chyancarrek

Hmm, pics aren't posting

Bread and butter is good! Nice job on the "little soldiers"! Grant - I'm thinkin' we need to re-name you "hammer head". . . You gotta have a sore neck by now from your head snapping-to whenever you come within sight of a power hammer!

Hey Fe, The 3rd from the left in the pic of 4 gets my vote - When I look at all four before enlarging the photo, I see the stem as a better fit compared to the others. It seems a bit more balanced overall, with a touch more grace. The flare at the bottom gives a nice weight to the bottom and the cut-line before it goes into the base compliments the rim of the cup without being over detailed. My only suggestion in regards to shape would be to reduce the flare of the lower taper just a smidgeon. I'm not too keen on the blonde-wood contrast as it seems to break the flow of the stem. Are you going to use all ebony on the final version? No matter which you choose - you've done some really nice work - I can't wait to see the final version!!

Might work out for someone in the PacNW http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/tls/1642585133.html

Great to have you back Larry - The ol' IFI site wasn't the same without you!

Actually, the water up here is what's affected my ability to get quotes and posts to work correctly - That mess above was supposed to be my response to Grant's quip about Motzart

Now that's funny Grant!

[quote It's a sobering thought for me to realize that by the time Mozart was my age, he'd been dead for forty years!

Now that's just more fun than the law allows! A remarkably steady hand with a torch - outstanding work!

Nicely Done Bob! What are these going to be used for?

The anvil rings for you here Mr Moffett - Rest in Peace

Larry, Yeah, I have to admit, I had my moment of "grumble -grumble - man, if I had his talent/skill/dedication - grumble-grumble . . ." But it passed quickly and my awe at what he's doing took over and leads me to second Beth's sentiment of being glad that he's out there as a shining example of artistry and craftsmanship!!

Great shots of your setup Erick! It's nice o' family to make the sacrifice for our art . . . did M-I-L get a special piece made for her donation? Here's a pic of the set up I made - very similar in size to yours - it handles a 40 - 50lb bronze melt with no problem at all. I keep mine on a rolling cart so all I have to do is hook up the tank and go. Take a look at Budget casting supply. They've got some pretty good prices on graphite cruce's. Here's their website: www.budgetcastingsupply.com/ Thanks for sharing the pics.

Simple is good - melt the wax, tip the cruce, pour the metal! Post a pic of it when you get a chance.

Sure did - I'm kinda thinking he's a reincarnated "artisan to the crown". Rivals just about anything I've seen in a museum!!

Welcome to IFI Eric. I second Fe's comment - really nice looking work! What kind of foundry setup do you have? Enjoy!!

Grant, I've seen Tom's work before but had forgotten how truly stunning it is!! Thanks for sharing that.

Nice hunk of metal there - whatever it is, it looks like it needs to get into the shop and be put to work! Let us know what you end up doing with it!

Yep, looks like a "dump-gate" out of an old furnace. The one's I've seen were two-piece, more than likely there was another one with a similar gear arrangement that meshed - Turn one handle and they both opened up to dump clinker/ash into the ash bin. It's all cast iron so not really forge material but it's a great shape - might be fun to try and integrate it into something else. I've got the remains of one that was from a coal furnace and it acted as a "grinder" for clinker. The parts are on a shelf in my storage area - I'll post some pics. Let us know if you come up with any neat ideas!

Standard stump mount for me - fir round from a tree that went down in the big blow we had here in '96. Forged 4 horseshoes into spikes and fastened the anvil down with those - added a few hammered in loops for cut-offs. etc . Nothing fancy but it's been serving me well since '99.

Nick, I'm just South of Lake Merwin in N. Clark county. Thought about moving up past Cougar but it was just a touch too far in terms of getting back and forth to town. Nice avatar, yeah, the ol' girl is quite the climb. I did a couple of "under the radar" climbs up the SE slope right after they reopened the red zone but never made it to the crater rim. Probably a good thing - we got ourselves into all sorts of situations that can only be described as: "now, that was a dumb-A***ed thing to do!" Careful of this forum, it truly can eat up a whole bunch o' your time! Enjoy! Neil

Welcome to IFI Nick - real nice looking work you've got going there. You'll like it here - lots o' good folk!

Hey WmHorus, Welcome! Check out the NWBA website, we've got a conference coming up in Mt Vernon in April it'd be a great place to network with local smiths. The website will also list any events going on such as hammer-in's etc. Here's the address: www.blacksmith.org/

Welcome Sigg This is a great place to start picking up info and getting direction on smithing. The site just went through a major upgrade and some of the features aren't back up to snuff yet. Don't hesitate to ask questions. Enjoy!

It was my experience as a production supervisor with 70 people working for me that lead me to staying a one man shop. There were just too many times where a department lead would come up to me and say "so & so just walked off the floor" or the local deputy would show up to take one of my people into custody. Did I always get it right when I hired them? No, but many of them had lengthy experience or interviewed really well then just ended up not being worth the time put into having them on the factory floor. Add to that all of the normal adjustments you have to make because your people have "life going on" and they need the extra consideration it really puts a strain on focusing on the work to be done. As the years went on I found it really hard to sit across the interview table from a member of the "entitlement generation" - the funniest one was when a fellow about 23 who was interviewing for an entry level position told me that he wouldn't work for anything less than $xx,xxx a year. Given that he'd asked for about $10,000 a year more than my job paid, I can only assume he wasn't really serious about wanting to get hired. All that being said, it's not all doom and gloom out there - there's some excellent workers and inspired kids who may just fit the bill. You just have to wade through a lot o' chaff to get to that premium wheat! The suggestions of either getting some "on again - off again" help who are paid for just the hours they work (my current solution when I need help) on a specific project or taking on a part time "apprentice" may be a good way to get your feet wet in regards to having someone to share the load. Take it a step at a time and just get comfortable with the fact that it may take some stumbling to find just the right fit. Good luck Larry - keep us up to date on what you end up deciding.