This is the Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you get the low-down about upcoming classes and events that are happening in the following month, I’m talking about December 2017 for this bulletin.  If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release.   I have to apologize for not releasing this on Nov 1st, 5 days ago.  I was visiting my family in Virginia Beach and before that, I attended the FABA conference in Ocala Florida watching the incredibly talented master blacksmith and sculptor Claudio Bottero who is from Italy. The conference began on Oct 27th and ended on the 29th and the demonstrators were Claudio Bottero, Lisa Johnson, a jewelry/metalsmithing director at an art center in Florida and Sam Salvati, a bladesmith from Maryland. It was so magical to watch Claudio and his son Massimiliano, aka Massy, forge an incredible human figure sitting on a throne. The whole sculpture ended up being about 5 ft tall.  Claudio worked with strikers the whole time, using many different sized top and bottom fullers to shape the legs, head, face, arms and hands. In fact a lot of the fullers he was using (maybe a set of 10 sizes) were made by Dennis Dusek, who was there striking for him, along with others. Dennis has a great system for these fullers, he forges custom tongs that hold all 10 different sized inset fullers.  You can private message him on Facebook or Instagram, Dennis Dusek.  Sunday, Claudio taught a 6-hour masters class to 6 lucky students who were handpicked for the class. He taught them how to forge a hand and a finger.  Anyone at the conference could watch the class, and see the progress of each of the students.  One thing I picked up on was how Claudio always dunked his long-handled wire brush in water before he brushed the hot piece. He explained that the steam produced popped off the scale faster while brushing.  I will be trying this because the end result was really clean metal. If you want to hear more about the conference, I’ll be having Shaun Williams, the conference coordinator, on the show soon, a little something to look forward to. But if you want some instant gratification head over to the FABA facebook page for pics and videos of the conference.   Now onto the first announcement which is a special announcement about a possible upcoming Tire Hammer Building class, this announcement is to see much interest there would be for this class. Let me tell you the scoop and then you can decide if you would like to attend it: Tire Hammer Build class instructed by Clay Spencer  The dates would be April 19th-22nd, with a pre-work session on the weekend preceding the workshop, they are shooting for about 12-15 participants with everyone leaving with a finished hammer Held in Troy Ohio at the SOFA facility Approximate cost $1500 If interested contact Mike Brennan at m.mbre574@gmail.com by November 30th Details will be available soon on the SOFA website at https://sofablacksmiths.org/ Payment should NOT be sent at this time. Just an email to express interest.