JHCC

On the other hand, every once in a while, someone else’s modification is perfect for the job at hand:

Great work, and very impressive!

Also, if you use it as an anvil, it's an anvil. It's only an Anvil-Shaped Object if it has the look of an anvil but not the function.

It's "Steven R. Charleston".

I sometimes wonder what the industrial archaeologists might think of some of the odd-use tools I occasionally slap together.

Anyone can make the simple complicated. Genius is making the complicated simple. Once again, lovely.

Nice!

Nice. Cut off a bit to test for hardenability, and see if it's good for hammers.

Truly, it is a mystery.

Ooh, that would have been good. Of course, all mine is cracked and burned, so it's too late for me.

I was recently given a 50 gal trash can full of coal ranging from dust up to the size of a large grapefruit. The best thing I found for cracking it down to size was a handled round punch, swung like a hammer with my wooden "swage stump" for backing.

The audience cheered, But some of them cried, "We just don't understand." "What changed its' worth?" Swift came the reply. "The Touch of the Masters Hand."

Not always a bad thing....

By the most amazing coincidence, this popped up in my "Unread Content" feed right next to a post from the author of "The Pattern-Welded Blade". What are the odds?

Knifemaking is not for the impatient!

Update: just got a verbal agreement from a customer and the promise of sending the deposit by the fifteenth. That will cover the cost of attending; I just need to see about the schedule.

Very cool. Look forward to seeing more.

I agree with Steamboat & MC Hammer: it's not worth the time and hassle of stripping the zinc. Either save it for something else, or sell it for scrap. I was given a load of galvanized plate a while back, and while I could have used it for some of my bigger welding projects, I realized that I had much more use for the coal, grinding discs, and bar stock that I could buy with the scrap value.

Loops for carrying poles like those on a sedan chair or the Ark of the Covenant might be a good option.

Amen!

Makes sense. If you think of the chimney as an elongated funnel, do you want the wide end down, holding the smoke in, or up, letting it out?

You don't want to make dice out of rolled stock. Everyone knows that the die is cast.

If they're willing to pay a premium for the convenience of not digging a bit deeper, who are we to judge?

Update: I just checked the sold listings for swage blocks, and it looks like two of these got sold: one for $267 + $13.85 shipping, and one for "best offer accepted" + $13.85 shipping. There's one current listing for $325 with free shipping. Considering that they had to pay 10% to eBay and another 3% to PayPal, their actual profit was about $86, less whatever they paid you for shipping. My guess is that someone in Monroeville, PA ordered three (or more) of these at your $175 introductory price purely with an eye towards reselling them. Can't really blame them for seizing the opportunity, but they're not going to be able to repeat that precise stunt now that the regular price has gone up.

I was just going to ask the same thing.