ChrisB

That show is what got me into smithing.

I'm glad to see you here Jesse. I'll make you have a big yawn and tell you I ride an Electra Glide std. Chris

Looking for ideas for a vetical stock storage rack. I would like it to be free standing and I have no problems lagging it to the floor. I typically buy my stock by the "stick" at a steel supplier and have to pop it in half to get it home.

The best thing I ever did was upgrade to a 100# bottle.

The tidewater blacksmiths website has a good write up for forging tool steel. Heat Treating Toolsteel - Tips - Techniques & Useful Information

You get excited at the garbage transfer station when you see any of the following.. Empty disposable heilium tanks, those brown matteress bed frames, wash tubs

Step #1. Go to the flea market and buy a few rusty cast iron pans. Step #2 Hang the pans from a tree in the backyard. Step #3 Find a serious sling shot. Step #4 Challange the wife...

I'm still working on making the tooling from his book. Nice work!

Getting a bit more scaling on my work in the gas forge that I care to have. I'm wondering if there are hints on how to limit scaling in a gas forge. Running a Don Fogg style "blown" burner. Thanks Chris

#1 Safety glasses #2 Hearing protection #3 Have a "hot" location for metal #4 Respirator for grinding #5 Work stops when visitors lack safety glasses.

Iowa class battleship. Looking back that is the best time I had in the Navy serving aboard the USS Missouri. Dont ever pass on a chance to tour one of these awesome machines.

Grizzly is hard to beat for the money. Look over the woodworking forums and you'll see lots of favorable responses to the quality of their stuff. Go their actual website they have unadvertised sales often.

For me I found running venturi burners on a 20lb tank very annoying. I moved to a 100lb tank. If your forge is always setup and you have your forge where its going to stay. I would seriously consider just getting another "big" tank and just let the propane truck fill it.

Looks nice!

See my post titled "First Knife" over in the Knife making section. Also worked on a table base.

A friend asked if I could make him a knife. He's Irish and told me the knife is worn on your calf when wearing a kilt. Made from a very rust pitted piece of leaf spring. I told him I'd made a prototype with the spring material before using nicer stock. That way he's happy with the design and I haven't used up purchased material.

The dollar store spray works good. Parking a running push mower over the ground dwellers nest and kicking back and having a barley pop for 20 min also works good.

+1 on leaving it a crowbar. Very handy tool to have around.

Wait till she attends her first "Igniting of the gas forge".

Shhhhhh... lol I plan on using the heart and a couple others in place of cross braces I wanted to make sure they are solid.

Yesterday while waiting for stain to dry on hardwood floors I've installed in 2/3 of the house. I put in some time at the forge. I'm planning on using a few of these as structural members of table base I'm building.

I have an older Snap-on unit (century/solar) mfg date 1989 it was given to me because it was supposedly broken. It needed the correct consumables and a few contacts on the inside cleaned up. 1/4" is the cutting limit for this unit. Its a dream for cutting sheet metal. I'll drag it out and set it up before I even think about touching tip snips. Here's the thing with plasma cutters. They need very clean and dry air other wise you'll eat up consumables very fast. They need power...If what your cutting is outside or on the other side of the shop and you only have one outlet... Most need 220v 50a service to plug into. The buy in price is steep for a unit that you can trust to work more than 6mos. Yes there are the "Cut50" units from China that have a nice price tag. Check out the welding forums at the number of people that are having problems with those units. Yes some come with a great warranty but return shipping is on you and some guys have had to send units back 3 or 4 times that shipping adds up. I read where one guy could have bought a miller unit at the LWS for what he had wrapped up in the "Cut50" with the number of times he had to ship it back on his dime. Anymore I go for the Oxy/fuel cutting setup first. I can move it easily to where I'm working and not have to play with power cords/air hoses. Watch Craigslist for used units.

Looking for a book or website or .... that has some good pictures of stair railings. Looking to replace the builder grade stuff in my own home. The Mrs needs pics to understand that I'm just going to make a generic twisted flat bar railing. Thanks Chris

Anvil collections its very disheartening to see them as a beginning smith. I've seen a few and initially I was annoyed too. Some simple math made it clear that I could get a new anvil of twice the weight and less cash compared a used one because of the collectors and antique dealers. I made my mind up that they can enjoy their paper weights.

Picked up two claw hammer heads for free. Besides re-handling them any other nifty tools I can reforge them into? tomahawks ?