Mainely,Bob

I hear NASA has equipped each of the blacksmiths on their staff with their own solar forge. Luckily(for the taxpayers)NASA has a limited need for blacksmiths. Perhaps we will see some of these available at government surplus auctions soon. :rolleyes:

If noise is a problem use a press.Either electric/hydraulic (quieter)or air/hydraulic if you have a compressor that doesn`t make too much noise. After 9 at night even working with a striker will cause the neighbors to take notice in most urban environments. If you like urban living then the long term answer is to move next to a neighbor who makes more noise than you do and has been there a while.

The deciding factor for most of us is what do we have at hand. Do we have $2750 burning a hole in our pocket and an intense desire to quickly make that cash someone else`s problem,or do we have all the gear needed and time on our hands? Me,I got gear and time. Still working on my alchemy skills but haven`t got to the chapter(or book for that matter) that contains the info that allows me to consistently turn what I got into cash at the wave of my hand. When I do you guys will be the first to know(I`ll include video). BTW-You need to check your math,it should be 17 hours X $60 per hour + consumables= total expense in cash money. B)

Of course they do!Where do you think little blacksmiths come from? ;)

Well said Steve.

Keep up the good work brother! The returns will be huge for you and your loved ones.

I have made some money using Mr Weygers` techniques.You`d be surprised to see how many people there are out there who are willing to bet good money you can`t drill a square hole. "A fool and his money are soon parted".

Then don`t bet your Ash on it! :D

Just what I was thinking Thom.The induction unit is small enough and mobile enough to move to the work and seems to be much quicker than the resistance type heater. With an induction heater the rivets could be heated right there and quickly.I`m betting they could take the two guys who heat and pass the rivets and put them on bucking and heading and double their riveting output. Don`t sound much like a former union man now do I?

One of the things we played around with was to clad the wear surfaces of tools with either hard face rod or some other wear resisting weld rod that was carbide bearing.We used to reface or build hammer mills,extrusion dies and other foundry and extrusion power and hand tools.We also tried a stellite rod but that was too much trouble for anything but the high dollar work. The types we were using were available in either TIG or MIG wire and we almost tripled the life of some tools like extrusion dies and the dreaded hammer mill. After welding the preferred way to blend and smooth was to forge and planish.Final polish required diamond abrasives. You might want to look at some of the rods they use to build back turbine rotors too.Mostly TIG work but when finished they will withstand heat and wear (obviously). Be prepared for sticker shock!The good thing is that a little goes a long way.

You guys never slow down it seems. It really is nice to see folks such as yourselves giving so much back to the community and especially taking the time to get younger people involved.If we don`t look for opportunities to bring youngsters into the trade by way of hands on experiences then where do we think the next wave of smiths will come from? Thanks for freely sharing both your time and the pics.

Look in Weygers books.He shows 2 ways to drill square holes.

That is a wonderful piece.I can picture Nuada`s silver hand playing it. Care to share the inscriptions on the "music"?I thought that was an especially nice touch.

When herding ducks it is universally agreed that it is best to get all your ducks in a row prior to showing them. You sir,do not have your ducks in anything resembling a row. I respectfully suggest you or a trusted friend consider the generous application of duck tape to avoid further fowl departure into the realms of winged chaos. I bid you good by and good luck,you`re gonna need it.

Here`s what I know from sawing and drying hardwood. Take all the bark off.The bark attracts insects and is the first part of the tree to rot and becomes a sponge to hold moisture close to the sapwood(outer layer of wood)which will rot more quickly than the heartwood in the center of the tree. Soak the endgrain with some sort of sealer(wax emulsion is what the pros use) or it will crack excessively. Expect at least one big crack to run from the center to the OD in one place with ash and several smaller cracks as it drys.That`s the function of the bands some people wrap theses stumps with,they keep the splits from opening up wide. Don`t know what`s available near you but up here ash would be a less that optimum choice for this.I`d look for a type of wood that was stable,has interlocking grain and was rot resistant. White oak(not red oak),locust and catalpa would be good choices.

That is some really nice work Larry. You are really expanding on this theme and I`m sure both the judges and the public at the show are going to love it.I know I do. No need to wish you luck,you don`t need luck when you have the type of skill that shows through in your work.

I hate pillbug bowlers! The antennas always droop and end up poking me in the eye.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the best bang for the buck for a newbie is going to be a torch set.No electric machine is anywhere near as versatile as a set of torches. With a good(meaning name brand) torch set you can solder,weld,braze,heat for bending and cut a wide variety of materials all for far less than a used welding machine. I say your first welding purchase ought to be a set of torches and tanks.

The whole idea with welding or brazing is to fix something securely and permanently or till you decide to reverse the process and remove it.Keeping that in mind if you can`t get a welding electrode or torch into an area then maybe you need to think more about what it is you`re making and how you`re going about it. Plunking a length of pipe down on top of a plate and running a bead down it will create a pivot point that is also a stress riser and is setting yourself up for failure.The most widely accepted method to fix pipe to plate like that is to modify the joint design or add reinforcement along the joint to eliminate flex and combine the pipe and plate into a rigid assembly or unit. Straps welded at an angle from the pipe to the plate are the quick fix.From there you move on to things like wrapping the strap around the OD of the pipe and bending tabs on the plate ends. Stand off plates set a 90 degrees to the run of the pipe and cut to fit the OD of the pipe and hold the pipe far enough away from the plate so you can get a full penetration weld everywhere you need to would be a next step. A stand off made from a drop of the same pipe in the run can be coped on one end and cut square on the other to form a saddle that will hold the pipe securely in more than one direction and increases the strength and resists flex even better than a plate stand off. That forged clamping technique using round or square tubing is just a quick way around making a stand off for someone who is not adept at coping or fitting pipe.If you full weld it it`s an improvement but still only as strong and the thin wall stock it`s formed from. I used to tell newbies that it would help if they thought of weld beads like glue.The better the fit up and larger the coverage area(within reason) the better your chances that things will hold long term. That lone bead of weld down the pipe to plate contact area just aint cuttin` it on anything other than a mock up. Anybody who takes pride in what he does will just point and laugh when he sees something like that.Take the time to do it right and be proud of what you make.

I read this post 3 days ago and I`m still shaking my head in disbelief. See you on the Darwin awards!

What you really are concerned about here is the heat treating after forging right? Grant put up some excellent info about HT over a wide spectrum of steels and so have others here,check the archives for those. The reality is not everything in that pile is the same steel so you are going to have to be flexible and experiment some. Expect some failures,if you never fail that means you aren`t trying hard enough.

Kevin,I think you need to get a new tin foil hat(or armadillo helmet)and stop spending so much time in the shop with your co-workers. ;)

Didn`t know armadillos even went to church.I wonder what denomination they are. Is the moral of this story "Be careful when walking to church(or going to get beer)if you`re an armadillo"? Those trees weren`t growing in those houses they had just come to retrieve the remains of dead relatives (used as framing lumber) so they could give them a proper burial.The vines were just a diversionary tactic.

What`s a bit of leprosy between friends shared over an open fire and washed down with warm halzone laced canteen water.Those are the type of moments no amount of money can buy. Ah,the good life! :D

You guys are really missing the boat here(pun intended). Armadillos are excellent kitchen fare.They have a flavor somewhere between opossum and beaver.I would expect your platypus might also be along these same lines in a culinary context.While armadillos are also easier to skin than platypus(parboil and then shell them)the fact that they also don`t have venomous spines which must be removed before serving like the platypus does make them more suitable for the elderly and small children.Always a consideration when serving large groups with short prep times. Of course any animal introduced to Australia is bound to develope some sort of ersatz defense mechanism such as venemous spines or razor sharp teeth just as a way to display it`s displeasure with being stranded so far from home. BTW-Tin foil is the internationally preferred method of keeping the thoughts from leaking.It also keeps the mother ship from spying on your brain waves.As we know,"Mother is always watching!". Armadillo helmets,you Aussies are such slaves to fashion. Bon appetite!