Jerry W.

If you are looking for help, look into Balcones Forge. It is a Central Texas Blacksmith Association. We will be having one of our most distant meetings Sunday, Sept 25th at the Wendish Festival in Serbin, Texas. October they will be helping auction a blacksmith shop in Cibolo (I think). Not sure where November will be, but December 10th we will be hosting the group at my shop in Devine. The majority of the group are blacksmiths along with some bladesmiths mixed in. A lot of really good people that are very willing to share what they know. Jerry

We saw 102 degrees here today, but other than hot, we are doing well. Jim & Katie moved down here a couple of years ago and provide us with plenty of exercise chasing their two sons, Slade and Gunner. Jim is building Toyotas at their San Antonio plant, and Katie is working for the school system. Marsha is teaching now and today was her first day back at work/school to end the summer. I retired three years ago this past July and am three years into a 5 year school program. We are staying very busy keeping up with the grandkids and the 65 acres here that we live on. I would like to spend much more time in the forge, but summers here are pretty tough and I am not hungry enough to try to tough it out. Please tell Deb we said hello and we hope you both stay well.

Frosty & Deb, It has been quite some time since I have been on here. We are very sorry to hear about Deb, but very happy to hear that she is recovering well along with a great prognosis. Know that we will keep both you and Deb in our prayers. Jerry & Marsha

Muriatic acid is hazardous as are other things around the shop. I started off using 20% vinegar to remove scale. As I ran low on vinegar, I had a gallon of muriatic acid. I diluted it in a 5 gallon bucket with about 3 1/2 gallons of water and now use this for scale removal. It works much faster then the vinegar and though there are hazards involved, I do not feel that they compare to the hazards of using a wire brush on an angle grinder. I do use a coated wire to hold the items that are place in the bucket to reduce potential contact. FYI - Muriatic acid is great for cleaning aquariums. It cleans off any of the water deposits and quickly and easily dilutes and is completly safe for the fish.

I second Columbia Marking Tools. I got two different ones from them several years ago and they are still going strong. Much more reasonable than your $850.00 quote. If I remember right, they were about $100.00 each. Good luck

Check out Gordon Williams at Camp Verde. I have been to a couple of Gordon's demonstrations and trust me, if you have to travel to get there it will definitely be worth the time and effort.

Charles, We will keep you and your Dad on our prayers. Jerry

Prayers from South Texas. Keep us posted, Jerry

If you are looking for one at a good price, try Saltfork Craftsman. They are in Oklahoma and will mail order. It is a small swage block and I don't use mine very often but, it is one of those tools that is sure nice to have when you need it. My wife ordered mine several years ago for my birthday. She said that the FedEx guy was not very happy when he had to carry it from the truck to the porch.

Russell, In case you aren't aware, there is an new Blacksmith group in your area. It is Goliad Forge. I met the President (Otto Bluntzer) at a couple of group events that we attended. If you don't have the contact information, PM me and I will get it to you. Good luck, Jerry

Balcones Forge has had Mark Aspery down for the last two year for our workshops and big demos. He likes to use sucker rod to make a lot of his tooling. I picked up 2000 lbs of it at the salvage yard a couple of years ago and used it for the fence around our yard. It was 25 cents a pound at the salvage yard. Save the ends if you do this, they make great hardie tools.

I have had the pleasure to meet some of the LAMA (Louisiana Metalsmiths Association) at some of the HABA events. You would do well to meet up with them if you haven't done so already. Good luck, Jerry

Sounds really good but, our last vacation was when we went up there. We are way behind. We have plans to see some of California late summer. We do have hopes to get back up to Alaska but, it will probably be a while. Thanks for the invite.

Frosty, Marsha and I really enjoyed the event when we managed to get up there. Sure wish we could get up there again. Jerry

Don't forget the matches. With fewer people smoking these days they might be hard to come by.