EVENTS

The Northern Minnesota Metalsmith's Spring Conference

Our metalsmith conference is held the last full weekend of April.

This years conference is happening April 27th and 28th with a potluck the evening of the 26th for those who arrive to camp out for the conference.

Our knife making demonstrator this year is this year is Carlin “Bear” Al-Andas. He is a bladesmith from Indianola, Iowa. He is the owner of Eastern Roadside Creations, where he creates high quality blades and teaches classes. He specializes in efficiency & speed without sacrificing quality. Outside of blade-smithing, he makes his own Damascus of varying styles. He occasionally uses meteorite in his billet making process. Carlin is no stranger to public demonstrations and teaching. He encourages students to embrace the joy and challenges of that go along with learning something new. His hope is to inspire students to adventure further with their chosen craft.

Our blacksmith demonstrator is Tom Sanders. From 1981 through 1984 he was an apprentice at Conner Prairie Pioneer Settlement. He was the Lead Blacksmith at the Living History site from 1984 through 1988. In 1988, he became head blacksmith at Historic Fort Snelling until 1998. During this time he demonstrated the work of an early nineteenth-century village blacksmith, making and repairing a broad section of ironwork from nails to wagons used in educational programs. He wrote his master thesis on the development of the American axe. He will discuss fire welding/forging strategies and the best steel and iron to use. To augment his demonstrations, he will bring historic axes from his collections, examples of his work, and hand-outs illustrating different ways of making axes.

If you'd like to register to attend our conference this year, you can click HERE for our registration form. Just print it out and mail it in.

I hope to see you there.