Everything Else

Start at the limbs first. This is for safety. Load your truck with the limbs (3 fingers wide and above) pushed to the front of the truck bed and cut 2 feet beyond the tailgate, or about 10 feet long. Trip over to your place, dump the limbs, and return for more. This cleans up your work area at the tree and gets you firewood on the ground at your place that you can then cut and stack later. When the limbs get too large for the truck, buck the rounds up into firewood length, trip out and stack the rounds at his place and at yours. When it comes to the main tree trunk, throw some wood under the trunk to keep it off the ground and to keep your chain saw out of th…

As I'm about to dispatch and butcher my first home raised turkey, I'm thinking about the thanks for all I have , family and friends, and the sacrifices of the life that nourishes our bodies. May you all have a happy thanksgiving where ever you are and however you spend the day. I might have to forge a stainless hook to help me fry this turkey tomorrow. He had a good life and will be dispatched humanely.

SLAG here, How about a bacterium that "eats" iron? Check out this reference, Metal-Eating Bacteria That Can Eat a Nail in Three Days Found in the Andes (msn.com) Which goes to show that wherever there is a potential energy source, there is usually some "creature" that has adapted to use it. The discovery has potential for all manner of possibilities for us. Sincerely, SLAG.

Always been one to work out. Always had a thing for anything related to grip, like sledges and other odd objects. Why I never get into this stuff earlier I don’t know. But I’ve got into bending steel. It’s pretty taxing and fun. Best part is, I can straighten it out in the forge and make things with the stock after.

It's ads like the following from CL that make me feel my metalworking skills are definitely subpar! 1 " SQUARE STEEL TUBING 128 FT THICK WALL They do say it's "thick wall" in the write up!

I just realized it's Veteran's day and I don't recall seeing anything on the forum. Did I miss it or something? I want to thank everybody who served, especially combat veterans. Without you there wouldn't be an America, you ARE America. I offer my most humble and sincere thank you. Frosty The Lucky.

Nothing better than finding out you made a difference in someone's life. A favorite time of mine was at an SCA event when a fellow with possibly thalidomide defects was hanging around the forge and I asked if he wanted to forge. YES! We had to make some adaptations, using tong clips, help with striking, etc; but he was able to do his first project. Later his girlfriend stopped by and told me I had made his event if not his year! At other activities; everyone else was "Don't do this you might get hurt" and I was "Lets figure a way out for you to do this!" I figured he was an adult and could chose his own risks. Last night my wife told me my stepson had told her…

Just watching Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back - a Sneak Peek on YouTube. I believe there’s a London pattern anvil on a piece of cardboard in the recording studio. Lower left, early in the video. Am I seeing things?

Some photos of how we celebrate Halloween here i thought some of y'all may enjoy. Another pukin guy, Frankenstein and his bride. Nothing can be complete with out the skull drummer. The original five and dime. A little blury but it is a festival here. Anyway this is how we celebrate Halloween in Fairborn Ohio.

Hi, I joined in the hopes someone can tell me about this ladle I have. I am pretty good at searching online, but after 2 hours, I can't find much at all like this one. The only comparisons with brass or copper inlay are from Colonial Pennsylvania. But this could be from anywhere or any period. I must not be using the right keywords in my search because I'm not finding any. Can you forgers be help? Thanks.

Purely a post for my ranting so I can contain my madness into a single area. Will contain blacksmithing stuff as well as non-blacksmithing stuff, so Everything Else seemed to be the correct spot. I haven't gotten to forge in about a week or so. Been trying to get my bathroom back in order, but motivation is on 6 week backorder like everything else is now. When I thought I was finally going to have time to get out and fire up the forge again, I instead spent the evening on my laptop developing a new feature for the Access database I built for my work that my boss requested as I was walking out the door. So rather than enjoying some forging time, I got to stare …

I'm used to the "your car's warranty is about to expire" calls and our cars both being 17 years old makes them merely amusing. The new ones in Spanish were a switch and good practice; though if they really knew anything about me they might guess that Thomas Powers is not a Mexican name... Now however I just received a robo call warning me that my "Amazon account has been hacked and an expensive purchase has been made on it and contact them immediately by pressing 1" of course not having an Amazon account this seems a bit odd. I'm in IT; I try to do as little online as possible! IFI is my major online presence outside of work.

SLAG, here. I need help from the folks on this forum. The internet advertisements have finally got to me. They are incessant, obtrusive, annoying. Can anyone suggest a good ad blocking 'software' that helps with this problem? I shall be very grateful, and thankfu, for any suggestions. Regards to all. SLAG.

I saw this driving down the highway and had to turn around. I like Halloween for some reason.

Lee Smithson is a miniaturist in Sheffield, England who has created a small-scale model of Mousehole Forge as it stands today (i.e., partially ruined). Very cool work! Since I can't copy and paste photos from Instagram, check out the website: https://www.instagram.com/p/CUVlGMpDyKY/

Hi. Is there a simple way to cut a Ford double bit sidewinder key? This is the kind of key that is cut with what looks like a tiny milling machine with a prod to trace the template key. There is an unlocked x-y slide table whose axis are parallel-perpendicular to the prod-cutter axis. Is a utility cross slide vise accurate enough to act as the cutting table? I have a full blacksmith's shop, including power hammer and strikers, available. I also have fabrication equipment (press, shear, oxy fuel cutter, TIG welder, etc). No mill or lathe. Is this doable?

I saw this old leather cutting machine at an antique shop around 2 weeks ago and a quick Google search showed one for sale on Craigslist and eBay for $400. I realize that is the asking price and doesn't mean it sold for that price but the poster also said similar ones sell for $550-$800. Well I bought it for WAY cheaper than $400 figuring that I could probably double my investment pretty easily, even if I just sold it for $200. But now I'm wondering if I should keep it. Maybe I could make nice sheaths or holsters or who knows what with it. Does anybody know anything about this machine? It's a Champion Model H. Everything turns fine on it. I don't have a lot of extra spa…

Ive recently heard a couple stories about anvils being stolen, First was from a relative of mine, my great uncle, he had an anvil in his backyard mounted on a oak stump an one day someone stopped by who had seen it back there, and asked if he could buy it, He said no he didn’t want to sell it and the guy left, next morning He looked out in the backyard and the gates were open and the anvil was missing! the next story came from a customer of mine who mows for an elderly couple over on the Arkansas Oklahoma border, kinda the same story there was an anvil in a fenced an gated yard, this one had been welded onto a heavy steel stand, an someone came…

Anyone else having trouble with these critters. They are a problem in NW Arkansas for sure. Several years ago they tore up a lot of the yard. Came back a couple of days later and I was able to shoot one before they scattered. It took all day with the tractor to smooth it out. They came back tonight and started rooting again but ran off when the dog started barking. I'll have to take some pictures in the daylight. This is the damage from their first visit.

Hi all, When I walked to my local boy scouts group to guide this afternoon, I walked past an old wrought iron ship anchor at the old harbor, like I always do. But today I thought you might want to see this too. This used to be a booming merchant town throughout the middle ages, and then transitioned into a more fishing oriented town, so it might be an anchor for either of them (I think). some closeups of the forge welds for the two tails, and one to show the grain of the iron. If you have more info feel to share it, or discuss some interesting things. I thought it was quite interesting to have a piece like this near…

My grandfather is going on an Honor Flight to Washington DC in September; he's one of the few Marine survivors of the Battle of Iwo Jima, I new he was young; but I just learned that he signed up for the Marines on his 18th birthday in March and went to basic as soon as he graduated High School in May/June that year. A couple of generations of Marines in our family will be accompanying him.

My daughter recently returned from a trip to Croatia. While there, she went to a Stuffed Frog Museum (that's my daughter!). Evidently, some guy spent half his life stuffing frogs and creating little scenes where these frogs replaced people. She showed me the pictures and it's hilarious. School rooms full of these frogs. Anyway, one of the scenes was a smithy. She knew I'd get a kick out of it.

Well my trip to Seattle was great going out; I picked up my Grandson and their dog fresh in from Okinawa and headed back; got it a couple of hundred miles before stopping for the night yesterday. Then today at lunch time on the road it was time to change out my insulin supply and set. While I was doing that in the Loves parking lot I had a bad insulin crash; unconscious, fell and hit my head, messed up my back and tailbone, seizures. First people who came over thought I was drunk and wanted to take the dog and grandson. He's 12 and managed to tell them it was an insulin reaction and get someone to call 911. (And some folks gave them what for because they didn't help my…

Good morning gentlemen. I have searched the site for an answer to my question without luck. I am sure it is in here among the other 638k forum posts - I just haven't stumbled on it yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am looking for a vendor who can make vinyl decals so I can electro-etch my logo on my knives and blacksmith projects. I have a logo designed and available in .jpg & .png formats - now I just need someone who can print and cut for a reasonable price. I have run into 3 issues in looking locally for someone to do it: #1: Print shops are unable to print a logo in the small size that I would like (as small as 1"x1/2") #2: Affordability…

SinDoc Can anyone rant here? In a bit of a rough patch but I am glad I have been able to get back on here. JoeDirt