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Starretts are good, I've been using Starrett instrumentation since Dad's shop was in the garage and was the only Jr. Hi kid with his own mic in metal shop 101. Unfortunately that gave the instructor the impression I actually knew how to USE a machine shop. <sigh> Frosty The Lucky.
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Is this slag?
Frosty replied to Ridgeway Forge Studio's topic in Smelting, Melting, Foundry, and Casting
Looks like it could be. Perhaps they got tired of big piles of slag, ash, etc. at the bloomery and hauled it off a ways to dump. It might have fallen off the wagon too. You can use a compass to see if it effects the needle. It might make an attractive fireplace or masonry forge, I like shiny black. Frosty The Lucky. -
There's a few Starrett in there. I am such a die hard tool collector. I really don't need a contour marker but I used these things in the old days. And it was flee market cheap.
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Calipers and dividers are really handy. I have one small and one large compass fitted with sharpened tig tungstens for marking steel without dyechem or paint. Maybe one of these days I'll get a chance to hit a large conference and ogle the goods. It's not like Deb would let me put much extra in her RV but a boy can dream. <sigh> Frosty The Lucky.
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Those calipers and dividers often have good resale value. I once got a big box of these from a Facebook Marketplace listing, and they did very well on my tailgating table at Quad-State.
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I live in the Catoctin mountains in Maryland, which was historically a very big charcoal and iron producing region. hiking behind my house, I found this rock. To my knowledge there was no iron production on my property, but this piece of “rock” looks suspiciously like slag, which leads me to think iron used to be produced very near where my blacksmith shop is currently.
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What did you do in the shop today?
Frosty replied to Mark Ling's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
I feel for you. I don't recall who said it, maybe Hal Clemens or Wiley Post or? To paraphrase, "Every man should own a dog so he knows what it's like to be a god. He should also own a cat to know he isn't." Frosty The Lucky. - Today
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The one with all the sliding pins that lets you copy a contour by pressing it onto it. Mine is IIRC 4" maybe more. Dandy handy tools. Nothing wrong with showing the gang a rich booty of calipers, I use them frequently enough to appreciate the different sizes in my tool box. Frosty The Lucky.
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Side tracks are fun, though I have never allowed myself to indulge in them.
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Not in the day! Happily you and I are too old for the job. I'm a real fan of Wessex archeology, they have a LOT of very interesting pages and topics. One I've been following lately is Ancientcraft UK by Dr. James Dilley. Among many subjects he discusses he's a professional flint knapper and an excellent teacher. He's easier to learn the craft from than many other knappers with videos up. Sorry for the side track. Thanks for the link Scott, I LOVE this kind of stuff. Frosty The Lucky.
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What curve-o-mark do you speak of? They made a lot of things. Yep, it's a modest score but go price a new one... It does take the thinking and mathematics out of things and is in my mind just another tool. I should have left the calipers out of the picture. Live and learn.
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I love it when you let your Geologist self come out and play George. Having to collect my own coal is the main reason I burn propane. I am looking at the Talkeetna mountains out the living room window a range of coal seams 200 miles+/- wide 400 long and -2,000 to+ 4,000 elevation on average. It's about a 45 minute drive to decommissioned strip mines but remembering which side of which ditch is metallurgical coal and which is one of several other kinds of heating coal left me years ago. I can't even find my old collecting ditch. The coal being mined near Healy is virtually all going to China and only a very limited supply of so-so stove coal is being sold by the sack here. It gripes me to have world class smithing coal visible that I can't access without mounting an expedition to collect enough to be worth it which unfortunately violates the agreement by which private citizens can collect coal for personal use. <sigh> Nice if modest score Scott. I love my curve-o-mark even though I don't need it very often. When I do though! I don't know what it is about calipers but I see them in pawn and second hand shops all the time by the bin full and when I go garage, yard, etc. saling they're everywhere. Frosty The Lucky.
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I would not want to be the one to scrape out the ash pit. https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/news/excavations-sheffield-castle-heat-19th-century-steel-working-discoveries
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The flee market is a cheap form of entertainment. I got 2 gold pans, calipers/dividers, a folding skeleton key and a nice curve-o-mark contour marker. Less than the cost in gas for getting there.
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What did you do in the shop today?
JHCC replied to Mark Ling's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
That's the great thing about iteration: when you push yourself to make each new version better than the one before, not only is that new version an improvement on the previous one, but your skills and perceptions are getting better as well. This in turn prepares you to make the next version better, and the one after that, and the one after that. Eventually, you'll find that those incremental improvements have resulted not only in better finished objects, but greater ability on your part. -
What did you do in the shop today?
GhostTownForge replied to Mark Ling's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
I agree. There are definitely things I can improve -
BackyardBlacksmith joined the community
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Hurrican Ida Stole My Church's Sign
taylorJ replied to Purple Bullet's topic in Metal Sculpture & Carvings
Very nice work! well done! -
taylorJ joined the community
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What did you do in the shop today?
Nobody Special replied to Mark Ling's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
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Clinker is an independent variable from other characteristics of coals because it is a function of how much outside sediment was deposited in the coal swamp along with the plant debris. You can have a very low BTU value brown coal (one step above peat) or lignite which has little clinker and you can have a very dirty (clinkery) anthracite. Agglomeration (coking) is a different variable which depends on the geologic history of the coal after it was deposited. Coals often get mined because of one particular quality being desirable for a particular usage. For example, the western sub-bituminous coals which are mined in large quantities in Wyoming and Montana, mostly for use in power plants, is known as EPA (Environmental Protection Act) coal because it is low sulphur coal. It is lower in BTU contenet than the bituminous coals of the mid-continent or Appalachia but the low sulphur content means that it can be burned without using expensive scrubbers to remove the S02 from the exhaust gases. This needs to be done to minimize acid rain down wind from the power plant. So, millions of tons of coal is mined in the Western US and shipped to power plants in places like Texas or Iowa even though there are closer coal deposits because it makes compliance with the EPA cheaper. So, there is no "true coal." Everything is a trade off of different variables. There are good coals for blacksmithing (harder to find these days) which have a good balance of heat value, coking ability, low impurities (clinker), and, of course, reasonable price. Most of us have to settle for what we can find in our area and can afford. There are occurences of natural coke. There is a place in Western Colorado where a coal bed is cross cut by a later igneous dike. Of course, close to the hot igneous magma the coal is burnt up but there is a zone further out where the heat baked the coal and formed natural coke. I don't think it is mined any longer but was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And, yes, you can see my old geologist background showing through. I once almost worked for Peabody Coal. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."
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What did you do in the shop today?
George N. M. replied to Mark Ling's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
Definite improvement. It can be surprising how much some finish work can improve a project. one suggestion: For the next iteration I suggest drawing out the ends of the X and turning them up 90 degrees to avoid the possibility of a pot sliding off the edge. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." -
BB4 joined the community
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JLP Blacksmith Teaching Center.
jlpservicesinc replied to jlpservicesinc's topic in Building, Designing a Shop
Well it's been some time since an update.. Been busying with other things in an attempt to get caught up some with other things on the list. Hikerjohnson came down last weekend for some course instruction on an upcoming class he is assisting with. While here he mentioned that I might really want to look into pallet racks and to do it sooner than later.. I asked him how he was stack the shelves I have and he laughed and said he would not recommend it.. I've picked up several new to me pieces of equipment of note was a "Cincinnati Monoset Tool Grinder". This is a very good tool grinder. It started when I wanted to use the pantograph thinking I had bits and I did not have the right sized ones.. So I went online to look for a tool sharpener for the pantographs.. Deckel SO were in the 2-4K range.. I then searched FB market place and this grinder I had seen at 3k and dismissed it. When I looked again it was half that. I spent about 40hrs cleaning it and the work holder drive motor. Ordered some of the missing parts.. Today was the first time running the machine and I have a lot to learn. Worked on sharpening this drill bit that had nearly 3/8" off of one side. I then tried to split point it. Lots to learn. -
I’m with you, even low quality coal (if it is) at zero cost beats hard to get smithing coal…
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It followed me home
NoGoodWithUsernames replied to Glenn's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
I had read of anthracite being cleaner coal but I think perhaps that was specifically the smoke. I will use it up and at some point make the hour and a bit drive to Loomis and get some good coal from John McLellan. But this was free and it will burn! -
Depends on the anthracite and you're ability to manage the fire. Charcoal is much cleaner in general and bituminous cokes more easily but isn't necessarily clean or lower clinker. The ONLY way you can tell if you have a load of anthracite you can use is to build a fire and learn how to manage THAT load. Coal that is half clinker weighs significantly more density wise because of the carbon goodness that was replaced with mineral dirt badness. The anthracite we were collecting at the old Jonesville mines burned more cleanly than the store bought "smithing" coal available at the time and. Frosty The Lucky.