DSW

Nice job Matt. If push comes to shove, drive two stakes into the ground and screw or wire the legs to the stakes. You really don't need to stake all 4 legs,2 should be enough. I'm spoiled because I have a bunch of concrete pins with holes in them from years of doing concrete for things like this, but any 2'-3' long, 3/4" or larger rod would work, or even those 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" oak tree stakes would work ( though they are harder to drive and pull than steel pins. As far as stiffening your stand, you'll want some sort of "brace" down near the lower end of the legs to help stabilize them to start with. Simple 2" x 1/8" flat would work. I say 2" because it's wide enough you could drill and use blots vs needing to weld. Even 1" x 1/8" would work if you had access to a welder. Thicker flat or angle iron would also work. I'd think about adding a brace maybe 12" from the bottom, and maybe one about waist level or so. The one at waist level, if made of angle iron on at least 2 sides would allow you to make a small shelf. "Outriggers" of some sort would help stabilize the whole thing. 2x4's are simple and cheap. I'd do a T shape. one across the front two legs say extending 6" to 12" past the legs on each side. This should be enough to stabilize the stand side to side, but you may need to be wider if your stand is taller than I think it is. The"vertical of the T would start behind this front 2x and attach to the legs front and back on one side and extend out the back by about the same amount the front does. This will keep it from tipping over backwards. I doubt in use you will tend to want to tip it forward. I would not extend legs to the front to prevent tipping. Instead if it does become an issue, toss a sand bag on the back leg and it will keep it from wanting to move. For a "sand bag", if you know anyone who gets bulk feed, the heavy feed bags work great for this. I prefer to use gravel vs sand for things like this as sand tends to work thru the fibers and can make a mess if you aren't careful. The reason I suggest 2x4's is A; they are dirt cheap, you can take them off a scrap pallet for free if need be, and B: you can simply drill a few holes in your angle iron legs and use drywall screws to hold the 2x's on. No welding needed.

Rebar is often "mystery metal" made from remelt scrap. It is made to meet a minimum standard tensile strength and not much else. I have had some bar that is hard and some butter soft, and even some that are hard in some spots on the same bar and some that are soft, and that's simply working with it cold doing concrete work. Rebar has it's uses, mostly for reinforcing concrete. The surface texture lends itself to things like snakes, but it's a very poor steel to forge with on average. I've had good luck managing to find old railings people are trashing for stock. There's usually a bunch of nice lengths of 1/2" square bar on them, but you have to take a grinder and cut all the welds. I've also made friends with a small scrap guy who goes around and collects steel scrap, then sells it to a bigger scrapper. Some times I'll go over to his small yard and look to see what he has collected, and I've asked him to let me know if there's something I might be able to use that he finds.

Probably worried disgruntled members will show up and shoot anvils at his place. Though it would be a cheap way to collect anvils...

I can't really see why you couldn't. It's not really much different than standard 5/8" square bar with the exception of the head. 5/8" is a bit on the thick side, but there's no reason the bar has to stay that size. It's just more work to draw it down to say 1/2" square or whatever. If nothing else it's more practice on the basics. If you have a good supply of spikes, why not? Most prefer to use spikes in a way that shows what they originally were, even if the steel they are made from isn't all that much better than mild steel. I guess if I had an unlimited supply for free, I wouldn't be as choosy about what I used them for myself.

Silver and black look like scale to me. The "red" looks like flash rust. I'm not sure about your question on cleaning "equipment". Acetone is a relatively "safe" cleaner for oils/grease etc. It's highly flammable, but leaves no residue. Denatured alcohol is another good cleaner. For heavy deposits I prefer to use mineral spirits or kerosene followed by acetone etc. This doesn't evaporate as fast and is less expensive for "bulk" cleaning. You definitely want to avoid chlorinated brake cleaners at all costs.

You need to learn how to spread metal in a specific direction by using the peen on your cross peen hammer. Leaves are a good simple project for learning to spread material. Taper the end of a piece of square stock, then use the edge of the anvil to isolate a piece at the end by the taper and use your peen to spread the material to the sides. Leave a ridge of thicker material down the center. This would be similar to a double edged knife. When you can do that, do the same thing, but spread the material only to one side.

Bottle openers, key fobs, split crosses, plant hangers ( look good on display with a colorful plant in them) , dinner triangles, horse shoe stuff... The list goes on and on. As mentioned there are any number of threads on this. I try to have a variety of items in the $5, $10, $15 and $20 range. As far as whether or not to fire up your forge, that can be a bit tougher to call. Keep in mind it's tough by yourself to both sell and forge. With two people it works better. It's too easy to get distracted and ruin a piece. In a small event I may not want to bother with all the gear needed to set up. Also if you use coal, you won't make many friends with those who are set up next to you if you end up with a lot of smoke. Having said that, I find that working at my forge brings people over to see what I'm doing when I demo at the Grange fair for a week every summer. I choose small quick projects to do when people are watching. Bottle openers, split crosses ( blanks preped in advance) leaf or feather key fobs, horse shoe hearts etc. I save bigger more time consuming projects for 1st thing in the day when there's almost no one around and I can just work. I have found that most times when I do a demo and make say a bottle opener, I'll have someone buy that one right on the spot. Having a few extras sitting on the table for those who want one, but don't want to wait helps. I take what I have, but make sure I have plenty of cards with my name and number on them so if I run out, people know how to contact me. I also bring a book of picts showing many of the things I've done in the past that might be a bit bigger than what I have on hand, say the grape leaf wine rack I made as a wedding gift last year. I also put some thought into how I display those items. Again plenty of threads here on that subject. Bring lots of money to make change with you. Nothing worse than having someone want an item and you can't break the $20 they have. Don't expect other vendors to help you out with this. They have the same problem you do. That's one of the reasons I price things in $5 increments. I'll bring a bunch of $5 bills and a few $10's to make change. Pricing things in dollar increments means you'll need a boat load of ones.

Looking good. I need to find time to fire my forge back up again.

You'll probably find a lot of Mack truck drivers that would buy those. Take a few in to your local Mack dealer and let them see them. they might let you put up a small display and a card. That or talk to a few guys at a decent sized trucking company that run Macks. I bet after a few guys buy one, you'll get calls from other drivers wanting their own.

Smoothbore, do you have a pict of your set up? I'm just not visualizing it right now.

I've done it both ways, My hot cut was forged from solid stock. Some of my other tools like my bark die, swages etc had shanks welded on. Some were pieces of solid square stock, some angle iron, some tube. Usually what ever I had scrap on hand that would fit the hardy hole.

I have a piece of bead board plywood that I use as a wall to display items. I can screw into this plant hangers, dinner triangles, wall hooks etc for easy display. I like to have some cheap pots to put in some of the plant holders and even better this time of year, a few inexpensive plants to put in the pots. If you are lucky you can make your plant holder fit the round plastic pots many of the plants come in. Hanging baskets to hang from plant hooks are another good idea. Keep tract of what the plant costs in case someone wants to buy the plants as well as the hangers. One cheap way to get plants is to find out what the local store does with their "dead" or wilted plants. Many times these just need some water, or they are plants that like shade that are placed in direct sun. Some places will sell these dirt cheap, and a bit of TLC can bring them back. As far as a table for other items ( candle holders, bottle openers, horse shoe hearts etc) I have an old barn door that I use that adds to the feel of the booth. On that I have my book with picts of other projects ( like the grape leaf wine rack I made and sold last year) as well as my business cards so people know how to contact me. I've seen some people put a stump/ branch on their table and screw hangers to that as well. At the Grange, the spot I have is right next to an old telephone pole and I hand stuff from that as well. I also hang things from the tent frame. The idea is to get things up above the average person so they are easy to see at a distance to attract customers. Bright colors from plants help with this. As far as booth tips, lots of cash to make change. I price many of my items so I don't need $1's. That way I can make change mostly with $5 and $10 bills on average. I don't usually bother with $20's because I'll get plenty of those when I sell things, or if it's early on, I can make do with $10's. Nothing worse than someone standing there wanting to buy a $5 item and you are all out of change to break a $20. I also already mentioned business cards. You can get simple cards from places like Vistaprint fairly inexpensively. I had a guy pick up one of my cards last summer give me a call around Christmas looking for a bunch of forged bottle openers for presents. That sale alone covered my cards and I still made a good chunk of change from the sale. I did find for outdoor events that a bull dog clip will help keep the wind from blowing the cards all over the place.

Steve Sells has written a good book "Introduction to knife making" that your son may find valuable. Frosty's comments of stock removal and learning to blacksmith also have a lot of merit. Just because you are injured doesn't mean you can't do some of this. Things like a power hammer or hydraulic press can solve the hammer problem. Things to keep in mind in the future. You might also look around and see if there aren't some local groups you and your sons can join. Maybe you can locate a local member who can give them some hands on experience.

Plenty of places in the lower 48 where he could probably take a class. As mentioned talking to Frosty or one of the other Alaskan members here for suggestions is probably your best bet to find someone close to you. One thing I've found with working with younger kids thru 4-H and Scouts is that they have a "limited" attention span on average, even for things they are very interested in. Usually there is a saturation point, after which they start to get figity, and cranky. An all day 8 hour class isn't probably for them. They are often better with a program where things can be broken down into shorter time spans or if an "all day" class, a good size break allows them to recharge between sessions. You may find something like a two hour evening session may work well, even if it does stretch things out. I know how saturated I feel after 4 or 5, 8+ hour days of class even at my age. You may find packing him up and "shipping him off" to his grandpa's for a week or two may work well. he can learn from someone who doesn't have an issue stopping and taking a break if your son starts to get saturated and begins to loose focus.

Goats are supposedly great for poison ivy control.

I think many overlook the value of a good well fitting handle. My 1st blacksmithing class I was using the hammers the class supplied and by lunch I had a nice set of blisters starting even though I swing a hammer just about every day. I finished out that day using the 28 oz framing hammer I use regularly and a 3lb Estwing drilling sledge of mine from the truck. As soon as class ended that day I rushed up to the wholesale supplier I use and grabbed a selection of handles so I could rehandle a nice cross peen I'd picked up at a yard sale. I used that newly handled hammer for the rest of the class with no blisters. The handles on the class hammers were simply the wrong size for my smaller hands. I could tell that almost right away since I use hammers regularly. I've given away I don't know how many different hammers over the years simply because the handles just didn't fit me well.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

There shouldn't be a big issue with you just being by yourself, and you don't need to be a member to attend.

Missed this having been fighting off the flu for the last 2 weeks. Prayers sent for your full recovery Ian.

With the scar, just tell people you used to date a pirate and he forgot about his hook one time when giving you a hug. Glad to hear you are doing well.

Keep your eyes open for a large nail set. They are pretty much a ready made eye. Big box stores don't seem to have a good selection of nail sets, but some of the "real" hardware stores, or ACE/True Value stores sell the bigger ones individually.

The 2nd step kind of throws me a bit, but it does look a lot like a flareing tool for copper pipe. You heat the end of the pipe if needed top soften it and drive in the tool to create a "socket" so you can solder on the next section without having to use a coupling. I've seen these used more on soft copper in rolls more than with hard copper.

Being one who lives with back pain as well almost all the time, my thoughts and prayers are with her. I hope the surgery gives her some relief.

Dust masks are fine for some operations. I keep a box of 3m 8511 ones with the little exhaust vents, on the truck and at the shop all the time for some uses. However they don't seal any where near as well as a good respirator or stop any where close to what good respirators can. I keep a 3M 7500 half mask respirator both in the truck and at the shop for those other uses like fumes, welding, chemicals and so on. I'll use masks for grinding and generic dusty jobs.

What I see there is failure to tie the bead to the lower plate. It's could be one of two things. #1 you are aiming to "high" and aren't washing the bead down onto the lower piece. #2 you are laying down too much material and the bead is simply building up and rolling over onto cold plate ( cold lap). I'd bet on aiming too high myself. I can't really tell what you are trying to do here. If you are doing a pad with overlapping beads, or a muti pass fillet joint. If you are doing a fillet joint you look to be doing it "backwards" from how I'd do it. It looks like you started high and are working down vs building a "shelf" and stacking each bead on top of the last "row". What you are calling "scale" is actually slag. Bubbles in slag can come from several reasons. One being impurities, dirt etc on the piece, another being the fact you may be holding the rod excessively far from the piece causing a long arc. I tried before to reply on your comment about being able to see well, but the disappearing post issue wouldn't let me. Light coming in from behind your hood often can cause reflections on the glass inside making it hard to see. Some times it can help to cover the back of the hood with a flap or something to block the light. Different hoods block light better or worse. I know a number of guys who have bought a cheap HF leather apron and cut it up to cover the back of their hood. At some point I'll probably do mine as well. Additional lighting can also help. I often suggest to students they buy a cheap reflector spot light with a clamp and bring it with them to class. The lighting in the schools weld shop sucks. In many booths you either end up with light from the new overheads in the back of your hood causing reflections, or the dim lights in the booth make a lot of shadows that make it very hard to see. Pointing a good bright light where you need it can be a huge help.