BAndritsch

I got a flyer yesterday from TSC for their pre-season fuel sale. Coal is 50 cents a bag cheaper on a ton-50 bags. 275.00 and with a 25 percent down payment they will hold it until October 1st. It's been so xxxx hot here I haven't had to fire up the forge,just put the steel out in the sun! Bill

I'm approx. 20 mi. west of Topeka which makes me around 60-70mi. from the state line. When's the fish fry!

Did the storms miss you? We haven't been able to buy any rain the last 5 years. We got between 1.5 & 2" last night but no tornados or hail. It's a miracle. Fishing sounds good,catch any bass or crappie? Bill

Thanks,I don't have a dedicated smithy yet so I have to drag everything out of the garage. I have a large Prentice vice on a stand in the garage,I haven't been able to score a post vice for a decent price yet. I have a pretty good collection of hammers but sure would like to find some tongs. I had to shut down today,during my 4 month hiatus it seems everything I learned last year disappeared. I did one thing today though don't gab to the meter reader with metal in the forge! bill

Thanks for the nice words Kevin but at 62 I've got a lot of metalworking under my belt but have to admit I'm struggling a bit with learning this side of it. I started building all of this last year but life got in the way and I feel like I'm restarting again. Today wasn't very productive,all I did was burn up coal and metal. Oh well, keep on pounding. Bill Thanks Kozzy, I'll check it out. We were in Key West a few years ago and a warning went out about a storm coming in with possible hurricane winds of 40 mph-lightweights! Bill

Blessed Kansas,we've had 30-40 mph winds with high fire conditions for weeks and today it's all stopped. So finally I got to drag my forge out and start practicing again (rank newby). I never did get to post any pictures of my forge and anvils all built from misc. scrap and sections of track. Tongs are my weak spot right now so that's what I'm trying to make. Please don't make fun of the "Flintstone" wheels on my forge,I don't have a dedicated spot for it yet and have to take it in and out. The forge cart has a lift up handle for moving it or supporting long stock. Still plan on making a chimney that can be removed and maybe a stronger blower if I can scrounge one up. I took a lot of ideas from lots of people while making all of this so many thanks to all. Bill

Really nicely done, where did you find the paint? Bill

Thanks for the welcome everyone. It doe's seem to get pretty drafty when we old farts gather! I already figured out the drum I used for my forge should be deeper so I'm going to change it out for one off of my truck, turns out to be timing as I just did the brakes.

Just wanted to introduce myself. Old fart that's been working with metal my whole adult life in one form or another but never really started smithing. I had collected an anvil, tongs and a foot operated vise etc. but sold it all 5 years ago thinking I didn't need another hobby. Yes I'm sick about it. So I've been trying to build-up what I sold off. So far I've built a coal forge, 2 track anvils and gathered mis. stuff. Located in central Ks. and would like to meet up with other smiths in this area.