oddtodd

I would like to thank David Gaddis and the Mississippi Forge Council for the great tools they sent me! A spring Fuller, A hardy hot cutter, a hot chisel, cold chisel, slitter, a hold fast and 2 different kinds of drifts! OMG guys I am using the fuller already! it moves a lot of steel! I was demonstrating it to the kids and they thought it was too cool. Gotta remember to wear ear protection with that one though. It make a LOT of noise when you are using it. I tried the hot cutter too and it works great! GOt the stock nice and cherry and two knocks and it was through. Guys I appreciate this so much. You guys are the greatest people in the world! I am forging every day right now and my shirts are getting tight in the sleeves. lol Everything is going good with the forge and my Theresa is doing well after her hip replacement. She has walked 100 feet already and she just got it done yesterday! Well, today is therapy for Theresa so I gotta go. Oddtodd out

It's the wayne county historical museum in richmond indiana. It's where I volunteer blacksmith. I will send it to horseshoes. com too!

Hey guys! Back to the museum! Here's a picture of the main blacksmithing display. It dates from the 1893 world's fair. THe man who did it started horseshoeing at 9. Everything in the cabinet was made by him, including the miniature forge display.His name was William Wedekind. He was once offered $100,000 for this display and refused. Each horseshoe is numbered and there is a sheet that goes along with it to tell exactly what each shoe is for. I couldn't get copies of that though. It was too fragile. It is being transcribed by our document expert though and I will have it available later.

So far I like my 4 lb for welding and 2 lb for everything else. I am just learning the welding though.

GOt the post vise covered guys. I found a piece of oak in the wood bin in the barn that is rough sawn and measures a true 2 by 8 inches. I cut off enough to go from the back leg to the front leg to the vise. The facilities manager is picking me up a 1 inch floor flange tomorrow. I am going to drill a one inch hole down into the oak and gusset it with the floor flange. I am going to have to drill holes for the screws though, because this oak was so hard I had to cut it with a sawzall with a demolition blade. A circular saw just bogged down and refused to go any further. lol I am going to use 3 inch lag bolts to secure it to the legs of the workbench. I am hoping it will hold. If it doesn't I'm a lot stronger than I thought. lol

Here is my fave ride. I also have a 2000 chevy tracker in good shape, but I don't have a pic of it.

I'm just getting started too. I went with a loop on the end of my cola rake so I could hang it up on my forge when I wasn't using it. I'm making the other end tomorrow. Mines a little heavy though, it's made out of a scrap of rebar. I'll post it when I am done. It will be the first thing I made too!

Be sure to show pictures of your work! I would love to see it!!

Okay guys I know a lot of you have been following my other post Okay Guys I need help. Richmond is only an hour away from Troy Ohio. If you want to come see my forge and do a little heat and beat Just let me know on here. The more people sign up the better chance I have of keeping the museum open late. The admission fee is 7 dollars and It's a money back guarantee to see the whole museum. THe website is in my signature. I may even be able to get dinner catered by subway for a couple dollars more. Please come! I want to meet as many of you as possible! I have 2 anvils and I will heat up the forge. You will just have to bring your own safety glasses and apron, and if you have a fave hammer bring that too. If you donated something remind me on the list and I will get you in free. Come play with me! Oddtodd out

David G, I cannot wait for my surprise! I appreciate you guys so much! I would never be able to get this shop up and running without your support and advice. All of you are proving what my case manager says. You give good, you get good. I do my best to give good every day, and I get so much good. It gets hard sometimes, but all I have to do is either talk to my soon to be wife, go to the museum and work, or get on here and then it gets better. I guess this is what it's supposed to be like. It was never like this before. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and be back in my old life. I still have nightmares about it once in a while. I was coming out of the museum friday and I saw an old friend. He's still homeless. He stays at the hope house here in richmond. It's a homeless shelter where they give you a bed to sleep in and dinner. You can also get a shower and wash your clothes. He's been there for 2 years now. He's still sick. He has schitzophrenia. He won't go see the doctors at the free clinic anymore because he thinks the meds that they give him are trying to poison him. He is also scared because the government implanted a transmitter in his brain and the government is listening to his thoughts and telling him what to think. I gave him a cigarette and told him to go to the place where I go and they would help him get the transmitter out of his brain. It was kind of a lie, but they know how to handle people like us when we are really sick. I told him who to talk to, and he didn't have to trust anyone else. I told him that the people there knew about the government, but he might have to explain it to them so they understand exactly what is going on. There are nights I wake up so scared that I am back in the hope house or the hospital and it was all a dream, but it isn't. I don't know where to go from here so I'm going to stop. I am getting my airguns from my dad's house today and go starling hunting with my 12 year old son. This is my life now and it is so amazing. Tahnk you guys for being there. Oddtodd out

Well, here's the thing on the leg vise. I've got a real sturdy workbench to mount it to, but it's a brick floor. I don't think a brick will hold up to having a hole drilled in it then pounding on it. I think if I mount it in a piece of wood then drill holes in several bricks and mount them with tap-cons I should have something that should survive. EIther that or I am going to pull up a few bricks, pour concrete with a steel sleeve sticking up then put the bricks back. Do you guys think that would work?

THe foundry is a design from the 1920s. So is the lathe. They didn't have a separate area for it, so it got stuck in my shop. It's separated by workbenches though so it's a distinctly different area. The blacksmith shop is 1800 to 1880. We use modern safety precautions though. I follow osha. I found a drillpress today too! I think it still works. It's a hand cranked monster with self feed on a weird type of clutch. It uses a crank arm that has adjustable pressure for the feed so you can hold thework with one hand while you turn the crank with the other. As soon as I get it hung up I will take a picture of it and post it on here. It's going to take help for me to hang it though. It's probably about 150 lbs and it's designed to be mounted on a wall. I gotta find a good sturdy place to hang it. I am going to cheat and get a chuck with a morse taper though because morse taper bits are really hard to find in my area.

Okay, got it. I probably shouldn't wear gloves either right? I'm figuring if the grab a glove I would be in real trouble. oddtodd out

I have a dual wheel grinder at my dad's. Can I mount a wire wheel to one side? I'll have to hide it when there are tours. No modern tools and all that. I do wear safety glasses though. I refuse to work without them. I know it doesn't look old timey, but safety is paramount as far as I am concerned.

Okay, I was looking through the shop today and I have 2 post vises. Do I just drill a hole in the floor and put the end of the post in? I have a very sturdy workbench to mount them to.

Frosty, I even have a pile of aluminum ingots underneath a HUGE belt driven lathe that people could use. I also have a hot suit, but I don't have a visor for it. If you could show me pictures of what you are talking about I could probably tell you if I have it or not. The old blacksmith knew how to do everything. Like I said though, this forge hasn't even been fired up since 1997. You should have seen how many dead mice and other assorted things I cleaned out of the chimney and ductwork. Oddtodd out