Home  Articles 2008 Trip to the USA by Bruce Barnett
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2008 Trip to the USA by Bruce Barnett |
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May 08 had been a long time coming so there was a pair of pretty big grins on our faces when Keith Fludder and I hopped on board our Wed 10 am flight to Atlanta, although maybe Keith’s grin was more the result of some funny little “travel” pills he had!!!!!! A quick change of planes in LA and off to Atlanta which has 19 million residents!! When they announce the descent into Atlanta you are already passing over the suburbs. Lobbed at the Rennaisance Waverley late Wed arvo, wandered around the area Thu acclimatizing and meeting some of the early arrivals for Blade show.
Friday was finally show-time. Walking into the Cobb Galleria to see some 600 tables of hand-made’s and up to 150 booths of production knives, handle materials, tooling, damascus billets, not to mention rubbing shoulders with the biggest names in knife-making from all over the world was a huge moment for both of us. So it was then a mad rush to get our tables set up so we could get a chance to have a wander. Having our tables set up side by side gave one of us the opportunity to wander while the other looked after the tables. This was a huge bonus because it always took ten times longer to get somewhere with so many things catching your eye. Of course our own Shawn McIntyre was there wearing a huge grin after achieving his MS stamp & we had a number of Aussies come up and say gday, the highlight being ex-pat Warren Osbourne who stopped by & chatted all 3 days. I went & introduced myself to Ed Caffery whom I had booked 8 days of classes with and he frequently stopped by, chatted, inspected our knives and introduced us to lots of people. Friday and Saturday were pretty busy and come Sunday night, 3 days of standing on concrete was starting to take its toll, not to mention the 3 nights of socializing till the early hours. It was certainly a blast to have a drink with the likes of Wade Colter, Bill Burke, Kit Carson, Tim Herman and numerous others who had no hesitation in answering any questions we had. It was a very successful show for both of us as we were fully prepared for the fact that with 600 tables of custom knives that we may not sell any. Having used a number of Robert Eggerling’s billets for my knives, Robert invited the pair of us up to his place in Pennsylvania after Blade to see how he made billets. Now Robert’s billets are more akin to loaves of bread. With 3 “H” frame presses, the biggest having a 16” opening and producing 80ton, a 6” square stack of multiple steel billets is very quickly reduced to a 2” square x 24” billet, tightly twisted in a modified pipe threading machine & redrawn out to produce a “loaf” of billets of his stunning Damascus. He then just saws pieces off big enough for blades. And its all done in an old open ended wooden shed with a dirt floor that just goes to show what one can produce with just the basics and the will to produce something totally unique. Each of the 4 days included a ritualistic trip to the biggest messiest junkyard you could imagine. The owners pretty much treat Robert as part of the furniture and are always putting aside machines, pieces of steel etc for him and probably will be for years to come. Come Sunday it was time for Keith to fly home (that’s another story that he can fill you in on) and for me to head to Montana to do 8 days with Master Smith Ed Caffery. Being right next door to Canada, the weather there ranged from 80’F on Sunday arvo to 3” snow on Tuesday morning!!!! The first 3 days with Ed was doing his basic bladesmithing class which I managed to completely finish 3 forged & edge quenched 1084 blades ready for guards and handles. Then came 5 days of Ed’s Damascus class culminating with a billet of mosaic “Explosion” pattern and another 8 blades forged to shape and rough ground. I’m not sure how many of you have seen Ed’s DVD’s he has out but he just loves to teach and I cannot speak highly enough of him and would recommend him to anyone. Sunday was a day off so I spent a couple of hours driving up into the Rockie Mountains which still had heaps of snow on them and saw some awesome scenery. It had warmed up again which made it all the more enjoyable. It’s a pity Ed accidentally deleted all my scenic photos while putting everything on disc for me!!! Sunday arvo was a barbeque at Ed’s feasting on his bow hunted Elk burgers, very tasty they were too. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, so loaded up with plans for the forges and a “C” frame press it was time to head home. I arrived in Sydney with no luggage, so had to spend 3 days at Keith’s forging more blades and showing off my mosaic which I’ve no doubt contributed to Keith producing the mosaics that he showed in Adelaide. All in all, cant wait for next years trip and just hope the US economy & our dollar recovers enough to make it worthwhile, might even have to do a folder class with Ed!!!!   Bruce drawing out damascus at Ed's Ed and Bruce
  Eggerling - now that's a billet! Keith being careful with his fringe!
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