billyO

I think you have the right idea, just need to find the correct angle to hold the bar off the edge of the anvil.  You may find that you need to do a blunt point first to avoid fishlips.

​Not sure if the NWBA meeting are going to be THAT much closer....

Hi, millertime, and welcome.  I, too, live in the PNW, just outside of Mt Rainier.

I'll make a recommendation to join the NWBA, a great way to meet local smiths. 

Anyway, welcome to the wonderfully addictive world of learning how to play with really hot metal..

Hello gvmnt45, I may take you up on the hosting offer the next time I'm back at the folks.  Grew up in Clarendon Hills and folks live in the Willowbrook area. If you're out in the PNW visiting Mt Rainier, give me a ring.

Thanks for the suggestion njanvilma.  I did leave the coolers open...  They are just the boxes I'm putting them in temporarily until I figure out the best way to handle them. 

Hello all.  I spent the last few days cutting up the stump that the burl came off of, thinking I may get some nice scales for any knife that may be in my future.  I cut the stump into rounds, then the rounds into blocks approx. 2" x 1.75" x 4-6" (+/-).  Well, after 2 days and 2/3 through the pile of rounds, I've got about 250-300 blocks packed into 2 large coolers with sawdust and I asked myself, "what the heck am I going to do with these?"   I'm assuming these are worth something.  Probably more if dried and stabilized?  Are they worth anything as is, cut and green?  Here's a sample:

That, quite possibly, is one of the neatest smithing video I've seen!  Thanks for sharing!

I may take you up on that, Frosty.  I decided to cut down/up the stump and here's what I came up with.

Thanks for the assistance, but y'all aren't done yet, I'm trying as hard as I can to make you guys sick of me, what do I have to do??? ;)

I know the advice most of you gave/give is cut it and seal as soon as possible, and I understand the reasons (I think). BUT....

for those of you not familiar with the Evergreen State, there's a reason it's called that, at least here on the West side (or Wet side as it's sometimes referred to).  Where I live, the moss grows on ALL sides of the trees, and my property and shop rarely sees the sun from October through March due to all the lovely huge Cedars on my property (on that note, I've been eyeing an approx. 16" dia burl on one of them that will get cut ONLY if it falls on it's own accord.  That would most likely destroy my house, so I don't think it's worth it).  Quick internet research shows the average ambient humidity in my locale is above 90% year round in the morning and drops to the national average in the afternoons only from June-Sept.

You may have noticed the grey color to the burl cuts, and that was from all the moisture in the wood as I was cutting it on my saw.  I actually saw water on the blade and in the kerf as it was cutting.  It seems as if sealing it will hold all that moisture in, and instead of 2 years, it may take 5-10 to get it down to 9%.

Anyone living in similar climes have any suggestions?

Well, hopefully I didn't screw up too much.  Here're pics of the chunks (slightly larger then 2" sq/slabs) before painting with the Anchorseal^tm I had laying around. 

I really like the spalted piece, so I think tomorrow I may cut the rest of the stump up and get some more...

Moans that he doesn't have space - posts pics of a huge shop....

my thoughts exactly....

arftist - could you please elaborate/explain the thinking/reasoning behind your statement "cutting with the grain is the only practical way"?

in post #11, I mentioned my hand saw that is really sharp with a crosscut side and a rip side, and it's a small enough piece that shouldn't be to difficult to manage either way.

arftist suggested cutting with the grain, but it looks like cutting with the grain will yield 3 chunks, the largest being about 4" and 2 smaller ones (not sure if these are long enough for knife scales), whereas cutting across the grain will yield one 4+" and one at 6".  What to do?? 

Again, thanks for the suggestions.

Thanks for all the replies and info.  Probably will cut them for knife handles as I've dipped my toe in the stream to "the dark side".

Stash - thanks for the advice on the CA for the soft wood.

Thomas - I plan o using one of my Japanese pull saws to minimize the kerf size and waste.

Thanks for the replies. 

Any suggestions on how to slab it?  It looks like the Good Lord guided my hand when I took the pics to have the ruler along x-y-z planes (going from left to right), so how would y'all cut it?  How thick should I make the slabs?  Should I de-bark first?

Hello all.  Hope nobody's upset about Punxsutawney Phil's reaction yesterday...

I was walking my property today and noticed this burl about 9 inches off the ground on a stump of a maple I cut down about 4 years ago.  (Don't ask me why I didn't notice this when I cut the tree down.  It's quite possible I did and just forgot to do something about it...)  As you can see, there is some punky wood at the back of the chunk.  Do y'all think it's worth doing something with, and if so, what should I do next? 

In my search on the forum here it seems as if I should seal the end grain (I have an old (5-6 y/o) bucket of Anchorseal somewhere in my shop.  Should I use this or something else?  Should I de-bark?  Should I cut it up smaller, and if so where/how should I do that?

Thanks in advance. 

jmc - did you experiment and if so, what were the results?

Once again, I'm proving to be outside any box, as none of the choices apply to me.  I HATE shaving, and only do it when I travel back to the Midwest to visit the folks over the X-mas holidays, because both my Mother and Father like a clean shaven billyO. 

About 15 years ago, I tried growing a beard but it itched too much (and I found out I have a bald spot right in the middle of my miniscule chin that looked goofy to me).  So....about once a week I use my hair clippers without any attachments to my face and neck, so my look varies between a heavy 12 O'clock shadow thanks to my Italian heritage (although it seems these days it's not so much a shadow as a dusting of snow) to a week into growing a beard.  Good thing I'm OK being single, eh?

So, how do I answer the poll???? 

Depending on how large your counties are, I'd still make the trip and advertise there, you may find someone who is willing to commute, or someone nearby who is commuting to the school.

Wonderful work, once again.  Every new project you post makes me wish more and more that I lived within visiting distance.

Thanks for the replies, all.  From the responses here and from those I got from my local friends, it sounds like what I've been doing, (the cheapest) is OK, just keep the door closed and don't spill drinks on the rods or drop them in puddles. 

I posted this because yesterday when I opened the oven for the first time in about a month to do a bit of welding, I noticed that a bunch of the 316 rods had a white powder on the flux coating, and I assumed this was the coating absorbing moisture.  Although I got what I think is a screaming deal on the oven (original intent was to use it as a heat treating oven) and rods (there's about 50 lbs of 316 and 80-100 lbs of rods in total) I'd like to keep the materials in as good condition as possible.

IronWolf - I live in the foothills of Mt Rainier, (about to boast about fate being good to me...) about 2 miles down the road from a smith some of you may have heard of before, Darryl Nelson. 

Hello all.  I recently picked up a welding rod oven with a bunch of different rods at an auction and I'm wondering what y'all think would be the least expensive way to keep the rods dry, seeing as how I live in the PNW, and more specifically on the west (or should that be WET) side of the mountains.  There's a significant amount of humidity in the atmosphere, especially from October through June. 

I weld only on occasion, so I'm having a hard time justifying keeping the oven on all the time.  My current stock (what came with the oven) consists of 6010, 6011, 6013, 7018, 316/316L and about 4# of UTP65 believe it or not.

I was thinking of putting the oven on a timer, and having it come on once or twice a week for 30 minutes to an hour at 120-150 degrees and that ought to keep the moisture levels in the normally closed oven to a minimum.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Here's a pic of one way of doing what DSW is talking about, taken from p221 of Alex Bealer's book The Art of Blacksmithing with the Bolt Stock being you 1" x 1/4" bar.

Another way can be found in Ch. 15 (starting on p 151) of Alexander Weygers' book The Complete Modern Blacksmith.

(Scott Szloch, a great guy from my interactions so far)

You'll probably find that Scott is a good guy even after a few years of interactions.  At least that's been my experience.

Hi all, the saga continues...

Today I had the time to do a bit with the welder.  Drained the oil/gas and replaced it with new oil.  Cleaned it up as best as I could to locate the leak and fired it up.  It fired up and no oil spurting, so I let it idle.  It idled for approx. 12 min, then started hesitating on and off for a few minutes then died (no oil leak detected).  I took the dogs out back to check on the cows and cracked a beer, and 30 min later fired it up again.  It idled for approx. 30 min, started to hesitate under load, so I messed with the spring attachment to the vacuum booster and choke and it seemed to run fine, and idled for approx. 45 min. before I shut it down for the evening. 

The only oil leak I noticed was a slow drip that seems to be coming from the gasket between the engine and the generator.  No fuel in the oil as far as I can tell. 

Could the gas in the oil have been a one time situation?  I plan on trying some welding tomorrow to see how it does under normal use.

Any thoughts worth sharing?

Thanks for the efforts so far...