Double Y

Nice work and pictures. Please add more when you have the railing in place.

All the best,

John

WOW...but I don't want that in my shop thank you very much!

Nice job. How thick is the copper you are working with?

Whoops - just read the 3/16th portion

For the most part I get only a few spiders and an occasional mouse. The mouse get "Bar Bait" and haven't been a problem. The spiders get left alone for the most part, because of the heavy mosquito problem we have along the Yellowstone River.

However, this past weekend some neighbors stopped by and their grandsons found a wolf spider about 4 inches across....I have now used Tempo bug spray on the entire shop. Bugs should not be that big in Montana!

Other than that my Golden Retriever "Duece" takes up space and Saturday night my Black Angus bull was standing on the slab infront of the shop. The fence was repaired and the bull went back where he belonged. The remains of the forage supper the bull had eaten became a fun hair treatment for Duece...he has been sleeping in the garage because of it.

JA -

Glad to hear you are fine. The posessions can be replaced, people cannot.

My wife and I honeymooned in NZ. Lovely place with some of the niecest people I have ever met.

All the best to you and your family.

John

Excellent build Keith.

Have fun with it

Kevin,

Is this listed with the guy in Bismarck? I am in Billings and have tried to stop at his shop a few times, but he isn't very forth coming about opening at different than normal working hours.

I would pass on this one and keep your eyes open for something else. I was in an antique shop in Choteau, MT a couple months ago and when the guy found out I did some blacksmith work the price of the 200+ anvil in good shape, started dropping right away. I have no need for another anvil at this time (still have a want for more - but then don't we all) so I passed.

My 2 Cents worth....

John

Good score Mark -

What do you call the small set of "tongs"? I have the same set and use them all the time. They seem to be a glorified pair of pliers. I thought you may know the former use of name?

Where are you in Sask? My Brother and Sister-in-Law live about 30 miles East of Regina.

John

Veluvia,

Where are you in Holland? I have family who are in Rotterdam. My Great Grandfather came to Montana about the turn on the 20th century. My folks and Uncles just went to Holland to visit some cousins this spring. Came home with many beautiful pictures.

Where you in the video?

During the art show I wasn't demonstrating so there wasn't anything to show there. Thanks for the info Thomas if I do a demo I will contact Saltfolk. You boys down south may be used to forging in 100 degree heat, but our thick northern blood + 100 degrees temps + a belching forge = not a lot of fun up north!

John

Thanks for the shots of the tooling - I really like to see what others have made to accomplish a task

Thanks

Heck of a buy there! That would be one to use and modify without fear of it costing you anything.

Please post some photos when you have it home.

Interesting that horseshoes are selling best - they must be horse people who appreciate the difficulty of a handmade shoe.

I sold a nice pile of hooks. Few were matched, most people wanted random sizes and shapes. Hard to out-guess the buying public.

I spent 5 years being an Agriculture Broadcaster and then another 5 years as a executive for cattle associations, so I am comfortable being interviewed.

What kind of insurance do you have to carry to do a demo?

http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/Billings-Summerfair-98715829.html

Wasn't even in the Naughty, Naughty list either...

This is a link to one of our local stations here in Billings, MT. I had a booth at a the Art Museum's "Summerfair"

I am the round headed fellow in the blue baseball cap and ugly shirt.

This was my best show ever and have had contacts to make custom work already. Nice to hit a lick now and then.

I have seen some great profiles on a few smiths on this site. If you get some press post it here so we can all see.

How have any of your art show/festivals been this summer? Selling things? What is selling best?

I found and old used up fire extinguisher that I planed on making a gong out of. Turns out the bottle is aluminum....

I found this out after I emptied the bottle, but I still figured it would work. So I cut off the bottom and decided to soak the barrel of the bottle in my bucket of meuratic acid I use to remove mill scale....

I just learned aluminum doesn't like acid!

When I first put the bottle in the bucket nothing happened at first so I left it there and went on about my other projects. I came back to the bucket about two hours later to a bubbling cauldron of doom!

Looks like at least a 1/16 of the barrel has been eaten but only in the spots the paint had already been taken off.

I am soaking the barrel in a tub of water after I liberally washed it down.

I think it will still make a gong, but how big of a mistake did I make and could of it been dangerous?

WOW! Excellant design and execution...post a few more picts if you have them

Hey Divermike I am more interested to see some clear pictures of all the tooling you have hanging on the wall behind your hammer...

I have some serious envy going on!

I installed this sign last evening for the vet office. The Vet was very happy and that is the most important portion right?

Thanks for looking...

And you are correct!

Excellent and I like the wraps, it provides a visual transition from the straight line pickets to the sweeping top.

Let us know how you do in the competition.

A branding pot doesn't get the iron nearly as hot as a forge. However, after many uses the branding iron will burn up. Mostly the handle is the weak point.

I build my irons from 3/8 by 2 or 2 1/2 bar stock. That will hold a great deal of heat so you can brand both Y's of my brand.

My registered cattle/horse brand is also what I use as my touchmark. To read it properly it is a Lazy Y Hanging a Walking Y. Though for most people I just say Double Y. You read a brand from left to right and from top to bottom.

You now have more knowledge about brands then you ever wanted! Go forward and sin no more...

John

I have developed a habit of stopping at antique stores as I travel looking for blacksmithing pieces and parts. I have seen a handfull of anvils - usually way over priced - and one hardy that the store wanted $85 for...

I hit a lick in Choteau, MT on Friday. A small antique store with some blacksmith tools. I purchased the four sets of tongs seen here, I paid $16.25 for each. Not too cheap, not too expensive either. I look at it as I don't have to pay shipping when I find these old tools.

For you anvil hounds, the store had two anvils. One a Peter Wright about 175# that was in pretty good shape, but did have a pit about the size of a jelly bean in the face. There was also a Buffalo blower. The PW he wanted about $2.25 a pound for. The other anvil was a no name and he wanted $175 for the blower. If you are interested and along the Rocky Mtn Front, it may be worth your stop.

Have a great week,

John

A rancher can have multiple irons in the fire, his brand, his mom's brand, his wifes brand a brand for each of the kids....I have been to brandings where up to 5 brands were used...some are even worse

It sounds very good, if you let go of the clapper. If you hang on to the clapper end then it mutes the ring.

I am pretty sure this is a Hofi design, because I viewed his gallery on Picassa http://picasaweb.google.com/hofi.einshemer

At least I am going to give him credit, he may have gotten the design from elsewhere.

I am going to have my saddlemaker/bootmaker father braid a leather strap to hang from the clapper so it can be rung without muting the ring.

This is a stolen design from Mr. Hofi. I want to get that out in the open first.

I made this bell from 3 inch 1/4 channel iron, worked under my 50# LG.

The clapper is drawn from a 1x1 square stock, unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the inside clapper.

I heated the bell with a propane torch and then rubbed it liberaly with gliders paste.

This is my first attempt at a bell like this. Thank you Hofi for your willingness to put pictures of your work up on the web so we can all try to emulate your skill.

Thoughts?

John

I never get to post in here except for jelousy of the finds some of you have had.

I went to a close friend's cattle branding this weekend in central Montana - The county name is Petroleum because of all the oil wells that were dug now about 70 years ago.

The rigs at the time were all cable type. At one of the branding corrals was on old homestead that had fallen apart. In the former basement hole was about a mile of cable from the 40's.

I asked if I could scrounge a couple pieces and was advised to go get a truck and haul the whole works...that wasn't practicle, but I did gather several pieces you see here.

Some of the larger cable has a woven rope in the center. My friend's Dad lost an eye sometime in the 50's because he was unwinding the cable to get the rope out of the center.

Now to practice forge welding cable and making a few items. If I get good at this I may have to go back for more!

Any secrets anyone will share about forge welding cable?

Thanks,

John