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I call mine "Hangin Tree forge" cause I forge under a giant mesquite tree once used to hang horse thieves, crooked politicians and other miscreants. Hey, this is Texas, my forge, my tree, my story. If I told you I had a chicken that dipped snuff, I garantee you you'll find a can of skoal under his wing.

I call mine " Hangin Tree Forge", cause I forge under a big mesquite tree that was used for hanging horsethieves, politicians and other miscreants. Hey, this is Texas, my tree, my forge, my story

If it cost a nickel to go around the world, I couldn't make it to the corner. 'Ave a cold one or three for me,mate. BBB

If you use earplugs more than one day, you better clean them well. We had a guy wear some all week and got a nasty ear infection. He was too lazy to get a new set every day even they were available. Standard rule, if you can't carry on a conversation over the noise, get protection. bbb

I used to wear wolverines, but the multi shocks developed a blowout on the heel when I wore off the top of the button(6 months). Took them back, traded for timberlands, much better. I wear steel toes, have had to wear metatarsals , you get used to them.have had more than one experience where steeltoes saved my foot . If you have smashed your steel toes, your toes would have been smushed beyond repair. Gel inserts are nice, but wear out quick. Senco makes a good orthotic arch support. The 'WALKFIT" brand never did feel good. My nickels worth BBB

do you live in a "home owner association" community? Check on local building codes, too. Around here, we have these all steel " carports" 20 x20 that are fairly cheep, about $800, installed on your slab, that are easy to close in. Spend extra time planning your shop. Before you pour the slab, have your sparky install pvc piping in the slab to put power to the posts, and along the walls, . Dedicate power circuits for ALL fixed equipment( so the power hammer, welder, twister,etc have their own breaker) . Have your plumber put air piping in appropriate places, so you don't have a ton of hoses to trip over. Make an outside area for your air compressor. 3 phase is nice, but a power converter is cheaper. Unless you live in an industrial area , your power provider will charge a fortune to deliver. Check within your group for an electrician, at least for a consultant or for turn key . Licensed electricians make for peace of mind.

It makes a good ice cream or shave ice truck, just hang a generator off the back bumper, add freezer inside, instant money !

If its like the one I had, you are gonna have to watch the engine. Mine had a good bit of sludge that caused the rings to stick and lose power. Post office didn't change the oil or used the cheapest they could find. Congrats and good luck. BBB

I usually use some silicon sealantaround the wood, before I put in the wedges, this will keep the handles on when they dry out. To tighten up flea market hammers, I use big wood screws . Definition of a screw? rotary wedge !

Since sparks provide my daily crust, lets go over some common problems. The above posts are a good start, next buy a receptacle tester, available for less than $5 . plug it into the affected plug. the lights will tell you the problem, now the fun is "where is it?". A lot of times, the wires were pushed into the back of the plug. Everything is fine, until some heavy load is plugged in. Now the little clips will burn out, and you lose power. The solution? Figger out which plugs are affected, TURN OFF THE POWER!!!!!!!!!,remove the plug, if the wires are pushed in, replace it. Wrap the wire around the screw, and tighten. A new plug cost between $.50 and $2, work your way up the circuit until you find the problem. When in doubt, hire a LICENSED electrician, you'll sleep better at night.BBB

Add legs, steel balls are simplest, put stucco lath in bottom, and you have big flower pot, or container garden. I have peppers growing in my two. Rusty stuff is the hot ticket amongst the yuppie crowd here. They use metal strips, exposed for lots of landscaping. just weld cathodic protection to backside .

whatever you do, put the output of your converter to a 3 phase breaker panel. any load you hook up to this is thus protected from over load. size these breakers according to the load, and have fun. the idea of bringing an electrician on board, at least for consultation, is a good one. we do this for a living, so we know how to do it right.

welcome to the club, go to www.balconesforge.org , that is the austin group, click on newsletters for directions to july demo, starring bill epps. go to links, click on ntba, that is the north texas group, bbb aka Bob

ok. 6.5 hp shop vac, times 746 watts per horsepower, divided by 120 volts equals 40 amps, hmm, me thinks that jim h is right, you, sir are a troll. I will hope you contact someone in your area to set you straight, if you really are real, before you hurt yourself or burn down your mommies house

Fred, read his post, he did not ask for any help. When he does, we can either answer him or ignore him. When I was in college, this cute young thing asked the prof a question (trig), (he was used to teaching differential calculus). He put her down, I immediately told him that I thought it was a fair question, and would like an answer myself. We got our answer, and the class got better. Patience is the best teacher, knowledge cannot be achieved until it is sought. I teach apprentice electricians, but until they are ready to learn, they won't.

to span that long of a run, build a truss above it. look at the "red iron" structure in the ceiling of most modern buildings, look at the boom on most wreckers and cranes, this will give you some idea on how to support it. whatever you do, don't stand under it until you have tested it. basically, you need to have a rod coming down to the center from both ends to help carry the load to the end supports. The higher the starting point, from the beam, the more weight it will carry. Think vectors, trig, sine and cosine,etc.

We, including myself, should be ashamed of ourselves. This young feller did not ask for advice, merely starting talking about his ideas, gleaned from several sources. Immediately we started trying to put him straight, when he hadn't asked for help. We are all entitled to our opinions, right or wrong, and no one should put us down for them. Some folks have laughed about him on other forums, kind of like picking on the one strange kid during recess in school. I ,for one, will refrain from putting him, or other young blokes, down, and will endeavor to provide whatever help I can, but only after they ask for it. I urge others to do the same.

If they don't cringe when they write the check, you didn't charge enuff. Rich folks don't mind over paying for quality work, and they don't respect you if you don't charge enuff. You can get full on a fast food burger combo, and at a fancy steak house at twice the price, wonder how the fancy steak house stays in business?

We have them here ,too. Occasionally one will get behind the door and get squished. Live with them. they were here first.

River grazer, Good luck on your endeavors, my swords typically can cut machine gun barrels cleanly. I use only meteorite ore that I refine using charcoal and buffalo chips. Quench in warm water with a few drops of blood from a teenage virgin, garlic, and habanero extract. Admin Edit: For those new to blade making, or are consider trying the above process, this is only a myth.

To quote Toby Hickman of California" we get paid to work hard, we don't get paid extra to do it the hard way", I use the arc welder a lot, along with traditional forging techniques , putting the welds where they don't show, or blending them in with the grinder/flapwheel sander. The weldert was invented by blacksmiths, so why not.