Anachronist58

Good work team!

Holding All in our hearts,

Robert and Sheila Taylor.

wow.

Wow.  Splendid thread. I am fascinated by far too many things to be accomplished in a single one of my passions. Years ago, when we bought our little place on the side of a small mountain east of San Diego, I thought I had found one simple art that I could focus on and excel at. What could be simpler than mud??  WRONG! I built an elutriation column which produced an ochre micaceous "liquor".  The tendrils shown here were fired to red heat with a propane torch. Ever since I have been bogged down in the mud studying van der waals forces, colloids, and thixotropes. I am growing black locusts for lumber (I have a thirty foot log curing) and for carbon. Growing mulberry and olive trees and anything else that pokes up. I enjoy scrap lumber carpentry, prospecting, mineralogy, shooting, industrial anthrpology, blah blah. Our mountain is a giant block of iron ore, so I hope to pass on while following my dream of developing iron-infused ceramics. Mrs. Taylor helps in the shop, is a domestic engineer, is a counsellor and comforter to many, and supports me so I can keep a full-time job.            

Latticino:  Very Humbling to post right after you, and your exquisite photographic resume, not to mention all of those who posted before you.

Robert Taylor

Well done - I am working on the same concept, but with a different attack angle. I will do my best not to let your excellent execution contaminate my thinking - I was not sure I should even look at this thread, but I think I will be OK.

Glenn, I have always regretted not being able to pick up that gorgeous steelyard in the junk store some years ago. And yes, the B-52 is a marvelous example of the genius that resides not in computers, but in the human brain that conceived them.  The A-10 and the CH-46 are  further examples. My father and several siblings almost succeeded in teaching me how to use the sliderule.

And as for the steelyard, what could be more elegant in it's simplicity! Anyone can construct one out of just about anything lying about. Like your teeter-totter: 1:1, 2:1, 5:1, 10:1......

All I'm trying to tell you you have to pay whatever you feel a piece is worth to you, and as you gain experience, yesterday's bargain becomes today's embarrassment.

Good luck, Robert Taylor

Klorinth - your request is somewhat difficult to respond to. Only speaking for myself,  when I shop for this stuff, I have no idea what it weighs except for the question of whether I can lift and carry it with the implements at hand.

I always start with: "dude, that sure makes your yard look trashy, shall I haul it off for you?".

If the treasures' owner balks, I then ask what the rusty old piece of junk is worth to him/her.

If the seller wants too much for it, I might say, "On second thought, it looks pretty snazzy right where it is."

If the price is just right, I might scrunch up my face and start to just slightly rotate away, which usually elicits a drop in the price, and then I more often than not walk away happy in either the truth or the delusion that I HAVE SCORED!

Our prayers and condolences,

Robert and Sheila Taylor.

Spanky Smith, glad to hear you are on the other side of the procedure. Mrs Taylor and I continue to keep you in our thoughts and prayers. In the last two years, Sheila has had both carotid arteries done and her left shoulder replaced. She is doing very well now. May your recovery be swift.

Robert and Sheila Taylor

As in using water pumps to move hydraulic fluid?

Hello Lulabeast, I agree that shop at the AG&SEM is fantastic. I too hope to volunteer at Old Town before I keel over. I'm east of you in Alpine.

Robert Taylor

My small horizontal rail anvils are all proud of the jobs they do for me - yours is a beauty.

https://youtu.be/Xw1n0IeQM9A

  Air hammer forge - how silly (wink) or Jesse Sipola in case of inoperable link

Natenaaron, thanks for the response.  My application calls for the nearly spherical condition - but as Thomas Powers says, some may drool for that "just right" shape. If you ever found it convenient to acquire an image or two.......       And yes I have read some of your other content and know that you have plenty on your plate as it is.      Robert Taylor

Good call Daswulf.

Natenaaron - are those mill balls yours to do with as you please? If so, would you care to sell some to me?

Robert Taylor

It's important to note that these assemblies are under extreme pressure, as they are used to react against a portion of the weight of a motor vehicle. The unit pictured herein expanded 12" and even the last inch had the power to amputate or maim. As mentioned above, all of that stored energy is going to release like a gunshot, any way it can, including sideways.  As Frosty mentioned in reference to airbrake cans, no matter how many times you do something dangerous, it's always waiting for that moment of distraction or bad luck to Alter Your Life Forever. In Homage to The Lucky, don't let this become your White Birch (or Whale, if ye be Ahab).

All that aside, I now use the HF $15 strut kit - and I am not willing to post the modification details here, as ignorance of the laws of stress fracture can get you killed or disfigured.                          Robert Taylor

TSA never seems to appreciate my prospecting bag, either.

We hold you in our thoughts and our prayers for a successful procedure and a speedy recovery......

Robert and Sheila Taylor

Heal quickly Sir.

Our prayers and condolences.....

Robert and Sheila Taylor

MarcyOHH, let me first cast the clinkers and chicken bones upon the layout plate, to see what may portend - can't be too carefulstitious, eh?

CTaylor, that would darken the anvil face a bit would it? Couldn't hurt!

The spectre of a slovenly Ogre haunts my smithy - the more I try to tidy up, the more cluttered it seems to become.  Robert Taylor

Like Glenn said - FIND a reason to get started - get a claw hammer, a rock some coat hanger wire and SAFETY GLASSES. Get pounding. If you and the forge are meant for one-another your passion for the craft will call you out. Here I am using 6013 welding electrode, which may even be worked cold if you are driven enough to Just Strike the Iron!

Robert Taylor