tjdaggett

Praying this morning.

Praying presently.

Hallelujah! Still praying.

Beautiful things. I'm two steps behind you.

Still not shop (not there yet), but yesterday I managed to change the oil on the Camry. There's no better way to figure out the your socket ratchets are stripped. Fortunately, my wife had one of her grandfather's adjustable socket wrenches that did the trick. Next up is the Buick, followed by oil filters. I'm starting small.

JHCC, as one who has yet to mount his first anvil, tell me: which do you prefer? Are you a "BING!!!"-er, or more of a "thunk" sort of person?

I'd say it's closer to a "TING", but perhaps more of a "Ting" if you take my meaning. We'll see what it sounds like when I get it on a proper stand.

I confess that I'm not sure how to define "ring". It makes a sound when I hit it, and the sound is beautiful in it's own way, but there's no sustain to it like I've sometimes heard in others. I haven't been around enough working anvils to know. PWS, that looks marvelous.

This was a gift from the father of one of my best friends. It sat in a garage in Michigan for several years (note: rust). I believe it's Chinese. I don't know why there's a pritchel hole in the middle of the face. Can't wait to continue cleaning it with hot steel instead of a wire brush.

Alexandr, looks like you're in a similar hardiness zone to Minnesota; I feel for you. May your plants be lucky.

TP, where can I find more information on the heat-quench-break test?

I like the idea of giving your wife an example to approve. Seems like a wise idea. I might copy it.

This weekend was mostly garden (which I'll relate for the heck of it), but there were a few smithing milestones: - My sister and BIL paid for a year's membership in the MN Guild of Metalsmiths. Can't wait to make it to a meeting once they start back up. - I informed my wife that since a puzzle room is out for birthdays this year, I want to light the forge for the first time. I'll have to do it hoodless and outdoors, but I have a blower and charcoal, so it's time to see how far we can get. The gift/event part from her is that Little Bean is eight months old this week, so she'll have to do without me for part of the afternoon (or have a sooty baby). - An old friend of mine shipped me a box of coffee cans to start making charcoal in. My urban back yard won't allow for a 55-gallon steel drum setup, so we're doing what we can with what we've got. He also ripped a bunch of scrap wood from his barn into nice-sized tooling handles for me, so I'll have those to work with when I get started. Pine and red oak, we think (pine is for practice since I've never done this before). - Found out there's a scrap yard in the next suburb north, so we're going to go check that out once circumstances allow. Garden - We've got seedlings started: zucchini, tomatoes, and hubbard squash. All are coming up and getting hardened off day by day. - The main plot is cleaned up and I've added a stone dividing line and hand/foothold down the middle of it. - The beet/carrot section is all laid out and partially planted, though I realized that all the packets of beet seed I thought I had were empties that I failed to throw out last year. - My wife is officially fully invested in the garden. She keeps coming into my office with ideas and LO! my heart rejoiceth. - Tangentially-related: the new steel clothesline is up and running, with just a slight bend to the steel pipe structure. I should have used 1.5" instead of 1". --SDG, TJD

What happened to it, Thomas?

Rockwell! You just collected several points of data in my brain. Thanks, y'all.

JPL, would you mind telling me what that is?

Josh, you have the right of it. Somewhere out there is a flattered Joel, but I was devoutly thinking of Jordan. Glenn, I kid you not, that maxim is on a post-it by my desk with your name on it.

Thank you all. I'm hearing some Joel Peterson in this group, and I like it. Today, I worked nine hours. I also got my birthday list out to my siblings. I sang with my girls (wife and baby). I saw a fox and two turkeys on a walk in my suburban neighborhood.

TP, I was just thinking about making something like that. Anything to scrounge up a few more chunks.

Smiths, I could use some encouragement. Circumstances are getting to me and I'm having a hard time getting through my workday and taking care of my family on the emotional and physical resources available to me. If it influences your encouraging at all, know that I'm a believer. Thank you in advance. Y'all tend to be pretty uplifting.

If I keep tripling my yield each time, you may just be right.

Here's the second batch. This time I used a tomato juice can (46oz?) and built a log cabin fire around it. What was in the can is on the right side of the pan. Due to the small size, it cooled quickly, allowing me to dump it out and fill the can with the coals of the fire, more than doubling my yield. The other picture is my current charcoal bucket after all this was added. I started with some bituminous coal from a friend, so it's not all my doing. Next up: my buddy is going to share a bunch of coffee cans with me, so this backyard venture is scaling up! I'll have extra cans too, so I should be able to collect coals without having to worry about dumping out one of the cans. I'm happy to say that I now have enough for a couple of heats... I think. Still haven't actually fired up the old coal forge.

I made charcoal. On Tuesday night my lady and I made a little fire while we had our video call with the Community Group crew. I filled a green bean can with some thicker sticks, then pressed it into the fire open side down. We built the fire around it. When we were ready to go inside for the evening, I spread the fire out, but left the can in place. This morning, I dumped the contents of the can onto this old pan. The result is black, glassy, and sounds crispy. There is no un-pyrolized wood in the center of the sticks. Success! Next step: try this again, but with a piece of steel chimney pipe covered at one end. We'll see if I can scale it up. I am extremely happy right now. This is my first step beyond hardware-acquisition and planning toward actually heating up steel.

Please pray for sleep. Little Bean needs it, but she just cries. She's dealing with the 4-month sleep change and a cold simultaneously. My wife and I are pretty ragged and could use some of that grace reserved for the parents of small children. Though to be honest, I think we've received quite a bit.

Glenn, my wife and I were just watching Alec Steele clean up a piece and wondering if something could be done with all that dust.