Woody

JWolfe, you and your wife are both on my prayer list, take care and God Bless the both of you Woody

A little about fire extinguishers. The rating is not the weight of the fire extinguishing media in the extinguisher. The rating is the amount of fire killing capacity of the particular extinguisher. Read the label closely, most 2 1/2 lb dry chemical extinguishers while having an ABC rating usually have something like a 2 A, 10 B,C rating. This means that while they are quite effective on a flammable liquid or electrical fire, they have considerably less fire killing capacity when used on a fire of wood or paper. Everyone should do a quick assessment of their shop, determine the nature of the fire hazards and select extinguishers appropriate to the hazard. Remember if you decide to fight a fire in your shop, have a clear escape route in case you have more fire than extinguisher. Never let the fire get between you and the door. Call 911 or have someone else do it before you attempt to fight the fire. That way if there is more fire than you can handle, help will already be on the way. Some local codes require that extinguishers be checked by a "qualified" person, others only require that they be checked on a regular basis and the inspection be recorded on a tag attached to the extinguisher. With Dry Chemical Extinguishers it is a good idea to check them monthly and to turn them upside down and give them a good shake. The dry chemical tends to settle and pack in the bottom of the extinguisher over time and if not shaken up periodically, when needed the extinguisher will be less than fully effective if operational at all. Remember that in case of a fire, your first priority is to safe your life and the lives of any others in danger. Property can be replaced, people cannot be. Woody

Marc: My prayers are with you and the family of your friend. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him, may he rest in peace. Amen Woody

My grandfather, Conrad Segmiller, was a blacksmith. He worked for the Northern Pacific RR in Dickinson, ND and in his spare time he made cemetary crosses. This site shows pictures of some of his work. http://www.plainsfolk.com/ironcross/ironmen/segmill.htm Woody

Ralph, my thoughts and prayers go with you and Dawn. Have a safe trip. Woody

Ralphl, Glad you are home and doing well. You and Dawn are still in my prayers and I pray for your complete recovery. Woody

In my humble opinion, you will do more damage than good trying to weld up the face of your anvil using a light duty mig. You can also damage the anvil beyond repair by welding on it. I don't think there is any flux core wire for a little mig that is hard enough for an anvil face. My advice is to take a belt sander to it, sand out the dings that you can and live with it. Woody

Dawn, you and Ralph are still in my prayers. May God Bless and keep you Both Woody

Dawn: that is wonderful news, I am so happy for all of you. I will continue to pray for Ralph's complete recovery and for your entire family Woody

Ralph and Dawn: I am so distressed to hear this. I will keep you both in my prayers, may God heal Ralph and grant him good health. Woody

Joelon: While Railroad spikes make an interesting looking knife, even the ones tat are stamped HC (higher carbon not High Carbon) do not contain enough carbon to be fully hardenable. the HC spikes contain approximately 30 points, or 30/100 of one percent carbon. To be fully hardenable, the steel must contain at least 60 to 65 points carbon or have some other alloys in it that contribute to the hardness. More suitable material for knives includes car springs, both coil and leaf, torsion bars, and pieces of plow disk. If you will email me, I have about 20 or so pages of material on the properties of various "junk yard steels", materials that are suitable for blades and heat treating information. All of it is in MS Word so you can easily pirnt it off if you want. By the way, your first blade looks good, Happy Forging Woody

Blacksmithing World Championship, shoeing horses. Seems to be something wrong here. Maybe it should be the Farrier World Championship. Once again the myth that blacksmiths only shoe horses is perpetuated. Woody

Hot, you and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers Woody

Ralph and Dawn, This is great news. I will keep praying for your complete recovery. May God bless you both. Woody

Freedom is never FREE. The check that paid for your freedom is chiseled on stone and signed in blood. For the fact that you are reading this, thank a teacher. For the fact that you are reading this in English, thank a soldier. Woody

I have had that same model Grizzly Belt Sander for several years. It does everything I want it to do, it is a great tool for the price. Woody

Dawn: Ralph and you are still on my prayer list. I pray that Ralph will have a complete and speedy recovery. May God give you strength to get through this. Woody

Helen: My prayers are with you and your husband. I hope all goes well Woody

Ralph: Glad to hear you are doing well, I will continue to pray for your complete recovery. Woody

I have plans for a two chamber bellows, built a set a year ago, they worked just fine. If you want the plans, email me and I will send them to you. The building of the bellows is also a blueprint on ifrogeiron.com Woody

Ralph: I will keep you and your family in my prayers. Good speed for a complete recovery. Woody

I personally wear gloves, loose fitting ones with big wide cuffs that I can flip off easily. Just remember that any kind of personal protective equipment is no substitute for common sense. Sometimes I only wear a glove on my right hand as I am left handed. They do help to protect you from the dragons breath of a gas forge. The worst burn I ever got was on the back of my right hand when a big piece of scale went into a pair of tight fitting gloves and instead of sticking my hand into the slack tub, I pulled the glove off. The scale stuck to the glove and gave me a heck of a burn about half inch wide and2 1/2 inches long. Woody

you can make your own pins from fluxless 1/8 inch brass braising rod. Or you can order custom pins from Texas Knifemakers Supply. If you need smaller pins, they make welding rod is smaller diameters too. Woody

Bryan: I will continue to pray for your brother's recovery and also that the Lord gives you all the strength to get through this. May God bless you all. Woody

Chopper, glad you are coming along ok. You will be back to hammering in no time. Take care my friend Woody