Hello guys,

It is time for another get together for guys in the Minnesota/Iowa/Wisconsin/N&S Dakota area.

When: August 15th, 2009 from 10 AM to 5 PM
Where : Mike Blues workshop in Cannon Falls, MN
Address and directions will be posted in this thread later.

Events: A honing clinic will be in a dedicated time slot of 12 noon til 2 pm. The demonstrators will be me and (I hope)
ChrisL and Utopian. There will be other catch as catch can honing stuff as requested. I will bring my stereo microscope and I hope we can get 2 more. Maybe connected to a computer? Let me know if you can bring a stereo scope.

Let me know what other things you guys have questions about and bring your shaving gear and hones.

Feel free to contact me via PM or
email [email protected], phone calls are welcome.

This is some text from the last get together at Mike Blues workshop....


Fair warning: this is a smithy. It's divided in two halves, a clean side and, for lack of a better description, a dirty side. Now the clean side is merely dusty. The dirty side is a lovely collection of tools befouled in a fashion that says, "Somebody works here."

If you are the kind of person who might be tempted to investigate fire, smoke, oil, burning steel, grinding sparks, loud noises of various kinds, please bring some protective gear of your choice. Eye and ear protection are required, gloves and a hat are good too. I have some spare safety glasses and ear plugs, if you forget. Clothing your significant others won't mind getting, um, dirty, may be a good idea too.

The sign on the door reads: Enter at your own risk. For good reason too.

But that also means you can probably talk me or Terry into showing how pattern welded steel gets that way. Grinding a blade to shape etc. Heat treatment and so forth. I don't want to try to do it all at once, but any particular curious notions can be fed quite easily if we plan ahead. Are there any things you Upper Midwesterners can't live without knowing about the steel parts of a razor?


If any vendors see this thread and would be so kind as to donate some door prizes it would be appreciated.