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Pedro - thanks! We are very happy to live in the mountains. The wildlife is incredible here. Billy- that’s special. Hummingbirds never cease to amaze me and fascinate me.

I have related this before, but i used to have a house with an enclosed porch. One evening i came home and there was a hummingbird in one of the windows. I put one hand under it and another over it real careful like, so i could get it out side. I have held a hummingbird in my hands, kind of of a special memory for me.

Nice hook and nice view Ridgeway

Failure 4.0. So, this time I put parting powder on the drag before adding the pattern and cores...big mistake. When I pulled the pattern after ramming the top, I got it a little bit off to one side, which meant the sand cores (i.e. the negative space) ended up where walls are supposed to go. If I had waited on the parting powder, that would have been immediately obvious and fixable. Whoops. Also, because where the backside walls existed at all they were maybe 1/8" thick if not less, I got heat tears in them. That said, the rest came out decent - risers worked well, very minor divot on the brace in the middle from shrinkage. Better, but still no cigar. Also, the bloody dogs tore into and were eating my lump charcoal. Sigh...

Continuing my series of “shop projects with forged wingnuts”, I made a punch holder based on Carl West’s at Prospect Hill Forge. This is basically an eyebolt inside a piece of pipe, with a wingnut to tighten it against the tool. This holds tool shanks from 13/16”: Down to 1/4”: The inboard side of the wingnut is domed so that it centers itself in the end of the pipe as it’s tightened:

Well, I was about done for the night after 15 heats and I was very close to dimension, when I went out of square… I’m now done for the night after 21 heats total: It’s pretty close to square, but it’s 1/4” off my target size. I guess, I need to take a few more heat to upset it again… and keep it square! Keep it fun, David

Today I got to play in the forge to cross an item off of my honey-do list. just a simple S Hook to help attract the hummingbirds!

Unless you mean a bomb that only attacks speakers of hybrid languages, I think you mean “pigeon-guided”!

Frosty, it was to get away. Those rascals sting. We all had plenty of bruises from them.

There are probably remains of the Japanese balloon bombs scattered all over the American and Canadian west. Some of them made it to the Midwest. IIRC one was found in Wyoming some years ago. Even after all this time I would not mess with one. Military explosives and detonators can last a long time, e.g. WW1 stuff in France. I would not like to go down in history as the last casualty of WW2. GNM

All the force will be in the shear between the steel and wood so I'd think screwed and epoxied would do it, say a staggered pattern every couple three inches. Of course an aluminum disk that bolts to the bearing and the "pipe" clutch drum would be lighter and stronger but use lots of machine screws. Of course bolting a steel clutch drum and hub to an aluminum wheel could cause electrolysis issues but manufacturers have been doing that for better than a century so it's just a little research. How about casting an aluminum unit? It'll still need a steal clutch surface but. . . Hmmmm. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm certified for basic machining so I can get to pretty tight tolerances. I'll scrap entertaining my brake rotor plans. That's a good idea with the pipe. I'll see if any fab shops have any. How do you suggest I secure the pipe to the wood?

An automotive clutch and pressure plate are designed for the job and have a lot more surface area than brake rotors. Making a wooden pully with a steel pipe clutch surface on the inside would be pretty easy. It could be pretty light walled pipe or see if there's a shop that can roll one from say 10ga. Then fit it to the inside of a wooden pully thingy. Or just fab up a replacement, balancing it might be a trick. How are you at precision work? Frosty The Lucky.

Every now and then someone finds the remains of one of the "Fu-Go" balloon bombs Japan launched during WWII. Of the 9,000+ launched only one did real damage 6 dead, 5 children on a picnic in Oregon. I believe the US military experimented with flea and mosquito bombs hoping for a biological weapon too. The pidgin guided bomb was another classic brainstorm. Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks for the cleaning tip, Frosty. I'll send some more pictures of it. I cannot find a manual for it anywhere. The latge wheel spins free and contact is made when the clutch moves outward like a brake drum. Or so I can gather. It's an 11 inch cast wheel. You were right about the striking force. I misspoke lol. The ram Is closer to 35 lbs but it hist like a 50 lber. Thats what gave the star hammer the bragging right. I have a few ideas for the clutch. 1. Use 2 break rotors to make contact. There is a guy on the internet who did it this way and it seemed to work well. 2. Use a tire like with a tire hammer. 3. Use the original clutch/break system to contact a steel tire rim. 4. This was not my idea. I talked to the guy over at Little Giant and he suggested I make a maple hub and use the old clutch to make contact. It seems like a great idea. I may make a steel band to go around it to keep it from potentially splitting over time. 4 seems like the best route to go tbf. I was skeptical at first because it's wood and wood and metal usually don't mix the best mechanical. HOWEVER contact is only being made from the inside. Wood on wood. This seems to be the cheapest option.

I think dunkleosteous ate everything smaller and starved out. A new challenge? A blacksmith tooth extractor. EZ PZ, one pair of Cestus coming up and both molars, bicuspids, incisors and . . . and oh heck, all of them coming out! Frosty The Lucky.

Haha. Love it. …Next blacksmith challenge? Tooth extractor. Molar or bicuspid, your choice.

I don't know. I'm sorry I mentioned those pedal subs. They had many schemes, flea infested planes launched from submarines: "Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night was a Japanese plan to wage biological warfare against cities in Southern California, in retaliation for the U.S. firebombing of Japanese cities, which killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians. The Japanese plan called for using aircraft launched from I-400-class submarines to drop “bombs” containing millions of plague-infested fleas."

Forging knocks Scotty out…

Thanks everyone, I will definitely do more was really fun to make. Finally got some forging in. A handle for my chicken coop door and a little flux spoon or whatever. Thanks for looking.

Dunkleosteus didn't do so well well when the small fry died out.

Five USN sailors were killed on the Housatonic, to the eight Confederates killed in the (final) sinking of the Hunley. I don’t know about pedal-powered craft, but the Japanese Kaiten manned torpedoes (which had propellant similar to conventional torpedoes) sunk three vessels with a combined loss of 187 USN sailors.

It makes it easier to glide through life if you have good looks and wear golfing attire to the supermarket to buy a can of beans. It applies to many things. The guy holding her head almost looks like a pig. I wasn't going to mention that but.....

That makes sense. In truth attractive people tend to be in better health, more prosperous and in general a better candidate for producing healthy strong children. Physical beauty is preferred mating material in the higher animals. It's a good and documentable example of selective breeding and evolution. Where it can break down is when popular notions taint the selection process such as. A plump person says prosperous enough to have more food than necessary to survive. Where it goes bad is when over eating and gross obesity becomes glamorous. Henry 8 being a good example, he gorged regularly to maintain his Kingly image. Frosty The Lucky.

The CSS Hunley sank 3 times for a total of 21 fatalities, including the designer Mr. Hunley himself. She did however sink the USS. Housatonic though I don't recall how many US sailors died with her. Frosty The Lucky.