"The SouthWest Artist-Blacksmith Association is the home of many talented Blacksmith's in New Mexico and the surrounding states."
get it hot, hit it hard
April Meeting
April 2012 SWABA Meeting
The April meeting was held at Tesuque NM at former SWABA member John Neary’s place. Frank Turley handled the sell of John’s tools for his widow at the meeting.
Frank and Daniel Baumann his striker demonstrated the forging of handled hammer head punch. They made it from high carbon steel. Frank was using a punch made from S-7. He said he would prefer making all hot cutting and punching tools from either S-7 or H-13 but they are too expensive. He said the type of work the tool will be used for and frequency of use should be the determining factor when choosing steel.
Business meeting:
- Lenoard is looking for someone to host the August and October meetings so if interested contact him.
- Remember that the election of officers will be held at the December meeting so if you are interested in serving in any of the officer positions let someone know so you can be nominated. You must also be at the meeting.
- Also it’s time to start preparing for the state fair so if you plan to demonstrate it would be a good time to start forging some merchandise for the sales counter.
- Note that the June meeting will be at Aaron Craig’s shop in Santa Fe NM.
Thanks to Frank and Daniel for an excellent demonstration.
Alex Ivey (Secretary)
Read MoreI live in New Mexico and have a pristine pair of Wally Yater Swage Blocks for sale, they still have the
yellow print that Wally always put on blocks he was sending to customers. No broken edges, all
in great shape. I will sell the pair for $1,000. I also have a Hays-Budden anvil for sale, I don’t know
the weight but am enclosing photos. Maybe you can identify the anvil a little better.
Terry Stone 575-854-3383
POB 1458, Magdalena, New Mexico 87825
Thanks for your consideration, Terry
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Moving Sale
SOLD OUT
MOVING–CAN’T TAKE IT WITH ME! Hood (made from 1/8″ plate) 35″x35″ for 8″ pipe; 5″ leg vise; antique anvil (needs new face plate, but usable as is) has 1″ Hardy hole & 9/16″ pritchel (don’t know weight, but I can’t lift it!); misc antique wrought iron and misc 1018 bar & rod stock; traditional homemade Japanese sword bellows in recently restored condition. restore.swords@yahoo.com - 505-883-2881 — Lawrence Austin.
Read MoreLittle Giant for sale
I have a 25 pound LITTLE GIANT for sale: $2500. It is the older model with separate sow block. There are no cracks of any kind on body or sow block. It is broke down for moving purposes, but is complete. The babbit bushings are in good shape, and generally, the hammar is in great shape. I bought this hammar from Bart Wolf in 2002, and have never used it. Contact Jesse Davidson 505-847-2361 (leave a message if no answer and I will call you back). This Little Giant is located in Mountainair, New Mexico.
Read MoreMaking Leaf Dies
Bob Curtis will host an Open Forge on Wednesday May 2, 2012
from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. The project will be forging negatve impression dies for leaf patterns.
There will be a cash fee associated with this event.
Telephone reservations are required (limited to the first 5 to confirm).
Bob Curtis 898-6683
Read MoreNorth Texas Blacksmith Meeting
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Read MoreFeb. 2012 Las Cruces SWABA Conference
The SWABA conf took place at Mikey’s Place in Las Cruces NM Feb. 18th and 19th with Bob Bergman from Postville Blacksmiths demonstrating. For Bob’s background and for information about the Postville Blacksmith Shop check out their website at (www.postvilleblacksmith.com).
Bob’s demonstrations were all done pretty much on the 70# Kickass (KA-75) air hammer and the fly press using a variety of dies and tools. He forged a pair of tong blanks from ½ in square mild steel bar stock on the power hammer and with the use of a striker. He then forged a tong set from ¾ in round bar using the power hammer and tooling for all operations including making the rivet. The tongs were donated to iron in the hat. He forged a leaf, then using flat dies on the power hammer he drove the leaf into a die block thus creating a tool for duplicating the original leaf. He made a couple of saguaro cacti by raising and texturing blanks cut from 1/8 in mild steel plate.
After lunch Bob demonstrated a number of operations on the fly press using a variety of dies. He made tenons and large head rivets with decorated heads. He forged a somewhat comical cowboy figure from ¼ x1 ½ in mild steel. The cowboy figure and the cactus made earlier were mounted on a railroad tie plate creating a desert scene. LXIV donated a hand forged hat for the cowboy. The piece was donated to the silent auction. He demonstrated punching hammer head blanks on the power hammer and reshaped a couple of old ball peen hammer heads also using the power hammer
On Sunday Bob demonstrated tool making on the power hammer and fly press. He forged chisels and a variety of tools and tool handles used for forging on the power hammer. Using bevel dies he forged some knife blade blanks on both the power and fly press. All of the knife blades, tools and handles as well as the hammer head blanks that were punched earlier were donated to either iron in the hat or the silent auction.
Drawing was held for iron in the hat and the silent auction items were auctioned off.
In conclusion I would say that everyone in attendance really enjoyed Bob’s demonstrations. He did a great job. It was especially interesting to see the use of a fly press since very few of us had seen one in operation before and the kickass hammer as well since it operates a little different than most other power hammers.
Thanks to Bob for putting on an excellent demonstration, to Ben and the southern SWABA group for their hard work in setting the event up and to Mikey for letting us use his place for the event.
Alex Ivey (Secretary)
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