A quick note to let you know whats happening regarding the schedule of events for the year.

These dates have been confirmed for the year, I have no other info other than place and date. We can work on that as it arises.

Saturday,February,9/08 Waldie's
Saturday,March,8/08 Mst Bronze, Etobicoke ON
Saturday,April,12/08 Martin Bakker, Embro, ON
Saturday, May,10/08 David McCord, Elora, ON
Saturday,June,14/08 Doon Heritage, Kitchener,ON
Saturday,July,12/08 Rick Hamilton, Brighton, ON


Of course we also have the Great Lakes Int'l Ironfest in Buffalo, NY on May 23,24,25/08 (see below) and the Distillery Show on Aug,8,9,10/08.

I have also initiated contact with John Little of Nova Scotia to come to Ontario sometime in late Sept. or early Oct. This may or may not include Haliburton School and NOTHING has been confirmed. We need to discuss further at Waldie's. Hope to see you all there.

Keep in touch, Bob

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Saturday, January 12, 2008

Jerry Vlcko’s house, Uxbridge, Ontario
The January meeting will be held at the home of Jerry Vlcko. He’s located at 35 Cemetery Road in Uxbridge, Ontario. West of Highway 47. Jerry’s phone number is (905) 852-7042. We will be having the blacksmith stew for lunch, so please bring your vegetables and/or meat.
**Don’t forget to bring your completed ABANA survey which was included in the envelope with your Iron Trillium newsletter**
Directions:
• From 401 and Brock Road in Pickering (approx. 1/2 hour from Hwy. 401).
Go north to Hwy. 47 (the end of Brock Road).
East to Uxbridge.
Left on Cemetery Road (which is across from Canadian Tire),
to house #35 (on your right).
• From 401 and 404:
Go north to Bloomington Road (also known as Hwy. 47).
East to Uxbridge.

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Saturday, February 9, 2008

Waldie’s Blacksmith Shop, Milton, Ontario.
We will be holding our annual meeting at Waldie’s with the “3 M’s” (Marsha, Mandy, and Mirella) being our hostesses for the day. The meeting starts at 10:00 a.m. Waldie’s is located at 16 James Street, Milton, Ontario, (905) 875-4156.
www.miltonhistoricalsociety.ca
Darwyne Hourie will be doing a demo for us, and John Newman will also work on a piece that he started last year.
Lunch will be served for a nominal charge of $5.00 for a bowl of chili and a bun. You are free to bring your own lunch if desired. Don’t forget something for Iron in the Hat, and any other equipment you might have for sale.
Directions:
Travel along Hwy. 401 and take the RR-25 exit (exit #320) towards Milton. Turn right onto Hwy. 25 which will eventually turn into Martin St. Turn right onto Mill Street, then Left onto James Street.

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March meeting:

Saturday,March,8,2008
MST Bronze Ltd.
345 Munster Ave.
Toronto,ON
M8Z 3C6
416-234-1015
website:www.mstbronze.com

Munster Ave. is off Kipling Ave., between the Gardiner Expwy and Bloor St. It is a little tucked out of the way, but I found it !!!!
(Map Quest link)
Our host for the day is Myros Trutiak, the owner of MST Bronze, and their supply division Sculpture Supply Canada. He has invited us to tour his facility and do a pour at the end of the tour.

10:00 am Meet and greet, coffee and donuts, and bring meeting to order.
11:00 am Start tour of facilities.
12:00 pm Break for lunch and Iron in the Hat (Please bring your own lunch.)
1:30 pm Demonstration of an actual pour begins. Please bring safety glasses. Space is somewhat limited, but everyone should have
a good vantage point.
2:00 pm Question and answer period.

While the actual pour will only take a few minutes, the set up and heating time is crucial to a successful pour. Times are subject to change. We will try to stick to the schedule as closely as possible.

Parking will be at a premium. Watch where you park on the street. Myros is hoping his neighbours will allow us to park in their lots. Watch for "OABA" parking signs in these lots. It is a busy area, but we should be able to manage with your cooperation.

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April meeting:

Saturday, April,12,2008
Martin Bakker
456145 45th Line
Embro, ON
N0J 1J0
519- 475-9033

Martin's residence is between Woodstock,ON and Stratford,ON between Hwy #59 and Embro Line. It is located North of Braemar Sideroad and South of Road 88 on the 45th Line. His address is the fire number.

Martin has invited OABA to his residence in Embro, ON. Please bring your portable forges and your enthusiasm. Clay Brown has offered to demonstrate that day, and then the rest of day is open. Maybe you have another way to do what Clay demoed.

We will make "blacksmith stew" for lunch. Please bring your meat and veggies CUT UP in 1" cubes.

Remember something for Iron In The Hat

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MAY MEETING
> I live in Elora , my shop is at
> 5841 wellington county rd #29 . This road runs
> parralle to hwy #6 , It is within sight of the corner
> of county rd's # 22 and 29 . It is the first drivway
> on the east side going south from #22 . The only
> complication is that from the road you cannot see the
> workshops , they are down in a hollow . You take the
> lefthand fork of the driveway , go down the hill then
> the first right , go as far as you can go , and you
> are there .I plan on having directional sighns up .
> I have enought things that I can demonstrate for a
> full day , but my shop is small , and we could not get
> the full group in . There is enought space outside for
> portables to be set up for a hammer in , I will try to
> get a couple of tarps set up , and if people have
> tents so much the better . But I would prefer ont that
> could be set up on the pavment . My landloard is picky
> about his grass , so please dont park on it .I hope to
> have notes prepared on the demoes so people dont have
> to listen to me drone on . I also have a drill press ,
> large bandsaw , and a mig welder in another small
> shop, so people who dont have a welder can get some
> use out of it .
> I asume that marsh will edit this
> David McCord
> ps I want to go to the meeting on sturday , but this
> will depend on how much work I get done , and the weather
>
> David McCord P.O. Box 413 Elora ON N0B 1S0 519-830-1102 Visit my web site! http://www.artistinmetal.com/

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THE GREAT LAKES INTERNATIONAL IRONFEST 2008
“THE GLIIF”
May 23rd, 24th 25th & 26th
“Hammer on Down, the Anvils are in Our Town”

Hi there, this is Peter Parry the cross border blacksmith and chairman of the Great Lakes International Ironfest. As I live in Fort Erie only 15 minutes from the border, I have been an active member with the New York State Designer Blacksmiths for almost ten years now, about the same amount of time I have been an OABA member.
Due to the decision by ABANA to cancel the upcoming conference in New Paltz, New York, we decided to host our own conference in Buffalo. N.Y. We invited three other groups to join us, Ontario, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. We asked each of these groups to recommend a demonstrator from their group, and as a result have a great group of well qualified demonstrators who I am sure will put on a great show. From Ontario, our President Bob Cook will be assisting Mark Puigmarti. Just these two on their own would keep you entertained for the weekend, but we have much more.
The Conference is being held from Friday evening, May 23rd through to the Sunday evening. With four demonstrators we will have two full days of demonstrations running from two sites.
The conference is being held in the city of Buffalo, about five minute’s drive time from the Peace Bridge. The site is at the Worthington Business center which is located one street over from the 190 at Clinton and Bailey Streets. This is a very large complex and has lots of yard space for trailers, motor homes and tailgaters. Next to the site is a public park where we will have camping facilities. There will however be no water or hydro hook-ups for campers so be prepared. We are arranging for twenty-four hour security throughout the weekend. We are in the process of contacting vendors and expect to have equipment and booksellers attending. For those interested in setting up a booth inside or out please contact us. Also we are arranging for accommodations at a local hotel.
Back to the demonstrators. Jymm Hoffman is known for historical blacksmithing and will be bringing his travelling forge along with him.
Kim Thomas does Colonial blacksmithing and is known for his restoration work on Samuel Yellin Pieces. Deke Wedow is a local professional blacksmith with many years experience in art metal work. He is planning on showing us how to form large animal heads and make the required tooling. Mark and Bob will be doing some traditional work with modern techniques and they have a really neat project to show you.

Cost for the conference will be $60 U.S for preregistration, and $80 at the gate.
You can find details of the costs including the meal plan online at WWW.NYSDB.ORG where you can also find a mail in registration form . (also available HERE)

The conference will also have a Saturday evening auction, and we encourage you to make articles to donate or to sell on consignment. We are also looking for articles for iron in the hat. If you can find some time to help out during the conference we would love to hear from you. For spouses there will be a special craft project being taught by a local artist and NYSDB member Judy Larkin, who will be guiding you through the caning of a stool which of course you will be taking home with you. A trip to Niagara Falls is planned, as well as shopping in one of the many malls close by. There is a lot to do around here!

In addition Jymm Hoffman is offering an advanced one day class on colonial ironwork on the Monday. This will be restricted to eight people so if you are interested register early! The cost is $60 U.S. for this day and includes lunch.

The conference committee has worked hard to cut costs to make this an affordable event and with the favourable exchange rate and close proximity to Ontario, this should be a not to be missed event and I hope you all will be coming out for a great weekend.

Best wishes and happy blacksmithing,
Peter Parry
(905) 894-4843
BLACKSMITH@forterie.com

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12 July 2008 OABA meeting - at Pegasus Metal Arts Studio, Brighton, Ontario

(from Richard Hamilton)

... I am trying to get a special guest to demonstrate from the Canadian Knifemaking Guild, but haven't confirmed it yet. ( More on that later )

I plan to demonstrate the process of making old time sleigh bells, and also a separate demo on using stained glass within metal art.

During 2007-08 my wife Lynn and I have been taking courses in glass fusion, glass slumping, glass bead making, copper foil stained glass and lead caned stained glass from author & glass artist Linda Whaley.

Using art glass within metal really adds another dimension. Hopefully our members will appreciate this technique and bring some helpful ideas home with them.

I would appreciate as many members as possible to bring their forges ... I am giving demonstration dash plaques to all those who do. I respect the extra work those members do in packing up all their tools of the trade and hauling them 100s of kilometers, setting up, working all day, repacking, then unpacking again when they get home.

These are the true and dedicated OABA members! I for one, believe they don't get the recognition they deserve for all of their hard work, kindness and unselfish sharing of their skills.

I will have a designated tailgate sales area.

We will be having blacksmith stew. Please bring meat or vegetables cut into one inch cubes.

Please bring something for "Iron in the hat" preferably something you have made. Members really appreciate that.

We will have pamphlets for the wives with all the many interesting antique stores, artisans/craft stores etc in the area.

Presqu'ile Provincial Park is only 5 minutes from our property and has wonderful long sand beaches and over 300 camping sites, all near or on the water. 613-475-4324

There are wonderful B&Bs in Brighton for those who wish to stay over and aren't the camping types.

- Brighton Inn 40 Yonge St. 613-475-9706
- Harbour B&B 613-475-4849
- Harbour Motel & Marina, 4 Bay West 613-475-4849
- Timber House - Dave & Kelly, 613-475-3304
- Pine Breeze B&B 93 Simpson St. Brighton 613-475-6262
- Apple Manor B&B 96 Main St. 613-475-0351


Directions: Hwy. 401 to Hwy 30 (interchange 509)
- south on Hwy 30 six km to Brighton,continue south past two sets of lights.
- you will notice that Hwy 30 becomes Yonge St. within Brighton,then turns into Prince Edward St. after the second traffic light.
- continue south crossing a double set of railway tracks, then 2 km. later taking a sweeping eastward curve past a marsh viewing stand.
- the road becomes County Road #64
- approx 2 km further, you will see Stewart Road to the south.
- go south on Stewart Rd. 1/2 km until you come to Martin Road
- go west on Martin. We are the first house on the north side.
Park on roadway or second driveway for the tailgate area and forging area. I will have OABA demo signs up from County Road 64.

Sincerely,

Richard Hamilton
Pegasus Metal Arts Studio
613-475-9970