eric sprado

Nice tongs!! After all these years I'm finally trying to make some and not getting the hang of it yet!!!!!!

Locked in Mortal Combat with the Washington County Planning Department: Thanks for the invite Thingmaker!! Re your "Locked in Mortal Combat"quote- you can appreciate I make a living fighting those Yahoos down here in Eugene. Keeps my blood pressure up!

Best solution: Ship it to me. I'll feed it and make sure it is treated well...

If you log on to NWBA site and go to their Gallery, Dick Fedder from California has some WONDERFUL pictures of one of his hand forged branding irons. He gives a class in this. You can probably find is contact info somewhere on the NWBA site.

I shoed horses for 25 years and used the sharp point of my anvil as a bob punch to draw toe clips. Not shoeing now but still use it to open up a hole that I have punched. The point evolved for a reason...

Okay: Not a pro blacksmith here,but as an amateur and rancher most of my life I do know branding irons.. The MOST important thing is that,wherever there is a joint in a letter or symbol,there must be a GAP made or the area will be so hot that the brand will "smear" or burn the hide excessively so it is not a clear brand.I'll try to dig up some old irons and put some pictures here in the next few days to demonstrate. The irons should be tapered with the narrow end of the taper at the bottom of the brand and wide end up.This allows the iron to retain some heat while still doing a clean job.5/16 X 1 1/2 stock is a nice size. Tapered to about 1/4 on bottom. Horses are VERY thin skinned and I use round stock to make my horse irons.Just a QUICK touch on the hide gets the job done.Actually I went to freeze branding my horses about thirty two years ago using the liquid nitrogen from my artificial insemination tank. The area frozen comes back as white hair and is a really pretty brand. Sorry if I can't describe stuff with words so well..... Again; Pictures soon...

Sorry-Wasn't really aiming that remark at anybody. It is just a reflection of my first experience at a blacksmith conference. When asked,I, in all innocence,told folks that I shoed horses for a living. I got looked at like my breath smelled like the wrong end of a cow!! In these times I figure any honest work is commendable..... Also-sour pussed ANYTHINGS don't succeed at business very long. I spent 25 years being kind to horses and caring about my clients... There were a lot of sour pussed old guys when I was looking for somebody to apprentice with though....fifty years ago or so.....

It is a Multi Products anvil. While not shaped for general blacksmithing,Multi Products anvils were made of very good steel and held up well.All of their equipment was quite serviceable.

Experiment with putting a few drops of various stains in your linseed oil. Most stains mix with linseed just fine...

Home of T. Texas Tyler? "Remember Me When The Candlelight Is Gleaming"?

Thomas has it! That was a really common project in Boys' Shop in the fifties ( when I was a pup)...

Peddinghouse is a pretty hard act to follow... but- Steve McGrew from Incandescent Iron is Spokane is going to bring a few very lightly used Rhinos to the NWBA Conference for a fair price. He has personally overseen the quality control at the plant that makes them for him in China and they are a FINE anvil. You can reach him at Incandescent Iron..try google.

Rusty: What does 1+root 5 MEAN???Do you mean square root of five?? I'm excited to learn this but maybe a clearer explanation might be in order for this dummy. Been wondering about this stuff for a while. I bought some circular graph paper from a surveyors supply here but my efforts don't duplicate nature like your formula(cleared up) does.. Thank you SO much, Eric Sprado

Dad gave it to me 65 years ago. I've got broad shoulders-If I post it you know who did it. I'm easy to find on Google...

Do you REALLY want to breath in HOT WD40??????? Not I thank you!!! I'm not an arteest blacksmith,but I've forge welded a zillion bar shoes(that's a kind of horseshoe for you Farrier Haters) with 20 Mule Team Borax.Cheap. Works great. Why look for another wheel to invent? During my apprenticeship in Kansas we used white sand from the Kaw River.Also cheap and works......

Experience that I had: I made the "structure" of the lamp,but paid a UL certified shop here in town to wire it. The WIRING is the UL part. The cost was minimal compared to liability.

Ten Hammers: the French are still a bit shy of the word "guillotine".....Sorry!!! Thanks for the pictures and drawings. I would venture to say that is the best home made fullering device I've ever seen!!!

Like most old farts I've moved heavy things alone my whole life. Lots of 1" pipe to roll on and pry bars is great.I can't get along without my cable comealong,but my FAVORITE thing is the used cherry picker I bought last year for 75 bucks. Just right height to lift my 25#Little Giant. Hang a spring scale on the end and weight most reasonable sized anvils. On and On.

I make more tools from lug wrenches than anything else. They behave more like 5160 than anything. Good stuff-I buy all I can find at yard sales.. the cut off lug end works great for forming candle holders and such. I make a quick and dirty spring fuller by squaring up the lug end to fit my hardy hole and go from there.

I stack up green coal too and let it coke up some for tomorrow's fire....

Search AbeBooks and AddAll on Google for used copies. I buy pretty much all my used books from those sites.

Don't know what it is but I make lots of neat things from those bolts. Last week Flattened the top of one a bit and chiseled in the lines for a leaf relief. Get leaf hot and hammer it on to form. No heat treating of any kind. Cut off the stem to about four inches. Just had to dress the wide part under the bolt head a little bit and it drops right in to my 1" hardy hole.

Is it loose enough to sleeve with a piece of thin walled stock? Weld it on then grind to fit.. Done it lots of times....

Hey Jim: Eric here from over on Nelson Mtn. Road.Tried to send you an email from here but it said: "Jim can't receive any emails". Don't they have more of that nice sheet insulation at BRING? David Thompson insulated his whole shop with it. Great stuff. Send me an email- spradoeric@gmail.com Take care, Eric Sprado