ioldanach

Coat hangers are far too heavy. Baling wire is a good idea, though I'd need to find quantities suitable for hobby use, not the mile long wire an actual baler would use. Black annealed rebar wire is a good idea (as opposed to galvanized) though and it can be had at Home Depot for under $6 for 400 feet. Thanks!

I'm still a newbie and haven't tried for a weld, yet, but I've seen discussion and videos where some welds are bundled and tied with wire. What wire is used for that? I'd expect steel fence wire to be galvanized, so I wouldn't want to try that, and I'm not sure MIG wire would qualify as cheap and disposable enough for the task, nor do I know its melting characteristics, but I'm not sure where to look for plain uncoated steel wire. I have the usual selection of Lowes & Home Depot, and there's a Tractor Supply Company nearby, too.

Forwarded from late yesterday: De Frost: Hey all! It's only mid-day but I wanted to send THIS update ASAP. Frosty's doctor appt. went well today. The x-rays of his neck were clear (the neck brace is history!), the CAT scan shows healing/healed of the original injuries and the neurologist has cleared him - no more visits necessary unless something new pops up. I *think* this means we move on to serious rehab.

Forwarded: De Frost: Frosty ate almost 2/3rds of his lunch today ...and even better - seriously - around mid-afternoon, HE WAS HUNGRY AND ASKED FOR A SNACK. I found some pudding ... and he ate the whole thing. Now we are waiting for dinner and he is IMPATIENTLY waiting for it. What a turnaround in 24 hours. More prayers answered. Keep it up! Dinner for Frosty was spaghetti with yellow zucchini and a side of fresh fruit. He didn't *recognize* the spaghetti (couldn't come up with the name) but liked the smell and taste - especially of the meat sauce. He ate nearly half his dinner, which is a good improvement over ANY day yet so a solid step forward.

De Frost: FROSTY SAYS (YES, I DO MEAN "FROSTY SAYS") TO SAY "HI" TO EVERYONE! Oh, my GOD ... as of this morning, although he is still very confused and needs to be reminded over and over - HE IS OUR FROSTY AGAIN! I'M SERIOUS ... there are huge gaps still (expected), but he Frosty is LUCID. Please everyone pray he stays this way. He doesn't remember lots of names, places, etc., he isn't sure what town he's in or what year it is ... but he remembers events leading up to the accident (not the accident itself). He can't stand yet, but that too is normal after a month of bed rest. He KNOWS that he can't remember stuff. He cried when I told him how Libby and Abby had helped me find him. HE HUGGED ME and told me how sorry he was that he must have frightened me so much. Oh God ... prayers DO work. Our Frosty may still have a long road to recovery, but he IS going to recover ... there may be some permanent or at least long-term issues to cope with - but he IS coming BACK!

Forwarding some comments De made on her facebook: De Frost They took Frosty back to surgery again today - this time to replace the feeding tube in his nose (which he just hates anyway) with a better one (safer and not as iritating) in his abdomen. It took a lot longer today than I had been told, so I've been on pins and needles. De Frost Jer is back in his room and seems more comfortable for now. While doing the latest (small) procedure, they discovered that he had aspirated some of his liquid "nutritional drip" into his lungs sometime over the past few days (likely the reason for his labored breathing ). Bad news. But at least they found it and are taking steps to avoid pneumonia. More prayers please! They have him on antibiotics again - and have put him back on all the monitors (breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, etc.). He is still in PCU, which is good. I like their level of attention and people per patient ratio overall better. De Frost I talked to the head neurosurgeon today and he reassured me that there IS some improvement. The initial contusion is resolving slowly and he says the swelling IS subsiding ... it is going to happen slowly, over time. Up and down. Good days and bad. De Frost They have begun bringing up the discussion of where Frosty will need to be transferred to ... next. St. Elias Hospital/Rehab is our "1st choice", I think. My sis Julie and I are going to drive over there (and the 2nd option as well) and check them out in person. The responsiblity for these decisions is heavy. Jer's FUTURE - how he lives it - could hinge on these rehab care choices. De Frost Yes - it is definitely our first option if we can get him in there. 2nd choice isn't bad either though - they do have a good in-patient rehab facility at Providence Hospital. I'm not as comfortable with the 3rd choice, but am not going to "look for trouble" that may never happen. Enough for now.

I thought so, I do that all the time. In other news... I haven't seen any updates since the last one I posted, I hope we get some good news soon. ... I'm pullin' for ya, we're all in this together... - Red Green

None of the posts & replies in this thread are that old, it only started 10-02-2009, 08:50 PM, I think you're looking in the wrong spot for the posting dates? The situation is exactly as it appears, Frosty has a head injury and more and is in the hospital.

Passed along from another list... (Timestamp was Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 4:01 AM with no timezone given, so I believe the below refers to 11:20PM Sunday) ... At 11:20 PM, Alaska Time, my Frosty stirred, turned his head side to side ... and asked for WATER! I said his name and he turned his head towards me and when I asked him to squeeze my hand, he DID! I've been waiting for this moment for the longest six days of my life. I know there is likely a long road ahead ... but he LOOKED at me and I am fairly sure he knew me. Not positive, but fairly sure. We'll know tomorrow. As soon as he fell asleep again, the nurse made me promise to come straight up and to bed - she says I most likely won't get much sleep starting tomorrow. ... he squeezed my hand and looked at me. More tomorrow, as soon as I can. They promised to call and wake me up if he asks for me or needs me during the night. Love and many prayers - please keep them coming! -Deb (De Frost)

All good things, classes do take few tries to properly evolve. And I know all about the surprise space, I had plenty of details from Rosamund next door. When I say clasp, I mean some sort of appropriate closure for the front. Obviously, the mastermyr find had only a front plate with a slot for a lock, and no matching part for the top, so we don't know how its closure worked. And even if we did, it seems likely that it would be far too complicated for a class to build in just a few hours. But perhaps there's something that was used in period that could be constructed in that time, like a simple hasp closure, which would involve making a strap with a barrel hinge in it, two nail holes and a long hole on the other end and a matching strap with a loop on it to go through the long hole.

For next year, I'd refine the hinge class. I think you can have 4 people working that class if you have 2 anvils and 2 students per anvil. Also need to prompt the students to be checking their iron as soon as the other student on their anvil puts it back in the forge, there was quite a bit of idle time as students were chatting instead of watching their iron, that could've sped up the class a bit. After all, when I jumped in it took what, an hour and a half for me to catch up to where everyone else was in 3 and a half hours? That's not due to my skill (since, well, I'm a beginner and don't really have much yet) it was just due to my constantly swapping iron in and out of the forge to try and speed along to catch up. As for class suggestions, I'd love to see a clasp that would go with the hinge we made, but I don't know if it'd be possible to fit that into a 3 hour window. You might consider a 3-day series, making the two hinges and then making a clasp to go with it. - Ioldanach / Brochfael / Jeff

Actually, they both look moderately simple, though the trimmed mig tip might be simpler than the puncture of the feed tube. I'm not sure what the modification to the compression fitting is though, I'll be interested to see your directions. Fortunately, we're talking about two items that each have a fairly small parts cost, so making both and comparing the two should be trivial, compared to some of the other things I need to do to get going. And, well, if I didn't like making things I wouldn't be here. Ah, didn't catch that. I have a friend who lives up in Alaska but we've never gone to visit her.

Ok, thanks. I was looking at making this burner. Will you be at Metalsmiths Symposium VIII?

I just put a join request up with EKmetalsmiths, since you mentioned it, I hadn't known where to look for that. I've run into Phlip but don't know her well. Good to know, I'll stop by my local heating place in the morning and chat with them. I see one of the blueprints entries has a plan for a burner, I think I'll try making that. I should have all the necessary tools for it on hand already. Except perhaps the proper drill bit sizes and some oil for the metal drilling. I do have a floor standing machinist's drill press that should make short work of the holes.

I took some blacksmithing classes from Drogo & friends at Pennsic last week and got hooked on iron. Now I'm looking for sources to put together a simple forge and next time I'm up in Albany I'll be picking up an apron, gloves, and anvil shaped object from harbor freight to start off with. But I need some local sources for firebrick and/or durablanket and the appropriate coatings. I'll need to decide if I want to build a burner or buy a premade one, but other than that I think I have the space I need to set something up outside. I also need local sources for raw materials in the vicinity of Newburgh/Middletown.