Triangle Area Group Leaders
NC ABANA Triangle Blacksmiths meet the second Saturday of every month except October at Heritage Forge on the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, NC. For more information contact us at [email protected]
July 2022 Meeting
It was a hot and humid day with thunder storms in the forecast but the Triangle Blacksmiths carried on with their monthly meeting. Robert Timberlake opened the meeting with a great demonstration of punching holes. Following his demo Robert worked with a young brother and sister duo who came with their mother who also tried her hand at forging. The young boy worked on making a small pair of tongs while his younger sister worked on a forging a butter knife. Other attendees worked on various projects at one of the four forging stations we set up each with an anvil. While some people worked at the forge. Others at the meeting worked to organize / clean up the shop by moving unneeded equipment / stuff to the storage area and placed tongs and hammers on new storage racks designed to make the tools more visible and accessible. Due to the relatively low attendance we did not hold Iron in the Hat raffles.
The recent Triangle meetings have had a number of attendees who are just getting started with blacksmithing so we will feature demonstrations focusing on basic skills at upcoming meetings. Demonstrations on twisting, upsetting, drawing, and bending are being planned. Periodically we will also have a demo on a more advanced project or workshop like making tongs and other tools.
June 2022 Meeting
Jim Kennady demonstrated a process to add a decorative copper colored patina to steel. Jim is a Materials Scientist and has formulated a solution to allow a copper coating to be applied to steel. The chemical reaction uses electrochemistry and oxidation-reduction reactions to bond copper to steel. This could be used for adding a decorative copper patina to a wide variety of items such as rivets, flowers, hooks and almost any carbon steel surface.
May 2022 Meeting
Once again we set up two double sided propane forges for four forging stations inside the shop. Threatening weather prevented us from setting up another forge outside under a shelter. The propane forges are great for teaching new people, especially kids, as they are both less frustrating and cleaner to use. Eric Campbell started the meeting off with a short discussion of valving for pneumatic power hammers. Because we had many newcomers most of the time forging was spent with our more experienced members teaching and guiding the kids on the basics of blacksmithing and helping them complete a simple project like a hook or decorative piece.
updated 2022-07-12