LarryFahnoe

Indeed! The Dead and the related bands have been the soundtrack for most of my life it seems. GD Radio dot net is one of my favorite sources these days. --Larry

While I can understand that you may feel bad for going off in a direction different than the school was promoting, I strongly suspect that you left an incredible mark on each of your students and the shop coordinator. If, I as a beginner at something, happened to find myself in a "master class" with a teacher who "got it" and could show it, I'd have been in hog heaven! Sure there is a time and place for a standardized curriculum, but when you've developed your own style and have the ability to teach it, I say more power to ye! The fact that you're willing and able to monitor the students' uptake and adjust accordingly means you have a special gift for teaching. Time for me to start planning to take one of your classes!! --Larry

Wow Jennifer, what a wonderful class, I can bet that you're quite pleased with all that was accomplished! Doubtless the experience just whets your appetite for offering classes at your own school. Don't know if/when I'll get to your neck o' the woods, but if I do I'll hope to take a class from you. I am really taken with the basket twist in the little video, someone has a great eye and hand. --Larry

Beautiful work Alexandr!! --Larry

Alexander, did you also do the grillwork on the door next to the bench you just delivered? Beautiful work! That whole door is quite impressive. On the bench, I like the way you turned the one leg out at the end, very unique. --Larry

Anvil, sounds like a life well-lived, good for you. I find the philosophical bent to your conversation with Scott quite appealing. Seems to me that a good part of life is found as one reflects on the why of it all; better still when the result is to influence one's future steps. --Larry

Nice swage block Chad. Black Bear Forge recently had a segment on mounting and doing a bit of a polish on that block. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xBOM4dWrW4 --Larry

Alexander, your ironwork compliments the growth in your garden. I enjoy seeing how the scrollwork and vines mimic each other! --Larry

Thanks for posting this Daniel, I found the article to be very interesting. Some years back I contacted Bob Kramer out of the blue to ask some questions and found him to be very generous with his time and experience, so it was neat to read more about him. Seems like they must have gotten the photos mixed up though as that self-contained hammer is clearly not a 500lb Little Giant...looks more like a Say-Mak to me. The side-bar article about Alfred Pendray was also interesting. --Larry

Wow, those are some pretty nice gifts to receive! Makes me wonder what you might make your friendly farmer as a thank you gift! --Larry

Graceful and powerful with a patina that would look at home in the Natural History Museum. Well done Daniel. --Larry

Very nice scroll work Alexander! Your lines have a very musical quality to them. I think I understand how you will connect the two spans, but will look forward to seeing your photos of the completed project! --Larry

Aside from practical uses you may find for the fork, I'd have loved to have seen (heard!) when that forklift stubbed its toe! --Larry

Great to see the forge in use, but the bare foot...not so much. George already offered some important advice on safety (above) --Larry

Jeremiah, Some time back I stumbled upon your work and have now been through many of the threads on your knives but figured I would wait to comment until I saw a fresh thread. You have a wonderful eye for line, form, and balance. Each of your knives exhibits attention to craftsmanship and detail resulting in both elegance and precision. In this case I think the subtle patterning on the blade is very nicely complimented by your choice of materials for the rest of the knife. Inspiring work sir! --Larry

Das, thanks for the encouragement. Yes, I've started but have done more smithing in classes than I have in my own shop. Between life and projects, lots of iron in the fire so to speak and I'm very much looking forward to getting the smithy addition to the shop finished so that I can just go out and tinker with something as the inspiration visits. Building is done, next big projects are electrical, Hofi-style side draft, & installing the power hammer but these are for other threads. --Larry

I'd say very well done on your first projects! I did have to chuckle (mostly at myself!) when I read your comment about the journey to get the equipment being over...nope, it's just begun! You are far better off than me in that you've started small and actually MADE something, I on the other hand have spent years collecting and building ever closer to the shop setup I have in my mind. Both approaches are valid, but I commend you for your efforts & even more so that they made you happy. --Larry

John, Your roller block is interesting, I'm assuming you're only replacing the trailing 11B block, not both. Will be interested to hear how it works for you. One comment I'd offer is that the 11B blocks were made to provide 4 different clearances given where the hole is in the block. I find being able to rotate the blocks (particularly the leading block) to change clearance is often helpful--just more of the subtleties of the Hossfeld & its tooling. Glad you got the manual, lots of good info in there--in particular notes on limits and capacities. My manual is at the shop so this is just from memory. With respect to bending eyes with the dog, do note the use of the two different pins to control the position of the dog's nose (normally to the leading side of the center pin) and the caution about safe limits. My take on it is that you can damage the dog's nose with too much force. --Larry

Ken passed away this past Sunday, May 28 Thoughts, blessings and prayers! --Larry

Cute gnome & congrats on the new blower! --Larry

Nice & nice pic, you could call them your "berry picking tongs"! Hope you found a buyer for the nice "starter kit" you put together. --Larry

Maybe should start a new thread, but since this one has a bunch of history, I figure an update on the project belongs here. For those who haven't read the prior pages, the short story is that Daniel was a blacksmith and his brother Josh an electronics buff. Josh came up with a prototype induction forge that Daniel used seriously for a couple of years, however Daniel is not currently involved with smithing. Josh hasn't lost sight of the forge's potential however... Because I'd been following Josh's induction forge on GitHub, the other day I got word that he's starting work on the project once again. See https://www.patreon.com/ReactorForge for the most recent updates as well as a means of participating. I was quite pleased to see this project resurrected, and after a short conversation with Josh, I think that this time it is going to bear fruit for those of us who are interested in having an alternative the import units. He is committed to the open source idea for someone who wants to do the whole thing from sourcing components through construction, as well as the possibility for some type of kit. I'm of the opinion that kits done in batches so that he and buyers can take advantage of some quantity breaks might be the best approach, though time will tell. I know that I'm much more inclined to put money and effort into something that I can potentially repair and maybe upgrade down the line rather than an import that may require reverse engineering should it break. Better still, he's shooting to have cost be similar and maybe even better than the imports. What the heck, I figure it's worth sending Josh a few bucks a month for a while to support and encourage this project! Anybody else up for it? --Larry