pclark36

What time is the meeting?

Oh ok, didn't know that about the links.  makes sense

On 3/1/2016 at 11:04 AM, Frosty said:

Don't you drive around the potholes? I can't afford the tires and alignments driving through them incurs.  Seriously a set of tires for the pickup runs more than a grand mounted and balanced, an alignment costs another $400. if they only have to adjust it, parts are extra. Oh yeah, replacing a wheel is about $200.

If I can't avoid the hole I slow down folks behind me can slow down AND swear at me too if the wish. I don't care.

Oh yeah a shift knob that weighs a couple lbs. shifting gears for you wouldn't need a pothole up here, a "smooth" road has enough woops in it to do that without missing pavement and caverns. Just an ice heave in spring is enough to pop you out of gear and we have a tree shift automatic. You have to know where the ice heaves grow and they can show up over night.

So yeah, I'll have to pass on a 2 1/4" dia. steel sphere shift knob too resplendant forged coolness not withstanding.

Frosty The Lucky.

Spoken like a true Glenn Hwy driver

Found another one in peters Creek.  Says it's antique.    Link removed.

Coming to the meeting is definitely the plan   

That's part of the draw for me.   The self sufficiency. 

Just now, teenylittlemetalguy said:

I was told there was a college course on it...

Seriously I completely understand the drive for multiple hobbies. I decided several years ago to try and rein it in and focus on "metal". that helped but I still find myself chasing too many ideas.

 

I get you there.  I have to rein myself in too.  Been working at it slowly.  My problem isn't that I have to have 1000 hobbies, it's that something catches my eye, and I have to at least experience it a bit to see if it's something I want to keep doing.  Blacksmithing is on that list, and it's especially because of how useful it could potentially be down the road, especially when I get out of the rat-race.  Right now I mainly do music, a little bit of leather work, and train for Highland Games throwing.  I'm getting better at paring it down, but the time commitment is still pretty heavy on the music and Highland games front on top of work and church commitments.  

1 minute ago, the iron dwarf said:

have you tried extreme ironing too

I was in the military before digital camo....close enough I suppose

1 minute ago, teenylittlemetalguy said:

Jerry, Mr. Aspery's plane leaves early on the 13th so there is nothing planned for that day. 

Pclark- no pressure to add another hobby, come to a meeting and at least get a taste of smithing. No strings attached, you can always drop the underwater basket weaving as a hobby to make time for smithing if you like it, right? 

 

exactly...wait...underwater basketweaving exists??? Don't tell me these things!  

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

Did I PM you with our FB group info? Remind me if I didn't.

Frosty The Lucky.

no

1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said:

Like most hobbies you can refuse to start until you have everything top of the line and brand new or you can see people in third world countries supporting their families with a hole in the ground and a chunk of scrap metal for an anvil and doing excellent work with minimal tools and maximum practice.  I'm on the side of "A thousand hours with a $1 hammer and improvised anvil trumps 1 hour with a $1000 hammer and anvil" side of things.

As the price of smithing stuff climbs we may see more and more people reading the web records of the neotribal metalsmiths who tried to get back to the basics of smithing a decade or two ago...

I'm with ya there...I rarely buy 'top of the line' as most of that is name, and not function.  Just trying to make sure I don't drive myself crazy being 'busy' all the time, and pacing myself with all the different things I get into.  

2 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

  I assume you are accessing the internet from a computer at the public library?

Nope, I work for the ISP

I may have some bad assumptions on how much it costs to get started.  Though, as I  stated above, I have hobby ADD(I have too many hobbies) with money sunk into all.  The 'after the highland games' bit is just more a matter of available time and subsequent sanity, as it's my current 'next big' event coming up with a lot of training until then.  I just finished being locked away outside of work for about a month playing in a pit orchestra for the Wizard of Oz.  I just bounce around a lot.  But I will block off time to come to the meeting in May and get to know some of you  

Just saying hi, I've been skulking through the forums for a couple months as my interest in blacksmithing comes and goes, but I've never acted on it.  It's something that's always fascinated me, but the up front investment(and my hobby ADD) has made me hesitant.  Now History is on a smithing show kick, and the bug is biting me to try to get started again.  I'm hoping to really get into it after the Highland Games in June are done, but wanted to say hi at least.  Ya'lls posts are fun to read, and it seems like you have a great tight-knit community here