Tomorrow I leave to go north and freeze my tropicalized tail off in Maryland at the Gichner Memorial Hammer-In, hosted by the folks at the Mid-Atlantic Smiths Association(MASA). I'll be demonstrating toolmaking and raising, along with a few other tidbits if time permits.

Hurricane Omar has us dead center in its sights, with landfall predicted for sometime around midnight tomorrow. I may drop offline for anywhere from a couple to several days, depending on the severity of the storm and the extent of damage, if any. Still no home phone or internet, so things may be a bit sketchy for a while. Y'all play nice while I'm playing with Omar, okay? :-)

I'm finally back home and somewhat rested up from the Atlantic Coast Blacksmiths Conference at Ashokan, NY. What a truly great conference!

The featured demonstrators, Mark Aspery, Peter Ross and David Norrie were all very good, with different styles and deliveries, providing something to suit almost anyone. Mark Aspery's style of teaching seemed to suit my style of learning particularly well, as he focused on explaining the "why" of things rather than just the "how." I would love to spend some time taking instruction from him. I did pick up a copy of his book, "The Skills of A Blacksmith, Volume 1", and from what I have read so far it is a really excellent teaching tool for the beginning blacksmith and a great reference for the professional as well. I'm sure you'll all see me quoting from it in the future.