Everything Else

I have hickory trees all over my property and now I have a bazillion hickory nuts all over my property. Does anybody know of a good way to shell hickory nuts? For those who have not seen a hickory nut, it looks, and tastes, very much like a walnut but about 1/3 smaller. :lol:

I proved that a light burns brightest before it burns out. I got the bright idea to go down in my recently bricked up water meter pit and free up the shut off valve. The cut out in the cement floor is about 18 inches square and the pit is about 7 feet deep and 3 ft diameter inside. I have the cutting table off the chop saw down in the hole as a ladder. but it is narrower than my size 14 shoes. I sat down on the edge of the hole and felt for the ladder with my foot. thought I had the step located with my foot and kinda slid off the floor. Whoops foot pushed improvised ladder over and down goes a one-eyed, elderly, portly fat old blacksmith down into the void. A …

bought three nice 2x8 whet stones ( oil stones ) for knife sharpening the other day at a farm auction. Can anyone tell me the best way to get the dirty junk off of them. Looks like they were in the guys blacksmith shop for years. Thanks for any advice

Hello. Last week my parents gave me the OK to start brewing mead. I may be 6 years too young to legally drink it, but my parents have let me have my share of manischewitz, and grappa over the years, and are fine with it, so long as I don't sell it or give it away to minors or drink it on non-special occasions. So far it tastes great, it's an improvised apple-cinnamon recipe. :D

Hi folks, I've posted a few times about my plans for travelling, and the idea of putting a whole new slant on what a 'Journeyman' Smith is.... My gratitude to all the folks who posted replies to my earlier messages. Time for an update methinks My ticket has been bought, and on the 26th of September 2005 yours truly, his (hopefully) faithfull old jalopy and an even older kit bag will board the Ferry from Hull in East Yorkshire (U.K.) and about 12 hours later will land on the mainland of Europe in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. So it begins.........and the clock is ticking :shock: From there my route should be a skip across the top of Germany and into Denmark. …

A job well done is due to the individual who has done the drawings dealing with Tinker's "World Tour". It is a great addition to the website! peyton

Folks, I've been asked to build railing for the local library (exterior and interior). I've been to the site and taken measurements. We (Council member, Librarian and myself ) have agreed on material and what we think is height and construction friendly. If any of you have experience with the Americans with Disabilities Act, please tell me where I may access information regarding codes pertaining to it. All it takes is one idiot visiting for a weekend to ruin my day. I build strong and faithful. This is a simple pipe rail with 2 posts and one top rail/one center rail. the unit is then installed with 1/2" drop in cement anchors. 1 1/4" sch 40 pipe will be bent for…

Had a real bad fly problem this summer in the shop, hundreds if not thousands. I remembered seeing and asking about the bag of water hanging from the wall at the local watering hole, they said it was to get rid of the flies. Well the skeptic that Iam I didn't give it much credit at the time. I never did figure out what they were after but they didn't stick around long after I hung a large zip lock bag half full of water above the anvil and one by the slider on the shop. Almost all were gone by the next day.

hello! I have no idea whether any of you chaps are Jewish too, but anyways, tommorow is Rosh Hashannah, happy new year!! :D

I am going to Frank Turley's blacksmithing school in Santa Fe in two weeks. We will be traveling from Northeast Louisiana through Texas. The school will last three weeks so we are pulling our camper with our 3/4 ton deisel truck and only get about 10 miles to the gallon. I know- we are not going to be very eco friendly but I could not ask my husband to sit in a hotel room for three weeks while I play in the fire. Besides, this way he might have supper cooked when I get home from school :roll: I am worried we may have trouble finding fuel. Could some of you folks in Texas tell me if you are having any trouble getting diesel? I know I am going to pay through the nos…

Katrina is over and the rebuilding and recovery is about to start, we need to celebrate all our friends coming thru it with no real injuries to their person. Best way I know is to have something enjoyable like a humor party. So I will kick it off with a few of my favorite one liner quips about intelligence, I am sure with all the quick witted people we have they will surely have some good ones. 1. The lights on but, nobody is home. 2. A few straws short of a load. 3. Playing with a deck of Jokers. 4. A few Cards short of a full deck. 5. 3 sandwiches short of a one man picnic. 6. A victim of cranial- rectal Inversion. 7. They were at recess when the Gen…

In this time of Crisis I went home frustrated yesterday at the stupidity of Mankind, and taped to the front door was a omnious piece of white plastic. Upon further investigation I discovered that it was indeed a preggy test... With two stripes in the indicator. When I revealed my ignorance of such omens to the DG she laughed and stated,"Well silly, it means I'm Pregnant!" Oh what power That statement has. I was completely pole axed....Now I know GOD has definately got a sense of humor! BTW my first born turns 1 yr old the 5th of this month :shock: Ya'll becareful out there now. Also be careful of how much good smelly stuff you apply after cleaning up, It Always Leads to…

I am new to this forum, and to blacksmithing. I am starting to buy everything I need, and I lucked out by finding an anvil in Maine for a great deal. Then I thought of something that could get in the way... I live in Worcester, MA and I was planning on buying a "portable" forge and forging outside and then disassembling everything when I am done and keeping it in the shed or under the deck. Does anyone know if it is legal to have a forge outside in Massachusetts? This will obviously be on my property, and is in a suburban area. Anyone have any information on this? -Justin

Well we are leaving for Houston on Monday. Hope we get some usable info from MD ANderson. In any case will be nice to get some good food again other than what we make ourselves. Yall be good while I am gone. As it is I hope we can get net access via Dawn's laptop.

Greetings All, A brief announcement. May be old hat to some, but news to others Within the next two months I'll be packing up my troubles in an old kit bag and setting out on the daftest trip since columbus went looking for India. This is a globe trotting expedition to seek out strange new Smiths, to boldly go where no smith has gone before...hang on thats the wrong show :oops: I'm actually going to travel as much of the world as I can, within my meager resources, and am throwing the door open to you guys and gals for places of interest, or indeed people of interest, (iron pounders preferred, hobby or pro) that I might be able to find along t…

Has anyone made any plans for the Paw Paw Wilson Memorial toast/ceremony at Quad State that has been talked about here & the other sites :?: Flying to Chicago this afternoon, #1 son is graduating from Great Lakes Navy boot camp in the morning. :D

Going to the grocery store this afternoon My wife and I were rear ended by some druged out stupid cow. Kinda screwed up our new car , we are pretty much ok, a little whiplash is all, getting stiff and sore now that the adreneline is wearing off. Really sucks, first time in my life I have a nice new vehicle (read less than 10 years old ) some dumb druggie ding bat (word changed) smashes it. Well at least she is in jail tonight, and thank goodness we were driving a 2002 Subaru Legacy wagon. If we would have been in our old car, we would probably be in the hospital right now. Good thing too that I carry way too much insurance, because guess what, she has none, xxxx she…

It looks as if Dawn and I will be in Huston in about 2 weeks. I will be going to some cancer treatment place there. They are supposed to be the bee's knees Not sure how long we will be there. anyone who may want to visit a bit let me know.

Any of you folks ever had extra springs installed in your pickup truck so you don't have to worry about such heavy loads? I'm considering it. My suspension is shot. Too many loads of bricks and mulch in a half-ton pickup. The truck is paid for, only 90K miles, looks great, runs like a top, and worth TONS more to me than it is on paper. It just can't handle much more than a gallon of milk as a cargo anymore. Just curious. :?:

THE 4TH OF JULY Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, bu…

Hello: Due to my wife's surgery I will be off the wire as of 0500 hrs local time July 11. So if I up and disappear for a while you all know why. Take care. JPH

Web link page I'm somewhat of a space nut, and this seems pretty interesting.

I just signed on here a couple days ago and haven't had the chance to post much so far. I recognize a lot of names here from the old Keenjunk forum, as well as a lot of the other blacksmith and bladesmith www hang-outs. It looks like a great site, and I'm about caught up on reading all of the old posts. Anybody here from the East Tennessee area?

Hello there, or 'Ow do?' as we say round here :wink: I recognise a few names, & hope there isn't too much groaning I'm a kind of foundryman, in as much as I cast molten metal. Well, to be honest its silver, although I'm looking at maybe doing some larger sand casted pieces in Aluminium...i've 'found' Gingery. I'm also genuinely interested in blacksmithing (but REALLY haven't the space, for the gear or for peace from the neighbours) and am a bit of a scrap hound in my spare time. Hope I can ask you folks some questions..... I sniffed out an air blower, what I think is a squirrel cage type. The 'cage' is made by Airflow Developements Ltd the motor by Brook Cr…

A local neighbor boy picked up an aluminum boat, trailer and motor but the boat has a crack about 3 inches long near the top of the transom and 6 small holes in the hull near the water line. He asked me what to do and I said J-B Weld but he has gotten some other advice to weld up everything. Anyone have experience in fixing alum flotation devices? Thanks for any help...Hollis