Leah

It is good to hear from you, Ian. I really like your ride.

My shop is a steel building that I had a company (here in Louisiana) put up. I have two windows on the north wall and a roll up door on the south wall. I had them put a 3' square exhaust fan at the top of the east wall and I have a ridge vent that I can open or close. The fan is has louvers that blow open when the fan starts and is at the top of a 10' wall. This set up has worked very well for me.

That is such an beautiful knife. I just love looking at it.

That is one good looking knife.

Great news, Elkdoc.

I will keep your aunt in my prayers.

Wow! Thank you, Jr.

I live smack dab in the middle of town with all our tiny yards back to back and side by side. We can't build open fires inside the city limits. I figured it must be OK to build one in my forge because everyone builds a fire to BBQ with. I have never had anyone complain about the smoke. Once, a new neighbor did come over to see why I had built a fire in my "wood burning heater" in July. He said he thought he was seeing things when he the smoke started rising from the flue. I made him a steak turner and he went away happy. I have to admit, I worry that someday the fire department will come and tell me to put the fire out, because I am not 100% sure that I am legal. I have a big fire extinguisher by the door and my flue is tripple wall, maybe seeing something like that will help my case if they are ever called. I just kinda adopted the "don't ask, don't tell" mentality.

Thank you. I never did know how that was done.

Good idea, I really like that.

Hey Duck, I like the hold down tool too.

Thanks for the link, Jr. That sure is some beautiful work.

I don't know what happened but the lizards seem to be gone. Maybe they ate all the bugs and left. No bugs and no lizards....works for me.

Dawn, Shannon and Nathan, I am so sorry to hear about Ralph. I admire the way he handled himself during his illness. He was a brave man who loved his family and knew they loved him. I will keep you all in my prayers.

Thanks to all of you for your kind words. We had the funeral this afternoon so now we can start getting Mom settled. She is not too keen on staying by herself but someone will be with her the rest of the week. Steve and I have been busy putting in motion lights and deadbolt locks. She says she may get a dog to keep her company. I let her read everything you folks had written here and she could not believe how a bunch of people, most of whom I have never met, would offer such kind words. I told her it was because BLACKSMITHS ROCK!

Rich, you nailed it, they do kinda slither and wiggle. Ellen, at least I don't have to worry about them being poison. But, they still may make me hurt myself. I just make a lot of noise when I go into a room and that seems to work. I had some broomstraw in a paper bag by the back door the other night and one got to playing in there. Boy, it sounded like a pack of rats! I was a big girl and just picked up the bag and sat it outside.

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2007 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved. BP0236 Stock Stand by Leah Fuller I needed a rack to put partial sheets of stock on. I looked around the shop > and came up with the materials to make one that could store a lot of stock in a small footprint. I needed to be able to move it near the center of the shop to load it and push it next to the wall for storage. I had a set of 10” and 12” solid rubber tires with 1 ¼” axles I welded 3/4 inch X 2 inch bar runners to 1 1/4 inch pipe. Slip the axles into the pipe. 1 1/2 inch X 42 inch pipe welded to the runners right over the back axles An angle iron brace at the top of the upright pipes and some grating welded to the runners. Angle iron braces welded to the back of the uprights. If the braces are put on the front in stead of the back as shown, the will be stronger, and will also act as a incline to support the metal. A couple of pieces of pipe maybe 12 inches long welded vertically at the wheels would act as a stop for any plate and leek it from sliding off the rack. The rack loaded down with a 4 foot X 4 foot sheet each of 1/4 inch, 10ga. 16ga. and a lot of smaller pieces. I would guess that it is equal to a full sheet of each of these three sizes. I put the smaller wheels in the back to give the rack a backwards tilt. The grating keeps the stock separated and assures it does not slip forward and rub the front wheels. This is a lot of storage in a little bit of space. Even with all this weight on the rack, it rolls very easily. I may put a handle on the front, but I don't think I need it. This is a rack they gave me at work. This view shows the solid shelf in back to hold shorter stock. View full article

My father passed away this morning in his sleep. Mother is a light sleeper had did not even wake up so we know he went peacefully. His health had been failing for the past couple of years, but he could still meet his friends for coffee and go check on his deer stand. At 71, he was happy to be able to do that. He helped me light my first fire and, every time I saw him, told me the backscratcher I made him was the best thing I ever forged. He got a kick out of telling his friends that his daughter could weld him up a new target stand when he needed one. I have not shed a tear. Every time I think of him, all I can do is grin. He was a fine man. I will be out of pocket for a few days. Please remember my mother, she will be lost for a while.