Well, it finally happened, the  cold weather is gone and spring is here
to stay. the weatherman promises to have nice weather for our
conference. At least we've got our fingers crossed. Tom promises
another monster bonfire to warm us if the weather gets nasty.
	I hope every one has their project done for the auction. This is a
good way for us to raise funds for our treasury.We're all capable of
doing some fine work and this is one way of showing it off. It's also
time to think about our conference next year. We need some input as to
what we want to do , who we want for demonstrators, etc. But mainly we
need a volunteer to be chairperson. If you're interested in the job let
me know, other wise I'll have to pick someone. This is a good way to
get involved and help continue our excellent conference tradition.
	If you missed the meeting at Maurice's shop you missed a great one!!!
Maurice's shop is laid out well with lots of floor space. I'll bet that
will get filled up before long. We all got to try out the air hammer
that he built. It is one of the smoothest hammers I've used. There was
a lot of talk about having an air hammer workshop sometime in the
future.
	The trade item exchange was one of the best yet, from Doug
Hendrickson's wild twisted handle to J.K. Reynold's crazy  braided
handle we had some great spoons represented. Thanks to all who
participated.  We appointed two committees at the meeting, one to
rewrite the bylaws, and one to oversee the upcoming  election of
officers. The election committee will be accepting nominations up till
the meeting at Walt Hull's on May 20. Everyone will then receive a
ballot in the mail, listing the nominees. This can be mailed in or
brought to the meeting  at Doug Hendrickson's. The committee will count
the ballots and announce the results. Everyone's participation is
requested.
	I'd like to thank the North Texas Blacksmith Association President
Bill Epps for the good time I had at his shop a while back. Bill picked
me up when I was going to a school in Texas and I got to tour his shop.
Bill makes a lot of fine items for renaissance festivals and shows in
the Dallas area. He gave me a lot of good ideas about doing craft shows
and let me  check out his tools and jigs to make things easier.
	On April 1 and 2 I was  invited to the knifemaking workshop at the
Jefferson County (Ill.) Historical Society's Pioneer Village. I learned
a lot of new ideas on knife  making and I hope I can find the time to
put them to work.
	First up was BAM member Ken Markley. He took us through the steps
to forge a blade from RDS steel, (rusty Dodge spring ). This was
finished later and sold at the  auction. Next to demo was Chuck Hawes
from Weldon, Ill. He showed how he layers a Damascus billet. His
favorite steels are 1095 and 203e with an 8-1 ratio. He folds it 6 or 7
times and ends up with 96 to 192 layers. He finished a knife blank with
a ladder pattern. Charles West from  Centralia Ill. talked to us about
folding knives and showed some fine examples of his work.
	Bob Haverstock caught my attention the best with his primitive
knives. He makes traditional Mountain Man knives at his Sullivan Ill.
shop. The most interesting thing was he doesn't use a belt sander. He
sands his blades with a block of wood and some emery paper of different
grits and achieves a very fine finish but still shows some hammer
marks. His 'D' handle knives are my favorite, with his friction folders
a close second. On Sunday Bob made a friction folder blade, Chuck heat
treated his blade, and Billy Merritt showed us how to weld chain. He
had a lot of fine techniques for getting a good billet from chainsaw
chain, and some fine examples of finished blades. As usual the IVBA put
 on a good show and fed us very well. Thanks John Lovin and Ken
Markley. 
	I hope everyone got a chance to read the article on eye care in the
Anvil's Ring. It's important that we take eye care serious as our eyes
are very important to our craft.Be sure to wear the proper eye wear
whether you're welding or forging, or just watching.
' Pat McCarty

Jim'Please don't mention that I was featured in a quilting magazine or
that another of my quilts will be featured in a future quilting
magazine. I sure wouldn't want any BAM members to find out about that.
They might bring thimbles for me to the next BAM meeting or something
like that.