John in Oly, WA

Nice looking beast. Oughta be a fun project. Did it come with the metal cover (roof - not sure what it's called)? What kind of steering mechanism? The Russell was chain that (I think) wrapped around a drum on the steering shaft.

If she writes letters Das (I know, who does any more. I'm old.), you could carve her monogram in the bottom and get some sealing wax sticks. Well, that's what first came to mind when I saw it anyway.

I'm looking to be there Saturday. Might be too short a notice for you. Then I'm going to work at getting to the next several, before my kids' schedules begin to interfere during the summer again.

I've done woodworking for years. Wanted to be able to add metal to the projects, so built a propane tank foundry. Now I could cast metal. Then thought since I 've got that, might as well build a forge and be able to shape hot metal. Then I saw Bob Kramer's knives and now I'm working on getting to a level to be able to do pattern-welded blades.

Thanks! That's what I was going to ask - post pictures as the restore moves along, if you would please. My grampa was a member of the Western Steam Fiends Association. I thought that was a cool name for a group of steam engine aficionados.

That brings back memories. My grampa had an old Russell traction engine. He'd fire it up when we came to visit. Had a big collection of brass steam whistles. We'd get to pick different ones to put on the engine. Then gramp would give us rides up and down the road, we'd be blowing the whistles. Eventually the county paved the road and no more riding the traction engine.

Wow! The U.S. has gone 'round the bend. I suppose you can't even position your fingers in the shape of a gun in school.

I worked on relining my forge this weekend. First go 'round, I had 1" kaowool and 2" of kastolite, and the kaowool got compressed putting in the kastolite. So I chipped it out, put in 2" of kaowool, rigidized it (something else I didn't do the first time 'round), and put in 1/2" of kastolite. Cast in a nozzle for the burner this time also. Looks pretty much the same, but expecting it to perform a bit better. The one pic I missed taking was the rigidized kaowool in the forge shell. You can kind of see it in the third pic as we're tamping in the kastolite between the kaowool and the mold plug.

What's your own ancestral background LBS? Might pick something from that region/country just to have a personal connection with it. Wonder too, if you wanted to do a knife or something banned at school , you could maybe document it with photos of the process and just bring the photo set to school. They don't ban photos of knives, do they?

Thanks for the answer Mikey. Maybe see you at a future casting meeting.

Hi Mikey - so both together would not be a good idea? I'm rebuilding my forge and casting the nozzle into the Kastolite 30. I've turned a mold plug on the lathe and it's shape has some spacer distance built in and the 12-1 taper. The "more is better" theory being applied. LOL Should I put it back on the lathe and lose the spacer distance?

I have trouble grinding the metal and studying the spark at the same time. I have someone take a pic of the sparks while I'm grinding, then I study the pics.

And yet the deer around my house manage to anyway.

The sideways 7 might be a "Z" which would mean it was made by Charles Zulty, same as my Trenton.

If it tests out well, that's a great price from my point of view.

I have an old oxygen tank as well. I welded angle iron legs to it so it wouldn't tip over.

Nice find! That is a do everything kind of tool. Neat piece of history.

Thanks Dick! I digitized/computerized my pottery kiln a few months ago and realized I then had the capacity to do glass work. It's fun for me because I never quite know what the piece will look like when it comes out of the kiln. Of course, with that are the not so happy accidents too. But it all leads to increased knowledge.

Oh, okay. I'll pursue that and see where it gets me. Thanks Frosty.

BigGun, it's a great thought, but if I disappeared with the kids, then I'd be in hot water with the court. Frosty, my first lawyer brought up the harassing litigation argument every time. The most the court did was tell my ex that if she continued, they MAY sanction her. They never did. But they did, on several occasions, denied her motions without a hearing as soon as they came across the judge's desk. So I give them a little credit for that. She files complaints or claims of prejudice or bias against any judge that rules against her. Filed complaints against the Guardian Ad Litem. Has filed complaints trying to get my lawyer disbarred. Even started a complaint investigation against our kids' therapist/counselor trying to get her license revoked. My second lawyer is a bit more aggressive, so we're pushing back harder than happened with the first. He's just waiting for the results of the appeal, so he has more to work with. Then we go at it.

It would look nice in steel. Of course, post pics when you do. Thanks Irondragon. Would love to see a pic of your dog's reaction to the sneaky cobra.

Looks good all cleaned up! That'll be one great Christmas present! The chipping was probably just rust flakes coming off. I wouldn't imagine a wire wheel would chip good metal.

Worked on some non metal projects for Christmas presents. A couple of glass items - bowl and vase. And some wooden spoons from maple. Next a glass tray and some brass Christmas ornaments. Nice picture frame Gergely. Cute baby too! The salad bolt tongs are very stylish Ranchman. Are you forming a salad bowl to match? Be fun to see the pets' reaction to the sneaky snake cobra.

If I didn't have the kids to raise, I might seriously think about that BigGun. That work stuff does get to you sometimes. I find myself pondering what I could be doing if I didn't have to work to make the money to pay the bills. Regrets, I know regrets, can't do anything about 'em, but doesn't stop ya from thinking about what you might have/should have done differently - they say you only regret that which you didn't do...or something like that. So, life is short, do it all that you can and minimize the regrets down the road. Sounds good any way, but ya still have to feed yourself. I use my hobbies as an escape, so that draws me to them when I'm feeling down. Anyway, I hope we can all get these things sorted out, and in the meantime find some good things about the holidays to ease our troubles. And sometimes I just pick up my guitar and play the blues. That helps a lot - might be just the wallowing in it for a moment gets me my fill of it and helps to be able to then put it aside for a bit.

Thanks rockstar. That's one of the things that keeps me going. Working with my kids, teaching them what I can, helping them grow and see the possibilities life has to offer. Thanks Charles. I think her claim is false also. We're working on what we can with what we've got to work with. Have shot down most of her motions - except her child support being vacated, which the judge erred on big time. No one understands how the judge could have legally ruled the way he did. Hopefully the appeal of that will fix it. Then it's the suing for support to get through. That has the potential to devastate me financially - well, more than this all already has. If I can survive that, then maybe...maybe there will be an end in sight? I've about given up hoping for that. Or the light at the end of the tunnel could be the headlight of another oncoming train. Who knows? Would be nice to just have her deported. One can dream.