Chris Comtois

My back of the envelope calculations tell me 55 pounds of zinc would displace roughly 220 cubic inches (about 3 and a half liters, just shy of a gallon) of water. 

Or without doing any fancy math, does your scrapyard have one of those fancy laser guns?  A lot of yards have a gun that vaporizes a bit of the metal and analyzes it to find out what it is. 

6 hours ago, ausfire said:

And don't wear thongs!! (No, not the type you guys in the U.S. are thinking of. )

Arrrrrgh!  Get out of my head!  Get out of my head!

My standard reply to "Whatcha makin'?" is "Mistakes."

1.  Try it in a kilt - nothing manlier than blacksmithing in a kilt!

2.  After #1, the second part of #2 is no longer an issue.

3.  Nope, but's that's half the fun.

4.  Ditto Smoggy

5.  They turn up, keep your eyes open and be ready to buy when you find one.

6.  Absolutely!

7.  Nor the smell of hot iron and coal, nor the sooty footprints/handprints!

You have just described my weekend. 

Huh.  Pretty cool.  I have a box full of insulators sitting in my shop that I picked up at an estate sale for next to nothing, under the premise that I could probably do something coo with them sometime.  Now I know!

Big-box hardware stores have glass drill bits, they are pretty pricy if you just have a one-time use for them (but if you can get the prices listed on that page, might be worth it!).  You need to keep a pretty steady stream of water going to keep the glass from overheating and cracking.  There are some good videos on youtube showing the process.

Must just be me then - operator error!

LastRonin - I would be very curious to get your impression of that tool after you've used it for a bit - I love Craftsman hand tools, but I haven't had a Craftsman power tool yet that hasn't crapped out on me within a year or two.

polar bear

I dunno - If I found a woman who could (or would) drag home a truck axle for me, I'd think that would seal the deal!

Be careful of fumes!  Galvanized metal puts off VERY toxic fumes, aluminum, chromium and other exotic metals and finishes as well.  Always work in a well ventillated area and know what material you are working with.

That shape looks pretty square to me - how about starting with a piece about 1 inch square, use a hardy tool to cut in the divots to define the leaves, round off the corners and fold.  Use a center punch to drive down the center and cup it a bit.