metalmaster1766

i will never forget, that was the morning i woke up excited to drive down and pick up my building permit for my workshop, i had been waiting for weeks for it, they called and said its ready come and get it, i was at the office waiting for them to hand it to me and they had a TV on one of the morning shows when it all started, i had planned to start breaking ground as soon as i made it home, but, instead i watched TV horrified at what was going on, that was on a Tuesday, i spent the next few hours at home glued to the TV wiping tears from my eyes, my heart and prayers went out that day to all the family and friends of those lost that morning, some days when out back in the shop i still think about that morning, some days it still brings a tear to my eye, knowing that this is starting to take some of our freedoms away from us, but changes had to be done, as difficult as it may seem to take your shoes off at airports to be inspected, that is just 1 small price to pay because there are many more that i could go on and on about for these terrorist/cowards to do such a thing, i know in my heart that on judgement day they will pay for what they have done, but that is not soon enough support all the military for what they do, and keep them and thier families in your prayers, because without them Americans would surely lose almost everything this country was built on - FREEDOM Ron

as close as i am to (bout an hour south of) Troy Ohio, id love to go, but every year it falls on the same weekend of our anniversary, and i just cant talk my wonderful wife into going, maybe next year Ron

looks good enough to eat, very nice work, Ron

WOW, i was expecting something small, was it the one on the far right that you made LOL Ron

kaolin is a type of clay, heated and melted at a high temp, then it is made into fibers similar to cotton candy, then made into kaowool, well at least thats how it was explained to me, i could be totaly wrong Ron

Congratulations Mr Hofi Ron

Ed Thomas, i put a picture of my lathe in the "Member Galleries" in the Metalmaster1766 album, if you do a search in the gallery, type in "homemade lathe" it will go to the picture, it is a Dave Gingery homemade bench lathe, i still havent finished it yet, still need to cast the tailstock and finish it. One_rod, both of the machines have a rack gear feed on the table, no screw, the machine on the right has an air feed cylinder on it, and no they didnt come with any dividing or indexing gear, i can only wish they did Ron

Ed Thomas thanks for the info on the belts, if in a pinch i may hafta try that, a good friend of mine has a belt splicer/stitcher, what ever its called, uses metal links to tie the ends together, and that machine isnt as beefy as it looks, im working on trying to get a bigger one, and an old lathe, i was a machinist for years, and hope to do part time machine shop work after the 1st of the year, and yes, something about old machines i just love, after all, they used those to make most of the precision machines that started everything ill hafta find a picture of my home built lathe to show ya's, guess i should post it in a different place tho Ron

these 2 small (and very old)horizontal milling machines followed me home last week, they both work and arent in to bad of condition, i just couldnt think of them going to the scrap yard, so they now reside in my shop, give me something to make some metal chips with till i can get the big milling machine here Ron

ok im going to start making my own charcoal, iv never used it before, what is the best size for forge welding, i want to try cable damascus and such, i have been using propane till now, but cant seem to get temps to forge weld, ive searched all over and cant seem to find anything about charcoal size, thanks Ron

look at this link, or go to the ebay link, http://home.isoc.net/~generic/ this guy lives close by me . and from what i have read he is very helpful thru e-mail and the price is right too, i think the plans are $2.00 US for an e-mail plan and $10.00 for the CD i have the CD matter of fact i just picked it up this morning i also built my own 3phase converter from an old 2hp motor hooked up to 220v single ph, and a small capacitor to start it, it runs fine with no other caps, all 3 legs or 220 are within 15 volts of each other, it runs a 1hp 3ph milling machine just fine

cant find a picture of my 1st knife, but here is a picture of my 1st spike axe ok this afternoon i went and found my first 3 knives that i made from railroad spikes, i still need to make me a belt grinder so i can finish them, all i used on the first 2 was a 4" angle grinder, i stopped before i messed them up, the 1st one i got carried away with the twist, but they are in order from left to right Ron

i call it "The Shop" Ron

Leah my thoughts and prayers are also with you and your mother and family, memories are the best, every time i think of my father all i can do is laugh, sometimes so hard it brings tears to my eyes, Ron

i dont have a real anvil either, but my railroad track anvil works just fine, it weighs about 50 lbs, and i put a 1" hardie hole in it, maybe when i can start making some money i can buy a real anvil http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=110&stc=1&d=1150577176 Ron

im so glad everything went well, ill keep you all in my prayers Ron

here is my vise, its mounted to a 4" pipe welded inside a semi truck brake drum, i can fill it with wheel weights, take them out to move it outside if i want, or i can bolt it to the floor to make it more solid, i try to keep some of my stuff portable so when its nice i can work outside till i get the addition on my shop Ron http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=22&stc=1&d=1142714018

i had a bracket just for mounting a post vise to the floor, i cut it into pieces when i mounted it onto something else so i can move it where i want it, outside in the warmer weather for one, i will see if i can get another one and post a picture of it, its kind of like a upside down U with feet that are bent out to bolt to the floor with a hole in the top where the vice leg sits inside, i mounted mine to a brake drum from a semi truck and a 4" pipe, i can fill the drum up with wheel weights or sand, easy to empty and move around where i need it Ron

Frogvalley, took me a while to get back on this, the original machine was a wood router, the ram weighs about 75 pounds, is a piece of 3 X 3 X 30 inch steel, the motor is a 3/4 HP bolted to a 10-1 geared box, between 75 & 80 bpm, the spring is from an old truck, couldnt tell ya what kind, there are 4 dies that came with it, 2 flat dies, 1 fuller, and 1 with about a 20 degree angle, dont know what its called, i did make a set of dies for it combination flat/fuller dies, havent had a chance to use them yet, still trying to get my shop organized before i start any more projects, i can get better pictures if ya want to see anything up close just let me know, it works great, maybe one day i'll paint it Ron Smith

Ron has been on a transplant list for a pancreas now for almost a year in Lexington ky, And now he is on the list in Cleveland Oh. This is his 3rd Transplant over the last 5 yrs. He was blessed with a kidney 5 yrs ago from his mother and is doing great from that. Kidney is doing great. In 2004 he had his 1st panreas transplant that didnt take. So here we wait for the call for this Transplant. We would appreciate all the prayers we can get. Prayer is a powerful thing. Ron has talked alot about this site and I his wife thought I would ask for him to be put on the prayer list. Thank you Ron's wife Katrina.

any pictures of it Elkdoc? or anyone else for that matter? im in the process now of building a coal forge, gonna use the top end of a co2 tank for the fire pot, im thinking about a side-draft hood, i have a 30 gallon drum too, and a few 55 gallon drums, I was planning on a 10-12 inch diameter flue, if anyone has any pictures of a homebuilt coal forge i'd like to see them, thanks oh yeah the fire pot (tank) is about 8 inches in diameter, i havent cut it yet, gonna do that tomorrow Ron Smith

heres my shop helper, Thunder is his name, making noise is his game, all he's good for is barking, here he is after a rough day in the shop, Ron