beth

thats so FAST!! :o

thank you both my fellow ladies!! my campadres! :)

yes i cant believe the experience you must have had alec!! very very fortunate it must have ben wonderful :)

these videos pf brians are so cool alec - and he puts the hammer to Brilliant effect. hofi says the same kind of thing about his hammer, that there are many surfaces available in the one hammer. brian does a lot of things on his videos that ive never seen they are fascinating arent they? :)brian makes all this stuff look extremely easy and natural and requiring no effort!! he is a magician :)

i have one of those horses your on about and it would be a decidedly bad thing if my anvil moved in the same manner .....!

colleen i dont blame you - although railings might not be so tragic- it was all those curly bits that fried my brain... let someone else do it if you can manage i reckon! i just quite like the hand painted look, it just looks proper to me... you should have called in!! next time let me know and we can meet up :)

thanks ian - i never heard of an etch primer but that makes sense - the hammerite just did not seem to want to stick ... thanks for your smashing comment - have not heard smashing since i was a little un :)

i sold all my pattern welded ute bumpers.....! yeah i Can do that thomas - although he could use some cash and i Want to pay him something too... just dont know how much.

bit of a wierd question, - my friend made me a lovely hammer which i use all the time now, he wont let me pay him and i want to. what do you think would be a good amount to give him. he will not hear of it or discuss it, but i love the hammer its brilliant and he did a lovely job. i dont even know how long it took. or would take! any ideas? or else i will guess and risk getting it hideously wrong in either direction :)

mad idea PPP, i like the more insane plans on here - it certainly looks like a lot of Work of a certain Type, but im So gladdened to hear this is infact your zen - relieved that a) youve found it and B) you are indulging in it :) nice one ! your photo does suck, all i can see is a patch of grass and a plastic carrier bag.. despite this i have every faith that Peanut will be a groovy useable anvil. :)

thank you thomas :) all of you are very encouraging, i take your words to heart!

oh thanks so much jim - i absolutely know what your talking about - i too have great difficulty getting things the same - the two sides of that heart took me hours to get right, they were the hardest part without a doubt. i am not an experienced smith at all, i am an artist really who likes metal things, and am slowly but surely learning how to make things. this is only the second gate i have made, the other being the one with the garden fork that i posted on here, i dont have much time becasue i have three kids to deal with so my day is short, and my learning curve very slow and frustrating. i have fairly ambitious design ideas, but i am trying slowly to design more with a blacksmiths brain than an artist, and it is a very different skill, and a slow process!!! thanks very much for your encouragement. the photo belies the struggle i Always have! :)

big foot your a class act! :) !! thanks you lot, jim i DID make the changes for the dog, and i was not so pleased with it once i had, but it will mean the customer is happy so thats cool i suppose.. the additions were the added kind of tendril bits within the heart shape at the bottom... looks cluttered to me now, OR like i would put more up top end to balance, but hey ho, thats how its staying now. kustom - i did hand paint, i did 2 coats undercoat and 3 top coat, and i thought the top coat ruined it, it went on terribley, looked very thin, i did do different color undercoat john, for the very reason you said - i brushed it on, but it seemed very thin and i am suspiscious that i used the wrong paint and there was a bit of a reaction, which is entirely my fault. i was very unpleased with it!! but in too deep so just did more layers and it settled down. its not great close up to be honest though, and it got knocked somehow in the workshop and has chipped right back to bare metal : ( after 5 coats i was a bit peed off about that.. ! whats the answer ? took me ages... the paint claimed to be one coat, and although it said you could use it with an undercoat, i think it was designed for a one coat topcoat on bare metal... im not sure, but i certainly wont buy it again. Also i think i would zinc spray first, even for a hand paint finish, and then just brush on the top coat.. thanks for the comments guys :)

just for those that wanted to see it painted - took flippin ages to hand paint, about 5 coats with the undercoat - i doubt i will do that again, i was not impressed with the top coat paint i used either which was smooth hammerite..... im sure someone will tell me a better product in the uk ;) ?

ryan i like that! so sweet for your mum i bet she loves it :) it may be from rebar but youve shaped the top nicely and added the sun rays and that message for her garden, i think its lovely - nice work! :)

chinobi lovely work! i have done some silver work, when my children were small and i only could work in the kitchen, and like you, i liked setting semi prescious stones - i think they are the most beautiful. i just had my tiny but perfect jewellers anvil, plumbers torch, some little files and pliers, different grade papers, different heat hard solders and lots of gorgeous stones :) i did a couple of things with gold and silver mixed and i wish i had photos becasue the colors together i always Love to see, although hallmarking is not possible when you do that ( i believe, although i never cared ) and thats im sure the main reason it is not popular... i think we call the stone in your heart pendant fire opal here - its a fabulous stone, the pendant is lovely!! i would agree that the equipment you need is minimal and fairly inexpensive - i dont know about inlaying hillbilly, but i would get myself a nice book :)

welcome from me too to your new obbsession. i cant imagine a better place to be situated than the scrap yard. looks like you better get yourself up to moonies too - im way too far! :) there is an awesome amount of info on here.... best of luck :)

i seem to remember someone telling me a risk with acet is knocking the cylinder hard enough to loose/break the lining, which protects the gas from coming into contact with the metal wall of the cylinder. it is i seem to remember bad explosive news if it does - so take care the cylinder cannot rock and roll about, knocking on stuff.

pugman- it all takes ages doesnt it!! if its any consolation i have had almost endless trouble with tongs! you aint alone :) keep going.... :)

thinking of you thomas - its the fabric of life, this stuff - difficult and precious at the same time.

s.willis - was just about to say that.... :) very touching how kids engage so perfectly with objects left around - absolute proof that custom made 'toys' are not needed :) i wonder if he has tried to shift it yet.... :)

wow thats some scale! thanks dale great pictures, fascinating. :)

i agree. i met a man once who had seen his own guts on the floor after a horse had kicked them out.. respect ever since...

straight as a die :) (whatever that means ) enjoy your camp colleen :)

woody sometimes i have to dig deep to find the positive response, not so with your "hat" :) class act :)