Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Dan W

Members
  • Posts

    164
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male

Converted

  • Location
    Crawfordville, Fl
  • Biography
    Living historian
  • Interests
    Military history, blacksmithing,leather and woodworking
  • Occupation
    Retired USAF

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

  1. My wife and I have 12 hens and a rooster and we furnish eggs to family and friends. We're located in the piney woods of N. Florida and our chickens roam free during the day but come back to the pen to roost and nest. So far we havnt lost a one to critters and I know of a bald eagle nest about two miles away. We do have a catahoula hound that is a herder and can be found around the chickens most of the time. She actualy scared away a hawk one day. I dont mind losing the occasional hen to a hawk or eagle. To me its worth it just to sit and watch those predators sometimes. The dog keeps most of the other animals away. We also have a big Road Island red rooster that is one mean S.O.B. and I have the spur scars to prove it.
  2. Folks around here call that 'riding the lightining' My brother had to go thru that as part of his police training.
  3. Decent notebooks are a must for any profession. I have a file cabnet in my shop and keep everything I feel I can use from this forum, my internet surfing and my local blacksmith friends. Besides, I'm married to a retired English teacher, I have to keep good notes.
  4. Never tried the fillet knife but I have made small carving blades and inletting chisels for wood. 2-3 inches of hacksaw blade ground into a sheepsfoot congiguration and just wrapped with electricial tape makes a good general purpose shop knife.
  5. And all these years I thought I was just an ole fart. Now I know what I am.
  6. Hope the picts come thru. This old Hobart welder sat in a friends backyard for years, one night he told me to take the dang thing home with me. I was over the following saturday and pulled it home. Needs some cleaning, tires, fuel lines, battery and plug. It has the old Wisconson motor with generator, two 220 outlets and four 110 outlest. I also get to keep the vise and toolbox. Hopefully I'll have this thing up and running by mid summer.
  7. Nice work! It takes a real artist to do something like this.
  8. I'm now convinced that it would be a good idea to keep a container of viniger in the shop. What do ya'll think about using it to clean out an old gas tank on a generater?
  9. Still learning and would like to know what is the best or most prefered overall blade grind for a general purpose work knife. Something I would use in the shop and put on my belt for hiking the woods.
  10. I'm with 'thecelticforge' on this one. My main motovation is making something for someone else just to see the expression on their faces when I give it them and I dearly loved the look on my little brothers face the other day when he asked me if I had any eyebolts he could use for his deer stand I told him "I sure do, hand me that piece of threaded rod and tell me how many and what size you want" I really got a kick out of that.
  11. Definitely the old files. I forge to shape-classic 'C' being my favorite- bring to critical heat three times and air cool to black each time just by holding in the tongs, on the thrid time quench in motor oil. Dip in edge first then lower the whole striker into the oil and leave it to cool until you can handle it, polish the striking edge and have fun.I used to bring to critical heat just once and quench but the three time thing just seems to give me bigger and better sparks. I've made dozens of these things and the only failures I've had is from my own poor choice of what constitutes good striker material. I now only use old Black Diamond or Nicholsen files for my strikers or knives. My wife and I belong to an 1814 Living History group and since matches wernt invented untill around 1836 and if I wouldnt use one of my own strikers to start our fires with I wouldnt trade or sell it to anyone else.
  12. I'm not sure I'd cry but I would darn sure drink three or two beers getting over the loss of those tools. I'm fortunate enough to have 100' between home and shop.
  13. What about teaching? I know there are a lot of BS schools scattered throughout the country, and darn good ones at that. So maybe put in a call for some side work as a part time instructor? Personaly not my cup of tea as I no longer have the patience to deal with classroom sized groups. Just a thought.
  14. I keep a coffee can full of oily sand in my shop-high humidity in Florida-and for surface rust I just put on a pair of heavy leather gloves and rub the anvil or whatever tools I have with a handful of the oily sand then just wipe it off. Around here I have to do that about once a week. I also keep a slightly oiled rag drapped over my anvil and bench vise.
  15. Having the good fortune to live in Florida I can hunt feral pigs all year round and ike to use the Bess for that. I always make sure I'm next to good climbing tree before I touch off my flinter, nothing like a flash in the pan to alert your quarry. Of course at 9 !/2 lbs, I reckon I could always beat the thing to death with the gun.
×
×
  • Create New...