JHCC

The college has an eclipse-viewing party at the athletic fields, which is in walking distance. Assuming that there's no rain, of course, which in Ohio in April is far from guaranteed.

The problem is, that's not true skepticism. Properly, skepticism (from the Greek σκοπεῖν, "to look" (this is the same root as the word "scope", both as noun and verb)) means someone who has doubts or reservations about received knowledge. It's arguably an intellectually healthy and honest approach, since it requires examination and testing of evidence before coming to a conclusion. Notably, it does allow for the confirmation of received knowledge, should evidence and argument prove sufficient. Contemporary "skepticism", on the other hand, is little more than mere denialism, the assumption that received knowledge is false simply because it is commonly believed. Rather than serving the need for objective understanding, it serves the emotional need to feel special, to know something most people don't, to not be "a sheep". However, rather than actually looking at the evidence and arguments around some particular piece of knowledge, it replaces whatever "the sheeple" believe with mere contradiction, which itself must not be questioned or challenged. In the words of Monty Python, "That's not an argument; it's just contradiction. An argument is an intellectual process; contradiction is simply the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes." Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the madness that will descend on Ohio in April for the eclipse. https://www.daytondailynews.com/lifestyles/column-cncerns-about-solar-eclipse-are-real/

There's actually a lot of archaeological work being done on ancient glass that focusses precisely on this. Glass changes color depending on how much its constituent elements get oxidized, so certain colors often indicate how many times a particular bit of glass had been remelted. Like the minister who didn't say Grace over the casserole, because he'd already blessed everything in it. Quick tip: if you're going to use nonstick pans, get the inexpensive aluminum ones sold in restaurant supply houses (unless you need something induction-compatible). The nonstick surface will last just as long, and you won't be throwing away an expensive piece of stainless steel once it wears out. All the time. Several years back, I got a carbon steel pan from a restaurant supply place that has been my go-to midsize sauté pan ever since. You have to care for it like cast iron, but once seasoned, it's fantastic. The preferred pan of restaurant chefs, and with good reason. If you watch older videos of silversmiths or the like, you'll see a lot of older work cut up and going into the crucible. I also once saw an old video of a Japanese swordmaker who started with broken pieces of cast iron teapot, since they had been originally made from the same raw material as tamahagane and just needed some serious decarburization.

It doesn't; the final version will have a flat rail mounted on top of the loops.

Some more work on the current railing project, enough for a test fit. Also spent a lot of time trying to shift a broken die out of my W.A. Whitney hand punch, to little effect.

Well, I was able to break the rust and back the die part of the way out before it jammed again. I need to get a bigger extractor and try again.

That’s the plan. Unfortunately, I can only access it from the back, but I just picked up a screw extractor from the hardware store that should help grab it solidly.

My concern about beeswax would be that it isn’t particularly durable. BLO would be just fine once it dries.

Got home from my trip to find that a 3/32” punch and die set has arrived from eBay. (Now I just need to figure out how to remove the broken 3/8” die that's stuck in there now.)

Oh, the irony.

The website of the industrial surplus place often has listings for magnetic chucks. They always give me a moment of pause, because the only fellow I know personally who's named Chuck isn't particularly magnetic.

Roper Whitney and W. A. Whitney are two different companies, and RW doesn’t make any tooling that fits the WAW. However, tooling for mine is still available, as discussed in THIS THREAD.

Got a couple of volumes of design inspiration at a used bookstore outside Philadelphia.

Traveling for business, so doing a little “repoussé on the road”. Silly Putty makes a surprisingly good backing material.

I was very lucky that the first time I had haggis, it had been made by a Michelin-starred chef. It was exceptionally good.

Frankly, I have trouble with that anyway, mostly because my anvils are all a bit on the high side and I end up having to stand on tiptoes to hold workpieces between my legs. Switching to using my stock support with built-in holddown has helped a lot!

They also have patches you can put on your arm.

Doing the best I can with Google Translate.

A little repoussé-on-the-road (specially, during downtime watching the yarn store for Lisa, who was under the weather): And a bit of cleanup on the new punch: (This was just wirebrushing the working parts and oiling the whole thing, but I may do some additional cleanup on the handles later.)

Translation: “Please take a look at Trenton's number. What year it is? Thank you. It's 100 on the left. On the right is 200887.”

All done:

Got an old W. A. Whitney #2 punch from a guy on FB Marketplace. It has been his late father’s, but unfortunately, he hadn’t gotten the punches and bolsters from the storage shed before selling his dad’s house. Ah, well. Still a good deal for $20. On a side note, he showed me a very cool thing. His grandfather had been a coal miner, and the guy still had his miner’s dust mask — still in its box and brand spanking new.

Or is it what’s at the middle of a scotch egg?

I thought a Scotch yoke was what you get when you marry a Caledonian.

I guess that means you love everyone who’s ever given me a job!