Everything Else

I know most/many of you guys have done just about everything in the world, so I'll ask this question here. I'm working on making sheaths for my knives. In that quest I'm doing some leatherwork, i.e. stamping and tooling. When I rebuilt my kitchen 7 years ago I had the countertop people leave behind the large slab they cut out of one of the tops for our glass-topped stove-top. Wife durned near killed me for "hoarding" yet once again! I "knew" I'd need in someday. Now is the time. I need a granite slab to use when I'm stamping designs in my sheaths. However, I don't need a piece as large as I have. I checked to see what it would cost to cut out a piece from m…

My grandpa came over recently and told me about when he was a kid his neighbor (which we found out was a my grandpas uncle) was a blacksmith and made plow blades and other farming equipment. Well my grandpa now is a tax advisor for the blacksmiths adopted son and we might be able to go pick up the anvil that hasn't been used since the 70's and is at least 120 years old and maybe some other forging equipment. Which is cool because I might be able to use my great great uncles anvil. - I don't have pictures

This object came in a mixed lot of metal scraps given to me. Can anyone identify it ? The bottom two projections end in dull points. Thanks, Alan

I was wondering where y'all get your steel because I was looking for 1080 flat stock but the only steel supply shops I find just carry sheet steel or plain steel. Where should I look?

My wife tells me I am always wrong. Seems to be a common condition between the sexes!!!! Or am I wrong on this too?!?!?!

Well, since July a few tons if steel, iron, and rubber have made their way to my place. The white 56 Imperial was supposed to be a parts car, but it is in pretty decent shape, so may end up getting built instead as the 4x4 project I had in mind for the black 56 imperial. The METRO is a 1960, and was a random find. Dented, but solid body. 1962 Dodge D100 chassis with polyhead 318 1962 Dodge A100 pickup body parts

Some of the jargon was over my head, but I gather that with the increased use of metallurgy, males became more one sided with the use of tools... hammers, spears, axes. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0112116

Power on my southpaw friends (no offense you righties!). I wrote this with my left handed cell phone

Not directly associated with iron, but still interesting. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0051374

Afternoon all, First of all, this isn't a post directly about blacksmithing, which is kind of the point. I was planning to go pick up another beehive today, and started thinking about all the nutballs and weirdo....I mean, wonderfully eclectic people I run into in this hobby, and that a large number of them have other hobbies that are a bit outside the mainstream. The more obvious trends I see are of course cooks, hunting, fishing, readers, musicians, and brewers galore (although sometimes some very eclectic music), and almost anything homestead related. On the other hand, I've met guys that build cob houses, sculptors, musical instrument builders, linguists, one gu…

I thought it might be fun and interesting to hear some seldom shared insights into working life. I'll kick things off. I'm a construction estimator, which means that I prepare competitive bids to win all the construction contracts for my company. I think the thing that most people wouldn't expect about this job is how important it is to be sociable with everyone I work with. Many jobs are won or lost over participation. It can be very time-consuming to find, and then convince the right party to quote some portion of the work to me. How about your line of work?

I'm interested to hear what people would tell themselves. Here are a few things I wish I could tell my younger self. Outcomes matter more then intentions. Overcoming most of life's obstacles starts with getting out of your own way. Endurance is not the answer to everything.

Facebook sent me this memory reminder this morning of the exact moment I decided to start blacksmithing again. If nothing else, I wanted my son to have the experience of working on a real anvil!

Is there a topic on IFI where people/users explain, discuss, or otherwise describe why they chose the name they have as their user names? There are some very interesting ones to say the least and some are obvious (?). I searched up and down so please forgive if I missed it. Nodebt. Hmmmm....

I decided to take my metal detector around my property and I'm glad I did. first I found this huge thing of rebar that was around ten feet tall (It's bent) here's a picture of me next to it (I'm 5'10) Next I found all these Can anyone tell me what these are?

Had to undertake one of my familial duties last night----killed a black widow spider in our master bathroom. My wife is generally happy to share the house with spiders; but she has said that the poisonous ones can be killed. She will have me live catch scorpions in the house and haul them out across the field to the arroyo (better hunting!); but Black Widows, Brown Recluses and centipedes in the house all get the "puree" setting. Outside the house it's a free for all!

In my research to find more about T.P.Jones of Dudley who made some old hooks I have, these pics turned up. There is so much to see in these old photos. That is one massive chain.

Used my birthday holiday to extend the 4th to a 4 day weekend. Took a trip to Wyoming to pick up a parts car I have been looking at for several months. 1956 Imperial sedan. Now that I have it home it is in better shape than expected, and well optioned. Now I am deciding if I use it for parts or?????. The Dodge did good hauling it back. Total weight with the trailer was around 10k pounds. This is the max for the 1500 with the Hemi. I would have used the 3500 Cummins but I have it down for some maintenance. 1,537 miles over 32 hours of driving. Had a fun weekend for once.

My son and I were working in Pocomoke City last week. We turned in to the local library lot I happen to see an Anvil and Hammer Grave Marker. I did not have a camera with me to take a picture. You could not read the stone. A little investigation came up with this: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSmid=47947508&GRid=107280545& Pretty cool.

could someone explain to me how using a 150 micron filter helps trap .2 micron and smaller particles?

I just stumbled over a "Best Anvils" site associated with Amazon. I won't argue their ratings as "Best" depends on many things they don't take into consideration and at the end is often a "Ford" vs "Chevy" type of argument. However it does have such good information as "Then there are raw-iron anvils with a fire steel top." Good to know that folk who don't even know what wrought iron is feel they can advise new people on anvils!

Good morning. My dad was a career welder and part time blacksmith. He passed away this past August and I'm trying to help mom sort through his shop. As mom is on a fixed income I'd prefer to sell his equipment as opposed to donate. I'm not unrealistic, I know that this isn't going to amount to much, but for her sake and extra in her bank account helps. I have no idea where to begin or even really know what a good price is on his equipment. Again, not looking to make a lot of cash, but I don't want mom to get screwed out of it's reasonably worth. Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome! The forge itself is pretty basic: hand crank bellows etc. I've hear…

Finally got my ISP out to replace my old dish that konked out. I now have internet on the desktop again. Looks like March 16 was my last time here, and y'all have been busy. As for me, I have been working steady through this whole affair. Food manufacture being essential and all. We have been busy working 5 to 7 days a week, and even did some hiring. Things are finally starting to get back to normal around Las Vegas, the only bad part is I have to share the roads again I have joined the chicken raising fraternity when a coworker gave me seven 5 week old Rhode Island Reds, 2 roosters and 5 hens. As for the Covidness. No one at work sick, no one I kn…

Don't know why I found this amusing

Folks, I just noticed this defective tool alert. It is strongly suggested that all I.F.I. members be aware of this defective product and its probable recall shortly. bad link Regards, SLAG. See below Iron Dragon F. & C. fixed the above defective link. Thanks.