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Reidster

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Everything posted by Reidster

  1. As all - I was shocked and saddened by the sudden loss of Grant Sarver. I have read all of the prayers here and there are and will continue to be great memories and stories about him. I had several discussions with him regarding some hammers he had made some time ago that I was able to pick up unknowingly they were of his origin and handiwork. It will be a great tribute to him when those that gained from his knowledge and wisdom speak of him in terms of the likes of many passed masters of the craft - Whitaker, Habberman, Yellin et al. May his knowledge and wisdom be passed on to those that seek. May your welds will now always be perfect and your forge will never be cold - forge on my friend. My anvil will ring for you.
  2. I am planning a trip next week to south west Colorado for a week with my mother who has stage IV lung cancer as part of her bucket list wishes. I was wondering if there are any interesting smithing sites that should be noted for possible stops. I have never been to Colorado and want to make the most of this trip with her. If any of you know of good smithing type sites I should want to visit - please let me know. We will be headed towards Albuquerque and was thinking of dropping by to see Frank Turley just to meet him. I also may be going thru Carbondale - are there any of Whittakers works/sites in that area?
  3. I finally got to upload the 2010 ABANA Conf pics I took. Alot of the gallery stuff, some good photos of folks and then finally everything else - tailgaters, demonstrators etc. Hopefully this link will work. I hope everybody enjoyed as much as I did. Sad thing about it though - it had to end. Looking forward to next one. ABANA 2010 Photos on Webshots
  4. Nice photos there Monster Metal. I attended the action and I think the gavel went for $70. They placed it right after the first items auctioned - several pieces of Francis Whitakers that went high but not high enough IMO. The conference was definitely hot and being my first one I have nothing major to compare it to in terms of attendance - I heard there was about 1000 people there however. Seemed to be alot of first timers, myself included. I was impressed by the high price the lock that Tom Latane and crew crafted for the auction - somewhere around $21,000 I believe. Learned a little, met alot of nice and new people and took a few pictures. I hope to upload Monday when I get more bandwidth available.
  5. is exploring the new and improved IFI

  6. Well the good news is that grandmother is doing fine now, bad news is - her son, my father, passed away peacefully with his family by his side last Friday afternoon. I know now that he is at peace and comfortable without pain. It was very hard for all of us, but he is truly in a better place now and will be missed terribly. I want to thank all of you for the prayers and thoughts you provided throughout this whole ordeal. Even those that did not post, I know your thoughts were with us. Without such - this would have been much harder I am sure. Thank you to a great bunch of folks. If there is a chance you all could "ring the anvil" for my father in your spare time I know he would appreciate it and be watching over all from that mighty paradise he now rests. Many blessings, Reid
  7. I started with 3/4" sq about 6" long. I overlapped splits by 1/2" - I think one cut was 3 1/2" and the other was 3". I used a small cross pein along the lenght axis to texture on both sides and it came out pretty well I think for a newby. Oh yeah - I also had to "trim" about 1" for three of the longer legs to get proper looking geometry. I think I figured the width should be about what the long leg legth is measured from center and the top portion should be about 1/2 the width. I cheated and drilled and tapped the end using 10-24 tap and bolted the base on. I hammered the edge of the base for texturing as well as marbled if you will by leting the base scale up 3-4 times. Applied several coats of boiled linseed oil to warm parts for finish. I made this piece as a gift to my mother and her husband as they are both really ill right now and thought this would provide some spritual motivation for them both.
  8. Nice looking work there. How big are those and what sized stock did you start with? There should be photos attached at myy first attempt to a cross similar to this.
  9. I normally do not venture into this particular topic as life just seems to be whirling away until here recently. You see my mother who just married her high school sweetheart after being apart for 45 years has just found out she has stage IV lung cancer - not good. To top it all off, just 2 1/2 months after they married this past Aug - her husband (which turns out to be my real biological father by the way FWIW) has developed some serious lung and heart problems and is laying up in ICU in Lexingtons Central Baptist. Too complicate matters even further - his mother (now my grandmother - who is a 95 years old and a real fireball pistol) had to be admited to the same hospital on the same floor. My mother is doing well for what she has gone thru (5 sessions of chemo and still holding strong and making progress), father is holding his own but has been medically paralized and is on mechanical ventilator - does not look good but we are hopeful. Poor old granny is just dehydrated - I think she will outlive us all!! The good news I suppose is that I was layed off from last job about a month ago and can come up to Ky to assist them. Any thoughts and prayers we can get for a speedy recovery for mother, father and grandmother would be sincerely appriciated.
  10. Jerry, My heart goes out to you and the rest of your family. This is near and dear to me as I too live in Pulaski. The loss of of your loved ones has been tragic in the community that normally is a sleepy little town. You have my heart felt sympathy for you and especially your sister. If there is anything we can do please let us know. Sincerely, Reid
  11. While I am not an experienced blacksmith I have been bitten by the bug for well over a year now and have spent many hours studying and practicing the craft. I must say the Alex Bealers "The Art of Blacksmithing" has proven to be an excellent book for me. It was one of the first books of several that I have purchased, borrowed,etc. I think it should be part of any blacksmiths library and wouldn't hesitate to guess that many wouldn't agree with me. BTW - I am currently awaiting delivery of George Dixons "A Blacksmiths Craft" Vol I as my birthday gift from my lovely wife.
  12. I too have an "outside" shop and cover my anvil first with a worn out demin shop apron and then two heavy duty garbage bags. No rust at all...I sometimes wipe the anvil down with motor oil or linseed oil and sop up the excess.
  13. I came across a Hofi style 800 gram hammer the other day at a local flea market. Paid $10 for it. The handle has been reized for a small hand and I will try to post a photo of it. It is marked OCP 800g. Question:from where did this hammer originate-I was thinking Off Center Products maybe?
  14. You will find now that you have been "bitten" by the bug you will come home with alot more stuff that you did before. I always am digging for old tongs, pincers, hammers of all sorts, and of course anything that appears to have been hand crafted by a smith. Take your time and dig in those obscure buckets off to the side. I came across a Hofi style hammer last weekend for $10...nice smaller hammer - 800 gram.
  15. I am inspired by all that have been mentioned, but one that I have not seen is Alex Bealer. My first blacksmith book The Art of Blacksmithing is truly a fine read and explains a lot of the origins and history of the art. There are also alot of great guys in the Athens Forge of Alabama Forge Council that I respect alot and it is their works that I see the most in person and they always inspire me to become better.
  16. I found this GW (?) Yost bench vise at the scrap yard yesterday. It is a 4" vise and is marked 104 GW Yost, Meadville PA...works great and appears mostly unmolested. Price - $5. Best tool found so far at local junk yard.
  17. I have found my way onto the IForgeIron website and I must say "wow - what a good bunch of talent here". Being somewhat of a newbie to smithing - having gotten bitten by the bug only a year ago - I have managed to procure two old wrought anvils - one a very well used Wilkinson, the other of unknown origin but in much better shape. I have also built a propane forge using an old freon tank that works quite well I must add. My first real project was a set of tongs that a fellow smithy showed how to forge one pc on and I finished the rest. Have done some s-hooks, j-hooks, drawing out and pointing and just about finished with a coat rack project using some twisting. Now considering the best possible coal forge design after picking up a Laurel Machine Works firepot at the Alabama Forge Conf meet a few weeks ago. I am a proud member of the Athens forge group of AFC and have learned a lot from those guys.
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