kburd

rory, Long time lurker and fan of your work. are you using the pipe stand in the video for both support and reference of where to end the transition of your scrolls? it apears to be in line with were your picket shaft should end up at. Great idea and great elements.

very nice video did you drill and tap them then? why the keystone shape?

i am just curious where blacksmithing came into the conversation. when you look at the rest of them on the list blacksmith just doesnt jump out at you

sorry for ranting. and his boots were un-tied!

hey all, no fuss on the highjack it keeps it in the newpost area. As far as not getting a paycheck tell me about it. I have had one in three years. My owner draws at the end of the year last year was like $1200 dollars but my whole life is my buisness so most of my expenses are covered and legally covered. Anyhow I have no problem paying somebody a fare wage if they can do these items and help to make the buisness money. More money an employee makes for a buisness the more they should be able to get paid. We have pretty high unemployment in my area right now but not many guys who are actually skilled to this level. Everybody is a "welder" untill you send them to the field to weld up some ag repair with the stick welder. They are all "welders" untill you through a TIG at them to weld up aluminum rails. I have a high school vo tech kid that claims he wants to learn more about ornamental work and blacksmithing. His teacher says he is one of the best three in the class of 16 and is not an asshole. ( one of my other requirements) So I bring him in for a few days he shows up all days without his boots tied talking about how early it is (he got here at 9 I get here at 6) he says he can tig weld steel good so I set him lose on some pipe rails and he makes a mess out of them. I stop him weld some show him the weld and ask him if he can do it like that. yup yup no problem. well long story short he had to grind and smooth all the welds which defeats the purpose of why I tig weld them all! Then i sent him to cutting pickets with a nice ellis saw tell him need 7 out of 1/2 inch squar that are 34-3/4 long. He cuts six out of 5/8 square bar. I walk out take a look and ask him. Did you measure this or just look at it and guessed it was 1/2? he guessed... imagine that..... so i let him sweep the shop and sent him home. Here I was hoping to get a young guy that actually wanted to learn and had some ambition. I wonder just how bad the bad kids are in that welding and fab class he came from! any how I am now looking for someone with the experience level that I have or more. I would love to find somebody that was really into it. Somebody that wants to be a part of something special and wants a job where you get to do lots of unique things and create anything that comes to mind. Somebody that wants a to live a lifestyle of metal work not just do it for a job. If you know anybody send them my way. I will pay them what I can and if they make the shop money they will quickly make more money them selves.

dont know if anyone is close to me or not. Shop is located close to Mercersburg, PA 17236. Looking for the RIGHT employee Fabricator Wanted Part time with potential for full time Interested persons must- · Stick, MIG, and TIG weld · Be capable of project layout and design · Be self-motivated, willing to followinstructions, and possess a positive attitude Range of work varies from customforged ironwork to agricultural repair. Artistic abilities would be a bonus. Interested persons who meet theserequirements can submit references, resume, and samples of work via email (burdettenetworks@gmail.com) or call (717-816-9462) *Interested persons may be askedto perform task to prove skills. Inaddition they may be asked to submit to a background check and or drug test.*

the real question is did the driver know he lost his trailer? I would suspect that the king pin broke he heard a big bang but never looked back got to his job site and then was suprised to find out he had no trailer.

I agree one hundred percent. I would love to have a right out of high school kid that wanted to learn all about welding fabrication and blacksmithing work. Problem is most of them have no motivation to learn anything outside of the computer stuff. I am only 28 and can see a huge change in the drive of kids comming out of school now as compared to when I graduated high school in 2000. **** I got 8 hours of work in while I was still in high school. 4 before school and 4 after (we have a dairy farm) Let me tell you that made you want to figure out a way that you could work a job or have a buisness that didnt require that you get up at 330 every morning...and I do mean every morning....

monster do you do any drifting with your metal muncher? I am looking to add a piece of equipment with a long hydro stroke to be able to drift heavy work easily by myself. I currently have a schotchman but doesnt really have enough stroke to do the task. How about tooling as far as punches and dies can you get them readily? I can get most for my machine next day.

Thought I might throw this out there for those that are interested. I was just down to Big Blu to play around for a couple days and got to put the new 65 model power hammer thru the paces. Let me preface this by telling you that I own a 155 big blu. I am very pleased with the 155 and will probably add a second one sometime in the future. Anyways, the 65 is a nice machine and would be a good option for anyone interested in having a power hammer. It does not take up much room and uses very little air. It is well built and cycles very fast. I worked with it off and on for 2 days did not find anything that I wanted to do with it that I couldnt. It worked plenty of one inch stock with no problems. I didnt run anything heavier than one inch thru it . I used some spring swages with it as well as tong tooling. All in all I was impressed. I figured that having a 155 I would go use that 65 and feel like I was tapping the metal. Not so I was working the metal with that thing and at a good pace. So thats my two cents on what I had the experience of doing this past weekend and hope for those of you interested in learing more about big blu's equipment it helps you out. Feel free to ask any questions you would like I will try to anwer them for you. Or you can just call the guys at blu. P.S. You can check out some or the work that blu has helped me do at www.burdettenetworks.com

sikaflex is also used when butting two concrete pads together. it is self leveling and seeps into all the little knooks and crannies. Keeps the edges from chipping up on either side of the butted concrete pads. It holds up well to human traffic, cars, some acids, and about anything. Dont get it on anything you dont want it on though if you use some because it is a PITA to get off. So long and short yes it is tough.

Nice danger! That thing looks awesome. havent tried any heads forged in aluminumumum. I like the beer tap idea I just got a great christmas gift idea!

thanks for the input guys.

hey guys so what type of steel have you found is most effective for making spring swages that would be used by hand and or under the power hammer. just wondering what some of you have used and found meets the needs and holds up long term. thanks

kyboy, I have all the different sizes of the hand hammers from big blue. I enjoy using them all and they handle great. You can swing them all day long and barely feel it. They are well balanced and come with a good handle length and the heads are ready to use out of the box but you will probably want to touch them up to your personal preference. Do you use a three pound hammer now? The reason I ask is that with these hammers I find myself using the 2 lb hammer 90% of the time. You can just whip that thing and get great results working with 5/8 and below steel. Now if you work heavier stuff by hand alot then I would get the 3 pounder. Anyhow give them a call and get ya some! Josh will probably answer the phone and he is a real good guy and will help you out.

Mad dog Thanks for the reviews of the book you touched on alot of things that I have thought about in reviewing some of the text. I appriciate the fact that they are hard cover and heavy bound makes them good shop books. I also agree that some of the text gets a little lost in a sort of rambling that I think is just an accross the pond sort of thing. I to started at page one and have worked thru both books making most of the tooling and what not. It definatly is a "curriculum" in blacksmithing I wanted to jump right to a certain project and quicklied failed beacuse 1- I had not made the proper tooling and 2- I was not skilled enough to do it yet. The one thing that I did notice mark does a lot and this I am guessing is from his farrier background is he uses a rounding hammer more often then not and is constantly working at the "bick" of the anvil. when i first started trying to do the work he was doing on the bick I about thru the xxxx book out the shop door. I just couldnt get the results I wanted and seemed to have no control working at this area of the anvil. So I got pissed took one of my slightly crowned more square hammers "hofi style" and rounded the crap out of that thing went to the pick started pounding away and all of a sudden I was moving metal how I wanted and almost showing signs of looking like the pictures in the book! One warning I will give folks is that marks work always looks so clean the corners are crisp tapers perfect and almost a mill finish look to a lot of his hand hammered items. This pissed me off when I couldnt come close to having these results. Have no fear though just work and work and work and it will come to you. They say it takes 10,000 hours of doing something to become a true master and I believe mr aspery has put in his time. as far as the content in the big blu videos I agree that some of them left a little to be desired but you can glean alot of info from looking at things in the background or just watcing the little things that they are doing along the way. I have watched them all numerous times and have had questions about this or that when I was working on a project and I dont hesitate to call Dean or Josh at big blu to ask for advice. They could easily say get bent but they always try and steer you in the right direction and take time to actually talk to you. I have bought one of there power hammers and a fair amount of hand hammers and find the workman ship to be of good quality. The hand hammers come in good shap from my experience and only need a little retouching for personal preference.

a half a yard is about right i would say you will need more like 23 bags though. Oh and a couple ambitious fellows to help mix unless you got a mixer. Although a big drill and a heavy duty dry wall mixer will do a pretty decent job at it in a wheelbarrow.

that is cool every true tool nut would have to have one

i would explain it but you guys obviously just cant understand it! (this is the same logic that barack obama uses to not explain anything that he has "accomplished" to us american "folks" when did we become "folks" and not taxpayers or citizens?)

hey bud you wanna try out Copper and Brass Sales by ThyssenKrupp. They are one of the largest if not the largest seller in the country of plate etc copper. The last quote I got was in September for a sheet 36" x 96" of 3/16 for $1486 dollars delivered. Thats 62 dollars a sq foot more or less. I looked and looked and could not find it cheaper or anything even close to a ft by ft square at a scrap yard. If you are close to a big city you might find a yard that has some but mostly you will just find drops of pipe etc. The number for this place is 1 800 926 2600 ask for copper sales. Oh and you want soft copper sheet c11000. I will warn you once you start using copper you cost are going to skyrocket and you will be constantly looking for ways to use up your little drops and what not. But working with heavy copper hot is just a ton of fun. Until you push you luck just a little to much and let it get a little to work hardened and crack the xxxxxxxx thing!!!!! good luck

I have a big blu 155. Has worked out great for me. I tend to work mostly heavy materials and it handles what i throw at it well. I would recommend a big storage tank for air or a very effiecent air compressor for working heavy materials due to the extended hammering time you can get.

buy these books! I hope someday he gets the last one done on joinery. these are modern day books that utilize modern and traditional techniques. I also have bought numerous books and videos and often fall asleep watching and reading them. not these books you will have them thrown open in the shop all the time checking out the ways he does things and comming up with your own ideas. I own the whole big blu series of videos and have very much enjoyed them and go back and watch them again and again. If you had a laptop or something to watch them on in the shop while you did some of the techniques it would be great.

nuge... that is an awesome piece of work at that link! just awesome! every one should look at this fine piece

thanks francis. I have a spring loaded one similar to the mark aspery and many others that i have seen and i made a cup to fit over my chisel and then it fits in a hand held air hammer. I would like to make it controlled off a foot petal so that i could have both hands free to move the material i know i saw this sort of a get up somewhere maybe on anvil fire way back in the day.

soooo.... one time in my constant search for the end of the internet I thought I spied an air powered veining set up. Something with weights on it to adjust hits etc. anybody any info?