Hello Everyone,
I hope you all had a good weekend. My adventure to North Carolina was a Blast! I got to work with some amazing bladesmiths. Here’s how the weekend went:
I left Cleveland on Wednesday February 6th, 2013 at around 9am. Drove my butt off through the mountains of West Virginia, through Virginia, the corner of Tennessee and on into North Carolina near Asheville, NC to work with Journeyman Smith Bill Wiggins and Master Bladesmith Daniel Warren. I made it into the shop on Wednesday about 6pm. With such limited time, Bill helped me Forge a blade out, heat treat and temper a blade before the end of the night. I learned a Lot on forging in such a short time! It makes me want a power hammer even more!
Exhausted, and reeling with information, I got back in my car and drove to about 20 minutes east and crashed with my friend Elaine Buss, a wonderful ceramic and mixed media artist I met through a mutual friend. Check Out her website! She is an absolutely fantastic person and a great artist!
On Thursday, Bill had to work in the morning, so I ventured to Asheville in search of an adventure on my own. Thank’s to Sara Brown (another Amazing Artist) I was lead to Mora Gallery run by Joanna Gollberg and Marthe Le Van. Their Gallery is Beautiful and in the heart of Downtown Asheville, NC. While visiting, I ran into a friend from Arrowmont School or Arts and Crafts who is working with Joanna, Shana Loconsole.
If you are ever in the Asheville area, please check out this gallery!
Bill, Dan and I then got to work at Dan’s shop to work on the handle and finishing of the blade.
On Friday, I had some time to kill, all I needed to do was drive the 6 hours across the state to Scott’s shop. I decided then, that I would take Friday for me, and visit the Biltmore Estate in Ashevile, NC; and boy am I glad I did. The Vanderbilt’s sure know how to build a property. The whole estate was gorgeous. Just awestruck, and it reminded me how much I love history and site seeing. I spent 5 hours wondering around the Biltmore house and gardens (which I’m sure a much more breathetaking in the spring when the flowers are all colorful and hedges are grown and manicured). After the house, which allows you to get an automated tour so you can explore at your own pace, I had to get back in the car and drive to the east coast.
I managed to arrive at Scott and Lydia’s just in time for dinner.
On Saturday, after breakfast, we got to work. Scott is an excellent teacher! He stated (and I completely agree) that I needed more work on grinding of the blades, so he helped me get started on a stock removal blade. I drew up a design, cut it out, got it to shape on the grinder, and managed a rough grind. The blade was then heat treated and back to the grinder.
Sunday I spent the day cleaning up the grind work (by hand), adding the clip, or false edge and the handle was added to the blade and shaped to comfort. When everything was finished and beautiful, Scott showed me how to sharpen the blade- a task I had not been shown how to do yet; and Lydia helped me photograph my new blades.
I learned soo much on this wonderful adventure. It was exactly what I needed right now and I am so thankful for the opportunity.
I cant wait to get to work on my own this summer! Keep and eye out world.
Until next time.
Thank you for reading 🙂
-Meredith S. Tibjash
Meredith S. Tibjash 
It was nice meeting you last weekend at the metals symposium. I am going to search for blacksmith classes this summer. I looked over your designs and you should incorporate more forging into your work. I like what I see and can’t wait to see more! My website is having issues but i hope to have it fixed in the next week or so. My email is fongcreations@gmail.org
PS I WANT THAT HAMMER HEAD!
Talt to you later,
Corey