jmeineke

Looks like the're coming out of the woodwork. This one is "only" $400, but heck it's a steal since the same one is going for $700 on eBay, right? http://columbus.craigslist.org/atq/2460067485.html

Wonder if this is a case of, "Wow, this is really old, really heavy and I've never seen one before - it must be worth a fortune"?

Peter Wright Post vise for a mere $1850! http://columbus.craigslist.org/tls/2466966982.html. Wonder how long it will last at that price?? :blink:

Probably the same complications of receiving any other goods that may or may not be stolen. From what I understand - and this may vary from state to state - If you receive stolen goods, knowingly or unknowingly, you are liable. Doesn't seem fair in the case of an innocent purchase where you are trusting the seller is on the up-and-up, but that's the way it goes. In any case, you either have to assume the seller is telling the truth and go ahead and buy it or just walk away. There have been times that I've been suspicious and have flat-out asked seller (politely) if something was stolen. Morally I think that's about all you can do.

How about 1/2" mild steel plate for the mailbox. Weld up 3 or 4 truck coil springs end to end you should have a nice baseball-bat resistant mailbox that'll bounce right back

Gotta love it when a question or a conversation turns into "stuff". I had a similar thing happen when I was talking to my dad about post vises. His ear perked up and to my surprise he had one laying under his porch in the back yard that he happily gave to me. Maybe next time i'm in town I'll ask about power hammers

Just picked this up tonight for 10 bucks - couldn't resist. It's a similar to the belt driven wood lathe my dad gave me. Pretty cool.

from http://ladybethany.tripod.com/CASTING.HTM Plaster can work much the same as soapstone. Find a suitable mold to pour slabs of plaster (I use travel size baby wipes boxes and then cut the plaster in half). Once it is dry, sand the faces smooth and carve your design, spure and air vents. Before you pour the pewter, make sure that the plaster is completely dry (3 to 7 days and low humidity or some time in a food dehydrator) or the moisture in the plaster will expand when the pewter heats it and cause your mold to explode and/or pewter to spit back up and out of the mold. Plaster molds get hot when casting, so only cast 5 or 6 items in a row before you let the mold cool. The mold can be reused 20 to 50 times depending upon the original detail and how fast the plaster degrades. Good luck!

I'm very sorry to hear that. May God grant eternal rest to his soul and send forth His peace and comfort on his family and friends.

Very, very cool. Nice work.

I had heard that the debris field extended 70 miles from the city - to me that's just unimaginable. I was thinking about them this afternoon while I was leaving work and said a quick prayer for all the victims. They are definitely on my list.

Thanks, Beth & Mark It's not a wicked-cool dragon head or a RR Spike Bottle opener, but it's a sculpture and it's metal so I thought I'd share ;)

Thanks, Ward. It's fused. I half-lapped the joints like in the picture below and and then used peices of copper wire as filler (I cut small pieces and put them over the slits where the joints didn't quite fit up). I then added some borax for flux, heated the whole thing up with a plumbers torch to red hot and then fused the joints with a mapp / oxy torch. I had to flip it and do the other side the same way. The last copper project I worked on (a heart for a gal who wanted to give a gift to her aunt) was brazed together with brass rod and in order to get it to look like it was supposed to be that way I brazed brass on random areas to make it blend in. I didn't want to do that with this peice, so I decided to fuse the copper with an oxy torch,

Mark - Thanks. It's not very big - only about 6 inches tall. Fe - Yeah, the colors you can bring out in copper are pretty amazing. I'm starting to figure out how to get the deep, rich colors I want. The key for me has been getting it to a temp where the color disappears (basically just looks like copper again) and then remove the heat and wait - the color starts to appear. Then I hit it with a little bit of air from my compressor and that stops it from changing more. It's not a perfect process but I've been able to capture some of the deeper colors that way.

Got to play with joining copper with a torch. I half-lapped the beam and the arm (using a grinder) and then used a small oxy torch to fuse the beams together. I then textured it to give it a wood grain look and then added some flattened copper wire to the center to give it a little character. I finished it off by flame coloring and then applied a coating of beeswax / linseed. Not sure if it's going to get mounted on a base or if I'll put a hanger on the back for a wall.

Glenn, I am very sorry to learn of your loss. Please know that you and your family are in my prayers.

I recently made this copper heart desk paperweight for a friend who wanted to give a gift to her aunt as a birthday present. After flame-coloring the copper, and while everything was still good and hot, I applied a beeswax / linseed coating. The base of the heart and the mount were drilled and tapped and a screwed together (the hole in bottom of the base was counter-sunk so the screw head would be recessed). The base is made from 2.5 x 2.5 x .5 hot rolled steel and the heart is 3/8" copper bar. Each half of the heart was made separately and then brazed together with brass. I spot-brazed brass onto other areas of the heart to make the seams look more natural. I textured the base using a cross-peen hammer in a 'burst' pattern radiating from the center and then straight up and down on the sides.

Very nicely done. A powerful reminder of the price that was paid.

Yep - it's still there. I found it online and put it in my GPS a few minutes ago. Planning on heading there in the morning.

Guess I've been looking in all the wrong places. It's been easier for me to find anvils than hammers, so I was pretty pleased with these when they turned up. I've been just asking around for hammers like I do for anvils, but that hasn't worked for me. I saw these on CL and jumped. Thomas - thanks for reminding me of the south drive-in. You told me about it a long time ago and I completely forgot about it. I may try to get out there tomorrow if the weather holds out.

Any recommendations on where to get inexpensive handles?

Here they are. Not the prettiest in the world but I'm happy. I've been having a heck of a time finding hammers, so these are a welcome addition to my shop.

Pushing? Heck, we're at $4.15 right now where I'm at. I'm just hoping it doens't go any higher. Thanks for puting it into perspective, thought. You're right - the last hammer I bought at the store ran me about 20 something. I just walked away with 11 hammers (mostly ball-peen) for $40, so I paid $3.63 a piece. They need a bit of work but I think I got a heck of a deal. Elbow grease is still pretty cheap.

Does anyone have any idea what one can expect to pay for old ball-pein / cross-pein hammers? I found some for $5 each - does that seem like a reasonable price?

Will definitely remember her in my prayers. I have a family member battling cancer & know how hard it is. God bless