Marc1

Hi Daswulf.

I was listening to the flight attendant not long ago doing her instruction routine. She came to the oxygen mask and said that if you have a kid, you first put the oxygen mask on yourself, then on your kid. The lady besides me was incensed. "How can she say that!" she mumbled ... I would first put it on my child then on myself. 

Well, no, that is not how it works. If you don't look after yourself, if you don't love yourself, you can not help others. Those who depend on you need you strong and well. If you go you can not help a single soul. 

Don't hate to ask, don't hate at all. Love the fact that you can ask for others to help, the fact that you have faith in a reply from others and overall from God, and know that no one is "a lost cause", there is no such thing. We make different choices, some better than others, we forge our path one step at the time just like we do on the anvil one blow at the time. 

You hold the hammer the fire heats the steel. Think in the outcome you want, the shape you want to achieve and strike the iron, one blow at the time. When it gets cold, heat it up again. 

May God guide your arm.  

Marc

Mm ... you have a point there ... and the edges at the top are chipped. Mm ... the holes at the top should be the giveaway, if they are round for bolting or square for a tool.

It could be a bollard but not a mooring one, a bollard to stop vehicles from driving into a pedestrian area ... (?)

That is a mooring Bollard. A cleat is smaller and has horns and goes on the boat. That bollard is concreted to the pier or bolted to it if it is a wooden pier. They make bollards of all shapes with and without horns, square cylindrical, that is definitely a bollard. It may actually double up as an anvil of sort, but they are cast and usually not the best sort.

Yes, traditional work vs "modern" ... a fine line.

Does it matter if you make a Damascus blade by hand or use a press? I suppose your Chiropractor will miss out if you use a press. The blade will be just as good if not better.

I don't read his comment like you do.

I read ...Powerhammer, short cut, not Vikinglike, only used for the initial menial task.

5 hours ago, teenylittlemetalguy said:

Very nice job mate.

On 11/2/2016 at 8:29 AM, Kozzy said:

There is some very weird psychology that goes on around this subject.  If, on the commercial equipment we build we put in shear pins--the customer gets grumpy that the shear pin breaks and blames the existence of a shear pin for lost production.  Similar happens when a specific part fails:  Instead of seeking the cause for failure they go immediately to the notion that the part was defective and ignore that it is 99.999% more likely that something else went wrong and the failed part is a symptom.  I guess it's akin to people who put a penny in place of the old Edison screw in fuses when they blew.

I've never really figured out how to redirect thinking toward looking at the issue rather than the specific part problem.  I guess its just one of those human nature mysteries that won't be solved.  In a holistic view, a part failure can be a good thing and lead you to solving the bigger problem...if you decide to look over the rim of the box.

Ha ha, reminds me when in another life I worked as an electrician and the owner of a nightclub who blew the fuses regularly due to overloading his very basic wiring, asked me to replace the fuses with thicker ones "so that the short goes out to the street" ... loved it ever since. 

On 9/22/2016 at 5:28 AM, bob w w said:

Hi all,

can anyone please tell me the ft. per min speed of a metal cutting band saw blade?

Regards.  Bob.

60 to 100 fpm. 60 for hard stuff, 100 for mild steel. faster for aluminium and brass. Set for 80 and cut anything. 

That is a better picture. Probably grinded out of a 3/8 shaft.

it would be a challenge to make it hot with a fuller. The flat version is easier. 

I wouldn't dismiss that design as non functional. There are plenty of commercial corkscrews that are not a wire spiral but a helix. I think that it depends from the way the point is made and sharpened and the edges of the helix if they are flat/thin enough. 

I would make it a tad narrower so to cut less into the cork but to me it look feasible. Surely better looking than a wire.

Sure it looks like an auger but the business end of an auger is a flat sharp chisel, a corkscrew needs a pointy end

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTS_JiMZ9OFDQSQuvVONWjqwiiFQ2JdHEjtJCauGPHm_rW6FQTI

I found this interesting, sort of sad for me anyway. Reminds me when my master passed away and his smithy was sold to a developer and all his gear sold for scrap. 

Mm ... a very aseptic story, says almost nothing. 

So a few people took a couple of classes and started manufacturing his hammer? There is no claim of patent infringement so probably no patent.

. I have seen old hammers from Austria and eastern europe that look very similar to that one. How close? Who knows. I am sure he makes a better one. but if people knocked off his design without permission he is not telling. There is an old thread in this very forum about someone making that or very similar hammer. titled "Sorry Hofi" or something on that line... and as far as the blu hammer, I spoke to the owner and he told me he had a commercial arrangement to make the hammers and the anvil but then had a dissagreement.  

Anyway ... now you made me feel guilty, I will buy a cast hammer from Hofi just to even the score.

10 hours ago, rockstar.esq said:

Zeroclick,

That's really cool that your local paper has advertisements for apprentice blacksmiths. 

I doubt they would have any trouble finding willing applicants of all ages out here.  Any job that offered pay equal to the median wage for my area would be inundated with qualified applicants. 

Speaking for the working-class Generation X people, I can say the job market is not what it claims to be. Wages have been stagnant for going on 9 years now.  I've seen the commuter traffic to metro areas increasing exponentially over the last 8 years as the suburban jobs dried up. When it takes a college degree, a decade of experience, and a 2 hour commute to land a job paying what you made10 years ago, it's hard to believe lazy Millennials are the reason there's a shortage of skilled workers.  I know a whole lot of Generation X people who are under-employed, or unemployed who'd jump at any chance to improve their career.

I think there's evidence of a shortage of real trade in the economy. Things like Uber and AirBNB exist because the people buying and the people selling these services are broke.  It's pitched as a sharing economy, which I'm guessing is polite parlance for depression era necessity.

 

I someone would advertise for blacksmith apprentice in Sydney, he would be wasting his time. We are in such a boom in building that you are hard pressed to find any trade related to building. The larger building companies work with tradesman brought in from easter europe, UK, and anywhere else they can find them. No trade qualification required since the builder signs the job off. Quality? well ... don't get me started.

I needed to get the roof repointed, and had to call the grey army, a group of semi retired tradesman over 55 that do small jobs. No roofer would even quote. 

8 hours ago, Glenn said:

Do you know the story behind how your hammers came to be made in the USA instead of Israel? Have you tested the balance of your hammers, not the feel as feel is subjective and not objective, Have you done a side by side comparison performance test between your hammers, other similarly shaped cross pein hammers, and the original Hofi hammer?

 

 I would like to know your version of the story since there are a few around and there is no way to know which version is correct. 

I understand that Hofi commissioned Blue to make them but then had some fall out for reasons unknown to me. Blue is not the only one making this hammers, there was another guy allegedly a student of Hofi making them? Not sure, not terribly interested. others claim that hammer shape has been around for centuries?

As far as testing the hammer side by side with one made by Hofi, to do that I would need to buy a Hofi hammer of the same weight then one of mine and possess the skills to be able to tell the difference. 

I first bought two of Blue hammers and when they arrived the head was not aligned with the handle. To their credit they sent me two more this time in perfect shape and I bought a third one to take advantage of the free shipping. So I now have 5. The misaligned hammers do work ok and you adjust after a few hammer strikes. Not acceptable to pay for it but ok if it is free. I would gladly give one to our Canadian friend but the fright would be a killer. 

I must say that having used an unknown brand cross peen hammer for a long time, this feels way better. If Hofi's is even better, I have no way to know yet I take your word for it. May be I need to buy one of the masters production? Possible, I am a sucker for tools, in fact I like new projects just to have an excuse to buy more tools.

Anyway the OP asked about the blue hammer and the Robertson. I have the Blue and I like it, that is all I can say

I like the Big Blue cross peen hammers. Have 3 of them and they all feel very well balanced. 

On ‎31‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 3:52 AM, Lou L said:

Frosty, I've been trying to believe what you posted for years now.  But it seemed like, each year, students and athletes I worked with were more focused on the trappings of success and less willing to work for them.  They wanted to be celebrated and were actually upset when they didnt get constant feedback telling them they were awesome.  Soon thereafter parents started showing up making excuses for their child's deplorable behavior, arguing for their varsity letter despite the fact they were not athletically successful and otherwise championing them mindlessly.

It was then that I started reading and researching.  Turns out that there is a mountain of evidence that environmental factors including sociopolitical, economic, etc...have changed the personality traits (in general) of the generations.  It has been measured in a variety of studies and validated that the current generation of young adults are twice as likely to be narcissists.  Another longitudinal study of children from ages 9 through their teens identified "parental overvaluation" (child worship essentially) as the direct predictor of narcissistic traits later on.

I totally agree the younger generations have always inspired the ire of the older.  Ancient Greek scholars complained about the laziness of the youth in their time!  I think that a lot of the complaining about the youth (including mine) comes from the place Frosty described.  But they are different.  Similar to Notown's experience, my friends who do a lot of hiring are having a hard time with the twenty somethings in their workplaces.  I was just told of an interview in which my friend asked the first generic question his company (GE) uses to start interviews: "Where do you see yourself in this company in five years?"

The girls's response (a young engineer) was, "In five years Im going to have your job."  He responded, "I've been in this company for 28 years, what tells you that you can get this high up in five?"

"In college I learned things that prepared me to do your job better."  She was serious.  They interviewed 400 people to fill engineering positions and had to settle on the best ten they could find.  They were only truly happy with half of those.  That one girl was the rule, not the exception according to my friend.

Im not being alarmist.  I'm just saying that this generation is demonstrably different from the previous.  They actually have a number of strengths as well.  There is a whole field of research in Generational Differences designed to help organizations successfully manage people based upon their generational biases.  You can check out a really intriguing chart comparing the last three generations here: http://www.wmfc.org/uploads/GenerationalDifferencesChart.pdf

 I think maybe the internet has made us all a bit more impatient and yet it has provided us more information than we could ever digest.  My apologies for prattling on but this is a topic that gets me excited!  As a teacher I am particularly close to the topic because I see the disconnect between my student's home life and public life daily and I think it's a topic that needs a voice

Interesting topic. What makes one generation different from the previous.

The reply in the job interview is a classic, probably learned in a self help book, and used thinking it may impress the interviewer. However the impatience, the need for instant satisfaction is more complex and starts very early at school and even earlier.

The classic sentence repeated at nauseam by the politically correct is "you can be anything you want".

Hello? There is a fallacy if there ever was one. No, you can not be anything you want despite what the Amway rep tells you. It does not work that way.

I use to have competitions at school, and we had first place, second third. Today such is politically incorrect, "everybody wins". No first no second no last person in a race... just in case we discourage someone .... Oh my... I can go on all day.

There is a chap that emails me from time to time, I believe based in Singapore that is a consultant for customer service mainly larger firms. Has a website aptly named "upyourservice.com" His stories and advise are always interesting and remind anyone reading it what not to do as well as what to do. 

He also does well for himself. It is a fascinating market and a neglected one where many think they know better at their own peril. 

It was nice having this exchange and we must do it again sometime ...

8 hours ago, JHCC said:

Or ambisinister. 

Sure, and interesting how the word for left in Latin (and Italian) become synonym for evil/bad/scary. 

Just like in politics ... ha ha

Back to gloves, I hope no one associates the use of gloves with weakness and no gloves with being tough. 

No shoes? No comment ...

Not particularly weird, but I had the local diamond python wandering in looking for a snack, tame as a pet pushed it outside. I get swallows nesting inside every year and have a family of geckos living among the steel.  

That would be ambiclumsy ...

Man you are keen

Yes, some words vary slightly in their meaning from one country to the next, but I think that for practical purposes, a discussion that involves price setting and understanding your customers can be very useful.

I don't presume to be an expert even when I have about 40 years of business experience as a fabricator, service provider and manufacturer in different stages of my life. However all that would be zip, without the opportunity I had to listen to business people vent their different points of view in a personal development course we run for some 10 years. It was an eye opener and I would have done it for free if need be, since I took home way more than I could possible give.

I found among other things that the business that did best were those who tried to understand their customers without any value judgement, no contempt towards the "stupid" one, no fear about the powerful ones.

Small business is a fascinating journey and should be a source of personal enrichment and not only a job. From the little I have read on this pages, it is abundantly clear that the vast majority seems to enjoy what they do. 

Hooroo

Marc

I use fingerless leather gloves for everything. Don't even know I have them on. 

For forging or welding I buy lefties. Any welding supplies sells only left handed gloves. For forging, welding gloves on the left. 

 Leather gloves tend to go rather quick. The best fingerless I had were MMA leather gloves, but they now make them from some synthetic rubbish. This last batch I bought from the UK on ebay, are sold as wheelchair gloves. Not bad. The one sold for bikies are only for show and tear up as soon as you try to take them off in a rush. 

I agree with everything you say, yet the only reason I replied is because you called the relationship between price and quality a fallacy.

All you say about business strategy are obvious truth and not in dispute.

Dealing with the perception of value (not cost) is what I think is missing.

What is the value of a red car?

Beside the known fact that red cars go faster , red paint or blue, green or yellow make no difference to the quality of a car. 

It is the perception that a red car is ... nicer/more visible/goes faster/you name it ...  that makes it more valuable in the buyer's eyes, and that given some circumstances someone may pay more for a red car than for a white one.

We can come up with many examples of perceived value from the buyer's point of view that govern a particular market. When you are talking about a workshop that produces goods that are clearly non essential, the seller has to know in detail what drives the buyer and must include this that you call a fallacy and that I call perceived value in great detail to place the price at the right level.

Fallacy has a negative connotation, implies ignorance, stupidity or something on those lines, and that is the wrong approach when dealing with closing a deal or many deals.

People in advertising know a great lot about this and exploit it to the max. Correct pricing of one's own work is probably the most difficult task that the artisan can face, for many reasons, one being the misguided idea that making a lot of money is somehow wrong.

It is entirely different if a shop is offering gates at $110 to compete with shop2 that has gates at $115. If a market has a large number of suppliers and there is a consensus of what sells at what price, then all your business strategies and considerations come into play.

I like the post above describing the arduous job of a valuer, that takes time not only to do his valuation but to explain why his opinion must be ... valued.

The customer is the ultimate valuer, and when closing  a deal. the only valuer that matters. He/she decides if the objet is value for money in his own opinion. To understand the process the buyer goes through to make this determination is very important and makes or breaks a business.

How many restaurants have to close their doors because the chef thinks he has to "educate" the patrons?

Yes and yes. Yes to the builder/machinist/manufacturer/tradesman who explains and itemises his quote in the hope of getting the job.

Absolutely yes to the artist who understands that his speed in producing good quality work is the result of a lifetime of trial and error, failure, dismay and starting again and again.

Charge like a roaring bull every time you get the chance and don't let the "money is dirty" anti-value creep in your mind.