bigbabysweets

Thanks UncleJak, it really does make my day hearing your little ones enjoyed it. That really is the best part for me. We have an apprenticeship program at the Co-op. It teaches knifemaking and some basic forging techniques. We're mainly knife makers and only forge out the basic shape and thickness before stock removal. We use a little propane powered forge and everything is provided. Come on out one day and I'll give you an exclusive TGOers tour. Lol I use the shop when its not busy to make my personal knives I sale so I can do this for a living now. Nothing better than turning hot metal into artistic cutting tools and making memories with families visiting the area!

Yep, well one of them anyway! There are a couple of us that work with the public and teach/ demonstrate.

That's me in the old Johnny Cash shirt! Lol Awesome!

Hey, I wanna come! I'll have to see what my schedule permits as the time draws nearer, but I'd love to be a part of this get together!

I hate to go along with the recent trend, but, I too must back out. After having saturdays off for months by chance, I mistakingly requested a saturday off and now have to work. I'll put my name on the calender for the 28th and cross my fingers. I hope there's a good turnout. I would loved to have made it.

How can I delete this? It hadn't been posted when I started typing, got sidetracked, and now I look like an idiot.....

This was my comment. I hope they respond. If they do I'll post it... Why would I want to eat at a restaraunt that has been made less safe? The people who abide by laws and signs aren't the ones I'm worried about. If criminals really listened to signs, we should post signs saying NO muderers, No pedaphiles, and NO rapists. Yeah, signs make everything safer... Me and mine we opt NOT to eat at the places listed. I choose to keep my family safe. I also know that by doing this you have put these diners on a "to do" list. Criminals know they will find less opposition at these places and take advantage of it's defenseless patrons. I feel safer because of you, knowing that the people that might do harm to me and my family will not be eating where I do. They'll choose the risk free route, find a nice place to eat on your website, then make the news..... Hopefully this won't catch on, Coty

Just seen this on Yahoo news. Woman shoots intruder to protect her 3 month old son while on the phone with a dispatcher. Glad to see the police taking her side! Here

I'm game! We've talked more in depth already, but figured I'd post to help establish a head count for others. I'd also be bringing at least one more person and will more than likely camp if given the opportunity.

I am allergic to cocobolo. The oil in it has the same effect as certain detergents I can't use. About 15 of the last 18 paring knives I made were Purple Heart. Sanding took the color out, a heat gun put it back in amazingly. I was told Armor All kinda stuff would help keep the color, but I waxed it on a buffing wheel with a jewler's rouge and they've kept color for months now. I have ordered a lot of knife making stuff from Jantz without any complaints.

I've made dozens out of bandsaw blades. A few out of skill saw blades, a few out of files, horse shoes, railroad spikes.... Car leaf springs are the best! Heat the metal to it's transformation temperature. You'll know you're there when it wont attract a magnet. Let it cool slowly and it's annealed. Do your work then harden and temper it.

AWESOME! I'm gonna subscribe to his posts that way when he stops posting I'll know he finally "bit the bullet." I mean outside of pointing the gun at his face, he says he has a "full" 14 round mag thats really a 15 round mag and I could only see 13 rounds. He can't speak, can't count, can't even spell in his comments..... If I seen a badge on some fat moron like this one, I'd think he was a retarded pedaphile and I would be looking for a windowless panel van nearby.

Yep

Easy chief, just joking. Maybe we need to practice our senses of humor this weekend! Lol Only said you were stealing it because you had said weren't. I wouldn't even had noticed otherwise. I'm glad to see someone wanting to get one going as well actually... I hadn't posted anything in SEVERAL days because there was nothing to post. When I seen people wanted me to confirm I did. Now if it had been canceled, then I would have posted. I can see why people would want to make sure though. I wasn't just being lazy I promise! Lol This thing is a go. I need to pick up a few things like .22 rounds and I'll be heading to.... 1999 Chapman HWY Sevierville.

Jesus people, I leave you guys alone for one day and someone steals the event and everyone else all but throws in the towel! lol I AM CAMPING FRIDAY NIGHT! Alone now maybe, but I'll be there! The owner wanted to come down but might be working. I have total permission to build fires, shelters, practice whatever and shoot guns. It's low car accessable, won't cost anything but gas and time, and can be found by everyone. I have a few other people outside of the forums that might swing by so it could be a decent turnout if all that can make it, do. Been putting together the last of the guidelines. Figured I'd discuss it with those that show up Fri and see how things play out Saturday since nothing ever follows the plan. All is for certain we'll just practice what we know, try what inerests us, and have a good time. Anyway, hope to see everyone tomorrow night and saturday morning!

This is the summary of the whole meetup. And yes it's legal and safe to shoot. Owner has his own little paper Target range area for his .22. We'd be shooting into a small mountain. Safe and legal.

Hopefully Johnny, this won't be the last one. Hope to see ya at the next one! 1.) The camping segment will be on friday December 2nd followed by the majority of the activities on Saturday. 2.) The place isn't really secluded. Like I said it's right of Chapman HWY a few miles out of Sevierville. There will be cars visable. I was going more for convenience the first time around. There's even power here... really wasn't going to hard on the first get together.. lol For the next one I can try to arrange something a lot more isolated, but if I hear banjo music I swear......... Friday night I thought we'd just sit around and enjoy the campfire. We'd meet and greet and cook a little food and see where the conversations lead. I thought it would be a great opportunity to meet the people behind the usernames and make some like minded friends in the area. Also I'd like to bounce any last minute ideas off those in attendance. Saturday I'm still trying to get nailed down. Really trying to focus on the 72 hour rescue scenario. Regulating body temperature through heat loss/release, signaling techniques, firecraft, expedient shelters, water procurement and purification, etc. Really trying to find things to do that we can actually practice though. I'd like to see the pool bleach/motor oil fire starting technique myself. Sure we could biuld a few fires, I'm sure we've all done that before, but a lot it seems is reading facts off a sheet. Like how to identify the signs/symptoms of hyper/hypothermia... We could do traps and snares, more durable structures, and a few other more long term "primative" practices, but, it wouldn't fit the 72 hour survival scenario. Like I've said before, I'm all for going big on these meet ups. I thought we could have a "no metal tools allowed," "pack 5lbs of gear or less", or a "live 3 day's out of your BOB" gathering. If we all had GPSs we could do a hike to a certain point to camp meetup. All that would be posted were coordinates. You find your own way. Paintball would be cool to do one weekend. I'm apprenticing at a knife makers co-op, maybe one of these gatherings I'll make a forge and we can make our own knives out of files or something. Maybe it's a little past my bedtime. It feels like I'm putting a little too much into this and sounding childish... lol I'd love to have one of these seasonally, but this isn't just for me- any ideas anyone? *P.S.* For those bringing guns for the group's enjoyment, maybe we should post round caliber,that way everyone can bring their own ammo. Maybe also a preference in ammo because not every weapon shoots that cheap stuff.

I think we should get a list of things people are planning to bring to the meet up. Things that we could use as teaching tools. I'm bringing my basic hiking/camping stuff, I have water purification tablets and a MSR Filter, books, notes, a .22 Rifle, my LCP, my little coke can stove... not a whole lot...... Still working on the best way to set up "classes" for the learning/teaching.... I'll post up an outline once I get one set up.....

Address is 1999 Chapman Highway Sevierville TN. 37876 If you google map/earth it there's a large building beside a smaller one. They are seperate properties and we'll be on the smaller one. It will give you a better look at what we'll have for use. It used to be a paintball field a couple years ago. It was sold and the new owner moved it's location down the road. I'm looking to get there before 6 fri night in hopes of getting there and getting a fire going before anyone that's camping shows up.

I'd make sure you also bought ones with color pictures. Some descriptions are pretty close between edible/poisonous and being able to visualize the two in the moment could make all the difference.... I'm guessing everyone on here has seen, "Into the Wild."

The foxfire books are still being reprinted. I liked "One Second After" as a work of fiction, and for informative books I'm reading things like, "Practical Projects for the Everyday Handyman." I think thats what it's called... It has things like how to make small boats for ice and water navigation, steam engines out of bicycle pumps, wind and water mills, and all kinds of stuff kids would make 100 years ago. If SHTF thats where we could find ourselves...

Alright, Saturday December 3rd. Right now we can have it off Chapman HWY in Sevierville. I'll check with a friend of mine that owns some land in Seymour. It's not too far from the first place but is a bit more secluded and offers a more realistic terrain and a longer range opportunnity for those of us wanting to do some shooting. I'll start working on some course outlines and guidelines to follow. I'm sure we are all adults but better to be clear on things..... So should we get there friday night and have a little camp cookout around the fire? I'm checking the yes box. I think part of the reason for the meetup is getting to know one another. What better way than to roast some marshmellows and sing kumbaya? Once again, I'm open for questions or ideas!

Alright, my busiest months are over. I think the more the merrier for the get together. The biggest thing in locking down a time. End of November, early December anyone? Are we gonna try and wait it out till spring. I'd love to have a meetup every season for it's obvious advantages. There's seems to be enough interest that if most of show up there should be a lot of information passed around. I have one place to go for sure. It can be used anytime, has parking, woods, pond, creek, right off chapman highway, but there isn't much room for rifle shooting if we want to do that. If we all threw in a little money maybe we could buy ammo if someone would like to bring out a few rifles. I only have the hunting variety but if someone had something more tactical they'd like to show the group..... Welp, any ideas?

Awesome! I usually have every saturday off but, won't have any weekends off in October. November/December would be fine with me, but then we're getting into our colder months. Personally that would be fine with me. We might have to modify our lesson plan to accomodate the 20-30 degree temperatures. Then again, the worse conditions we practice in the better chance we have when it's needed. How much would everyone like to do in the cold. I'm fine for whatever, it's what the group wants to do collectively. I'm a make a shelter and fire in the wind and rain to see if I can do it kinda guy. I'd be happy to try this monthly. I feel intrest might fall quickly if "new" things aren't taught and tried, but even if this was held tri-annually would be great. Things to do. I have a little list going on one of my posts. We can add or take away as needed. Getting into the fall/winter season makes the days shorter, so we'll have to see what we can do per day. What about a campout? If someone had a place with enough land we could pack in, set up camp, and the pack back out the next day. I'd like this because it would seem like a more natural experience. Plus if someone knew of any edible/poisonous plants, animals, tracks, anything else helpful, it would be a great place to see what could be found naturally and locally. Once again, I'm not really looking for a bear grylls-a-thon this time around. Bug eating can be covered another time! lol I'm someone that is more than likely going to be doing more learning than teaching so anything anyone feels is essential to learn, feel free to post it! Buck1032 might have a better idea of what are the most important "basics"