Ian

I know a few of those, but here are a couple of simple ones: Do you know that you can always find an egg regardless of where you are? Try staring at the tip of your nose.......... Okay and the last one, this is an optical illusion, but good fun: put your right hand with fingers together on your nose and forehead, then look straight ahead (so your looking past the palm of your hand) Then, still looking straight ahead pass your left hand across your field of view, its better if you have your fingers together on your left hand too. Notice anything strange? Try using a ruler instead of your left hand....... :lol:

Doesn't stop me trying though does it T? :lol:

Now aren't those just the best 'Big Boys Toys' you've seen? 8) Very, very cool bits of kit! Now if Father Christmas is reading this......... :mrgreen:

Hej Karl! Money? :shock: tack sa meka mate! I don't even remember what that stuff is anymore! I'm doing what I'm doing on little to Zero budget. No sponsership, no wage, no clue, no prayer! Actually I started with under

Hi Roger It's Ian here, I'm really glad you decided to post! I told you your English was good didn't I 8) I was VERY lucky to have met Roger in his workshop at Karlskoga and be given a tour of the site. To see what those hammers can do in person is absolutely AMAZING. If you get a chance to look at Rogers website and video you MUST, I haven't seen anyone else at all that free forges steel in the sizes that Roger does. Roger is so skilled with those massive hammers that he can forge 2 inch (50mm) down to a quarter of an inch or less on a 500kg hammer (which is over 1000lbs!) without turning a hair. Just to make everyone jealous I had a go on one too If anyone else gets the chance to go and see his workshop in person and if your really lucky he might just show you how to get a piece of cold 25mm (1inch) square bar orange hot in less than a dozen hits. It was a real privelige to see him work. This is a man who really knows his stuff. Welcome to Iforgeiron Roger Ian

--miners welfare club. They always do a grand Pie and Peas of a Saturday afternoon in the Kellingley Club, and the bitters always champion too. Ice cold and creamy, just the thing to set a body up for a bit of----

Ralph, I'm genuinely sorry to hear your news, sometimes I think 'whoever' is in charge has a strange way of doing business. For what it's worth I hope that everything turns out the way that you want it to, for the best. Keep your head up my friend. Your never beat until you say so, even if you lose. Ian

I don't have this particular problem myself at the minute but I can tell you that I've seen two chaps I know in the frozen north using old domestic Electric Irons to warm up their anvils. They just layed the Iron on the face plate set at the lowest setting (cotton or silk, I'm not an expert overnight. In the morning they had a warm anvil that wouldn't rob all the heat out of the work, especially important to a knifemaker. Steen Nielsen from Kristiansand in Norway ( a multi award winning knifemaker and Blacksmith) uses this trick, so it can't be a bad idea.

Hello folks, Figured I might as well add myself to the growing list of illumni's joining the site I've been interested in Smithing for around a year now, before that my main hobby was as a Silver Smith. I made everything from rings to chains and was getting close to being able to make a living at it, when things changed in my personal life. I've worked in more jobs than I care to remember, from qualified Car mechanic to Bus driving, but I've always had two passions: writing and making things. I met a Smith at a craft fare and spent all day watching him work instead of trying to sell any of my own stuff and have been fascinated by Blacksmithing ever since. After trying to set up a small forge at home without real success in September of last year I decided to travel around the world to try and find other Smiths to learn from and to try and make a record of their work and the techniques they use. Ultimately I want to make myself a better Smith. I travelled through Holland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and finally Norway before a car accident forced my return to England. I met 55 Smiths in those 5 countries and learned a massive amount from them, I owe every one a huge debt of thanks. In around a months time I will be going to Australia for a year to see how they do things 'Down Under' and from there the plan will be to travel through the Americas and on to Canada. I've been posting reports as I get chance to the website (Ian's World Tour) so that other people can get a chance to see how the rest of the world forges iron. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have trying to put them together. I have a small family, only one brother, a fantastic Sister in Law and a wonderful niece. Oh and of course there's Mum. When I get the travel bug out of my system I hope to go back to the place I loved most on my trip, find a good spot, set up a little workshop and just make interesting 'things'.

13) Tighter than a Nun's chuff. (Don't ask, but its not what you think, lol) 14) So tight he dropped a penny and it hit him on the back of his head