seldom (dick renker)

I used stall mats from TSC and hard insoles in my shoes. makes a world of difference. haven't had mat catchon fire yet but it does stink pretty good. helps to find that lost piece as Charles said. when I was teaching on a concrete floor with no matting I could hardly walk after 3 or 4 hours.

Don't count on the big tire being real wrought. I have picked up several that are not. Give it a good check. Still pretty good steel though.

looks a lot like my peter wright. maybe 100 lbs.

nice job. years ago I was a part time rural mailman. kids had knocked down one customers mailbox a bunch of times so he made a new one out of well casing, 6 and 8 inch. its still standing tho a few kids got sore arms from using the bat and a few dents in vehicles when bats didn't work.

Cavpilot2k, there a few near the south shore. I am in attleboro for the time being, getting ready to buy a place out there. right now half of my shop is in new York the other half is in mass. jplservice is in rutland mass. she does some really nice work and is putting out some instructional videos. arftist is in the taunton area for now. I haven't met either one of the mentioned folks yet but they are on my list. I have gotten involved with the historical society in freetown, mass and we are working on having a hammer-in this coming spring. end of april or into may. I know where Pembroke is tho I haven't been there in 20 years or so. dick

those look really neat. cant wait to get a place to put my shop back together so I can do something.

Its a toy that you don't use every day but when you need it its irreplaceable. Enjoy, I love mine.

arftist, right now I am at home in ny till the13 th and start back to work on the 14th. we can sure meet up. most of my work right now is in east taunton. I work for mass coastal railroad and my days start at 0500 and on the job site 0700. while like you I cant leave job site but we can sure hook up after work. I'm usually done between 3 and 5. just a lot of depends upon. my phone is PM me dick

go dan. that was great

the pics are awesome. I have followed scrapart a while ago and was highly impressed with his attention to detail. this looks like the kind of show that could possibly get me in an airplane again.

came back out of retirement to work on a railroad as a safety guy. keeping trains and contractors separated.

aww come on frosty, hook up the dog team. if you leave now you can get here in time.

I have just gotten involved with a historical society in Assonet Ma., its a small village in the town of Freetown. They are wanting to increase the traffic there. They have an active blacksmith shop that represents the two shops they had in their town. I suggested a hammer-in to kinda help put the place on the map and so far they are acceptable to that. The question I have now, Is there any one that would be willing to demo for a hammer-in there? I think we are looking at some time in the late April/May area. They have 16 acres of land and I was thinking perhaps a two day event with folks able to camp there if it went that way. they have water, rest rooms and electric . Also what would the cost be for the demo. I have a meeting with the president and a board member on this coming Sat, so if there is any interest I would appreciate hearing before then. In the mean time I hope to be able to visit some of the local members shops to introduce my self. At the present I am living in Attleboro, Ma. Thanks

watched this show last night and thought it was pretty well done.

thanks Glenn. got it and paid my dues dick

Good morning everybody, Looking for info to join the organization. Looked at new web site and didn't find anything to move in that direction. I am in the process of moving to Mass. from NY. Kinda like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. I'm a current member of the New York State Designer Blacksmiths. Right now my shop is pretty well torn apart, half here in Mass and half in NY. Dick Renker

Although I have only been to Q-S once, my feeling about it is if you cant find it there, you dont need it. Hope to back again.

the scrapper looked very familiar when I saw it. used them a ton of times when I was in the navy on deck winches. they had bronze bearings and every bearing job was a hand scrape deal with them.

looks like a bearing scrapper to me

learned on a dude ranch in the Adirondacks. first had to read the calvary manual and be quizzed by the foreman then started on only fronts then hind then whole hog. first few took about 2 hours just to do the fronts. gradually got faster and better. went out and apprenticed and then on my own for a few years then after about 10 years went to cornell university for their shoeing course. by then I had figured out what I didn't know and what I wanted to learn. by then I had a full route and territory; blew back out after about 20 years and wouldn't even trim my own. wife was not happy but I still got her.

frosty, good info came out so why get cranked about it. lifes to darned short.

well my wife would do the pickers proud. sent me an email saying the she just picked up a nice rivet forge, a dozen pair of tongs, an electric blower and a hand crank blower for said forge a half dozen hardie tools, some assorted plates and other stuff and a about 50 lbs of coal for 50.00 bucks. all from one yard sale. an anvil also there but they wouldn't price it yet, still attached to it. when I get home in sept. ill have to check it out.

great video

yes the thread got hijacked, however the information the came out of the hijacking was pertinate to the subject of galvanized material and the dangers to are involved so I'm not too concerned. not the first time nor will it be the last time.

just a note of caution for all hands. the new pandol clips that are being used on the railroads instead of spikes are now galvanized. I know there are a lot of folks that try them some use some caution here so that you don't get more than you bargained for.