bigjohn

I'll explain the rest of the story. Glenn asked me to elaborate on certain aspects of my previous post. I bought a great new old stock welding setup on ebay. It's a Miller Shopmaster 300 with a model 24 wire feeder and a Lincoln cooling tower. I really need this for my shop as we had a lightning strike hit the shop building and the welders I had are all minus circuit boards. You know if you've replaced one they are quite pricey. I'm looking at replacing three. They are $650 per machine, obviously I can't afford to repair all three. I have one getting repaired but I don't know when it will be complete. Weeks maybe. All of these items to be shipped are new. They were in a gentleman's shop and have been stored for 8 plus years after the man passed away. He purchased them new and about 3 months later he was gone. The son in law has been selling all of the machine tools, lathes, mills, band saws and other assorted toolroom machinery as well as other welders and related equipment. He apparently has a lot of really cool stuff. I live exactly 2467 miles from the welder. The man has stated he wanted local pickup only. I was fine with contracting a truck with liftgate to pick up the items. The problem is the man won't palletize the items for me. Hence my current situation. The welding equipment has been paid for. He has a forklift on site that he will assist with loading and palletizing. He just won't do it himself. He doesn't feel confident in his ability to successfully strap everything to the pallet and make sure it get to the destination without damage. I am willing to pay someone to travel to his shop with a 44x48" pallet, packing materials, blankets , foam , ratchet straps, whatever you need to put the stuff on a pallet and secure it. I will mail the materials to the job site if I have to and pay you a deposit via paypal, western union, bank draft, wire transfer whatever it takes, then the other portion when it hits the tailgate of the truck that is picking it up. That covers both me and you. I have taken out insurance on the pallet and the contents will be covered. You need do nothing other than secure the items to the pallet. It doesn't have to be a full crate, just strap everything to the pallet, you could even put it on with a lot of stretch wrap. No this isn't a scam, I'm not trying to make a fast buck. I'm trying to get my shop up and running again so I can pay some bills like the $650 I will owe the man who is repairing one of my Millermatic 251s. I just need a competent person to drive over and load a pallet. Local moving companies say they only do household and are not going to help. I have called 7 places there and the PakMail place said they would call and let me know if they can do it this morning. I thought to reach out to the community of people who do the same work I do. I've moved power hammers or other equipment that wouldn't fit in their honda odyssey on my truck for people coming home from the ABANA conferences on more than 1 occasion. I'm just looking for a bit of help. I will pay you for your time and troubles depending on how far you have to drive. I am quite fair and would really appreciate the assist. Thank you.

Greetings from just slightly East of the Mississippi River. I didn't quite know where to place this post so I'll apologize first and let it rip(please move it to a more appropriate place if I misjudged where to place it). I would be seeking some assistance from anyone near the Mt. Vernon area. Here's the story. I found my favorite welder for sale in your area. It is paid for and I'm not really keen on driving 4680 plus miles to pick it up. I mean I like it and all but that's quite a drive. I would certainly be willing to fairly compensate some adventurous soul to take a pallet and some banding material, packing blankets , foam ratchet straps or any other suitable material to secure the welder to a pallet and get it ready to load onto a truck. The current owner has a forklift on site to assist with palletizing. The welder, wire feeder and cooling unit weigh a total of 450lbs. He also has a fair amount of equipment for sale in his shop so, it may turn out he has something you may need as well. If you or anyone you know of would be interested in a good adventure please let me know. Thank you, Big John

Ok. I have found a newer scrap yard that is even closer to my home that I never knew existed. They pay higher prices that ones in Memphis and are extremely close. I even tested the waters to see if they will sell off the lot. I didn't even have to bribe them with cash or doughnuts. I dropped a load of mixed scrap for $246.00 for 2100 lbs. and on the way out I scored 3 vintage warehouse pendant lights that were just sitting on top of a pile,5 bucks each.It's a really cool place the owners are still mom and pop. In the office, the walls are lined with all the very cool finds that are brought in, including all the brass animals that have shown up there over the years. So now I am happy again.

Patience wins every time.

My favorite abrasive chop saw blades are the Sait/ United Abrasives "stud king" 3/32". They have done a fine job for 18 years or so, I've tried most blades that I know of and they seem to be the best.

Would you mind bringing back a Jaegerschnitzel and a bottle of Asbach for me? Just kidding , enjoy your trip. I lived there for three years and have been several times since then. Took my wife twice for anniversaries, lots of fun.

Saw the post a bit late but you would be welcome to come over to my shop and pick up some pieces to work with. I have drops of all different sizes and different materials. I don't know what part of Memphis you live in. From downtown, it only takes about 40 minutes to get to my shop. Happy Forging

ummm you haven't bought it already

Today only !!! 75% off sale. You, yes you, can own my ginormous pile of genuine blacksmith related items for the low low price of not $1,000,000.00 not $500,000 but just $250,000.00 yes you heard right. If you call in the next 8 minutes and ask for the midnight special we will give you as a bonus a 3500lb Toyota forklift. Just think of the new and interesting conversations you and your beloved wife will have after you and several of your friends bring home this pile. There are some really great finds still out there if you are willing to go looking for them. The sad thing about this one is eventually the people who know everything about this collection of stuff will pass on and the latest generation cares very little about anything that doesn't have buttons, play music or communicate with their friends will get rid of it for scrap or even less.

I think perhaps the proverb means literally to shape the iron and form it into some type of implement. Rather than being just a lump of iron it is formed or transformed into a useful object. Or perhaps the first iron refers to a hammer and or anvil and the second iron refers to the material being worked upon. At any rate it is drawing a comparison regarding transformation of material and people.

I've used Klingspor Abrasives for almost 20 years and never had a complaint. Great material, outstanding customer service, and very reasonable prices. Order today it shows up tomorrow. I use grinding rocks, fibre discs , abrasive belts for belt files.

There will be the Fayette County Cotton Festival held on the town square in Somerville, TN on 11 Sept. I will have my portable rig set up and doing demos/ making stuff. Anyone who is interested in smashing some iron and has not had the opportunity or the equipment to do so is welcome in my tent. If you plan on coming just send a PM and let me know ahead of time. I'll be forging an art deco firescreen as a project.I've done this festival before and it is pretty fun and the people are really curious about working metal. Terribly sorry for such late notice but I've been under the gun to finish several projects and have not been at my computer. Thank you, Big John

I'll have the piece on the left. thanks

Wow, that so closely resembles a Beverly shear. In the picture it looks like the size comparison between a B1 and a B3 on steroids. That thing must be a monster and probably capable of shearing 1/4" at least. I've got a B3 and it will cut 3/16". The muscle power needed to do it all day long is another matter. Great find and if you ever need to sell it there is money in the bank.

I would like to thank all of those who attended the 2010 ABANA Conference. I saw quite a few IFI t-shirts in the crowd. I did not get to chat very much as I was running around finding stuff for demonstrators, arranging marriages, buying beer for all the fellow set-up crew,directing people to the best places in town to get BBQ and a myriad of other bizarre stuff that seems to come up during a conference. Without your support these conferences would be a total flop. Overall there were very few hiccups or problems encountered. My Miller Bobcat died the first day but after that it went smoothly. Thank you all for coming to visit us in my hometown. Hope you all had a good time and are welcome to come visit anytime you wish.