Jared
Have you checked out Balcons Forge yet? It is the local Blacksmithing group. Our members range from San Antonio to Marble Falls with the majority in Austin. Balcones Forge The next is Saturday the 24 at Pioneer Farms in Austin your welcome to come out if you can make it . We will be demonstrating to the public would be a good chance for you to get some forge time in. I live in Converse wich is on the north side of San Antonio. Drop me a line if I can be of any help. Check out the newsletter on the web site for more info on meeting.
Aaron
Iron
I have gotten a lot of use out of the book Indian Trade Relics by Lar Hothem. It has several pages of tomahawks and trade axes. Not to mention many other smith made trade items like flint strikers,arrow heads etc.
A.S.T.
It's called a treadle torch it is a realy neat little gadget . It is a stand made out of tubing with another tube or rod inside it to raise the arm of a gas saver valve that turns on the gas to the torch and lights it . It requires to sets of hoses one set runs to the valve and the other set runs to the torch head . There is an oxygen flame that is constantly lit wich lights the torch when acctivated. Here is a link to some detailed pics of the gas saver valve and some of the treadle assembly
.TREADLE TORCH PLUMBING
A.S.T.
My favorite hammer is the one I ahem "borrowed" from my father-in-law irnsrgn it is about a 3# diaganol peen the other one most used is just a lighter version of the first.
Welcome to Texas early . The HABA organization is agood group of people. They also have a decent web site HABA Houston Area Blacksmith's Association .I am a member of Balcones Forge group most of our members are in the Austin area. Me I'm in San Antonio Balcones Forge .If you make it here before the end of March Dorothy Stiegler will be at our Blue Bonnet Workshop.in Marble Falls.
A.S.T.
Rember saftey glasses are not only for forgeing . I recently missed out on two days of work and had a pretty bad head ache and all I was doing was trying to drive a nail.
A.S.T.
In high school we used to float down the river on toobs . The cliffs along the river where not tall but they did inhibit your view . The only to get your bearings since we do not do this often enough to know the land marks along the bank was to climb one of the cliffs on the highway of the river. The cliff was only about 20 feet . I must have been uncharestically quiet as I climbed it .when I popped up over the edge I was looking the biggest Buck I ever saw square in the eyes . We both jumped tankfully in opposite directions .Needless to say we opted to float a little longer before trying to figure out where we were.
A.S.T.