MM05 thoughts.

[rookie]

Hello all. Arrived home from MM05 the other day and took a little time to compose my thoughts. I for one was planning on missing the festival atmosphere that came with the tent but after experiencing the graciousness that we received from the town and residents of Oblong I have to say, Rest in Peace 'Ol tent. Many community organizations went out of their way to prepare delicious and fairly priced dinners throughout the week. The lunch vendor personel where on hand from morning to evening with freshly cooked food and friendly service. If anybody chose to run into town, just about every store had a Welcome International MetalMeet sign posted in their storefront window. The restrooms were serviced at least twice a day, plenty of parking and the campgrounds were well kept. Dozens of townfolk toured throughout the facility and genuinely showed interest when they stopped to visit. Doug, Roger, and others did a FINE job of explaining what MetalMeet was all about to each group. Great town!

With tables and attendees spead though two buildings and the seminar area MM seemed to me, at least to be more relaxed and roomier. To all that showed up early Monday, you all did a fantastic job in setting up and best utilizing the available space allotted to us. Thank You.

I missed seeing a few familiar faces, but it's understood that people have to give their homes and families first priority. However there were MANY new faces at MM this year and everyone was willing to jump in and give them a helping hand, I don't know how many times that I heard "I WILL be here next year!"

Personally, I would like to thank all those who bring their own equipment and graciously allow us to freely use them. Without people like yourselves The International MetalMeet could not function.


Thank you, one and all,
Phil Gilmore, rookie

[FriarTuck]

Well said Phil, and it was nice meeting you and sharing projects and stories. Hope to see you next year. Take care.

Tuck

[1969robinhood]

I agree 100%!!!
I also want to personally thank all of those people that brought in tools and equipment and shared with all that were in attendance....

A special thanks to Kerry Pinkerton...he brought in a lot of wheels and turned loose a bunch of "rookies" on them...(pardon the pun Phil....)

One recommnedation that was made to me before attending this meet...seemed to be a really good one...mark you name on your tools so that they don't get misplaced if used by someone else....

and if you use someones tools ...PLEASEEE!!! ...put them back...I only heard of a few tools missing from there owners...but a few is really too much!@!!

[Gonejunking]

Well I made it back home. I didn't want to pack up and leave, but I had a flight to catch.
The last word's from Paul Monds as he dropped me off at the airport, was he would love to see me go thru security!! Yes, it was fun!!! LOL My carry on bag had 3 lower anvil's, a pair of shoe's, a couple of books, and a copper hat. After running my bag thru the x-ray machine 4 or 5 times, they had me open it up, to see what was inside. The first thing they did was wipe the inside of the bag, checking for explosive's residue, then they pulled everything out, rann all of the contents thru x-ray again, then opened the box with the lower anvil's in it. I don't know what the were thinking, but I had 5 security people standing there looking at the contents of my bag. That was just the carry on bag. When I got to Oblong, there were note's in each of my checked bags, that said TSA had opened them up to look inside. I can only imagine what they must have though when the x-ray showed 10 wooden hammers in one bag, and 5 steel hammer's in the other one! LOL They must of had a good time with those bags, as I had to sit on the to get them to close, then added an other strap around the bag's just in case the lock's sprang open! I could just see them cussing me out for how much I crammed into those bags!!

One thing I'll do different next year, I will not trust Paul's bathroom scale!! His scale said that my big bag was 46#'s, at the airport, they said I was over weight!! I told them their scale must be off, because my friend Paul would not alter HIS scale!! Yes Paul,I think you fudged on the scale, the airport said that my bag weighed 51#'s, not 46!! LOL No I didn't have to pay extra, they just put a Heavy sticker on the bag!

I had such a great time, I'm now having withdrawl's. Must have spent to much time in earshot of Roger!

The first part of the week went slow, I learn a lot of new thing's, they with my plate full, trying to do so many project's, the last few day's were a blur!!
I got there on Monday, and left the following Monday, next year, I'll stay to the end and help clean up. I called and got my same room for next year, So Anders, you will have a place to stay.

Everywhere I went around Oblong, I was welcomed in, and asked why would I travel so far to come to their little town! The townfolk's were great!! You can't imagine how open and welcoming they were. Even the Policeman that was parked in front of my door, said hi, you-al part of that metalmeet at the fairgrounds.

I was made to feel at home, and got lot's of great food from the local's that came to us with dinner's for 5 night's in a row!! It couldn't be better!
My hat's off to Oblong!!

Can't wait until next year!!

[Kerry Pinkerton]

Dang, I'm whupped! Bennett Chapman and I arrived Monday before last and within 10 minutes I had lost 90% of my voice. Didn't have anything to do with trying to talk over Roger, just bad timing. I called my Doctor and requested some antibiotics and my boys brought them up when they came Wednesday and I soon felt better but my voice is still hoarse.

The facilities are great! Just GREAT! Sure it would be nice to have more space in a single building, bathrooms with heat right next to the workbench, overhead cranes, heat but guess what? It wouldn't have been as much fun or even doable. We go to a lot of venues and at every single one the most important thing to the event folks is taking our money. At Oblong, we were treated like family and sometimes family has to sleep on the cots and pads but you still feel like family.

It would be hard to improve the site. Next year we can move seminars to the auction pit behind the building. It has PA and some lights but we can add more. If necessary, we can hang blue tarps over the openings to block the wind.

In the same vein, the campers could pitch their tents in some of the sheds also. Several folks got pretty chilly with the wind and rain.

Mother Nature was a bit vindictive. The first few days were perfect but by Friday it turned cold and damp with some rain. Lots of folks were coughing and hacking by the time the event was over, Bennett and Roger among them.

We didn't have the turnout of the previous year but those who made it a priority and just made it happen sure had a great time. If anyone did not learn and grow in their metalshaping skills it was totally because they did not try. Those who jumped in with both feet like Mark from Arizona Customs and stayed after it increased their skills by leaps and bounds.

The seminars were much more 'formal' this year in that we scheduled them in advance and even came up with some at the event such as the casting seminar that Jeffery did. Bill Harrison came over for a day and a half primarily to tape the 101 Seminar. Friar Tuck ran one camera and Bill did closeups so hopefully we will be able to finally get a CD going. By my count, we did 4 101 seminars ranging from 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 which explains why my voice never came back I guess... It was fun and everyone seemed to enjoy them.

In addition we had seminars on welding of all types (tig, mig, gas) by Henrob Jim Spradley and the local Lincoln guy, shrinking disk by Dutch and Steve Hamilton, leading by Dutch, casting and mold making by Jeffery (gonejunking), buck making by Randy, flexible shape patterns by Randy and a lot more, and coffee making (by Rene Conrad)....all with hands on! And don't forget the copper flowers that Stan again taught everyone to make.

Gator was gracious enough to keep his laptop set up in the office for everyone to use and others who brought notebooks could connect through the wireless router that Herb (Theonlyoblong) set up. Herb was great and posted a ton of photos and videos from the live webcam he moved around during the meet.

We had just about every metalshaping tool known to man available for folks to see and try. This year we had only one small damage to our machines and I was happy with that. We actually brought too many wheels for the number of rollers available so there were some extra empty frames sitting around that we will probably not bring next year.

Randy brought the blue monster and Capt. Krik Demalier (sp) brought his radical new machine which drew a lot of attention as did my big personal machine. It may never make the trip again though. It's HEAVY.

The board voted to spend some of the entrance fee to buy door prizes from the vendors and we had some really nice stuff in addition to the donated prizes. Thanks to Dan Shady for running the door prizes and tool exchange and to Roger Phalsgraf (sp) for his walking PA system and Elvis impersonations. Next year should be even better because MM needs to spend some money on things like a movable trailer for storage, and ongoing improvements to the power situation. We have the main building 50 weeks a year and the fair board will move the trailer out during the two weeks of their fair. And Roger should have some new jokes.

I did hear a couple folks whining about this or that but you know, there ain't no way that everyone will be happy and some folks would find something to moan about if they won the lottery.

Folks started leaving Sunday and Monday was down to about 35 but all hardcore! Bennett and I loaded Tuesday (with a lot of help) and got back to Huntsville about 7pm. Bennett decided to drive on home to Carrolton Ga and probably didn't get in till after midnight.

And the best part? The fellowship! Making new friends and renewing old friendships. The locals marveled that all these folks from all over were getting along so good and having so much fun. Lord willing we will be back next year for sure.

[Avalonjr]

Kerry, It was great meeting you. I enjoyed your seminars. They were well done. I want to thank you for bringing the wheels and for all your advice. The whole week brought together many of the concepts that were pretty abstract in my head. While reading this site is informative, having the guidance, making friends, and trying out the tools made all the difference.

You bring up an excellent idea about camping under or inside the buildings. It never occured to me. In addition to being dry, it would be quieter. Those hickory trees were dropping their nuts all night long.

[Kerry Pinkerton]

Originally Posted by Avalonjr

.... Those hickory trees were dropping their nuts all night long.

Naw, that was Roger practicing his curve ball... LOL!

[frenchieironwork]

this was my first time at mm. i only had tuesday, wedneday, and thursday to attend. i had another show to do fri., sat., sun. in southern indiana.i know i missed most of the stuf that went on, but what i was there for was great. i got to meet a lot of people and i saw alot of thing.i am going to try and stay longer next year.thanks to everyone who worked so hard in putting this event on. you did a great job.
thank you
ron
p.s. if you would like for me to bring my forge and do a deom next year, let me know.

[Kerry Pinkerton]

Ron, I believe I can safely request that you do some blacksmithing next year. There are a LOT of folks who would be interested. We have plenty of space so we can set up a separate area. I'll bet that other blacksmith oriented folks will attend when we add that interest area including some armor folks.

[FriarTuck]

Hey Ron, I'm with Kerry, I would love to see some "real" blacksmithing, and after talking with you at MetalMeet, it really sounds interesting. And different than the norm. Hope you can work something out for next year, I think it would be a big hit with the guys.

Tuck