Oakland Axe ‘n Sax-in 2013

As a blacksmith, it’s always a pleasure to travel to a convention and meet smiths from around the world. To be amazed and inspired by other peoples work, to try out new techniques, and sample some tasty homebrew. Isn’t that what life is about?

For me it is. So it was a great pleasure to host Oakland Axe ‘N Sax-In 2013 at my shop this past weekend, an exclusive 3-day event with a focus on the art and science of Viking-style axes and saxes (to the uninitiated – a sax (or seax) is a historical, north European style of knife). The event was centered on demonstrations and presentations by Jake Powning, Petr Florianek, Owen Bush, Jeff Pringle and James Austin (me). We totaled around 30 smiths from the Bladesmith’s Forum and the California Blacksmithing Association, and it was organized by Jeff Pringle, Nathan Smith and myself (with help from our friends, thank you all!)

Below are some of the highlights, in imagery and words. If you were here and have uploaded photos of it or did a write-up somewhere, let me know and I will link it here.
And a big thank you to all who were here – it was truly a pleasure on my part.