jumbojak

Hello Jerry. You seem to be just a hop skip and a jump north of me. The flea market you run wouldn't happen to be on Jefferson would it? I've been meaning to make the trip there to look for a few tools. I'm not much more experienced than you are and don't make it that way too often but if there's any way I can lend a helping hand let me know. Your anvil looks quite nice as well. Good find for this area.

I had this conversation with my brother about a month ago. We were building two cedar boxes for his house using lumber from a log he had sawn on his mini mill. It was rough sawn and still had the bark, contours, and knots from the tree displayed prominently. He was going for the rustic look. Lots of character. When it came time to cut the pieces to length he decided to use his sawzall on the first cut and proceeded to knock most of the character off of the slab, owing to the vibration of the saw. I suggested we grab the hand saw from my box and make the next cut with it. He wanted to attempt to make two cuts using a circular saw, as the thickness and shape of the lumber wouldn't allow a single pass to cut cleanly. So, while he was getting his circular saw out, squaring the fence, and trying to figure out a way to mark the slab on both sides I grabbed my handsaw and demonstrated just how quickly and cleanly we could make those cuts without all the fussing about needed to apply power tools. It worked. Beautifully in fact. Give me a sharp handsaw any day - I prefer the old Disston saws - over power tools. Heck, I've been sawing up a pear tree by hand just to show a friend of mine that you don't need power equipment to stay warm in the winter. He didn't split enough wood because his hydraulic splitter was "borrowed" when he needed to be getting to it. I pointed to his maul and even offered to bring mine over to help. Now he's sleeping under an electric blanket and only starting a fire when people drop by...

Two gears? That'd mean two trees. Maybe train them to grow together and weave the trees into a sculpture.

Something that big and heavy? I'd use it as a part of a patio, slightly raised from the rest of the flagstones. Give the top face a nice shine to begin with followed by something to give it a bit of a patina (goat cheese comes to mind but I've heard orance juice works as well) followed by a nice coat of wax to seal it in. Then plant a tree in the hole for the driveshaft. The rest of the patio would be flagstones radiating outward. Perhaps old tools and smaller parts cast into concrete to look like slabs cut with fossils. Wrenches, smaller gears, maybe a few nuts and bolts too would work well. Even chain would probably look nice if you had a tumbler to shine it up first. Then treat each piece of metal in the same way as the gear and wax the stones with the tools set in them to match the big gear. In ten thousand years, as mankind emerges from the next dark age, archaeologists will marvel at the effort put into such a structure by "primitive" people. Many theories will be proposed to explain its significance, from calendars to an enormous burial monument, much like Stonehenge. If you really want to mess with future generations a metal sign - cast would be nice - written in a nonsense script would really throw them off. Think of how much effort would be wasted searching for a "Rosetta" stone? Then again, it would look really cool even if none of that came to pass. It'd brobably be durable too if there was a good undercoating on the bottom of the gear.

What grade of coal are you burning? I can't speak for bituminous coal but the anthracite I've been burning seems to like a side blast more than a bottom blast. The clinker is easier to deal with as well.

You might try cutting a wedge out of a piece of wood so that it fits over your tool. Then you could drive the cutter into the stump with just about any hammer you have handy and the driver would probably last a good long while too, so long as you oriented the wedge to rest across the grain. That way it wouldn't act as a splitter.

Well I hope that was someone else who sent you the picture Steve. That looks painful. More than painful actually. That could be amputation territory. Good idea for a thread though.

To deatain someone police require what's known as a reasonable suspicion that you are involved in criminal activity. Basically that means that they have to have some specific reason to do so. The case law can get a little wonky as to what a reasonable suspicion is in any given area, but a good way to find out if they do is to ask. Say, "Am I being detained or am I free to go?" This shows that the encounter isn't voluntary - an amazing number of people think that they have to talk to the police for as long as the officer wants, given the incredible ignorance regarding fifth ammendment protections - and triggers certain procedures. Namely that the officer must either tell you why you are being detained or release you. If you are being detained, you can be subjected to a Terry search which is a superficial search where the officer is allowed to check for weapons to ensure their safety. Without probable cause an officer cannot perform a thorough search and it is always best to refuse consent for searches. Don't empty your pockets when instructed to do so and never give consent for a search of a vehicle or a premises. I they have probable cause to perform the search they will do so no matter what you say. Don't get tricked! The best way to ensure an accountable police force is to exercise your rights during police encounters. Never tell the police you know your rights. Instead SHOW them that you know your rights by asserting them calmly and respectfully. I have done this before, both with local and federal law enforcement. It works, believe it or not. Boy, this thread sure went sideways, didn't it?!

I think open carry of handguns is illegal in Texas. Long guns are legal. They might've changed it by now though, as I remember Abbott making a few headlines about it. The New Black Panthers caused quite a stir in Dallas when they marched with rifles. All twelve of them....

Guns becoming more prevalent and effective probably has a lot to do with the decline in swords being carried for personal defense. Think about it, if you have a sword and I have a matchlock pistol the odds are probably in your favor; you charge and I likely miss due to anxiety and stress without another means to stop you. The same would probably be true with a flintlock pistol. But if I happen to be carrying a revolver, even a percussion cap revolver, I have multiple chances to hit you depending on the range of the encounter. So whereas a sword - cumbersome as they were - might have made quite a bit of sense in the days of single shot firearms, they lost most of their reason for use as firearms technology improved. With comparatively little training and practice I can severely injure an attacker armed with a bladed weapon. The blade wielder will have to undergo many months, if not years of training to gain proficiency with their chosen arm. Heck, just knowing that a pistoleer can try a second, third, or more times to stop you would be a pretty intimidating prospect.

Where are the patterns located online? I'm not much of a smith but I'd like to bang out a few and, if they seem acceptable, send them in. WWI really shouldn't be forgotten.

Crystal cat litter is a good source of silica gel. Generally cheaper than products labeled as a dessicant too. I use it wrapped in pieces from an old tshirt in my toolbox to help fight off rust. You can also buy sodium silicate by the gallon at some big box hardware stores. Apparently brick masons use it. The gallon jugs are pretty expensive, but it's a good deal safer than dissolving silica gel in a hot alkaline solution. Heck, it might even be cheaper in the end, if you continue experimenting with this type of design.

You mean it kicked back and there was a flash of light from the grinder? Could you have tripped a breaker somehow and not reset it? Try plugging something else into the same cord/outlet to see if you're getting power. The eyes can play tricks on us when something surprises us, like an angle grinder kicking back, and we see things that aren't there or mistake one visual for another. Coincidence can make diagnosing a problem extremely difficult, so start with what you know happened and troubleshoot from there first. Same with troubleshooting a car problem. You know that the car is stalling but did you really hear a vaccum leak when you popped the hood to check things out? Maybe you did, and maybe you didn't, but you do know that the car cut out on you. Keep it simple and work from the easiest solution to the hardest and most expensive.

Yes, be careful with fire. If you have a wood stove don't burn wet wood. If you have to burn wood that isn't completely dry get the tools to clean you chimney, learn how they work, and USE them! Carbon deposits in a chimney with surprising speed and can cause serious, serious problems even if it doesn't burn the house down. My dad was obsessive about the chimney when I was growing up. Once a week our Fisher went down for maintainance and he scrubbed the chimney. I thought it was strange until I learned about the chimney fire at a house he was living in. I knew why he was so paranoid when I heard the roar of a chimney that caught aflame. Scary stuff.

That's a brilliant use of ball joints with vise grips. I agree with Thomas, they look like the work of a tinkerer. And a skilled one at that.

Reminds me of a guy I grew up with who got pushed into getting a CDL by the company he worked for. Had a bad habit of meeting a fork in the road and attempting to split the difference instead of making a decision regarding which way to go. He drives a semi all over the country now and it sends little shivers down my spine when I meet one on the highway. Let's hope he doesn't run across any antique bridges.

Paint it red and you could call it October. At least it has a hardy hole...

I have that exact hammer. Be prepared to fit a new handle as the epoxy they use to secure them gives out after a few days of heavy use. No wedges that I could find, not even a wooden one.

If the hammer blows don't shatter the quartz - I'm inclined to think they would as it's very brittle - the heat could well damage it too. Apparently quartz is mined as an ore for silicon. You learn something every day... Damp clay will probably work. The clay I used wasn't particularly pure but it rammed in and held well. Look up Charles' thread in the solid fuel forges section. It really is just a box of dirt. Don't overthink it.

You want to hammer something around a piece of quartz?! What are you trying to make? I looked at information on heating quartz but the sites I came across probably violate the TOS here to repost. I hope that's not what your friend has in mind. I can't see that ending well for you either way. As to the forge, clay will work fine. I ran a test today a la Charles Stevens and it worked wonderfully. I can't help at all with the anvil, but someone else might be able to if you provide pictures.

There there Das. It looks like I didn't either.

Ah! I thought it was angle bent at a, well an angle. Much simpler to just cut it down to size though.

$150 for the cut?! Keep poking around and you'll likely find a smaller drop or two that would work fine. Big scrap yards hold many secrets and usually a few treasures. My brother found a grain drill in more or less working order a few months ago. I'll be going back for another hunt soon myself. Need a piece to fabricate a horn....

*fingers crossed*

I just remembered where I can find some clay on the farm. That day was blocked from my memory - it involved heavy clay soil and a thirty post fence I dug by hand - but the knowledge just came in handy. Unfortunately this means breaking out the post hole diggers again. *sigh* Which reminds me, I should work on forging a pair of post hole diggers in the old style. The new ones just don't work the as well. Same for bush axes....