JHCC

We've been having the same issues at the college, with people donating musical instruments to the conservatory of music. Ivory flutes and piano keys are a particular problem. I was working with a possible donation of antique tortoiseshell conductors' batons that fell through not least because of the CITES issue.

Not Constantinople?

Take a look at this: And also this:

More photos showing the sides, ends, and (if possible) bottom would help. Very hard to tell anything from this angle.

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Did another section of hard refractory in the new forge before running out of Kast-o-lite. I’d swathed the block of the ribbon burner in plastic wrap before mortaring around it, which left a nice lip around the edge of the opening. Here it is from the back, with the block removed:

Hoping you make another video to demonstrate your preferred method, especially since — if I remember correctly — I was the person in that discussion who asked you to make the how-to.

Thanks, Steve; that makes sense. I see that Kevin Cashen's website recommends forging O1 at 1800°F/1950°F at the top end and not forging any cooler than 1550°F. Granted that lighting conditions etc. can affect color perception, that would be roughly from a dark yellow down to about a bright red. If memory serves, I started running into trouble when forging the tang section at about a light yellow. So, I guess if I take the steel out of the forge and see that it's too bright, I should just let it cool off a bit before I start to hammer?

The first rule of hammer rack design is to make it twice as big as you currently need. Tool collections share an interesting property with gasses: they expand to fill the space available.

It's a sad day today, as the welder that had served me so well for the last year or so finally had to follow me away from home and return to the theater of the college where I work. I shall miss it.

The best first thing to make!

Great stuff. I can’t remember if I posted this here or not, but here’s a photo I took a couple of months ago of Samuel Yellin’s grave in Philadelphia.

Is the Gargoyle Grease made from real gargoyles?

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The OED has "tup" referring to a ram (as in male sheep) as early as the 14th century; the earliest documented usage as referring to a hammer (in this case, for knocking paving stones into place) is 1848.

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That's a handsome bit of work.

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Another good reason to make sure that you're not replying to a quote within that quote. See The Quote Feature for a discussion of best practices for quoting.

Richard McNaughton's book The Mande Blacksmiths talks extensively not only about how this task was the most important job of the apprentice, but also about how the rhythms of the bellows serve a vital role in underlying the rhythms of the hammer blows and helping set the pace for the day's work. If I recall correctly, a knowledgeable observer could tell by those rhythms with whom a smith had originally apprenticed.

Like having a London-pattern anvil in the Japanese setting of the "Akane No Mai" episode of "Westworld"? Or EVERY SINGLE UNNECESSARY QUENCH in every blade forging sequence ever filmed?!?

I used a fair amount of food coloring and dabbed the mix on with a long-handled paintbrush. (I just used the spray bottle to mist the wool with plain water before applying the rigidizer.) So, probably both. After firing, the color all burned away, with the exception of one spot on the bottom rim of the front opening; I'll be taking care of that later today. (By the way, I used green food coloring and found myself humming Kermit the Frog's "It's Not Easy Being Green" as I dabbed the stuff on.)

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Thanks, Mudman. There's one spot (on the bottom rim of the front opening) where the rigidizer didn't harden and the food coloring still shows. I'm going to fire it up again later with a steel plate or something to redirect the flame over that bit; I want to get it completely stiffened before I start in with the kastolite.

Looking at the OED, "thrall" seems to apply exclusively to people, rather than to things.