2013 ABS Youth Hammer-In

[hso]

21 kids ranging in age from 9-18.
9 ABS smiths
3 mild burns and 1 nicked finger
40-50 knives forged by those 9-18 year old kids in just one full day and 2 half days!

The grinder was too dangerous and challenging for the kids so the smiths were the only ones allowed on it and one of the dads was an apprentice ABS smith and got pressed into service making cord wrapped handles so each kid had a complete knife by the time they were done.

We had kids come from TX and OH and everywhere in between.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

That is great.

 

[kBob]

hso,

I don't suppose Steve Bloom was there with a student?

The pictures showed dead "X" links for me even signed in BTW. Could you fix them?

-kBob

 

[hso]

kBob,

[strike]I don't know what to tell ya about the pics. I can see them with Explorer and Firefox logged out of THR just as a "guest" and one of the other mods checked and they see them.[/strike] Let's see now.

Steve's out of Florida, last I knew, and no one came from that far (but we'd LOVE to have more smiths).

 

[danez71]

I cant see the pics either.

I'm using IE 10.



Sounds like a great time though!

 

[kBob]

hso,

yep Steve is about six miles from here. His current highschool age student goes to my son's school. I mentioned the hammer in when you gave us a heads up a month or so ago. The kid was working on a knife and I hope to see it come the end of August. He goes to a private school where they are not so concerned about potential weaponry. I have not seen Steve and Kimmee for a couple of years. Had some nice visits to their place. Loved his shop. One July 4th we did some BP shooting in his back yard with some of his SCA and re enactor friends and drew the attention of the local constabulary.

Still got nothing on the pictures logged in and everything.

-kBob

 

[hso]

Another observation is that the smiths are not in their shops with their equipment set where they want and to the height they need making working that more difficult. In spite of this they work from 0800 to 1700 with just a lunch break because they are working with 2 kids each. They simply work longer and harder to help these kids learn to forge than they'd work to feed themselves at home.

Try getting an anvil or forge at the "proper" height when you're using a stack of cinder block to approximate the working height.

***

[strike]Gents, I don't know why you're not able to see the pics. I've looked at them using Explorer, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. I'll ask one of the web savvy Mods.[/strike]

 

[danez71]

There black x's instead of the classic red if that's a hint.


I bet those look great!!! LOL.


On serious note, good job regardless of the pics.

Its nice to be able to say you did something 'for the children' with a straight face every once in a while.

 

[TimboKhan]

I can see the pics just fine. Any pics of the finished products the kids made? I always enjoy when you post pics of this event!

 

[hso]

I'll have some pics of their finished knives from Pete Cohan soon. The moppet in the 2nd picture made a kerambit this year! Larry Harley's son Richard came up to me laughing and said, "He's not forgotten a thing from last year and he's been studying since then! He even reminded me of a step I was about to skip in heat treat!".

 

[hso]

I received the advice I needed and now the pics should all be up.

 

[Gordon]

Good Karma for all of you ! Thanks for helping youth.

 

[kBob]

Yaaa! They are up. Thanks much.

-kBob

 

[hso]

Glad it worked.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Sorry, hso, didn't get your message until five minutes ago.

We're in the middle of loading a [strike]land-based cargo ship[/strike] moving van and tearing down various household installations, preparatory to hitting the road.

Kinda chaotic.

 

[hso]

Hope the pics give you encouragement now that you're headed towards the first ABS school.

 

[danez71]

I can click on the attached pics. Thanks for helping with that.


That experience will never be forgotten.

It can really open doors for some of them as its so outside the box for many kids. Giving them an experience they probably never imagined gets their minds working on exploring other things.


Thank you for spending time with our youth.

 

[hso]

One important thing to point out - Abby, Mollie, Selina and Emily all produced more knives than many of the boys. My daughter was one of the 4 girls in the first YH-I and there are always girls hammering hot steel in every one of them. They shatter the stereotypes.