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I Forge Iron

Borntoolate

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Posts posted by Borntoolate

  1. I am tired.  When I get tired I get cranky.   When I get cranky I have little patience.   This is a forum where people ask questions.  Right?  

    This forum has been extremely helpful to me.   But I asked some questions a while back where it felt like I was expected to fail and waste time and money in order to then be "allowed" to ask a question about the why?     I got several responses that were not at all helpful.  Those responses took energy.   More energy than it would have taken to simply say something like "quenching a 1084 knife in water will be a bad idea and may likely Crack.   Probably best to not do it."     But instead I got a lot of energy spent by supposedly "very busy people" telling me all sorts of stuff that was not at all helpful, chastising etc.    Really???    

    If your time is so valuable that you can't be helpful then why do you have time to reply to chastise?   I have a concern that this forum is sometimes trending to an elite or antagonistic attitude in it's responses at times.    And it is subtle.   More about written "attitude".   Which of course is hard to interpret.  I recognize that intent is hard to interpret from text.    

    Anyway, all I ask is that we all think about and remember when we knew nothing....    Some may have to remember way way back....   

    Think about and remember how we failed and how we can help prevent others from failing but by also teaching such that others learn.   Think about how we can help promote the art without being elitist but also without being overly spoon feeding too.  

    Ok. My two cents.   I suspect I'll get hammered from many sides or this thread will get killed.    

     

  2. Just made a simple heart shape for a wedding.   A heart.   Along with it goes some locks.  Most folks buy some old or old looking locks.   Then these are supposed to represent how the married couple have locked their hearts.   So this is my heart for them to put their locks on.  Nope, I did not make the lock but just the simple heart.  Has anyone made anything like this and if so please share.  Including the locks if applicable.  BTW it started with a C scroll...

    IMG_0995.thumb.JPG.680a025ac3f0740df2352

  3. Well, at the risk of being overly different...  to go with all this check out the song by Pink.   Yeah I mean the singer.   Don't be afraid.  

    Pink - "the one that got away"   Pink has a great bluesy voice when she wants to use it!    

    If your first reaction is to say I ain't gonna check that out then you are missing out.   Google or you tube it and just listen for yourself.   

  4. Dude: cut that crap out! You think anybody is born knowing the craft? Learning it is an exercise in perfecting failure analysis as a first skill. If you're NOT making mistakes you're NOT blacksmithing. Corrections and tweaking on the fly is a HIGH ART! I've been doing this as a sort of sometimes professional hobby for better than 50 years and I can count how many times I've gotten something good enough to not need tweaking, complete remake or tossing on my fingers. That IS if I'b bothered to keep track that is.

    Post pics of your work, WE'LL decide if it's: garbage, ugly, etc. You admit yourself you don't know that much so how in the world can you think you're a good judge? Put it up and let the good times ROLL!

    Okay, someone out there speaks Cajun, I LOVE Cajun for "let the good times roll." Please translate for me, I'll owe you one.

    Frosty The Lucky.

    ​I am a Yankee transplant from Iowa but Been in South Louisiana for about 22 years.    Other than the french version above I have heard something along the lines of "We passin a good time"     It has a lot to do with family gatherings, good food (usually cooked in quantity, often in big black iron pots), Music and usually some alcohol.   Usually there is plenty seafood or fish but meat is important.  Rice is a staple.   And being outside is part of Passin a good time.

  5. As for video I saw one, just today, can't post, it was on netflix.   There is a series called Peaky Blinders.   Season one Episode one at about 21 minutes there are two guys swinging a two handed hammer.   It's kinda lame.  Looks like they are hammering the dirt.   Just after that there is another guy swinging a big sledge, not very elegantly, also hammering dirt.   I guess they were so poor they just forged the dirt.   Not a very good example but that's all I got. 

  6. Like Thomas, I put the fines or coal dust in a bucket full of water and scoop out a hand full of black mud and add it directly to the fire.

    Hey, I saw a video where they took the coal mud and made a cave fire from it. I have little interest in that but I have about a five gallon bucket of coal fines. I never heard of putting it on in wet globs. But anything that helps me use it up I will try. Normally I might dump a half quart or better of dry fines on a hot fire. This will also make a cave pretty quick. But it also kinda kills the fire for a bit and also coats the metal with gooey fines. At least initially. Do you put your wet mud balls around the edge?
  7. After Installing a 24' smoke stack on my forge and then cranking my blower like I normally did prior to having a stack.   The stack drew air through the forge even when I was not cranking on the blower.  This kept my fire hotter between heats.     This was just after installing the stack.   I cranked on the blower like normal trying to get a real good heat and pulled next to nothing out of the fire.  

     

    After installing the stack I needed to recallibrate big time.   But less black buggers and black stuff in my hair is a great thing!  

     

    BTW.   Prior to the 24' stack I had nothing.

  8. I made some stainless steel hooks for my wife to hang some of the back yard pool implements.   They have all held up but there is surface rust all over them.   I forged then with a carbon steel hammer, anvil and tongs.   So my experience says if you do that.  Expect rust.   And of course they are outside all the time, near a chlorinated pool.

  9. I remember my first two sets of tongs of that type.   They are EXTREMELY ugly!   I will not post a pic.   Yours are way better!      

     

    Though that makes me think.  Maybe I should post a thread asking for pics of your most horrible outcomes.    A thread where we reveal our most horrific failures...   Lemme think on that...   I would have to start with myself....   hmmmm

  10. Hey, I take any positive response to me doing blacksmithing, like with a hand crank blower...   and actual coal..  as a plus.   Yeah and there is also an actual hammer and anvil involved!     That is...   Any response that does not include rolling eyes or freakish looks like I am some sort of freakish leftover from bygone days.   I do understand that people can sometimes run off at the mouth.

     

    As an aditional note...

     

    My kids buy me all sorts of signs for my shop.   I dunno why.   But there is one I still get a kick out of.   It says:

     

    "you can't fix stupid.   But duct tape sure muffles the sound"

     

    I don't reccomend actually do that.   But it is fun to think about...  And I laugh almost everytime I read it.   I used the last part of that at work the other day when someone said the first part.   Everything stopped until they could get themselves back in control....

  11. That doesn't look like the coal I am used to.  Of course I have had one source of coal and none of it is that big.   Seems there are a lot of colors to it.   Do you have any idea on the quality of it?   I don't mean to criticize your free coal...    I am just curious.

     

    Has your uncle been a bad boy?   He got lots of lumps of coal...  ;o)

  12. My pet peeves...

    1. My pesky day job keeps me away from my hobbies.  But I need it to live...
    2. My 60 year old house, three vehicles, 6 acres etc. keep me busy often times....   Keeps me away from my hobbies...
    3. My wife coming up with more improvements needed in the 60 year old house....   New Floor, bathroom remodels, new countertops etc.    But these are all good things in the end!
    4. My general laziness after #1, #2 and #3...

    But it's all good in the end... really.     :)

  13. It makes no sense to me to waste that energy and also potentially damage the hammer / anvil doing this.   But I find myself doing it on occasion nevertheless.   Usually when I am thinking or trying to rearrange the piece for more hammering.   I should have a better plan in my opinion...  

     

    I see some folks do it as almost part of ritual or to be stylish so it appears...   Hit twice, tap three times...  etc..   That drives me crazy...   At least that is how I see it.  

     

    But I am not everybody.  and I don't think or see or plan or execute like everybody...       It still seems a waste at some point...  BUt I do it sometimes...   And if others do it more then who am I to say what is right or wrong.   Frankly I am a novice at this.   So tap away.   Just don't use my hammer doing it.   OR my anvil  

  14. I am feeling a bit in a festive and visual mood. I know we all like to see really cool or just plain interesting or even odd pics.... Pics are good.

    Too attempt to have a theme here let's stick with holiday gifts... Either given or received and in the blacksmithing family of course...

    If you have an otherwise super cool pic for us I think we want to see that too. Let's be short on words and let the pics tell their own story.


    My Pic. Trivets. All gifted to others.

    post-16782-0-68746400-1418262126_thumb.j

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