Robert Yates

Happy Belated Birthday Frosty sorry I missed this some how .

This is one I made a copy of and I really enjoy how it functions .

Ol Thomas you just made me fall in the floor with that comment yet it is very true I have the T-shirt from it very wise advice .

I have posted this a time or two for some folks that wanted to know just what a R & R Spike had in its composition/ ingredients so here it goes yet again . Note: as per the manufacture the Carbon Dioxide / is the carbon content @ 0.30 to 0.34 and a tone of other trash. NO I am Not encouraging the use of R & R spikes for blades just posting the information for folks to see . Yes ! I know it is a MSDS the content/ composition/ ingredients is in percentage as to the amount of material that makes up a R & R Spike.

I am a bit disappointed that the link takes you to a site that charges for many articles that are here on IFI .

WOW with that many showing on the list it is surely to be an Awesome Hammer in it is almost the "Arctic Fire Group" very impressive .

agreed your smile says it all Well done Brother .

Welcome Debbie glad to have you here at IFI .

what steel is that Geoff ? it looks Sweet . R. Yates

Clean the work shop out set up all my new tooling & tools and heat & air to shop finish up wiring in shop finish up a ton of blades that have backed up when I went down ;( finish up web page design and get it launched . that is just a few things on my to do list . R. Yates

Very Nice start to a fine oven Brother JK . R Yates

Happy Happy Happy New Year from the Hills of Tennessee . R Yates

A copper sleeve will work for a collar and provide you with the ability to build up and remove the collar when done . hard surface can be done with two passes . Good Luck Sam

Welcome to the world of KMG Mac you are officially ruined now you will not want to file or hand sand much now . Enjoy it and get to work now to pay for it ;) Sam

By chance are you trying to cut out an Anvil ? Sam

Ok Folks I should Be finished by the end of this week with my stage of this project . I would like to express my Deepest Apologizes to the other Smiths that worked very heard on this project , as I am No where near as fast as they are with their work . I have to take my time and have had quite a few Bad days while trying to complete my part of this project . I will However Post my WIP photos / link to them or try to see if i remember how to do so on here LOL . Thank you for your understanding with my slow progress . Sam

Most excellent work your fit and finish is Bar None . I look forward to seeing it completed Sam

Here is a Post I found from Curtis at Turntex Woodworks " Hello folks, I was pointed to this site by someone and thought I would register to answer some questions an provide some help. I sincerely hope I am not violating any rules regarding selling and in the interest of such, I will mention that Cactus Juice, which is a professional quality resin, is my product and this is NOT intended to be a sales pitch of any kind. Bigkev, It sounds to me that your material was not dry. You should NEVER have a reduction in weight after stabilizing. To ensure complete dryness, I recommend that you put your wood in your oven at the same cure temperature that you would cure you blanks and allow them to "cook" for 24 hours. This will bring them down to oven dry or 0% moisture. This will allow more room for the resin to penetrate into the wood. Also, if only ran your vacuum pump for a few minutes, you did not run it long enough. I normally run mine for at least 1 hour, sometimes 2. Then, once you release the vacuum, you need to let it set for 30-40 minutes to allow the pressures to equalize. On spalted, punky wood, you should see a big weight increase, usually more than the 50% you reported. In other words, if a blank starts out at 35 grams, I would expect it to come out of the oven at 70 grams or better. I frequently get a 300% weight increase on the more punky stuff. The resin is a methacrylate ester blend which is the same chemistry as what the professional stabilizers use. The difference in results has solely to do with differences in processing methods. For those using Ronseal or other materials that have to dry...be careful when using vacuum. Ronseal, which I assume is similar to Minwax Wood Hardener here in the US, contains a high amount of flammable solvents that will boil at very little vacuum and exhaust through your vacuum pump as very flammable gas! Minwax Wood hardener, for example, is 72% acetone and 6% mineral spirits. The balance is the acrylic that you want in the wood. 100% of the acetone and mineral spirits have to evaporate in order to "dry", thus leaving only 22% of your wood filled with the solids. A heat cured stabilzing resin will cure at a rate of 99.99%. I am not going to claim 100% since I never like to use absolutes! In testing, however, 18.3 grams of liquid resin in a redneck beaker (shot glass!) comes out of the oven weighing exactly 18.3 grams as a solid. Thus, whatever you get into the wood will cure instead of being flashed off in the vacuum process. Pikebite...you said "The wood will not be fully stabilized after cooking. The polymerisation can take a week or more to finish and the wood may not give a good finish or it may move during this time." I have to respectfully disagree with you on this, at least when it comes to a heat cured, professional quality resin. Once the resin has been properly polymerized in the oven, it is done. It will not dry or cure any further. It is a chemical reaction of the initiator, which is heat activated. Once the stabilized piece cools down, all the cross-linking of the molecules has occurred that is going to occur. As a matter of fact, it will not even do it any good to put it back in the oven. I have to run but will check back in later to see if I can answer any other questions and comment further. I hope I am not intruding here! I definitely suggest you cook the wood in your oven before stabilizing. I cook my air dried wood in large batches at 90° C for 24 hrs prior to stabilizing to assure oven dry or 0% moisture. I then take the wood out of the oven and place it in large ziplock bags to prevent it from picking up ambient moisture from the air as it cools down. That way I always have a good supply of dry wood ready to go. The plastic bags will also tell you if you still have moisture in the wood. As the wood cools down in the sealed bag, if there is moisture present, it will form condensation inside the bag and you will know it was not dry! " As per his post and not edited at all > Sam

Awesome Job Digger that turned out supper. Sam

Most excellent Article well written and easy to follow Thank you Don & to Glenn for posting this . Sam

Very Cool Set up on the Post Vice . I been looking for ideas for a new way to mount mine up. Thank you Sam

Hello Brother Dan, Hoorah , And Thank you for your Service as well. Sam, US Army '86 - '11 ,8834

My Silent Prayer goes out to all my Brothers & Sisters that have served,fought,and died for the USA also the many in other countries that also served to fight for the United States and the Freedom we have today . I would encourage every one that knows and meets a Vet today or any day to thank them for their Service & sacrifices they/and their family have made for the freedoms we enjoy so much every day. God Bless you all & Best Regards Sam

One Forge ! ! OOOHH The Horror ! LOL Sam

While I have posted very little of my work here or on any forum for that matter , there are many Brother smiths I hold in very high regards as to their work and information Yes I have butted heads with many a smith over many different aspects of forging and the information supplied . Note I never stop learning or trying new things . yes Rich ,Steve, Basher, Geoff Keys, Gary mullkey, and quite a bit of others that I will not list as we are limited in space and time . I also love the New guys that have brought forging to a new level with new Ideas even though they are not traditional to the old world forging aspects,designs,and ways of doing things. Yes I fit into the post/class that Rich was mentioning . LOL ;) Sam