mcraigl

Just went to Woodcraft last week and the ones they had were priced at $35 to 50 each. I got a buddy who's into fine jointery and I might have to make him one for Christmas.

Where the heck did you get all the "powder"? Isn't the stuff from a machine shop awefully contaminated with cutting fluid etc.? Another real nice one Jens.

Jens, That there is absolutely beautiful. How did you attach the handle? It looks like one piece from the angles I can see. Do you bore a hole in the end, then epoxy and pin? Also, wouldn't L-6 with the 1084 give you a higher "performance blade" with the same high contrast to the pattern? Or is it more a matter of what's available? Anyway, that thing is real purty. I think I can get some decent blades, but the fit and finish of the hardware on the knives some of you guys are putting out just astounds me. Makes mine look pretty unrefined.

Easily, No pro/expert here with blacksmithing. Lots of experience with wood and fabbing/welding metals. My suggestion to you are search the BP's for things like "jigs", "measurements", etc. A question... How many "measurements" are there on "your" anvil? I've got a few of mine memorized because they're measurements I use quite a bit. Don't have to stop and grab a tape or ruler. Just hold the stock up there, see where the measurement comes to, and off you go. I've even discovered clever ways of "marking" the stock. If I need to taper 2" of something. If I hold the end even with the offside of the anvil over the hardy I can strike a half faced blow on the offside of the hardy and establish a small easily located shoulder almost exactly at 2". Anyway, my suggestions is to learn your anvil for measurements. Then forge all the pieces through one step or operation. Oh the other thing I do is there's a smallish table on my leg vise stand maybe a 12x16" or something like that. After I forge the first of a series of say the first bend for the handle I trace it on that table with a soapstone. Just another way of checking for uniformity. It's also handy for mirror images of stuff. Anyway, good luck and show us some pix when your done. I just forged my first ever pair of Bavarian Staghorn hinges and this symmetry issue came up for me too.

Try as I might I can't find any laws in oregon that prohibit the possession of any type of bladed weapon. All laws tend to speak to how you carry or use them. The only place they're specifically mentioned is in the "concealed weapon" section. Looks like a pneumatic switchblade would even be legal to carry concealed if you wanted to build one. It bothered me that I can't find a definition of a dirk, dagger, or slungshot anywhere in the Oregon Revised Statutes. 166.240 Carrying of concealed weapons. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, any person who carries concealed upon the person any knife having a blade that projects or swings into position by force of a spring or by centrifugal force, any dirk, dagger, ice pick, slungshot, metal knuckles, or any similar instrument by the use of which injury could be inflicted upon the person or property of any other person, commits a Class B misdemeanor. Webster's Definitions: Main Entry: 1dirk Pronunciation: 'd&rk Function: noun Etymology: Scots durk : a long straight-bladed dagger Main Entry: dag·ger Pronunciation: 'da-g&r Function: noun Etymology: Middle English 1 : a sharp pointed knife for stabbing Main Entry: slung·shot Pronunciation: 'sl&[ng]-"shät Function: noun : a striking weapon consisting of a small mass of metal or stone fixed on a flexible handle or strap So does a knife being double-edged mean it's for "stabbing"? Seems like you just get to do twice the amount of cutting inbetween sharpenings to me!

T-Gold, Why do you want to braze rather than weld? I had a "side job" once upon a time welding pretty small fittings to tubing and sheet for an outfit that built lint collectors for the textiles industry. Never had any problem with the small parts since you've got such good control over heat and where it goes with the TIG. ML

Trap the pigeons and sell them to dog trainers or falconers. Or give them away. A frind in Reno gets paid $3/bird he traps from the roofs of several of the larger casinos. He then turns around and sells them to $3/bird to dog trainers. He's a falconer and started doing it to feed his birds. He gives live pigeons to other falconers too. Anyway, he makes enough money emptying his traps on his lunch hour to go hunting/fishing in Canada or Alaska every year.

I can't remember who asked. I apologize. It's been a long time, but my sister finally came through with the pix of my grandfather's ice tongs. I don't know if he made them or not. My mother grew up on a ranch in northeastern utah in the Bear River Valley. The ranch is at about 6800', and they had no electricity. The river was only about 1/8 mile from the ranch house, and they had an "ice house" I think they were called. Anyway, my grandfather would go out with a horse drawn sleigh to feed the cows and would take an ice saw and these tongs along with him. After the cattle were fed he'd go down to the river and cut blocks of ice and load them on the sleigh and put them in the ice house / cellar. I've always loved these tongs, they were originally in my house growing up, then they were hung from a rafter at our family cabin, and finally my sister has ended up with the. I have a whole new appreciation for them now, and can see that they are indeed hand forged. Anyway, just wanted to share, and I do remember someone wanted to see pix of them. My bro in law put a ruler in some of the pix for scale. There are more pix in the gallery, but here's a teaser. http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/1543/cat/591

Valentin, don't know much about the problem you asked about. But... You're going to hate having it tucked in that corner once you try to work on longer pieces which I can see from the gate/fence panel in the pix you do work on. just my .02 worth.

Regional, absoulutely you can weld a shank onto your hardy tools. If your tool hot cut say has a big enough shoulder the face of the anvil will really be taking the brunt of the beating. Bending forks don't take "that" much punishment as far as getting beat on with a hammer. I use 1" square tubing for the posts on many things.

Hi Don, whereabouts in Eastern oregon? KFalls here. And yes, this is a pretty interesting site. Lots of good info here.

Well, here's a sort of long story about my maternal grandfather then... I'll try to shorten it up as much as possible... I work for a federal land management agency. When fire season in the west gets really bad, and there's a lot of aviation activity with air tankers and helicopters, I get called out to serve as a liason with the FAA. Theres about 15 of us in the country that do this. A guy I really like to work with Gary, it turns out grew up in Fairfield Idaho. One of my favorite parts of the county. It's several hundred miles from where my mother grew up in northeastern utah. Gary's in his late 60's now and his dad was "the village smith / mechanic / etc. etc." in Fairfield. Gary remembers stopping at my grandpa's ranch when he was a little boy so his dad could help my grandpa fix something particularly difficult/large. I really like how small the world still is sometimes. I met Gary on a fire assignment in Port Hueneme California, he's from a tiny little town a fair distance from where my family's from, and yet there's a connection there. Even better/cooler is the connection is centered around blacksmithing.

I know, i know. Not really something one would typically post up on a blacksmithing forum. But I'll get to that. My granny is 88 and pretty spry, but she's mostly been telling me the same stories for my whole life. Well, I've been into this blacksmithing thing for about the last year, and this was the first time I've spent any one on one time with her since then. I knew from talking to my mom and aunts that my grandpa had a couple of forges and plenty of bs'ing tools. He was a farmer, and their ranch was pretty remote so he had to be as self sufficient as possible. I'd also heard stories about how all the neighbors would bring stuff to him to get it fixed if it was beyond their capabilites. What I hadn't heard was that my great, great grandfather (granny's grandpa) was a blacksmith in a village in Germany. He was raised by his grandfather who was also a blacksmith because his mom had died at his birth and his dad was a sailor and didn't come home from a trip when he was about 10. Anyway, it really lit my fire and I've got to do some research now. Thankfully, my grandma is still pretty much all there mentally and is writing down all the stories and tidbits that she remembers from her life. Anyway, I was pretty excited about it and thought I'd share. As an aside, my great great grandpa was also the village crier (sp?). I guess all the men in town were probably hanging around his shop anyway if they weren't working so he was probably a good choice for getting "the word" out. Have a good weekend all.

You're describing my house Thomas. Built around 1940, remodelled numerous times over it's liftime. I've got aluminum, old romex looking stuff, plus knob and tube and actual romex. I've got lathe and plaster, sheetrock, AND plywood. One of the folks that owned it for a number of years worked at the plywood mill, so his additions are all sheathed with plywood. Thanks all. Only got about 10 more feet of trench to dig before I have the sparky come over and put some pipe in the ground. 'Course then I gotta get the rest of the garage cleaned out so that we can run wires, insulation, sheetrock, etc. etc.

I tried baiting a mouse trap with it and the mice left the house. If they won't eat it, I won't either :-) All kidding aside, it'd probably be good for greasing stuff, or maybe use it for differential quenching instead of clay or...

Thomas, 200 amps... That's HOT! hehe. I'd love to run a full service like that, but the cost/benefit ratio isn't working out for it. If I had a nice shop like you're talking about and I liked where I lived enough to stay long term I'd be doing the same thing. My electrician buddy is convinced that I'll be just fine with 60amps as long as I'm not running the mill, while welding, and have the air compressor come on. What I KNOW is that a full 60amps with modern wiring has got to be infinitely better than the knob-and-tube 20amp circuit I'm using now. Just made me realize that I probably need to put gfci breakers in. More $ I guess. Oh well, it'll be worth it.

So you've got the hooks sized so they will slide inbetween the gaurd and the motor housing? Maybe I need to see a picture of what you're talking about. If I've got it right I think I kind of like that too. Grinder's always ready to go, but completely out of the way. or... I just re-read your post. You use these truss hooks for "normal" storage of the smaller power tools. Ie. you don't need to take up valuable shelf/cabinet space for storing them. Either way I think I'll be able to work this concept into my plans. I think I'm going to take some before pix of the shop overhaul, then some progress pix. I'll probably clean it up a bit more first thouh. I'd be really embarassed for any of y'all to see what it looks like now. A guy sure can accumulate a lot of crap in 20 years.