ThomasPowers

Nope I was referring to: "Metals Handbook, Vol 2; Heat Treating, Cleaning and Finishing, 8th Edition" put out by ASM; old but most of the alloys I'm interested in are covered in it. (My phone doesn't do Apps or the internet; It does voice and text with minimal tracking!)

At this time of year; very few. Maybe why that was chosen for the winter...

Self inflicted! I was forging in a T shirt today as it got around 70 degF outside with blinding sun.

I was working on the horn today and had it pointing toward my belly button. I was using a straight peen and the horn to draw out a taper.

I've know a few smiths who started with gates; got them handled by high end landscape people and then matching railings started being asked for. And then there was Albert Paley's Zoo gates. As I recall him telling the story at a Quad-State: He was working on a major project of making a set of zoo gates and it was cancelled. Well he had the drawings on his wall during a gallery hop and a lady came up and asked to buy them. He told her that the drawings were not for sale and she said "No; I want to buy the gates!" He tried to tell here how expensive they would be and that they were desi

2 hours at the scrap yard, bought 292 pounds of steel; 5 pieces. 1 was around 200# and hopefully will make powerhammer dies. It was from the mast of a *large* forklift: 2.25" thick and probably a medium carbon steel. I also picked up 2 pieces of the chain used to raise the forks. Can't wait to forge weld it into a billet. I also picked up an improvised anvil, about 60 pounds in a single rectangular chunk appx: 4"x6.5"x8". It had a hole through it and so I picked up some 3/8 heavily corroded rod to carry it with and for making "antique" looking items. After lunch and a bit of recovery

Check for shims under the clutch blocks? In cold weather the oil may be too stiff; try using a lighter oil in winter. Check the clutch spring.

Fishers have a cast iron body with a steel face and horn plate. The underside of the horn is cast iron not steel.

We've got bindweed too; my previous Pastor was an organic farmer and preached a sermon about it one time I remember...

Goatheads are a low growing plant that produce immense numbers of 2 thorned seeds, also called puncture weed out here. AKA as Natures little caltrops. the two thorns make them look like a goat's head. They will stick into tire tread, boot soles, dog paws. They are the reason that every door in my shop have a section of metal grating to scrub your shoes against to try to remove them outside of the house. You don't kneel on the ground out here either! As a bonus they grow from the seed such that if you try to weed them you get stuck grabbing the plant's base. Easiest method is to use a carpe

I've seen him 3 times live, each time in a different state now that I think of it and have an autographed copy of his PDQ Bach Biography.

Yup it sure do. It is possible to make it without a U bolt but using two bolts one for either side. I forged a step as well: --__-- to help hold it in place for the spring. Getting everything aligned so their isn't any slop is the real trick. I've got one made that way for my heavy work postvise. It's fastened to a telephone pole that holds the roof truss up for the shop and is buried 5' deep and cemented in. Stout; of course when you sledge on it the walls shake and let the neighbors know you are working even though there is just an empty field on that side. One thing I always l

I've done these close to a dozen times and never had to use anything from a store. Of course I pick up stuff that I can use at the scrap yard when I see it.

We have goat heads everywhere out here; I've learned to slip on slippers just to go from the bed to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Talk with the nearby ABANA affiliates about the people close to you.