gerald

Yes, what Glenn said. Please do up a Blue Print. A very nice piece of work...one that I wish I had done.

Jeremiah Johnson The Shawshank Redemption

Jim, Mike George had a nice looking screen in the gallery at our last conference. He obviously has a source for mesh.

Thanks for the comeback, Chuck. We'll be looking forward to seeing all of you folks who can make it to our meeting of the Saltfork Craftsmen on Mar 18. Hopefully our "fire situation" here in OK will have been resolved by then.

I am Gerald Franklin from Duncan, Oklahoma. I was raised on a farm in North Texas (Denton County). In 1963 I joined the US Army and stayed for nearly 23 years. After retirement from the Army, I spent a short career as a software analyst. I also put together a commercial cattle operation. The cow thing gradually evolved into a purebred Angus operation. In the past couple of years, this purebred operation has been downsized into a very small (retirement sized) herd of about 20 registered Angus cattle. I started smithing in 2003, and in keeping with the Angus cattle thing, named my shop "Black Bull Forge". I am a member of the Saltfork Craftsmen Artist-Blacksmith Association, the North Texas Blacksmith Association, and ABANA.

If you've ever regularly used a post drill to drill a hole because the shop didn't have electricity.

Tighter than the button on an outhouse door.

... froe? I have to get back to work on that roof and we'll need to split a few more shingles. We also have to ...

Question: "Just how stupid do you think I am? Answer: "I don't know. I don't think you've been challenged to your full potential." _____________________________________ Question: "What kind of fool do you think I am?" Answer: "I'm sorry, I didn't know that there was more than one kind."

A very good beginng and intermediate book is "A Blacksmithing Primer" by Randy McDaniel. It is very well written and illustrated. It is spiral bound so it lays flat in the shop so that you can refer to it easily. It is available from many online book sellers.

I'd like to read about all of your designs for rings made from horseshoe nails. The ones I've seen run from very crude (and ugly) to quite nice. Please post your favorite design/technique.

Elk Doc, I put a set of Helwig overload springs on my 1/2 ton and they work great. I bought them from (gulp) J.C. Whitney for around $180. As I remember, they were no problem to install and went on in less than an hour. They really make a difference when I pull a gooseneck trailer.

I use soft coal as my primary heat source. Two reasons: (1) It get HOT and (2) it's what I learned to use when I first started smithing. I have a one burner propane forge that I use fairly regularly, particularly when I need a quick fire for a small job. It's a neat, useful tool, but no match for the coal fire when I want to get serious work done.

Here's a site with good drawings/text of a set of double acting bellows: http://www.emainc.com/radnor/bellows.htm Also, Lindsay Publications sells a VERY detailed booklet entitled"How to Make a Blacksmith's Bellows" by Robert M. Heath. The book describes the disassembly, restoration and re-assembly of a bellows in a museum in Mississippi. It's the real deal and it's only 5 or 6 bucks. You might also do a Google search for forge bellows. You'll get a few hits including the site I listed above.

My wife and I have raised purebred Angus cattle for years, so when it came time to name the smithing operation, "Black Bull Forge" seemed to fit.

We pretty well all agree that it is critical to drink plenty of liquids (preferably water). The key to this is to remember to keep the body hydrated more or less evenly. To do this, you must drink fluids regularly, not just when your body heat/thirst tell you to drink. The rule is, if you get "dry and thirsty" you may have waited too late and your body has already started to dehydrate.