eric sprado

Pault: Thanks for your addition!!! Just now saw it!!!! Cactus and snake are nice deviation from other knockers.

Great video!! Does ANYBODY know of a video showing fitting of HANDLES?? That is my bugaboo in my neophyte stage of knife making.

  thanks, Eric S.

I made lots of truckers pry/winch bars to use on their tie down winches. I just  normalized them. Never any problem. REALLY nice steel!!!

I'm in Oregon. Ruling varies from area to area. I'm in Deadwood Oregon where you do what you want. Except for me,and I ain't talkin, there are three types of folks here: Dope growers,Baptists, and those that are both but won't admit to it!!

 Kidding aside,all of the smiths I know are outside of city limits and nobody has said a thing. Log on to NWBA site where most Oregon and Washington smiths hang out and ask the question there!

   Feel free to contact me at: spradoeric@gmail.com  or phone 541 964 3224. I can introduce you to local metal smackers.

I believe most shoers(farriers) use the Belotta cross peen for starting clips. Most shaping is done with standard farriers 2 1/2 pound rounding hammer. 2 1/2 # rounding hammer is a pretty nice tool!

Stoody makes LOTS of rods. If you are talking a hard surface rod: NO!!!! I use Lincoln 11018M stick rod to repair anvil faces. The professional welders on here will probably have others they use..

A fifty gallon drum catching rainwater from your gutter and plumbed through the wall gives LOTS of water.. I live in Western Oregon with lots of rain... A LARGE tank waters garden with soaker hose. No bill from the utility board.

  Josiah: Even though Brian is one of my heroes and I have learned SO much from his YouTube tutorials,I would like to mention what is obvious to me. If you are not familiar with using a rounding hammer spend a few bucks and get a nice farriers rounding hammer from any of the suppliers for WAY under a  hundred bucks. Maybe not as nice as one of Brian's (I'd love to have one of his for the size)but I made a zillion handmade horseshoes with the one I bought new in 1964.Still using it to make the things I learned from Brian's site. They are a rounding hammer and do all the things that Brian talks about in his tutorials. I bet Brian would give you the same advice.

I scored a bunch of 1/2" square a couple of years ago and have made a  bunch of tongs from it. Especially good for handling 1/4" stock..

Spiroduct is many time stronger than plain stove pipe and costs only a few dollars more.

GenAir blowers from their exhaust systems are DANDY blowers. Very Quiet.. Control air with a lid from Johnson's Wax can attached with one screw so you can open or close air intake..

Wouldn't it would take about $300 worth of 3in1 oil to lubricate the lower part of the gearbox in most blowers?

I wonder if Carnauba flakes could be used in place of the bees wax in the homemade wax formula....Something to try..

How do you work with that sheath material? What is it? thanks, Eric

I lied my way into a welding job at the Coast Guard base on Kodiak island in the 70's. The first few days guys kept bringing in things that needed straightening out,which,of course,I could do well. The next day somebody brought in something to weld. I was just a farm boy welder and it showed. The head man (just two of us in the shop) was an old shipyard welder with experience on nuclear subs. He just laughed and spent the next six months spending an hour a day of so teaching me to weld. Our main job was keeping the rusty old overhead steam pipes from WWll patched up. I got REALLY good at filling in holes in rusty pipe.

So much for fancy hammers and magic fluxes... Thank you Simon!!!!  I still love  magic hammers and fluxes-but he clearly shows the basics...

"There's A New Rugged Cross On a Hill......" Sorry-Somebody had to say it...BEAUTIFUL effect with the setting sun shining through!!!!!!

I've used both Johnsons Paste Was and Butcher's. About the same results. You can still get Johnson's in Safeway.. I switched to the homemade Linseed Oil,Turpentine,Bees Wax formula listed on here and like it a LOT. At lease I know what is in it......

Make a bunch and bring to a Valentines Day crafts fair. They'll sell like hotcakes! Try to vary the size,shape, so folks can pick and choose.

They got me on my tractor this Summer too. Ten stings in the forehead. Luckily my father in law,a retired MD,was visiting and had stuff to give me a shot....... Went back at night,not that night,with diesel ( doesn't blow like gasoline ) and had a heart to heart talk with the little critters.

My blacksmith friend (though he won't call himself that) David Thompson in Eugene, Or. makes a jig if he is going to make more than one of anything. There is quite a science to making a "minimalist" jig that gets the job done. I've been working on it,but at still at the stage where the jig making takes more time than I'd like.

I vote for BIG too!! Looks like you have lots of small ones.. Big. HIT HARD. SCARE METAL into submission. No more Mr. Nice Guy!!!

In an old song book I have sheet music and words to Blacksmith Boogie. I'll try to work on it if I can find it and maybe put a recording on here. I'm a better fiddler/musician than blacksmith. Last year at the Mt Hood Meadows Western States Conference we put together a blacksmith band. Folks decided to call us the "Clinkers". Had great fun!!!

Leg vice,Post vice. Same thing. You say tomayto and I say tomotto.... same fruit...

Thanks John!!! I had visions of having a hard time chiseling the lot. The holes will help that immensely.