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from HABA President Tee Hines
I can’t believe its 2007! 2006 sure went by fast! It went so fast I didn’t get half the projects done I wanted to. I still have a driveway to shop to put in, paneling to put up in the living room, refinish the back porch railing, finish painting the outside of the house and the list goes on. These were all things I really wanted to get done last year or maybe the year before. Now the pressure is on to get them done this year. I can’t figure out why I can’t get my projects done. I thought the reason might be procrastination or that my love for forging iron was taking all my time until I took a look at how my typical day goes. This is how one of my most typical days goes... I decide to wash the car and start toward the garage when I notice the mail on the table. I figure I might as well go through the mail before washing the car. I lay my keys down on the desk, sort the mail and discard the junk mail. As I discard the junk mail, I see that the garbage can is full. I lay the bills down on the desk and pick up the trash can. Then I figure that since I'll be going near the mailbox while taking out the trash, I may as well pay these few bills first. Now where did I put my checkbook? Ah, here it is! Oops, there's only one check left. My extra checks are in the other room. Oh! There's the soda I was drinking earlier! Hmmm, I guess I'd better take it out to the kitchen and discard it. On the way to the kitchen, my flower arrangement catches my eye and I realize it needs more water. I pour the soda down the sink. As I wipe a spot off the counter I see my glasses on the window sill. It's about time. I've been looking for them all morning! I guess I'd better go put them away so I can find them again later. But first, I've got to add water to the flower arrangement ... Hey! What's the TV remote doing in the kitchen? Aaaaaagh! I'd better take it to the living room because we'll never think to look for it in the kitchen tonight. I take the remote out to the coffee table and find that the living room is a bit messy, so I picked up the news paper and straightened up a little. Then I'm off down the hall, to... to... what the heck was I planning to do? Oh well! I think I’ll go out to the shop and forge something. Now it’s the end of Day: The car isn't washed, the bills are unpaid, the flowers aren't watered, the checkbook still only has one check, and now I can't seem to find my car keys! I don't seem to have gotten anything done today! I can't figure out why because I KNOW I WAS BUSY ALL DAY LONG!!! Now you see why I didn’t get the projects done I wanted to! Thanks to all our members, 2006 was another great year for HABA. Here are some of the highlights! 
September - we went to Armand Bayou Nature Center. If you’ve never been there, it is a great place where you can learn about the native plants and wildlife, including a large variety of birds. We setup our forges at Martyn Farm, part of the Nature Center. The farm takes you back in time to the late 1800’s with an old home and all the necessary out buildings. Much like Barrington Farms, Armand Bayou is a place where we forge and donate items to the park. This time we forged a variety of door latches, staples and drive hooks. The crowd was steady all day. As always, there were a lot of folks interested in our craft. We ended up with a couple of new members and lots of new friends. Thank you, Les Cook for coordinating this meeting. It was a bunch of fun!  October – we had our ‘Fall Forge Fest’, a three day event in Oldenburg, Texas. This was our traditional fall gathering at Kennie & Susan Hall’s place in Oldenburg with one twist. Legendary Frank Turley was our feature demonstrator. Attendance was high and as usual we had a lot of support from Balcones Forge. Frank did a fantastic job demonstrating. Later when I had a chance to talk to him I told him, “You sure make it looks easy” and he replied, “It’s my job to make it look easy and it’s your job to make it look hard”. I totally understand what he’s saying!! Some other recognized Smiths came out like Joe Pehoski and Wendel Broussard. Thank you, Kennie & Susan Hall for being such wonderful host. Thank you for everything! Thank you, Dave Koenig and Jim Wheeler for going up the week before to setup the grounds. Thank you, Richard Boswell for coordinating this event. It was surely one of the best ever!! October - Barrington Farm Smiting in Texas 
Dave Koenig, Fred Titera, Richard Boswell and I setup forges and spent the next to two days forging items on a want list provided by the park. Saturday, Christian Darce helped me forge a boot scraper for the front of the old farm house. His engineering degree really paid off when it came to designing the scraper. Sunday, Ed Malmgren helped us greet all the visitors. Ginger Boswell, Richard’s wife, was busy working in the old kitchen. Cooking the way it was done 130 years ago. She and the other ladies served us lunch which was very good. Especially the dessert! We made hooks, nails, curtain holders, a boot scraper and Richard made a bark spud. I had a great time. I hope everyone enjoys this event as much as I do! November – we had a ‘Hammer - In’ at Dave Koenig’s, ‘Tudor Forge’. 
The project was to forge a candle holder using a 4’ piece of ¼” round bar and a piece of ¾” black pipe. Material was provided by HABA and most people left with a candle holder they had forged. I didn’t get a chance to forge a holder at the meeting but, I forged 8 of them when I got home. I gave them to all my neighbors for Christmas.I’m looking forward to having more meeting like this. It is fun when you have a chance to make something with a forge and anvil. Thank you Dave, for hosting the meeting and being the feature demonstrator. Other events: Les Cook & I had a good time demonstrating for students at Corpus Christi School in Houston. It is always fun watching the kids as you work with a piece of iron hot out of the fire. Dave Koenig invited me to help him keep the Crescents he forged burning during the ‘Candle Light Celebration held at the Tomball Museum. Crescents are hemispherical baskets used as lighting many years ago. They burn very clean and drop virtually no ash. If you have never attended the Candle Light Celebration you need to put it on your calendar for December. This is how Christmas time and the Holidays should be. Wassail, cookies and fellowship. Of course we share blacksmithing & HABA while we are sipping wassail with those who come by. As always, HABA’s goal is to preserve and promote Blacksmithing whenever we can. We accomplish our goal through many different avenues. Monthly meetings, school demonstrations, outside events such as State Parks, supporting other groups like ours, etc. In order for HABA to effectively meet the goal I just mentioned we need your help! Here are some areas you can help in:
This list is not inclusive. I’m sure you can think of other areas we can use help. If you are interested in helping in any area please let me or one of the Board members know. If you have an idea that would help HABA achieve it’s goal more efficiently please don’t hesitate to share it with us. I look forward to working with our Members and HABA’s Board of Directors during 2007. Tee Hines President - HABA
What a pleasant surprise this morning! (8-30-06)I followed my regular routine of getting up this morning by heading to the bathroom, stumbling out to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee and letting our dog Guinness out to do his morning business. When I opened the door, I immediately noticed a change in the weather. It was cool and dry! I don’t know about you but I’m ready for cooler weather. My mother-in-law would say, "OH NO, I don’t want it to get cool! I hate the winter." But then she’s not standing next to a forge like we are. A number of Officer changes took place during our August 22nd Board meeting. I accepted the position of President. Les Cook, a past HABA President, accepted the position of Vice President. Richard Boswell, President for the last 3 years, accepted the position of Secretary. Ed Malmgren accepted the position of Treasurer along with his current responsibilities of Membership Coordinator and Librarian. Dave Koenig, past President and HABA Founder, Mark Finstad and Tim Bailey will remain on the Board of Directors. James and Cathy Porter amiably decided to leave the Board. There are two vacant positions on the Board to be filled. Some of you know James, Cathy and their son, Richard, moved to Warrenton, Texas. James currently drives to Baytown every day to work and Cathy has been extremely busy with her business. Because they live far away and have not been able to attend as many events as they’d like, James and Cathy felt it was best for them to leave the Board and allow someone new to fill their positions. The Porters do plan to remain active HABA members and will still attend meetings when they can. I’m sure we will see them at our event in Oldenburg. Thank you!! James and Cathy for all the time you devoted to our membership. HABA is a better organization because of you. Thank you!! Dave Koenig. Much credit goes to you for being so faithful to HABA’s success. Your passion for blacksmithing and your desire for HABA to succeed has been one of our greatest assets. Thank you!! Richard Boswell. Presiding as President for the last three years, you’re leadership skills have proven to be an essential part of HABA. As Web Master, you produce one of the most informational blacksmith websites on the internet. I can’t tell you how vital that is to HABA’s future. Thank you!! Les Cook, Ed Malmgren, Mark Finstad and Tim Bailey. Your willingness to serve on the Board of Directors is most appreciated! Thank you for your contributions to HABA, past, present and future. One of the items discussed during our August Board meeting was our monthly HABA Letter which serves many purposes for our membership. After much deliberation, it was the decision of the Board that HABA should pause our monthly newsletter. The next edition will be published soon, after which we may suspend the newsletter. In the interim, so everyone receives notification of our monthly events, HABA will mail those members who don’t have access to our web site habairon.org, a hard copy of our scheduled events. If you can not access our web site and need a hard copy, please notify Ed Malmgren and he will note our roster accordingly. If you can access to web please don’t ask for a hard copy. Until we have the resources, mainly a volunteer, to assume the position of Editor we may not publish a regular newsletter. If any of you want to be our Editor and can contribute the time it takes to do so, please let one of the Board members know. Most of you know Dave Koenig has been our Editor off and on since HABA’s conception. Off when someone accepts the responsibility of Editor and on again when they give up that responsibility. It has been my observation that Dave has spent a lot more time on, as our Editor, than off. For a long period of time Dave has poured his heart & soul into publishing our newsletters. Before we quench all his enthusiasm it is important we allow him some time off. When you see Dave, be sure and thank him, tell him how much you appreciate what he has done for HABA and our membership. HABA has a blacksmithing display at The Shops of Houston compliments of Dave Koenig and The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. The exhibit runs through September. Located in the Houston Center complex, The Shops of Houston is the only shopping mall in downtown Houston. HABA’s display includes the work of Les Cook, Tee Hines, Mark Finstad, Brent Bailey, Dave Koenig, Richard Boswell, Charlie Williamson, Mike Boone, Michael Pratt, Nana Showalter, Rob Lyons and the work of four or more unknown smiths from Wisconsin, Arabia, North Africa, Irina Jaya and Pakistan. Don Minzenmayer loaned us a wonderful example of a ‘Ring Bit’ to display from his vast collection. Frank Walters built the riser boxes used to display our work on really short notice. Thank you Frank! Thank you, Dave Koenig for all the effort you put into our display. My wife Darla and I personally visited The Shops of Houston to view the display and saw 1st hand how great a job you did arranging the display. On July 15th the Houston Metal Arts Guild (HMAG) hosted a joint meeting at the University of Houston, Fine Arts Building. HMAG members demonstrated silver soldering technique, the use of bezel material and taught us how to set cabochons on the head of a nail with a bezel. What an interesting meeting! It was scheduled to end at 3:00 pm but, we were having such a good time we didn’t leave until 5:00 or 5:30 pm. Thank you HMAG volunteers Rachel Clark and Chris Gorman for demonstrating soldering techniques and how to bezel set stones. We are also grateful to HMAG/HABA volunteers Nitza Maor, Gina Millunzi, Karin Martin, and Dottie Wood who provided the materials for the bezels and the cabochons and solder as well as their personal instructions. August 19th Bill & Clint Jones demonstrated refractory technique. Thank you, Ed Malmgren for hosting the meeting at Components Inc. I wasn’t able to attend this meeting due to a previous commitment at my church, but it must have been a really great meeting based on the good feedback I’ve received. I understand Bill & Clint took a lot of the magic out of refractory mixing and packing technique with their demonstration. Thank you Bill & Clint for supporting HABA with a great presentation. I hope I haven’t been to long winded in my 1st note to the membership. Some of what I wrote is a duplication of the information Richard Boswell already provided on our web site. If you really want to stay current with what HABA is doing, check habairon.org regularly and don’t wait until I get around to writing. Don’t forget Frank Turley is our featured demonstrator in Oldenburg, October 7th. I’ll see you then and there, Tee Hines President – HABA from previous messages
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