chyancarrek

Oops - I meant to say: Has a really nice ring to it Thomas! :D

Has a really nice ring to it Dean! Do you have a new logo to go with it?

hmmm, chain saw carpentry . . . maybe if I show up with mine, my girl friend will be a little less enthusiastic about the honey-do list . . . Thanks Frosty! Yeah, I long for the days when I could just get away with giving gift certificates for B-days and holidays . . . now it's a family faux pas if I haven't made them something by hand. I hear ya on the wood-iron mix for the ol' wood stove! This one has a hearty appetite for the scraps from my shop . . .

aww, c'mon guys - once you embrace the dark side you'll never go back . . . These two materials are just begging to go together :D

Welcome to the site. Sounds like you've got quite the project ahead of you. Contact - Budget Casting Supply: BCS - Budget Casting Supply They carry everything you mentioned in your post. Good prices and reasonable shipping - really great folks who will answer any questions you may have. Keep us up to date on your progress!

Welcome! Glad you've joined us - you'll fit right in around here. Your work is outstanding! What kind of patina is on your pieces? Its a great color and consistency.

We'll miss your input Thomas! Take care and drop by for a hello now and then!

Hey Mister! Welcome - Good to see you here! Jump on into the discussions - you've got a lot to contribute and the folks here are great!

Welcome, Sounds like you're taking the same path as I did. Wood - Iron - Non ferrous casting . . . You'll find all sorts of great folks and advice here. Looking forward to hearing about your progress!

Hey HK, Here's some pics of my 6" Columbian set up kind of like you're describing except mine's bolted to the concrete. Go with what is most comfortable for how you work. I love having the table on mine because I do a lot of punching, chisel and fine forming work and it puts my tools right on the vice - I also like having my angle grinder and disk sander hanging there where I can swap one for the other quickly. The hand grinder is great for deburring hot stock. Let us know what you come up with! Have fun! Neil

A lap desk and a small straight peen hammer for my GF's kids.

James, I grew up next to a cemetery and that's where we got most of our yard plants and a bunch of other great stuff that the grounds crew gathered up off of the graves. (and no, I never gave flowers to a GF that were taken from a grave). The best time to go is the week following Memorial Day - there will be mountains of stuff to go through (potted plants and potted flowers abound). The crews will often hang onto any well made stands or hangers for use later but you'd be amazed at what you do find. One grounds keeper picked up a great little CD player that someone left playing music at a grave site. That being said - NEVER go and just start taking things. Always get permission as taking anything from a cemetery even if it's in a dumpster will be considered theft of private property and you'd probably end up on the evening news for being arrested for "stealing from the dead".

Good News Jerry! Best wishes for her recovery!

Jerry, Decisions about life support issues are soul wrenching and I hope your sister will come to terms with you can only do your best and the rest is out of your hands. I know from personal experience that this is a very difficult time and my thoughts and hopes go out to you and your family.

Welcome Charlie! You'll find all sorts of great folks here! Where are you at in Washington? Go to your user's CP and fill in the location - we may be neighbors!

Come on out to one of the NWBA's conferences (if you haven't already). We hold two conferences during the spring and Fall It's a great group of folks. Check out our website: Home Page

Happy Thanksgiving all! May you be blessed with family and friends! Enjoy! Neil

R.C. - Hard topic, but thanks for posting it. I lost my mom, dad and a brother in a 3 year period from 92' - 95' Mom passed from heart disease - she went into the hospital where they did an angiogram. The doc stayed in too long and she stroked on the table. The result was that it changed her personality - she became very child-like and my father and I stayed with her 24/7 for three weeks until she passed in the home she loved. She was everything to me. I didn't have much of a relationship with my dad so mom was the one who instilled in me my values and to look at life as one ongoing opportunity to explore and discover and to pursue every chance to do the right thing - she was an incredible woman! Dad died at the same time - he just didn't know it. Never sick a day in his life but after mom passed he just stopped living - the cancer took him less than two years later. I resigned my position at Nike to stay home with him and be his hospice caregiver for the last seven months of his life. We used that time, to make up for all that we had missed together when I was growing up. A man of great character and integrity! My brother passed 11 months after dad did from a massive brain hemorrhage - he was a special needs adult who lived with me on the family property. I was his guardian and caretaker and even though surgery may have saved his life, I made the decision to remove him from life support so that he could pass in peace rather than being trapped blind and deaf in a crippled body. He was an amazing individual, even through all his challenges in life, his honesty and unconditional love were always in the forefront. When I was going through all of this I received so many "what can we do for you?" offers from friends - I always replied: "The best help you can give me is to love each other, let those in your life never doubt your feelings for them because someday you're going to face this and when it's over you don't want anything left unsaid". In just a few hours I'll be heading to my remaining brother's house to spend the day with he and his family - The fact that I have he and his family in my life is my greatest possession - everything material pales in comparison. Never hesitate to give thanks every day for those you love and who love you!!

Beautiful work Sparks! Nicely executed.

Oops- should read: "My circumstance as described is anecdotal and there will always be people who can afford to buy but they occupy a very narrow margin of the consumers."

Unfortunately CB, those items and types of purchases are some of the first to be effected. High end artisan work work is typically paid for with discretionary/disposable income and that's in very short supply right now with folks scrambling to hang onto their homes. I specialize in high-end accessories for the home and have an established clientele - How quickly the work has evaporated has been amazing. The circumstance I describe is anecdotal and there's always people who can still afford to buy, but they occupy a very narrow margin of the consumers.

Hardly any scrap yards left around here - just shredder operations where it's "dump & go" - no wandering around. Used to be a great one called Koppe's Metals - they'd let me kick around as long as I liked. *sigh* . . . the good ol' days.

Real drop off for me - probably about 70 percent over the last six months. I'm ok as everything I have is paid off and have very minimal debt but it's hitting a lot of folks real hard. I've recently started working part time with an artist in his studio (bronze sculpture) to make ends meet without hitting the reserves. Lots of full-timers are calling it quits in these parts too - I've gotten a number of blacksmith auction emails over the last couple months. It's tough right now - if you've got a steady day-gig, stick with it and let smithing be a sideline - it'll be difficult to drum up enough start up business to make a go of it.

eambo, I produce my work and run my business in the exact same way - reclaimed materials only, buying equipment and various supplies and tools where available on the second-hand market. It's a practical approach to my that allows me to run with a very low overhead and has nothing to do with "saving the planet". I live in a county (Washington State - USA) that used to be predominantly farm and timberland but has been completely over-run by development in the last 30 years. Most of my metal comes from the old-boys who have rusting hulks of farming and harvesting equipment in their back lots. With each piece I make, I include a card that gives the provenance of the material - "This piece was forged from the hood of a 1946 Oliver bulldozer, etc.". My clients take great delight in having that information. When it comes to the "green" movement I don't claim to be cynic or zealot - I'm just motivated by the idea that not "fouling the den" is a makes-sense way to approach life and when presented with folk who are posing to be green while living completely outside those ideals, a certain level of cynicism creeps in. Building a 5000 Sq. Ft. house for two people is not being green no matter how many reclaimed or recycled materials you use . . .

The above is a good idea. My metal arts professor did exactly that and revived a defunct course in welded sculpture at the local college a number of years ago. She integrated it into the commercial welding courses and it's seen great success in enrollment. It spawned a whole new group named 'Women Who Weld" and they've done a number of public arts placements in the last couple of years.