jason0

The first: if I move it to the garage with the rest of the stuff it's on the other end of my property (not that big). As to the exterior: it would be under shelter to keep rain and wind off of it like the rest of my forge area, and I do use cutting oil so most of the exposed parts have a little more protection... Thanks for your reply! --jason

Hi, I have an outdoor forge under a metal shelter with a gravel floor. I need to move my Jet jdp-17mf floor-mount drill press from its present location to the forge area. Does anyone have any ideas how to set it up? If I avoid pouring a slab, what do you recommend? If I need to pour a slab, what dimensions are reasonable? --jason

Hello, Wouldn't the twisting method make the metal prone to breakage? I know how to cut machine screws with taps/dies, and have even done it on a lathe in my youth. How do you cut wood screws? Are there dies for that? I would be happy with straight screws such as those on lagg bolts...but I am also curious about tapered screws too. Thanks for your time! --jason

I attended Ken's class on basic blacksmithing a couple of summers ago. It included an in-depth discussion of what makes a hammer work well. I learned several things: 1) How to swing a hammer better than ever before. Heck, it continuously amazes me how quickly wood splits with a hatchet now, or how quickly 16p nails get driven with an 8 ounce hammer. Nothing really new here, just physics. just the other night, I hammered some old u-bolt 3/4 inch thick into a leaf. 2) a definition of "balanced" for me: I watched ken idly tapping his hammer on an anvil when he was talking about something else. I noticed that no matter what angle he struck with the hammer, it always bounced straight back up. Its what made me choose to buy his hammer. (that and the discount from taking his class.) Later that day, I watched from the other end of the room him bouncing the hammer on the anvil, and how the hammer would fly up next to his head: without his hand on it. He just plucked it out of the air. 3) Hammering, like child-rearing, is more about what works, rather than which theory is correct. 4) The question about whether Hofi can back up his assertions with science: I think it may be enough he could hammer without pain. Ken noticed the difference right away. Do we really need studies by guys in lab-coats? I am a bit biased too. Master blacksmith...me nothing: I do what he says. 5) This is the first actual hammering method I learned. There are clearly other ones out there, and in future classes when hammering styles are a topic of discussion, I will give them a fair shake too. Ken, thanks for your words. Not only inspiring, but it re-asserted a couple things you touched on in your class that I had forgotten. :) --jason

Hi, My name is Jason. I saw references to iforgeiron over at the nwba site, and wanted to read other forums... --jason