmithing when I seen some blacksmiths working at a renaissance fair in Minnesota about a month ago. Seeing all the knives, daggers, swords, axes, etc, I thought "That looks like something I would enjoy doing". So, when I got home, I started researching. The ABS website quickly came to the top. Watched several youtube videos, including the great Bill Moran, and got excited at the prospect of doing this at home. Did more research on burners, forges and equipment and decided to build my own burners and a forge. I am in the middle of that process now and I am really enjoying it. But, since getting back from the symposium, I am full speed ahead on getting my forge built. Need to use some of the knowledge I gained before it falls out of my ear, so I may do a "quickie" forge while I continue with my other forge plans.

It was great seeing the masters in action and I look forward to siphoning as much of that knowledge as possible to jumpstart my own skillset, of which there is little to none.

Thank you everyone involved in taking your valuable time to educate the rest of us. I, for one, am very appreciative of that.

God bless,

Jeff

Welcome to the forum Jeff and to the ABS. You have found something that is very enjoyable and rewarding. Please take every opportunity to attend as many ABS events as you can. This will speed up your learning and you will make many good friends I'm sure. Allow us to offer help if we can, so please dont be shy about asking. We're glad your with us Jeff.

Nice to have you here!

Welcome to the ABS and the forum Jeff!

Brian

Hello Jeff and welcome to the ABS and the forum. I enjoyed meeting and talking to you this past weekend. When you need information we are here and will be glad to help. I look forward to seeing you at other events in the future.

Welcome again.

Brion

Hi Jeff,

Welcome to the ABS and the Forum!! Also, thanks for coming to the Heartland Symposium. It was great to meet you and I’m glad that you enjoyed it!

Post up any questions that you have and we’ll do our best to help you get started.

Welcome to the forums and to the ABS! You will find that this is a great community and a great bunch of people to learn from <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Welcome aboard Jeff!

Hi all, name is Dan Pfanenstiel. Some of you may know me. I let my membership lapse some years ago for various reasons and I'm back to the forge and the ABS.

I reside in central california, Modesto, a veritable wasteland for knifemakers. Not a lot of makers to visit within a few hours drive. Hope to change that.

I started grinding and forging western knives around 15 years ago, with the intent to learn the craft and apply it towards my first steel love, the japanese sword. I now am specializing in japanese style and the learning continues. I have recently taken up an appreticeship with a sword polisher, an eye openning experience.

I still appreciate the westerns and what these ABS guys are doing with them. I hope to be diverse enough to do it all, we'll see. I just returned from the california hammer-in in Visalia, which I've attended for several years, and am even more inspired than usual by the likes of Tom Ferry, Bill Burke, Dave Lische, Jim Rodebough, and others. Guess I want to be a part of the representation of the west coast ABS.

Anyway, hope all are well and I'm back.

Dan