SpankySmith

NOOoooooooooo..... Look, I'll make a deal... you come over and complete 20 pages of essay questions THIS WEEK on exactly why Protestantism thrived in England and Scotland but not Spain in the mid 16th century, and I'll fire up the new forge....deal? Sadly, it's still on my workbench. sigh..... Who knew working and going to grad school would be this insanely busy? Okay, well, pretty much anyone knows that, but geeeze!!!

LOL, kinda' like my BRAIN, which had to wake from a 30-year sleep to remember how to retain information. The Spirit was willing, but the grey matter was weak.

Hi guys, remember me? Frosty sent me an email today so I decided to poke my head in IFI for a few moments on a study break, see what was going on. Just stoppin' in to say howdy. Some of you may remember I disappeared about a year ago with some fool notion of going to graduate school - after being out of college for 30 years (GULP!!) I figure it'd keep me busy, but Frosty's email reminded me I haven't swung a hammer since school started! Just too busy, going 50 different directions between work and school. Happily, after this summer term I've just two semesters to go - woo woo! Anyway, just wanted to say HI! I miss my hammer! I miss my IFI time! I miss my forge, my tongs, even my burns!! Don't worry, I'll get back to it in another year, I even have a very nice commission piece waiting patiently on me to graduate. But first...I gotta get through "The History of the Protestant Reformation and 16th Century Europe." Cry for me.......

I had a similar need not long ago, tried various methods myself but wasn't getting the result I wanted, so I found a local shop that does sign work and had the tooling to do it. Took them about 30 minutes, don't recall exactly what it cost but it was reasonable enough.

I'm still here but haven't posted in a very long time 'cause I'm just too busy. Grad school keeps me jumping, so I haven't had time to do more than occasionally glance at IFI of late, sadly. Or to forge, for that matter - even more sadly. sigh.... But just my two cents worth it does "seem" like traffic is down here. ??

Ohhhh, I really gotta try that.....

Frank, whilst pondering this topic that thought had occurred to me, I've used JB Weld before, my only hesitation was the client hasn't told me whether they want a painted branch or a polished one. I'm supposed to meet with them sometime soon to see exactly what they are looking for. If it's polished hiding the screw hole with something like JB Weld is just a bit trickier - doable but trickier.

But doesn't a keyhole require both the slot and the sleeve for the screw head to slip up into? I get drilling the hole and filing or punching in a slot, but can't get my head around that sleeve for the screw head.

I figured key hole would be best to make it flush to the wall but I can't seem to wrap my school-addled brain around how to forge that exactly, the little part that has the slot the screw slides UP into? I think my Senior Brain only has so much capacity, and right now it's full of research papers! Some help on how to forge a keyhole slot?

I've had a charity I annually support ask me about making several textured "branches" that will be wall mounted in their office (from which leaves enscribed with donors/supporters names will hang). I know exactly what they want, the illusion of a branch growing out of the wall. To get that, the branch would need to be flush, hidden mounted...somehow. I'm assuming two anchor points for each branch, so I can design 16" on center mount points, but I have no idea how to mount flush without a visible screw or bolt. ???? Help?

I wear a glove on my left hand, it's actually my forearms that are more scarred, including a dandy of a scar suspiciously shaped like a bottle opener, along with a couple zillion teensy scars from hot metal flakes. All the more remarkable because I'm still very "young" at this, haven't been doing it that long. Maybe OLD skin scars more easily..... Whatever, I'm not entering any beauty contests anytime soon, my scars are like my gray hairs - they have tales to tell.

Wish I'd seen this earlier, might have been able to help from a female perspective. You knuckleheads.....the WORST, WORST, WORST thing you can do if you xxxx off a woman is let it sit, even for a moment. Time doesn't heal us, it just festers the wound and your chances of healing it go down exponentially. Five minutes after the fight we've elaborated on 15 reasons we just KNEW this was what you were like....10 minutes later we've decided on 25 reasons this will never work.... "Strike while the iron is hot" works with us, too. Men......

Athens State University offers a one day intro class with PVF Al and Travis at Travis's shop in Athens. It's a fantastic intro to the basics and if I recall correctly was only around $70 for the full day's class, all materials provided. Look it up at the Athens State Center for Lifelong Learning. There is a terrible side-effect, though, that you need to be aware of - you WILL be hooked after that class. Hopelessly. Endlessly. Forever.

Oh my.....can't even wrap my head around this...

I scored a load of spikes and an offer of track (that part I turned down) from one of the local industrial plants, seems they actually own the portion of rail that comes onto their property to load and unload product, so they do their own line maintenance routinely. You know anyone who works at a local industry? The one here gave me everything I wanted, free.

Wait....if only 10% of what is on the interwebs is true....how do I know which 10% on IFI to believe?! Or which one in ten of you is believable?! Or maybe just 10% of what Frosty says is right?! OH no, my reality is shifting! Help! just yankin your chain, Frosty. Actually I think 10% true is an awfully generous assessment. I would have put it closer to 1% myself. Which would make Frosty the ONLY right one here?!

My first tongs were a pair of very long pliers from Horrible Freight, 16", I think I paid about $5 and used them for a couple months until I found some real ones. Imperfect solution of course, but I actually already had them so I just used what I had.

Oh my, Frosty, absolutely in prayers! Keep us posted, please.

Thomas, your place isn't in the large lines of fires, I hope?

After last summer I planned INDOOR projects for this summer, I flirted with heat stroke several times last summer in spite of every precaution. It's the humidity down here that gets you, air so thick it's hard to even move. I sat outside under a covered patio today, "only" 90 degrees but I was dripping sweat literally just sitting there doing nothing. We talk so slow down here, drawling everything out, because it just takes so much energy!

Oh great, when I started it took me months of searching and I had to drive to another state to find an anvil, and you get three for the price o' one?! agggghhhh, life is so unfair to me!

I am so insanely jealous of this work space. Can I come and visit for a while, just to drool over it? LOL, not gonna happen but a girl can fantasize can't she?!

Thanks, Frank, I'll look that up!

Jack, what you've been given here, in so many words and from various different voices is this:. You basically have three choices here. 1). Stop:. Blacksmithing takes decades, not four years, to get good enough to make a living at, and even then it's a coin toss. 2).Proceed with Caution: keep the day job and find a way to dip your toes in the water of smithing while you earn a good income. 3) Go. Take the (risky but also potentially rewarding) leap, leave your current life for school. IFI'ers have given you lots of opinions on each of these options, but ultimately as I said earlier none of us can armchair quarterback your life nor will any of us have to live with your decision, good or bad. Only you can do that. and I sincerely do wish you best of luck.

I have to respectfully disagree. If you have a family and you're 50 or 60, close to retirement, sure, okay, I would agree. But this guy is what, his early 20's? In a job he doesn't love and considering studying for one he thinks he will? You don't get these kinds of chances when you're 50, 60 with family and mortgage and car payments and bills. He says he has none of those encumbrances, just a desire to go learn, see if he can make a go of it. Make your mistakes or take big risks while you're young enough to recover if you fall on your face and don't have the immense responsibilities of adulthood to prevent it. I JUST had this conversation recently with a good friend, I was talking about my father, a product of the Great Depression who worked at a government job until he took early retirement because he just couldn't stand doing it another day. He hated every single moment of his miserable life and consequently made others around him miserable, but he also had NO real options - he had a family of 9, a mortgage, kids to put through school, etc. To his way of thinking, and yes part of it was generational, you work a job you hate? So what? Everyone does. THIS generation doesn't think like that....and thank God for the change. Gather your rosebuds while ye may - change jobs every two years if that's what you want to do and need to do to find one that fits and makes you happy. This life is far too short.