arkie

Billy, you were speaking of (oil field ?) storage tanks. Here is an oil field retirement home........

A few trade items for BOA (Blacksmith Organization of Arkansas) meetings. A credit here for the plain jane trivet: Made from one piece of steel, no forge welding or other joinery...idea courtesy of Jennifer, aka JLP Services here on IFI. You can find out how she makes them on her youtube channel.

Yep!

WOW !?!?!

Where I grew up in W TX, back in the 40's, maybe as late as the 50's, there was a huge carbon black plant near a highway. As I understand it, the plant used natural gas from the surrounding oil and gas fields. I can recall the humongous black clouds of smoke coming from the ovens, completely obliterating the sunlight at times, looking like night time. When the black smoke clouds blew across the highway, it was a real safety issue since you couldn't see the cars ahead of you. Everyone had to turn their headlights on. Talk about pollution!!!!! All the plant life, mesquite trees/bushes, greasewood bushes, grasses, etc. around the carbon black plant had a thick coating of carbon black...looked surreal, like something out of a sci-fi movie. I don't know if any of it was still living or not; probably not, just preserved. We always held our breath as long as possible, with the windows rolled up, when driving through the cloud. The plant has long since been gone, thank goodness.

Billy, thanks for the pictures! Very thoughtful of you to think of me. Glad you enjoyed Tired Iron, it is/was my favorite of all the meeting places. The smithy is A+ and lots to see other than smithing. When the vendors show up with used tools and parts, it's like Christmas in September!! As I recall, you had to miss it last year due to COVID (me too). Randy, so you were the star of the show, huh??? LOL You are brave to try to do something sophisticated like forge welding with rebar. Technicus Joe does/did it with rebar in many of his videos. I usually burn myself when I'm working with two matching pieces, like tong halves, and forget which one is still hot...I find out really quickly! Billy, thanks for the pictures! Very thoughtful of you to think of me. Glad you enjoyed Tired Iron, it is/was my favorite of all the meeting places. The smithy is A+ and lots to see other than smithing. When the vendors show up with used tools and parts, it's like Christmas in September!! As I recall, you had to miss it last year due to COVID (me too). Randy, so you were the star of the show, huh??? LOL You are brave to try to do something sophisticated like forge welding with rebar. Technicus Joe does/did it with rebar in many of his videos. I usually burn myself when I'm working with two matching pieces, like tong halves, and forget which one is still hot...I find out really quickly!

Good info, Jen, thanks. Glad you pointed out that the wedges need to be square stock.....DUH ME!!

Beautiful hammers and axes! It's a testament to the forge welds in that they have not delaminated over these years. You are definitely the master of steeled WI hammers.

Billy, I suppose you are all healed up from the dogfight....Your new avatar doesn't have any bandages on it! LOL. Cool avatar, BTW

Jen, those twists in the handle are beautiful. Amazing that one can keep the same twist "pitch" with that many pieces. Also, the two alternating twist pitches really add pizazz to the piece.

Sometimes, it's difficult for a beginner to find the "right" hammer handle size and fit. If the handle comes with store-bought hammer, the handle may be too thick. Less, common is a thin handle. If the handle is too thick, you will constantly be fighting to keep a good grip, resulting in fatigue. If the handle is too thin, you will find yourself sort of wrapping your fingers around too tightly and the hammer might be trying to rotate on you. With a thick handle, get a rasp or sanding disks and work down the thickness until it "fits like a glove" and you will be much happier (your hands, wrist and elbows will thank you, too). If the handle is too thin, just get another handle that fits.

Goods, for somewhat larger coil springs, drop by a shop that specializes in off-road mods, lifts, etc. They often have take-offs from new vehicles that the owner wanted modded (new word, there...). I I picked up a bunch of coils, torsion bars, other suspension parts out of their scrap for free. Most were 1/2" up to 1" springs.

Beautiful hammer, Jen. The grain in the hammer is really striking (no pun, there...). In you pictures with the hammer on the gravel background, was the hammer wetted with water to bring out the grain?

Welcome back, Brian!!!

anvil, thanks for the suggestion of coil spring! I've got plenty of that. It's plenty hard without any heat treatment.

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I would be hesitant to heat treat the wedge unless the struck end were to be kept soft or maybe a bit softer than blue. I was thinking that applying a small bit of lubricant on the contact surfaces between the wedge and feathers would keep the wear to a minimum with using only mild steel for all the pieces.

I realize this is an OLD topic, but questions regarding the wedges and feathers: Can one just use mild steel stock or do you need a steel that can be heat treated? And, if made with a steel that can be heat treated, to what color(s)?

I like both the curved scrolls; the splits on the ends add class to them.

I have a pair of black snakes that occasionally come around the shop. One is about 1 1/2" round and about 5' long, the other is about 3/4" round and about 3' long. For you snake experts, which ones are probably the male and female? The small one likes to squirm into the open end of the steel square leg on the carport frame.

For anyone making the Dempsey Twist tongs (great beginner's tongs, BTW), make sure the thin twisted parts are at least orange to yellow when twisting slowly, or if done colder you'll end up with microfractures on the twist.....

Billy, keep us posted on your stove/smoker project...remember, no pictures; it didn't happen,

Billy, cruise over to weldingweb.com and check with those guys over there. Someone is always making stoves and smokers...lots of threads on the subject. To search, you might have to make an account. No charge, free, great site for welding projects. That would be a huge stove!!

Billy, with all respect to your pancake forge design, I would suggest one modification. You don't really have any place for the ash and clinker to go when it drops. It looks like it will accumulate in the "T" of your air supply. I think you need a length of pipe below the tuyere and "T", say 4" to 6", for the ash to accumulate. Not ever having used that design, I would suspect the shallow ash accumulation would either block part of your air supply or be blown back up the tuyere....tell my I'm full of beans...LOL

So many job interviews these days, from the first through the "n"th with some companies, is done via teleconferencing. One can be applying for a job and wearing a coat and tie from the table top upwards and their underwear below the table top!!! ("laudie, laudie") All the other CV info is emailed back and forth. Seems very little direct personal face-to-face interaction occurs.

Thomas, our condolences to you and the family...