Michael Cochran

My wife works at an assisted living facility nearby and one of the residents passed this morning. I don’t know much because she’s not really allowed to discuss people at work due to HIPPA regulations. All I know is she’s upset because she feels some blame. She checked on the person and when someone else came it later to check on them the other girl noticed the resident wasn’t breathing. The little bit I know is the person had difficulty breathing already and last night one of the employees claims to have seen the reaper (something not too uncommon in these types of facilities however it’s usually the residents that claim to see the reaper). 

The resident had family there when I went to take my wife lunch. Obviously many people are distraught as a result. Several people will need to find peace in the coming days, weeks, etc.

Lou I have to make time to get in the shop. Either during the week after I get off work or a few hours early Saturday or Sunday before the rest of the world wakes. I save noisy tasks until a reasonable time but everything else I do without hesitation. 

As many things as there are listed on Pinterest you might want to share the link so we know exactly what you’re referring to. One thing I’ve noticed is several of the things on Pinterest I see and am interested in have more information available simply buy clicking a link shown with the pinned picture. 

You have a few options as far as I can see it. 1) Put a plug on it and stick it in the wall and hope nothing bad happens. 2) Wait on someone to tell you for sure it’ll be ok or it’ll blow up. 3) Find a blower you know how to wire up.

I know what I’d do but what I’d do isn’t appropriate for all people. Just because I am “comfortable” with my hands in a live breaker box with 220 doesn’t mean I’m going to suggest and/or condone anyone else doing the same. I’ve seen “professional” electricians that make me nervous the way they fumble around in those boxes. 

I am definitely not cranking that thing. 

Looks like a simple thing but I don’t know enough about that blower to say for sure. Most of the motors I’ve dealt with that looked like that was directly connected to mains power by way of a switch. Brown and blue wires would be your power and the green is ground. Did you try searching any of the numbers on the sticker?

You might want to pay attention to the fact the sticker says 230v. That’s not something for just anyone to mess with and it could get you seriously hurt or killed in a hurry messing with that kind of electricity. 

With the piles as large as they are we need more than a simple blower providing air. Something that blows like a jet engine would probably work for one pile.  

I am fortunate enough to have a large coke making plant less than an hour away. It’s supplied by one of the largest coal mining companies in the area (Drummond). I suspect they have enough coke laying around ground into dust as the equipment moves it around that could have supplied me for the rest of my life and then some. Every time I go by I can see the large mountains of coke and can’t help but think of all the fires I can build with it. 

I haven’t tried saw lube on a portaband but I do use Lenox variable pitch blades and rarely have any difficulty cutting anything. 

Shady, this was thrown together with junk. It’s a simple enough project anyone with a welder, a measuring device, and a little patience should be able to do. 

That’s true, too much weight on the face/head can cause problems over time. I don’t think this mask will weight that much. Rough calculations based on 16 gauge put the weight at 1.25lbs at most. I doubt it’ll be that much after the proper outline is achieved. As I said earlier I have some thinner stuff but truth is I don’t know how well it’ll work using much lighter. I’d imagine it would be really easy to put stress cracks and/or tears in 20 gauge (?) roofing metal.

Once I finish the pattern I’ll be better able to judge the weight of the workpiece. 

I just had some pieces that didn’t sit flat I had to cut. I tried my new setup here instead of the cutoff wheel on my angle grinder and ruined a blade. I will definitely be making that angle iron setup you have there. 

I have a foot pedal switch I’m thinking about putting that inline on my saw cord and making a more permanent trigger holder. 

I plan to use steel instead of aluminum because I have sheet steel in sufficient quantity and because I know nothing at all about working aluminum. The mask made from 16 gauge sheet isn’t going to be too heavy I don’t think but I have thinner if it looks like wheight will be a problem. 

For the sake of keeping anyone interested in this informed, I felt I should share a suggestion given to me on armour archives. 

I was basically told to make a plaster cast of my face and use modeling clay to build up the features I want to include. After the clay setup take some light weight kydek and mold it to the clay positive making a lightweight alternative to steel. 

I might go this way to make one for a quick fix but I don’t plan to cancel the steel mask build. 

I have not but that could be a really good idea. I have piddled with sheet a little and have a very basic idea what I’m doing but classes could always be a good thing. 

I plan on drawing out my design this week and hope to get started tooling up this weekend (provided I’m over my crud I’ve had the last few days).

For the record I do not plan to have the steel in direct contact with my face. I plan to roll the edges into a wide contact surface and put some kind of insulating material on it to act as a gasket. I only mention this because someone on armour archive made a comment about the mask being cold on my face. It was a detail I had already thought about but didn’t mention here or there. 

I saw a couple things looking at the pictures listed on his site that’s gonna be helpful. Mainly drawing the design directly on the workpiece and using them to help guide the punches (something I probably wouldn’t have thought of myself).

Kind of hard to see exactly what you have going on there on my phone. Are you going for open air setup on the one side? That setup would be fine with a dirt/gravel floor. 

Owen you might find that to be a personal preference kind of thing. Some like wood floors (softer on the joints but easy to clean up), some prefer dirt/gravel (difficult to clean but easier on the joints), others like concrete (harder on the joints but easy to clean. 

I have used wood and dirt/gravel floors in my shop and prefer wood. I’d like to use concrete for part of the floor but I haven’t gotten around to installing it yet. 

My wife brought me a jug of used soybean fryer oil from work. After I’m all excited I decided I should ask and my fears were for good reason, they cooked fish in it the day they changed the oil out. I’m ok with that since it was free. 

I had some scraps of 1/16” and 1/8” sheet along with a small piece of expanded sheet follow me home the same day. 

That is some impressive work he has done. 

I haven’t found anything yet that shows any good information regarding the construction of the iron versions. I’m guessing this is going to be one of those projects I’m going to just cut some sheet and see how it moves. It also looks like a good time to make some tin knockers hammers. 

I’ll go back over there. I forget about that site all the time. 

I work outside driving a large forklift for my day job and with the weather getting cooler I decided to try something I’ve wanted to do for a while. As a way of keeping some of the cold air off my face I thought I should make a mask but not just any mask would do. I’ve always like the intimidating look of the menpō worn by the samurai so why not bite off more than I can chew and try making one. 

I am wondering if anyone here has any experience making menpō or maybe someone has handled one or more that might could help answer questions as they arise. I am doing some reading from various online sources but I know very little about these and therefore don’t know where to find accurate and reputable information but I am doing some homework. 

Hawk I have plan to do the same kind of modification to my old NC Tool forge when I finally have the time to do it. I also plan on bringing my burner up at an angle like yours since mine are the old right angle style. 

Steve’s book is pinned in the tailgating section here on IFI. I don’t have the link handy but it shouldn’t be too hard to find. 

There are plenty of good options for knives. I think some alloys are better suited for different knives than others but 1080, 1095, and O1 should be good for most smaller kitchen knives. If you read in the knife making section there will be loads of useful information. Make sure you check out the heat treatment information. You Igor even want to consider getting a copy of steve sells book. 

Another quick tip. You don’t have to quote every time you reply to someone. It just takes up valuable bandwidth that Glenn graciously pays out of pocket for. If you have a specific question about something or you’re replying to a post that’s from some time in the past it’s fine.