jason0012

For me it was the flame blade inside the cover of " the master bladesmith" that got me into making my own sword. I still haven't tried one like it though.....

I used to some breaker points from time to time. It never was very big business here, most rentals just send the dull bits out over and over! I had a few good customers who would send me a few hundred chisles a year to repoint, but they are all out of business now. For the last few years when I have aproached any contractors about tool dressing they have expressed a preference for simply replacing dull bits! I have worked on a few of the bigger ones too, up to 5". Those big points are a huge pain, just for the weight. These big monsters come in the shop so seldom as to not be worth the trouble. I have to locate a die I haven't used in 8 months and rearrange the whole shop to get the crane in....= barely worth the hassle.(The money on those is pretty good, but I see such bits so rarely ) Tool dressing is really good work, I would like to do more, there just isn't any demand around here. Is there any way to scrape up more of this type of work? Ive been through foundries, boiler companies, paving contractors and rental companies. The local utilities seemed promising but have a contract with someone else that has him working at about 20% of my cost!( $1 per point!) A few things I haven't seen mentioned is those bits that aren't worth sharpening. I did work once for a boiler company. Their previous experience with a tool smith was with someone I happen to know and trust did a first rate job for them. They complained quite a lot about his bits breaking and being substandard ect. I knew better but took the job anyway, about 400 chisles 5/8&78 size. About 120+ were so badly cracked and stressed that i clipped and clipped and could not find sound material in them. These bits i brought to the customer and explained that they were unserviceable. the customer would not accept that this was not my fault or that of the other smith. I should mention that many of these bits were bent past 20 deg, and almost all were mushroomed quite badly. I have no idea what was done to these bits in their service life but by the time they came to me they were pretty much done. That customer was one of only two who I ever found truly angry with the service I rendered. Frustrating since there really wasn't much I could do.

Never seen this? Wow, you all have worked some pretty upstanding places that actually believe in doing things right and probably fit parts properly for welding! I always called this abomination a hillbilly tig. I have had to fill in some pretty monstrous gaps using this process. Sometimes even with 3-4 rods! In field welding I have often encountered gaps over 1" and with a foreman getting all pissy about the time you do whatever to get a passable weld. I also want to add that this works best with a rod that can cover its own flux like 6010/6011. I have a deep and personal hatred for 7018 ! I have been certified in globber rod for more than two decades and hate 7018 more every time I use it!( I have often wondered why it seems that every job I go on insists that we use 7018 when there are so many better alternatives?)

The working peculiarities of Ti aside , I would think the low weight of a Ti blade would make render it some what ineffective.

I have been forging iron since the late '80s. I ran my shop full time for most of the '90s . My business always made some money and at the very least was able to support my forging habit. In 1999 I got married and went on the road doing the journeyman thing. After a few years my wife and I returned home planning to settle down( by then kids were involved). I was unable to resume the ironworks business until 04. 2004 was my best year ever, but sadly my bills exceeded my income. I had to shut the forge down a second time and seek outside employment. For the last few years I have been millwrighting , traveling to do repair work on turbines and such. I have been laid off since June and kicking around the idea of getting the old shop up and running again. My problem is one I hadn't expected. All of the old contractors I used to work for are either out of business or near to being out. This is the first time in over 20 years I have come up completely empty! Is the economy THAT bad? I haven't even been able to pick up any tool dressing, which used to be my stand by emergency work. Zip on welding, machine work, and architechtural work is just absolutely gone. Has anybody else run into this or am I doing something wrong?