Mainely,Bob

Don`t know if you have access to 3M products where you are but they have a great product called Extend.It goes on over a lightly rusted surface and converts the rust to a black finish that really holds up under harsh outdoor conditions. It makes an excellent base for painting too if you decide to go that way. Far cheaper and easier than galvanized.

You lost me there Southshore.

I figure the Navy has the USMC as a part of their arsenal and they also work as security for their bases. If you can work with the Marines then working with the Army should be much the same thing. I found there were more similarities between the Army and the Marines than there were differences and my experiences with cross training were all positive. I would say that being in combat arms tends to narrow your focus toward what is really important but I wouldn`t want to upset any admin types here. In my book,if you wear or have worn a uniform then you are due at least a little respect. How little is up to each of us to decide for ourselves I suppose.

Was I really that subtle? Maybe the new meds aren`t screwing with the brain chemistry as bad as I thought. :)

Thanks again Phil. I suspect that Dewalt has another outfit making the discs to their spec and then putting their name on them.Probably offshore folks doing the making as the last diamond saw blade I saw from them was made in Korea. I was cutting stainless welds and it was a race as to what disappeared faster the disc or the weld. I usually go with names like Norton,Pferd,Walter.etc and have not had them break at the hub like the Dewalts did. Maybe I just caught a bad batch,who knows.From now on I`ll go with what I know and eat less dust and fragments. When my wife came home hours later the first thing she asked was "What were you grinding?". She could smell the dust in my hair even though I wore a hat and dusted off with an air gun .

I was surprised by how quiet that big hammer is.No hissing or exhaust sounds and no clattering.Seems like the loudest sound is the rubber or the belt squeaking. Nice machine there Mike.Did you rebuild it yourself? Do you have a particular application in mind or was it just too good a deal to pass up?

Bentiron`s post reminded me of a little trick I first saw when I worked maintenance in a plant. If you`re anything like me you HATE heli-coils.They require special tooling and then unscrew with the bolts sooner or later. I was really glad to find something called a Keen-sert.They do the same job as a Heli-coil and use common drill and tap sizes for installation.You can get soft,hard,or stainless inserts and best of all they come with splines that stake the insert in place so they don`t come out unless you drill them out. When faced with a problem threaded hole we just drilled and tapped to the next larger size and put in the Keen-sert.The original size hardware still bolted everything together so steps were saved during repair and for follow on work. I loved those things.They ought to give the guy who invented them a BIG bonus. :)

Man,this is a great thread Larry! Wonderful to see faces and what besides hot iron drives your life(sometimes literally). Been thinking about talking my youngest son into a 650 Yammi custom.I`d really like to build him a chopped 650 Triumph but they`re becoming scarce and the replacement seems to be from Yamaha. He WANTS to start off on my old hardtail,jockey shift, shovel but Dancer(short for "Line Dancer") would eat him for lunch. It has an original HD rigid frame that I extended enough to get an SU carb under a set of 5 gallon tanks.Needs a 12 over wide glide on the front for the motor to sit level. Beginners bike,I don`t think so! He`ll probably end up with the `88 sporty rat bike I`m riding while building Betty. I`ll show him the pics Larry posted of those sportsters to get his blood running. BTW Larry,I keep stopping at the bicycle pic.That is just so cool. Whatever you touch you seem to leave your spirit with. I`ll stop and look at ANYTHING that is inventive and creative.I think I saw a sign off from someone here that says it all"It`s not what you look at but what you see".

Nope,never a swabbie.Army Infantry and Air Cavalry. The reason for the Navy term is that a prior job was as a shipfitter building Navy destroyers. Knew how to find the "Goat locker" and how to deal with the "Chief of the boat",the guy who REALLY called the shots. I`ve also worked and trained with Navy and USMC personel(they dislike being called "troops").

When I turn bowls my hands(the good one at least) tell me more about if I`ve got a fair curve than my eyes will. Likewise if I`m making a handle for a tool I let my hand tell me what size and details to put in it. Some look at my tools and think they`re weird.I tell them to pick them up and use them.Suddenly they`re not so weird.

You had one of those "hill holder" front brakes? Spool front hub,baby! On a suicide clutch,jockey shift,flathead Harley. Mechanical drum brakes in back. After that,everything was easy! Betty`s now got dual PM disc front and single disc rear.Campi road race front end,mags front and rear,magneto,air shocks in the rear,5+ gallon tanks and a WIDE butt bucket seat. When you get older you still may want to go fast but you want to be able to stop fast too. Things like fuel capacity and handling in turns becomes important as does comfort ala big supportive seat and rear shocks.Can I get an AMEN,there Little Richard! May not be a chopper but she sure ain`t no yuppie bagger either. Windshield? We don need no steenkin` windshield! BTW there cap`n the "new" trend is retro 70`s over here now.GROAN! Hope you saved thar 3 foot sissy bar(here in NE they`re called rails)

In between arm/hand surgeries I kept either an adjustable dog leash or a length of cord in my pocket or sling. Instead of trusting my grip or if I needed the one hand I could trust to open a door I`d either make a loop and sling whatever over my neck or shoulder or put it down,loop the door,pick it back up and then pull the leash/cord. Got real good at tying knots with one hand and my teeth too. During the winter I could string up a couple plastic bags of groceries,clip the other end to my back belt loop and drag them thru the snow. Bigger,more durable things got knocked to the ground and kicked/rolled to where I needed them and then stood back up. Nothin` like being cut on to make you get inventive real fast.

Southshore, You would fit right in up here.That pretty well sums up what an owner of one of the yards or shops would come to expect if they were looking to hire a "Master Blacksmith". From what I understand you own your own shop and have at least one graduate apprentice working for you.Do you consider yourself a "Master Blacksmith"?If not then what do you tell people you are?

You HAD to go there didn`t you!! Don`t get me going on the "Master Catalog Cruisers". IF you or your friends didn`t weld it,machine it,and either trade for the old parts or make most of the custom parts for it then you assembled it,you didn`t "build" it. You have to remember I started when you extended a front end using slugs or Ford radius rods if it was a springer.There were NO catalogs,just the dealership and your friends. The softail repop I`m reworking for my brother has a 113 CI complete S&S motor in it. My shovel has S&S flywheels that I put in it and an S&S E carb(among other hotrod parts from friends). His pulls like there`s no tomorrow but I stay right on his heels. One like his runs about $15,000(used).Mine has alittle over 1/3 that in it.That chaps his ass and I`m lovin` it as they say at Micky D`s. Mike, Looks like you and the family had a good time at the show. Good to put a face with the name. I guess we know who to tap on the shoulder for food prep when we all decide to get together. Phil, Nice pic of you and your daughter. How come Emily doesn`t have her own leather apron yet?

Flash point,there it is!FP,not FF. Thanks Phil. The point about staying with a well anchored metal tank is a really good safety point Thomas.I saw a fellow set a #10 can of oil on fire and then knock it over trying to put a lid on it.Good thing it was outside and away from anything.Still made for an exciting time though.

Well here goes. I`m raiding the wife`s files for pics and trying again. First pic is me and the wife in Salem Mass.Second one is last year in Fla. for our daughter`s wedding. The last pic is of my latest project,a hotrod shovel,as she was when I got her and named her "Betty".She`s sweaty Betty in the pic but looks more like Betty Paige now. Have to kidnap my son and get him to help me download some newer pics with his digital camera and we`ll see how I do with those. This high tech stuff is like eating nails for me.I broke a sweat just gettin this far.

Now this is just the way I read it. The guy that owns the shop is the SHOP OWNER or CEO. In today`s language a MASTER either; 1-Owns slaves,which is illegal but still persists according to the media. 2-Has a flunky tagging around after him(likely named Igor) saying"Yes Master" who serves as a sort of low tech yes man. 3-Holds a ceremonial title such as Master of Ceremonies or Master at Arms. 4-Holds the rank of Master Chief in the Navy. 5-Has PROVEN to have mastered ALL the skills of the trade he draws a wage from(even part time) or is retired from. Master Blade smith is a good example.(thanks Larry) I am familiar with the colonial term about which you`re speaking and have never heard it used outside a period museum or shop where everybody dresses in period clothes and uses hand tools only. I think the term "Master blacksmith" may be viewed by most blacksmiths like cowboys viewed the term"Fastest gun".It`s an invitation to have other pistoleros come gunnin` for ya and they are reluctant to use it no matter how sharp their skills.

Well,didn`t your mom tell you to be careful what you wish for? Until I can get a whole new skill set and learn how to post pics here you can go to my profile page and see a pic of me and my "Maine squeeze"(wife of 30+ years). That`s as far as I got so far without the help of a computer savy friend or son. I`ll work on it. Man are you guys in for it once I figure it out! YD-Good on ya there!I see you owned 2 of my favorite brands of motorcycles. Only way I could have been more impressed is if the Evo had been a Vincent,or an Ariel square four.Maybe an early Harley or Indian...

When I suggested a sweeping curve on the base I was talking about the base below the white wood beads on the work in the grouping of 4 pic,rather than a sweeping curve thru the base AND stem ending at the bell. The base would be the large diameter piece that rests on the table and has the grain running horizontal in the pics. The stem would be the vertical grained thinner section above the white wood and ending at the spun bell. Hope I did a better job of explaining it this time.Perhaps I should have said foot instead of base.

Ah,Master Blade smith.Now that one I can get behind! The reason I say that is there is a real world test and your work does the talking for you. I think anyone familiar with the requirements for that title would be willing to treat someone claiming that tile(with proof to back it) with the respect due them. BTW Larry,you and others here may want to try introducing yourselves as being "A practitioner of magic". You take ordinary steel,and clapped out iron,and through your will and hands turn them into useful objects,art and sometimes a miracle. Sounds like a fair definition of magic to me. :)

For me the thing to watch with oil is the temp that it will flame up and burn.I know there`s a technical term for it but it escapes me now so I`ll call it the Fire Factor or FF for short. I look for an oil with as high a FF as I can find that is still thin enough to work with.Right now I`m using high FF hydraulic oil because it`s(relatively) safe and I got it free. Before that I used peanut oil for the same reasons.I went to the hydraulic oil because it had a higher FF.Once it proved to be effective I recycled the peanut oil. The peanut oil smelled better but the safety of the hydro oil made me switch.I use an exhaust fan to pull the fumes. They do make special quenching oils but I`ve found them to be too expensive for what I mostly use oil for which is tool making. BTW-Larger is better(within reason) for a quench tank just like a slack tub.

Big fish,small pond huh? In the unions I used to run across "journeymen" who had worked one place almost all their adult lives.Got their training there and knew only what the hands at those locations had taught them.IMO they were "journeymen" only because they had stayed on long enough at that job and were pulling "journeyman" wage.Some of them didn`t have near the skill set of a third year apprentice and would have had a hard time pulling above helper rate if they went somewhere else and had to prove their skills. Good for them if they can wrangle the money.There is also something to be said for committing a large chunk of your life to staying in one place or job. Doesn`t make someone a bad person.Lucky maybe,but not bad.Doesn`t make them a "journeyman" either. As to the "Master" debaters.For that sort of thing to fly by me I need proof. I see Danger,David,Rory,Grant,Larry,Young Dylan,etc turning out work(thru pics with them in the pics)and speaking of that work in an intelligent and informed way so I know it`s their work.They are all xxxx good at what they do and it would be for someone way above my pay grade to hang the appropriate title on them. However,if you show up near where me and my friends are working and declare yourself a "master" anything that`s an open invitation to be tested,even if you have a sheepskin saying it`s so.In the working world here in New England it`s NOT show and tell,it`s roll up the sleeves,get to it and we`ll see when the day`s done. The only widely agreed upon "master" we have up here is someone you can go to to get the proper thing to lure marine animals either into a trap or onto a hook.She has made it her life`s work to know what the fishermen need and how it needs to be stored,prepared and delivered on time in order for them to get the job done.Her business,trucks and cards say"The Bait Lady".She openly agrees that she is a "master" at what she does and responds warmly to the greetings from the docks touting her title and heralding her arrival.

Can`t you just carefully pull and flip the bricks?

IIRC the rod for dissimilar steels is 309. Then again I`ve been known to repair CI with 7024(when no nickle rod was available) and have it hold long term. :blink:

I guess it’s horses for courses, but since I benefited from Irnsrgn’s design (found in a blueprint last year), I thought it only right to share my humble alternatives which don’t require access to a milling machine. Cheers, Richard Way to go!! Now there`s yet more proof that you don`t need a pocket full of cash or a lot of fancy equipment to get a job done.All you need is some thought and creativity. Good on ya,Richard!