I had a great time at Quad State in Troy, Ohio last weekend September 24 -26, 2010. I want to thank Steve Roth for inviting me to teach. The Southern Ohio Forge and Anvil always do a great job organizing and orchestrating an event. I also want to thank Butch and Cindy Sheely for taking care of me over the weekend and for Butch being my helper with the classes.
Nine hundred and forty people attended the event. All the classes were well attended. My class consisted of forge welding two billets of Damascus into seventy-five layers of ladder and raindrop and discussion of the techniques of other patterns on Saturday. Sunday consisted of an informal discussion on powder metals from beginning to finished products.
Mostly blacksmiths attended but some are crossovers into bladesmithing. Lots of interest and many questions were asked. This was my second event to teach at through SOFA. And again, I enjoyed seeing some old friends and making some new ones.
Tags: blacksmith, bladesmith, damascus, JW Randall, knives, sofa
It was great seeing you there. I’ve been making damascus for years, though have always been “set in my ways” with hammering. Your methods were certainly interesting, and I will be adopting many of them into my own production, especially your “dry-welding” technique. It was also nice to finally encounter someone who knew what they were talking about when it came to mosaic damascus. While I was aware of it’s existence, I had never encountered anyone who could properly outline it’s making.