JohnW

Okay, great -- I don't quite understand how you can burn it so fast, but great.

Zampilot, how well charred is your charcoal? If there're any sticks of charcoal, and you break one is it charred all the way through?

I'd recommend to sharpen them with an angle grinder or other grinder. They don't need tempering, they take a beating, so they need to be tough, not hard.

Smart alec. I believe I say anvul, vul like in vulcan, or voluptuous. I certainly don't say vil, like in village.

No, I think it's the other way around. Sometimes, whiskey barrels (barrels previously used for whiskey), are used for other spirits, like especially some sherries.

Just in case you didn't find it yet the IBA site is at http://www.indianablacksmithing.org/ Yip, the annual conference is in Tipton in June, and there will be some tailgating going on, where they're bound to be selling a few blowers. It looks like the closest satellite group for you is Johnson County, which is not a large group, but Tim Metz is a good blacksmith.

50? I wonder if he could have been referring to 1050.

Some of the older responses mention fleas. I believe you can eliminate fleas by sifting out the fines.

I will tell you, at the risk of stating the obvious, the upside down picture can be rotated by way of the view menu or by ctrl+shift+plus.

Braedon, I can't imagine that there are no Hedge Apple trees in NW Ohio, because they certainly do live and grow in NE Indiana. They're not a very common tree, or, more accuratley, they are an uncommon tree, but they are out there. I can't give you any statistics on their numbers, but, I don't expect to see any when I go walking on a new trail, but then I wouldn't be too surprised if I did see two or three.

Right Bentiron, hard as nails. It's well known that it does no good to nail a fense to a live hedge apple tree. Hedge apple will shed the nails as it grows.

Great looking fish, I can't even tell how you would make such a thing. So, I'll be looking for you pictures.

I'd say they're all different. You have to find somebody friendly, because I don't think they really make any money selling steel to us a few pieces at a time at scrap like prices.

Yes definitely upsetting steel, can be pretty uspsetting to the would be blacksmith. Upsetting doesn't usually work straight away. After upsetting a little, you usually have to take another heat to hammer the the steel back straight, which kind of tapers the steel back to almost where it was in the first place. Get steel with a bigger dimension. The more I see experts, the more I see they have stock just about the size they need to start with.

#2 -- No I can't recommend. Aches and pains usually require inactivity, or at least less activity to get better. But then once healed your elbow will probably be stronger. I don't know about your shoulder. I'd say elbows are tougher than shoulders. #1 -- Be deliberate, be acurate. Maybe get a bigger hammer (or use plenty big hammer) and slow you're pace.