Photos from today
Lulu attended an amazing demonstration by
Maria Cristalli while Curtis and I attended another session with Bob Kramer -- today was a very in-depth demonstration of sharpening -- testing a blade, destroying the existing razor's edge (Curtis and I were both cringing) and then restoring it inside of five minutes with a few waterstones and a leather strop. Bob also proceeded to forge-weld a billet of steel plates without using flux. He taught us how.
That was the morning session -- we broke for lunch and then went to the bladesmithing afternoon session. There was a guest appearance from Murray Carter -- I have been subscribed to Murray's email newsletter for quite a few years. He has traveled extensively in Japan and was visiting with some of his Japanese friends -- here he is forging a blade:
More on Carter Cutlery here:
Carter Cutlery
Murray sat with us for a while -- very outgoing and smart as a whip. Fun person to talk with. I love the slogan on the back of his shirt...
Next, Lulu and I and Curtis took turns forging a blade -- Lulu and I paired up while Curtis did his own. These are not done yet -- the session ran long -- but we will finish them off tomorrow afternoon.
We were able to get hands-on session for the three of us with
Mark Aspery who is an incredible teacher. I also picked up a copy of his third volume of blacksmithing techniques which was just released. The session starts at 8AM so tonight will be an early bedtime.
Posted by DaveH at August 23, 2013 6:40 PM