iron woodrow

i am so glad this site exists, and that so many people can come and express their opinions. and express the milk of knowledge and experience into the virtual world. i respect my elders and betters, but not those who demand my respect. the ones who have gotten so worked up about this subject have long ago proven that they deserve respect, without having to demand it. i wont name names, you know who you are. and i thank you for your input. i thank you now, in that i was a day too late to thank the late, great Grant Sarver for his valuable input to my questions. my connection dropped out and when i was back online i learned of his passing. and thankyou to the administrators. you do some great work. and now i will accept my oscar........ :P

trying to work out the best finish to go for..... should i just oil up the rusty surfaces, or go the whole hog and completely repaint and polish??? i am not sure the best paint to use, if i do end up running it on steam......

if you have charcoal, use it to forge! the best fuel i reckon, cheap to make, clean and up till the industrial revolution, the only way to go! thousand of years of quality forging there!

i like it. the use of traditional techniques always brings a real honesty to the work.

be prepared for the eventuality of the welds "swelling" after hot dip galvanizing. this can be rather unsightly. it really shows up on the "hide the weld" style of work, where a perfectly hidden ground weld will show up in all its glory.... i had one bloke try to tell me that 'the welds swell and if you grind it back you will hit the swolen weld metal. dont let anyone tell you this, because it is the zinc being drawn to the join and the difference in metal and developing a thicker layer, which can be sanded flush again, but it is a lot of work..... i have had some bad experiences with powder coating, and i do not like it, both as a finish, and as a product.....

i have always used a centre pop, but now i will try the square punch idea!

its all cool :)

it would in my opinion be perfectly ok to say that thomas. That would be very constructive.

if those were on my desk i would do significantly less work.... and more staring at my paperweights!!! amazing work. beth, perfect dictionary explanation of a paperweight!!

i am generation y, and i have not seen this attitude you speak of, this "the entitlement complex" people ask, because they have been led to believe that there are people (not you obviously) on this site that would help them to learn and grow, as humans and as smiths. look through these forums, you will never find a comment or reply where a member has said "come on, YOU OWE ME!" sometimes a question that might seem hasty, or abrupt, (also older members have this attitude also) but i am yet to see it i am afraid. i may have asked some irritating questions in the past, not sure but SOMEONE may havethought so, but i live at least 300km from any other smiths, and sure, i have completed an industrial blacksmithing trade, but there are some things that werent covered by said trade. i could travel to find the answer, at great cost to me, and my family, or spend a lot of time and effort reinventing the wheel, or (and this is a slim chance) someone on IFI may have had similar problems and will take the time to discuss it with me like a decent human. if the answer is "dont know" i will go back to the drawing board. it seems that sometimes it goes the other way. sometimes, the young are seen as "not entitled to learn" by the older members. is this the case? p.s i am entitled to know how to change my profile picture. it isnt working, tell me now, or i will do..... i dont know what.

impetuousness is sometimes seen as bad manners, to the impatient.

i just spoke to kisten last night ( the poster of the daft posts) he is a well meaning individual. and he was asking the right questions on chat, he seems to be a little wet round the ears, but not daft. i dread to think of the responses he gets. Mod Note: Kisten placed 7 copy's of the same daft post across 7 places in the forum, they have all been removed, If it happens again his account will be flagged as a spammer. Daily we delete more spam posts than most could imagine. To prevent clutter from making this site even larger and harder to navigate.

but reading is not trial and error. it is studying theory. sure there are people who dont want to find archived posts, but that is not the point either, if you dont want to waste your time answering, it is simple, dont answer. someone less fed up might direct them where to go, or out the door.... understand the nature of the "youngins" poor education has gotten them where they are. poor education will not get them further. if a bar is bent, do you throw it in the scrap, or do you attempt to straighten it? some of these replies state that a lot of peple would throw away valuable (if slightly bent) new stock....

if you dont want to answer a question, dont answer it. when my kids incessantly ask "why" i try my best to answer in such a way as to enlighten their learning experience. i dont tell them- dont talk to me until you know as much as me....... do you throw someone in the deep end when teaching a language? or do you help them along and teach them to say "hello"! people who arent willing to learn are as frustrating as people not willing to teach. its all swings and round abouts...... thats my $1.50

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41924895@N07/6800150108/in/photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/41924895@N07/6946256321/in/photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/41924895@N07/6800150144/in/photostream

sorry to disappoint you beth... that wonderful rail velocopede rider isnt me, but i do want a bowler.. so thats you in your sihouette??!

im surprized you didnt get more irate responses about the sword thing :) pet hate of a lot of smiths..... but you would know that if you have been trawling the archives.....

dog thinks its for his dinner......

oh rusty, i thort that were a cuppa! :P

areyou in a re enactment group? most swords now in production are stock removal, and it comes out as a very similar finish. the sword comes a lot later than the learning of smithing. learn the basics first, then swords will come when you have mastered the basics...... a forged sword is a lot of work for someone with little equipment/ knowhow, and dangerous if forged or heat treated wrongly. therefore very dangerous on a live steel battlefield.

without traditional music there would be no modern music, so it has got to sound a bit like it at least!

maybe we can all forge small self contained power hammers to take home, under the big #10.........

and randy too! thank you all, i am inspired everyday by you lot!

im sure a welder might be able to be turned into a difribulator, mad max style..... :) not welding a broken heart, but starting a stopped one! john and owen and timothy, thats what im talkin 'bout! love that sword tip john.

the REAL spelling of armour!!!!! :P