ThomasPowers

Glen; I'm at the Presbyterian RUST facility in Rio Rancho NM; they LOVE the In Rust We Trust T shirt; I'm encouraging them to order their own!   Thomas "Dane Brammage" Powers

Alan; back in the late '70's I saw a movie about DGR and the Pre Raphaelites and went on to collect reproductions of some of their work.  Glad to see others appreciate them too. 

Disappearing post issue is striking me again:

No a piece of strap stock say 1/8 to 3/16 depending on how much umph you need will work fine.  There are many ways you can gussy it up a bit. I like to split the end a ways up forge the pieces square and then octagonal or round and then curl them up into spirals to rest on the sides of the moving leg while the center pushes out on it.  Also rather traditional is to bend the top over 90 so it catches on the top of the mounting bracket (the spring goes between the mounting bracket and the stationary leg and then down and is bent out to rest against the moving leg.)

Howdy!  let me know when the roll indicates I'm beginning to slip into hyperglycemic coma and I can post a few gibberish posts and one that slips away...Funny thing the first post apocalyptic book I ever read, Alas Babylon, (and one of the first written though I believe "On the Beach predates it slightly...), anyway it also had a diabetic that died due to the lack of insulin.  Most of the other newer ones have included that as well (like Lucifer's Hammer).  Funny we have a friend who actually researched how to extract insulin from animals as she told us her "survival plan" included taking both my wife and I out in the boonies as we had so many skills (and books).  Very Sweet of her but too much a load in a survival situation; I'd have to check out fairly early.

There are 3 type of people in the world; those who can learn by reading about something; those who can lean by watching someone else do something and those who just have to pee on the electric fence themselves...

Steve; I've had some recent interaction with Stuart myself.  I'm afraid I'm not overly impressed with facebook fame;  I've founded blacksmithing groups; been a president of an ABANA affiliate, president of a living history group; moderator on a neo-tribal forum and sub-guru over at anvilfire; etc.  Several of my students have gone on to go Pro and *that* is something to brag about...!

Stuart was bragging to me that he was personally responsible for raising the price of smithing gear; something I considered to be "anti-smithing rather than pro-smithing".  I tried to not rile the waters that we were discussing---about if a 19 year old should be spending US$4000 for a 490# A&H anvil.  I considered it NOT a positive thing as if the 19 year old is really interested in blacksmithing then a moderately sized anvil and a powerhammer would get them much further down the road than a HUGE anvil and nothing else.

Shoot I got one of my larger anvils off a fellow who had finally gotten tired of hauling it around every time he moved.  I traded him a 125# PW, a screw and screwbox for a postvise and $100 for a 410# Trenton.  Funny thing: the anvil was manufactured in Columbus OH, used and abused in Arizona copper mines, brought back to central Ohio where I got it and proceeded to take it back out to NM---should get a mileage bonus.

Hey Ric I was reading the overview of The Sword Form and Thought Conference held in Solingen last November and saw this:

Ingo Petri (Hamburg, Germany) presented a conclusive counter-statement to the hypothesis that the famous Ulfberht-Swords had been made from Indian crucible steel, which has been forwarded in popular media recently. By examining X-ray- and microscope-photographs, he could demonstrate that European steel and fire-welding-techniques had been used in constructing these swords.

Figured you had seen it already but just in case...  I have the pdf of the overview but that is all there is on that topic.

On a sad note I just found out that a load of the old Ohio Penitentiary water tower was scrapped without telling anybody recently. a guy's insurance company gave him a "clean up or we will drop you ultimatum and he scrapped everything when the local smiths would have "cleaned up" for him happily!

Thomas Powers

Have you read "Bond of Iron"? a scholarly book on the economics and social aspects of a VA ironworks that ran from around the end of the revolutionary war to the Civil War  and as you can tell from the title it goes in depth on the use of slaves in the process. (They were rented as they were considered better than the Irish not the least in that they didn't turn up drunk on Mondays...as I'm of Irish descent I got a kick out of that.)   I wish it had more of the technical aspects covered in depth though.

First make a list of what you want to do with/in it.  Include storage and room for future growth too.  When I last had a two story place I put a wood shop upstairs and a metal shop downstairs for instance. (blacksmithing equipment does better on a concrete floor than on a wooden floor, especially trip hammers!

 Will you be heating some/all of it?  Will parts need excessive ventilation. (Not knowing where you live we don't know if insulation before it snows means you have 8 months or 1 month to go---or like where I live a year or  3 before the next good snow...)

Not knowing what kind of things you will need to be moving in and out we can't advise on doors, Not knowing your climate we can't advise on a lot of things. Please be more specific!

Grass Side!

thomaspowers@zianet.com is my e-mail address
I'm also currently the President of the South West Artist Blacksmith ABANA affiliate; but am ditching that in December so I can go to the Estrella wars with my forge again!

Well lets see, 5-10 minutes of work with a wire wheel in a drill resulting in possibly doubling the price. Shoot you must be *RICH* if getting paid over $200 an hour is not worth your time! Cleaned up that anvil is in pretty good shape and so will sell as a good working Fisher price. With a question on if it has a crack right where cracks are more common it drops down to a fair to poor condition anvil. Thomas

Nope; but I did get to make a half dozen trips to Mexico for emergency dental work!

No problem, while there are issues any time you travel I go to a small Mexican town called Palomas. I park on the american side of the border and walk the 2.5 blocks to the dental clinic I use---straight down the main street and in sight of the Border Guards at all time. I also go at 9am when most of the "exciting" people are still sleeping. So far I have not felt anymore at risk than if I were to go to certain neighborhoods in Albuquerque; where I used to have my dental work done till I could no longer afford it---I've had root canals go bad both in the US and Mexico, (diabetes doesn't help), so for the same thing---extracting the tooth I paid 1200 dollars in US and 50 in Mexico---except the Mexican clinic was much cleaner! Thanks for the warning! Thomas