Brian C.

I helped my youngest son through this one. If I remember correctly the tin can deal is one of several options available. We stuck to the forged work. He made a simple sconce and an "S" hook with a twist. Maybe something else, it's been a good while.The down side was none of the other boys were interested, I would have thought all kids like to play with fire and mash stuff. ;)

I was invited to do a talk on blacksmithing tonight at a local bookstore, and after giving it much thought I have a pretty good idea of what I want to cover. It occurred to me that this is an excellent way of getting more knowledge about what we do out there. Obviously the best way is hands on demos, but this is a way to attract attention in a whole different arena. I will bring a digital photo frame that will flip through a large file of my photos, and have some pieces that are light and easy to show, an Alex Bealer book along with an Aspery book, and of course the story of the king of crafts. I'll even bring a couple copies of our newsletter, ancient history to modern day artist blacksmith in 30 minutes or less.

Excelent tutorial Dave. I like it.

A great piece of work. Very nice. Your son sounds like a fine individual.

My track record is 15 years Volunteer fire service, 32 years nuclear industrial security.

I know that this will run contrary to popular opinion.

I run my pedestal grinder with no guards on or around the wheels. Simply a matter of personal preference. I grew up in an orthopedic shop where there were no guards due to the necessity of grinding long pieces of bar stock, and it just suits my methods to continue.

Knock on wood-no serious accidents in all these years. Your mileage may vary. ;)

http://www.elliscustomknifeworks.com/ has Insboard for sale in different sizes. Pretty good stuff and nice folks to deal with.

My elbow suddenly went bad on me a couple of years ago. After several months of all the home remedies and 2 injections for tendonitis they finally did an MRI and discovered that the tendon in question was torn loose over 50%. After a very painful surgery and another 90 days out of the shop I was finally back at the anvil. Wearing the padded strap and being very careful.

Check with Bob Cruickshank of the Southern Ohio Forge & Anvil Group about firepots.

I imagine you can contact him indirectly through the www.sofasounds.com website.

Bob is currently providing the heavy cast fire pots for that crew. Two different sizes and shapes I believe.

Nice looking site. Where in Lexington are you located, as I visit there fairly often.

Registration sent in and hotel room reserved. :)

My grandfather was an old time carpenter and as a fairly young man he lost his right thumb to a table saw. Rather than learn to hammer left handed, he opted to hold his hammer between his right index and middle fingers. It worked for him, one hit to set a framing nail and one more to drive it home. He did this for many many years. Dad always said that "if the old man could get those two fingers around your neck he could probably pinch your head off". :)

You need to be careful and see a good orthopedic Dr.. I went to my Doc with what I thought was tendonitis, he gave me a shot & it did no good. Went to my orthopedic surgeon a month or so later and he gave me another shot in a slightly different spot & it did no good. Finally had an MRI and it showed that the tendon was torn over 50%. Had to have it surgically reattatched & wait another 3 months before I could use a hammer again.

I have been a member for a number of years.

I dont do knives. That being said, I have been very satisfied with my Grizzly belt grinder for general purpose work.

I bought the single burner one a couple of years ago at Quad State. Great folks to deal with. If I ever need another, it will be the wide mouth model.

Myself and SWMBO will be there. Look for us loafing around the John Fee camp.

Mcaldwell- There is a very good artist blacksmith on south Broadway, just north of Angliana ave. Dont remember the name of the man or his shop. Look in that area.

I used a big bead of clear silicone caulking. Works fine.

I use 1/4" with a framework of 1" sq. tube welded around the perimeter (with about a 2inch inset to allow edge clamping) and 2 braces of the same tube welded across the bottom.

Very nice. Ditto on the twists.

I went there once to get some steel rivets, and also some copper belt rivets. They were lost, kept showing me all their nice pop rivets. :(

I had good luck brazing it, silver solder worked good also, when I worked in an orthopaedic shop. Never did try forging it.

Another vote for the Chili Forge. Nice folks to deal with also.

Easy on the big hammers. I have used 2 pounders for years & still managed to tear a tendon in my elbow that required surgery recently.

I use 3 of them similar to Frosty's except they have a "T" shaped base with no folding legs. On my largest one by the forge I put a couple of tubes of sand across the base for stability.