Neil Blythin

Well, OABA has their meetings and such posted on the website: http://www.ontarioblacksmiths.ca If you can let us know a more specific time frame for your friends visit, someone may know of other events, etc going on. Cheers, Neil

You really can't beat that Glenn. A question (with some fairly obscure clues) asked and answered within a few hours. That's why this community rocks!

Good point.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! ... I searched all over for this video. Couldn't for the life of me remember what it was called. Have it saved to my 'Favorites' list in YouTube now. Cheers guys! Neil

Hey Folks, I'm hoping someone can help me. I saw a video posted here some time ago (link to one on YouTube); and I can't for the life of me find it. I've tried every combination of search terms I can think of, but just can't seem to spot the post or remember which thread it was in. Anyways, the video was an old black and white film, looked to be part of a documentary. It showed Blacksmiths making gates, grilles, etc using a lot of slitting and drifting, passing the bars through each other. It looked to be in a rather heavy, industrial setup rather than in a small smithy, yet they were using hand hammers. If I recall correctly, what voice over/text there was was in German, and it had classical music playing. Any chance one of you knows the video I'm talking about and has the link bookmarked? Or remembers which thread it was in here on IFI? Cheers, Neil

Turpentine is the traditional one to use in this mixture. Not sure I'd want to expose acetone to heat like that - its far nastier stuff.

Frosty, you seriously need to have that printed on some t-shirts. I'd buy one.

If you want a free CAD package, try DraftSight (from Dassault Systems). They offer a full functioning 2D CAD package that's completely free: http://www.3ds.com/products-services/draftsight/overview/

Huh, I did not know that. You really *do* learn something new every day!

A full apron is to protect the smith from... their spouse (who is tired of seeing ruined clothing).

Hello all, Was just browsing on Kijiji and came across a listing for free bags if coal. This isn't my listing, I have no idea what type of coal or how much. But if someone is in Toronto, it may (or may not) be worth the effort to swing past and see if it's still there: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-buy-sell-other/city-of-toronto/free-bags-of-coal/1016134261?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

It all looks very deliberate, not 'damage' per se, but a modification that was done for some specific purpose. A dedicated anvil for a particular repetitive task...

I think I should get a shop goat...

That's a thing of beauty! I'm going to go do that to all of my anvils...

Not exactly 'weird' or uncommon, but I had two baby opossums. Their mother had been scared off the night before when I took our dogs out for a walk (I didn't see them at the time, but makes sense that's that the dogs were all worked up about). They're far less creepy looking as babies... I've also got a family of bunnies living under an old utility trailer out back of my shop that serves as my scrap pile/'resource centre'. Nothing too exotic. Don't know how those of you with snakes can handle it. That'd drive me nuts. At least most other animals you can hear that they're there.