Yetti

I have for the better part of my life been a collector of stuff. I have been at it since I can remember draging home my first bike from the alleys of Detroit. well its been 45 years worth of stuff collected around me over the years and I have come to appreciate marking my stuff. as an example I have 3lb coffee cans that I use for small stuff. they work well but if it gets out of hand you have like 300+ cans! its a nightmare of sorts but I love a good hunt.
well to make matters worse I know I own stuff, I am positive...I can't never find it? dunno why other then it gets put where it doesn't belong. today I installed a set of wheel bearing on my Gravely Lawn mower. nothing special right? wrong. the dealer looked them up last Tuesday and handed me a set. they were $7,40 ea. for the 2 that I needed. I figured since I had to have them it wasn't that bad. I also bought a new set of blades. so $54 later I was on my way. got home and sure enough they were the wrong ones. the guy at the dealer insisted they were correct. so now I was mad. I knew in my heart I owned a set and set about looking again...nothing. bummed about not finding them I went back Thursday to get the Correct bearings serial numbers in hand. well guess what? they didn't corispond with anything he could look up? go figure. anyways he says "we'll match them up". sure enough he come back in about 4-5 minutes carring the exact right bearings. here's the kicker. they are now $13 each! oh I was mad. not only did the place cost me a trip, but now I had to pay more. I was fuming. so to make a long story short I got done fixing the mower. greased it gassed it up and there it sits ready to go. I started cleaning up my mess and one thing led to another and I am cleaning the top of my work bench. as I pull down coffee cans to put bits where they belong I find one marked tools and bits. sure enough there is the brand new pair of bearing that I knew I owned...1 1/2 hours after putting in the new ones. sucks to be me. mark your stuff so you can find it when you need it. end of story.

one of the things I learned was borax is used as eye wash. you get 100% at the chemist in the eye wash section.( at least back on this side of the pond)

good luck with that. better put the water wings on and hold on tight.

listerine. dump about half a bottle in there and it kills the critters and smell.

I think you need to read a bit more in the forge section. I think almost everything you asked is in the section already. plus it may clear up anything you haven't asked but have nagging in the back of your head.
remember you can't rush art, knife making is an art.

Holy cow woody, thats a bunch of rain in a even'n. we would need to name another great lake if was have that kind of rain. lol

Very nice. you should be proud your pop left you a nice piece you can hand down to your kids or grand kids some day.

well for what I know about machine bases if the footing has been filled or disturbed it will need compacted. problem 1 is depth. you need to compact in layers. if not then you may need to drill holes and put in piles for the footing. piles will stabilize the floor and prevent it cracking and shifting. I would do some research about the requirements of the machine.
My shop is 7"-8" average depth. it will support a good amount of weigh given that it has a rewire rolled into it and its bedded on a 6" of gravel under that. I would think the machine would require at least a bag mix if not as high as a nine bag(very strong). its just a thought, but if you called a concrete company they may have an engineer on hand to figure out what you need.

I agree with f_b, this has taken some reading... but interesting. A lot earlier I mentioned that the Industrial Revolution relied upon free movement of ideas; this was rebutted by mentioning patents and commercial secrecy, fair points. However, there were also a number of lecure venues and fora for the advancement / sharing of ideas in the major industrial cities such as Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and London. Because they had the protection of patents, engineers felt free to publicise their ideas and call upon (challenge!) others to improve upon them. All to the common good. Difficult to summarise a concensus on the thead - if there has been one. Perhaps it is fair to say that nobody has an absolute right to another person's knowledge; but, there is a strong moral obligation on those with knowledge to share it with others who could benefit from it. All to the common good!

I'll take "dry heat" over "no humidity due to freezing temps". its like being in a desert without actually being there.

http://www.shoebuy.com/width-4e-steel-toe-mens-casual.htm

http://www.bigshoes.com/

http://www.steel-toe-shoes.com/MENS-STEEL-TOE-SHOES-1.htm?gclid=CKXW_aHx7a4CFYoDQAodqw5SLg

I just paid $205 for Red wings. they are nice steel toes but the steel part is narrow. kinda digs on my pinky toe. mine are just 16Ds

yeah I heard that. you guys and Florida.
as for skeeters they kicked in hard this even'n. I thought I'd be sucked dry by the time I reached the house

funny you say. i am not sure as it wasn't mensioned in the artical

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/antique-machinery-history/foot-operated-leg-vise-search-195799/

I found some pics of some other nice foot vises

ah shows what i know about geogrophy..lol

I find it funny that its is a movie mentality. everyone I talk to about anvils says " You shoe horses?" its like the whole of the world has seen every western ever made at that point. one guy even suggested going to the local horse track to make extra cash. I haven't hardly begun with this smithing stuff and people act dumb towards it.

Michigan opened up the laws for them last year. everyone I know who hunts bow is now a cross bow hunter. our state says the limit is like 280ft per second but I know guys who are pulling 420ft. thats slinging some bolts. as for the handicap laws? they have so many holes in them its up to the interpitation of the LEO in most cases and unless you have a permit signed by a judge/doctor you get a ticket or worse.

I've never seen snow, except in pictures.

I'm to the point now I can do with a week or two of snow and I'm done. this winter was very mild here snow didn't hang around and the temps stayed above 0 for the most part. back in `01 we had 21 inches of snow over 3 days and then it stuck for 6 weeks, and the temps stayed around zero. that sucked

I suspect it won't last but I am taking every advantage at this point. its supposed to stay all week. hope it just rains on and off for the rest of spring. I am so done with snow.( but I didn't take the blade off just yet.)
as for the getting things set up I un burried my trailer. I have to take it haul anything so it had to come out. first stop is in Saline looking for a forge :)

I had my sons help me open up the shop today. we had it packed so full from winter you couldn't move in there! its been a nice day, light breeze and 74* can't beat it.

I'm looking forward to meeting follks at these meets. the next one for will be at the Bat house Forge in Parma. cya there.