SLAG

Me. George, and Mr. Arkie, I was a little, too brusque in my past response on this thread. George, your reply is a model of succinct, to the point, and relevant information on the subject. Lawyers drive businessmen nuts in their desire to reflect a good deal or new business relationship. Whilst at the same time, paying a good deal of attention concerning the deal possibly going sour and a divorce of the parties, up the road. The ABANA incident and fallout, (with some bad faith added) is a good example of an intervening unforeseeable circumstance. That is why "act of God" (called 'force majeur'), clauses are added to the contract. (plus a number of other such boilerplate terms). Thanks folks, And have a great year, SLAG.

Your business associate is naive, inexperienced, and probably broke,, by now. SLAG.

Counselor George N. M., Thank you very much for the information. You are a champ. Have a great 2021 ! SLAG. I'm going to get one of them heaters for my up-coming smithy, maybe two. (Yeh, I am still unpacking the movers' boxes. most of the smithy is in those boxes.)

Mr. Ch..., An Uncle Izzy Story I think that the main reason for working on a warm (ish?) anvil is for two main reasons. The first one is to avoid chipping the cold steel. And the other reason is a cold anvil will suck up thee iron's heat like a cockroach in the Sahara desert. Continuously reheating said steel is costly and a danged nuisance. I may be wrong here and if so the gang will quickly disabuse me of erroneous thinking. I remember decades ago my dim witted uncle, (fathers side) tried to use Dad's cold professional, high quality, axe. He took one swipe at a tree and left a deep divot out of the axe. My father just managed to control his temper and not kill dear Uncle Izzy. (but just). SLAG. (we called him 'Dizzy Izzy" behind his back).

Herr Wulf, Is the said "tube heater" a novel special type heater or a brand name? Help me with this good fellow. Regards, SLAG.

Citizens, Thanks for the great methods for pre-warming a cold anvil, (in cold weather). Let me add one more. I once picked up a bunch of 'used' electric irons from Good Will. Plugging them in and placing 2 or 3 on the anvil with a fiberglass blanket, worked a charm. It did not take long for the anvil to become 'toasty warm". A good friend of mine had another method. He inveigled an old functionable electric blanket to use for the same purpose. There are a few other methods to accomplish it. But they are not printable on this "family' type" forum. Cheers, And HAPPY NEW YEAR. ! SLAG & MARG, (the Marvelous).

Mr. Eric, Lovely job. Welcome to the site. SLAG.

Switch to a two pound hammer? (or take a break?) SLAG.

Folks, Burning propane gas produces many by-product gases. One of them is water vapor. A great amount of it is given off every session. Try to put on a top coat of water resistant, (proof?) material. The outer coat should cover the rust stains. If you must get rid of the rust stain, oxalic acid will get rid of, (react with), the rust. Please note that that acid is toxic, when ingested. So store it in a safe dry place. Other acids will work. Such as, citric, phosphoric, (even tannic), acetic (vinegar), and mild hydrochloric acid. Vinegar is your best bet. But it is slow. Flush the acid and dry thoroughly before applying the coating. Hope that helps, SLAG. 2021 is soon to come. Ya'll, have a great year!

Mr. J.ny. Thank you for the compliment. Flattery will get you far. For dressing the hardy hole of your new anvil, I would look into buying a cylinder stone with a flat end or a domed end. (by end I mean the end farthest from from the tool.) Those stones last much longer than any cutter, (high speed steel or carbide). Yes I have all kinds of Dremel cutters and stones. But I save the carbide ones for difficult jobs, the stones work just fine. You can get the stones in different grits. Start out with a coarse one and when the majority of the grinding is done, switch to a medium or fine grit. Or medium to fine grits. Wood carving is a different subject. A chain saw is great for large carvings. After slicing off a lot of the large wood blocks or log sections, I suggest that you look into the coarse rotary cutters. Like "kutzall" abrasive accessories or circlet rotary cutting tools like the "Lancelot" (King Arthur's Tools), etc. Check out the catalogues, from Woodcraft, Lee Valley tools, Rockler tools etc., etc. For ideas. They will give you ideas. Then you can search in European sellers, and manufacturer catalogues. Hope that helps. Regards, SLAG. I note that you are somewhere in Europe. Europe is a largish continent, probably bigger than the fine state of Missouri?, maybe Texas, even. So where are you?

Folks, I looked up some of the Linneous (sic.), biological appellations and abbreviations. All this as an assist for the non-biologist blacksmiths on the site. R.O.U.S. is rodent of a large size, like the South American capybara. Mus musculus is the name for a common house mouse. Get ready for 2021. Its arrival is imminent and unavoidable! SLAG.

Counselor George, You do Sir Isaac Newton one better with your modified quote. SLAG.

George, David, T.P., and others. Your experience with ABANA is not unique. About twenty years ago a goodly number of us decamped form ABANA for similar reasons. They seemed to unilaterally want to rule the whole smithing community. We differed. SLAG.

For all the folks that unsuccessfully came before us and died trying. to honor them and warn off all others, they instituted the Darwin Awards. Sincerely, SLAG.

Mr. J., Check out the Dremel on-line catalogues for tools and accessories. There many types of both featured and for sale. I use stones for abrading and chamfering. I will sometimes change to cutters if I want a very smooth surface. (probably not necessary for your proposed use). The carbide ones are expensive. The cylinder stone shape is my regular go to accessory for such purposes. I have been using Dremel rotary tools for years and they have served me in good stead. I recently, also, acquired a Foredom for wood sculpting. I'll let all you'se know how it works out. Regards, SLAG. Hoorah We survived Christmas! Hope you did too! We're looking forward to 2021, it has got to be better than 2020.

Jen, Another reason that the linseed oil does not harden up in tight hinges is that the oil does not oxidize. The diffusion of oxygen into the tight joint is severely limited. Oil setting, "drying", happens by a combination of oxidizing and polymerization. SLAG. p.s. have a happy, safe, and healthy 2021.

George, I concur with your observations concerning women climbers. I remember decades back, a weekend with the McGill University outing club, that was open for all students who wanted to give climbing a try. One young lady beginner, was ascending routes, on Sunday, that most of the more experienced climbers took a year of assiduous experience to master. She did it with ease, grace and speed. She was tall, svelte, and had great naturel form and strength. We found out late that weekend that she also had extensive experience in classical ballet dancing. That combination was dynamite. I lost track of her. But she exemplified your points and reasoning, very well. There is a d.v.d. that features smithing techniques used by women. ("Smith Like A Woman?") Hopefully someone will remember the exact title. SLAG.

Folks, I second George's salutations and greetings. Happy holidays to all! SLAG, & Marg.

Mr. Adodero, Your pictures of the insulation escaping form the device, are disturbing. The substantial cauliflower residue outside the gas forge, is frankly alarming. The deformation of the outside of the chamber is also cause for alarm. Is your gas forge a very bad, defective one off, or a standard problem for that model. If it is the latter, why hasn't other users brought this problem to the smith community after a good number of years These problems may be an existential threat to the user. Are these forges not subject to federal regulation and testing? I thank you for your review. I was seriously considering buying my first gas forge. (a N.C. Whisper Momma), at the end of the upcoming month. Now I am not so sure. I will eagerly look forward for the N.C. folks to reply to your review on this thread. I wonder what Frosty and Mikey will have to write, if indeed they do so, to this thread. Again, Thanks, SLAG

Mr. George, N.M., Thank you for your additional "reeding" facts. I find them invaluable and fascinating. Merry Christmas coming soon. If you were situated closer bye, I would be very pleased to invite and your spouse to our annual, traditional Szechuan Christmas dinner. (the food does not travel well by the U.S.P.S.). All the best, SLAG.

Fellow Smiths, In the middle ages in Europe and Great Britain, folks walked with the front of their feet contacting the ground first, and the hind parts secondly. (with the weight bearing ...) Which makes sense as most shoes, of those times, did not have a built up heal. This style of locomotion was deduced, (fairly recently), by studying the illustrations of martial arts books. especially sword handling primers, of that era. Striding in that fashion makes walking almost silent. Regards to all, And happy holidays, coming soon. SLAG & Marg, (the marvelus).

SLAG, here, A little bit of extraneous fact for the ""reeding" mentioned by counselor, George N M, He states and I concur, " ... This is why coins that were formerly made of precious metals have "reeding," the serrations on the edge. These revealed any attempt at clipping". Reeding were first used by the master of the British Mint. Namely thee Sir Isaac Newton. It is a simple solution to a vexatious problem that bedeviled people for hundreds if years. Namely that of clipping. Some coins were so badly cut up that they were a fraction of their original size. (that necessitated weighing of each coin, to determine it's actual worth) The swindle of clipping had been going on for at least a thousand years. SLAG.

Mr. Glenn, How about graduating to a semi-ridged cover. Something like a plastic garbage can lid. You could try it down with with "rope" but bunji cords are faster. They can be fitted into holes in the rim of the lid and those holes can be reinforced with metal grommets. It's worth a try and not expensive. SLAG.

Try pop rivets? SLAG.

George, My answer was directed more to the person, (smith),who was concerned whether he could "copy" another's product design. And not the original party/person that created the design. In most cases those designs are not, in fact, protected by a registered design. It costs a lot of money and is not usually justified. Patents are not involved in the protection of product designs. Neither copyrights. Copyrights protect the expression of the idea/product. I.e. the exact or very similar words. or the over all look of an illustration, or diagram etc. The United States law is different with the "American Rule". In most common law countries the rule is "the law of costs". a judge can levy against the losing party some or all of the winners legal costs, (and that is way more than actual court costs) The judge will assess and award those costs , at several levels. (e.g.no cots "party-party, or 'solicitor-client", or total indemnity). It is up to the judge's discretion solely, and those awards are rarely adjusted by an appeal court. The American system can have a party with deep pockets bankrupt the other party. Often well before the trial, begins. Check out the notorious SLAAP suits. It is said in legal circles that the quickest road to bankruptcy is through patent litigation. Why? Because the attorneys usually have a law degree and science degrees, or an engineering degree. The litigation is most always very technical, well beyond the capabilities of general lawyers so the legal costs quickly become prohibitive except for big business. To make a long story short. The subject matter of this thread can only be protected by industrial designs. (and not patents, nor copyright, nor trade mark law.) Non corporate parties rarely file industrial designs and the ambit of the coverage of them is fairly narrow. I hope that this note is understandable. I can elaborate if requested. SLAG.