TWISTEDWILLOW

How’s this?

Alrighty guys an gals I’m back Happy Halloween to everyone everywhere even if you don’t celebrate it! sorry it took me a bit to get back here an log on, we took Max asauras Rex to town so he could go trick or treating an attend a Halloween bash at daycare, That would be really really really hard!!! the challenge rules were intentionally left wide open for materials, methods, designs ect… so that everyone of any skill level could participate and let their ideas run wild using whatever material they had on hand, I think the challenge did just that, we got lots of wonderful entries an awesome designs for letter openers!!! I myself am just a hobby smith and as such I’m not really qualified to go around picking over other folks work ive spent the last few days starting at page one of this thread and working my way to the end page over and over and over looking at everyone’s letter openers!!!! there’s no way of comparing a pattern welded blade to a Mini rail spike opener to a dragon head or a mini sword or dagger or a sweet lookin squiggly line or a pair of letter openers made for family ect… they are all awesome in their own respective ways! the winner is everyone who jumped out in the smithy and made a amazingly cool lookin letter opener for this challenge!!!! if y’all just have to have a winner I’ll let y’all select one by popular vote lol but I personally won’t pick one over the other cause there all great in my opinion!!! but if y’all do a vote keep in mind this challenge was left wide open on purpose for everyone to have fun! as far as prizes go??? Anyone who participated prior to today and made an entry and would like a prize can pm me their mailing address and I’ll dig around the shop a ship you something thats old and rusty!!! Lol Y’all’s more then welcome down here anytime! I’ll host a whole conference down here if y’all all wanna make the trip! Lol Y’all just gimme a heads up before hand and I’ll stick up on 100percent beef franks an beer! ive got plenty of forges I’m sure we could get quite the conference started! lol we can set the tailgate area up in the field Aww shucks y’all’s welcome back anytime! I enjoyed the company!!!

Heck you didn’t even see nothin Thomas, you were only here for a minute until y’all headed on down the road, y’all should’ve brought a bigger truck and a trailer and I would have takin y’all tool huntin! an shown y’all around to see some really cool sights!

Don’t worry, Thomas and his crew ate the BBQ when they was passin through a they all survived! … well a least last i heard anyway, your letter opener looks very nice Jerry!

I love Kano Kroil, I use that stuff in the repair shop regularly, but your right it’s expensive,

Chad J. sorry just now saw your question, yes I clay them with local red dirt out of the bar ditch that bein said they are steel and you really don’t have to unless you want too, I believe the pans should hold up quite awhile, they are just as thick as those pressed steel pans that Buffalo an champion used to use for some of their rivet forges and table forges,

Never said anything about airfare, there’s more then one way to travel Jerry! Dog sleds, Pickup truck beds, Buses, locomotives, bicycles, camel trains, canoes, car trunks ect… You should really start reading the fine print on applications you fill out!

Cruise? You must have read the wrong sweepstakes advertisement Jerry! this challenge has a grand prize of a hay ride pulled by a junky smoke belchin ol diesel tractor in peavine America! an maybe a cup of coffee if I get around to cleaning the perculator settin by the stove, the winner also gets to take home three unfixed feral barn cats!!! Cat food not included…

Don’t worry Jerry imma workin on it right now, not sure how well it’s gonna turn out but I’ll have an entry! Lol

That looks pretty cool! Awesome work shaina!

Good grief You’ve only had three months to work on that letter opener! If you had got it done then think of all the good rusty sales you could’ve been to by now! I swear Jerry what am I gonna do with you!

Have you got it finished yet?

Shainarue, before you make your bucking block an rivet header check out black bear forge guys video, that’s what I followed an it’s pretty straightforward, I did a post in tools on it but his is better!

Sounds interesting, Got a pick of your mini block?

Yeas that would be awesome! No missing teeth but there is a chip on the pinion gear,

Thanks arkie, yeah here lately these auctions have been stupid high on some stuff an cheap as dirt on other stuff, here’s the hood I picked up at the sale, back hurts an it’s raining so I ain’t unloading it today but I thought I’d get some pics, looks like it’s made from 1/8” or 10 GA, 41” tall, 32” wide, 12” deep, intake is 12”x12” and exhaust is 10” really good looking welds and it doesn’t look like it’s been used much if any, I figured it was worth the $30 bucks Randy, thanks I was wondering, I’ll get a closer picture here in a few of that weird little hammer,

Just got back from an auction, couldn’t afford to touch the anvil, $1300 bucks for a 200 pound Peter Wright Beat up tongs $30-$45 a piece, there was some nice hardy tooling but it sold from $30 up to $60 a piece! broken post vises went around $200, broken blower brought $200, fullers flatters top swages went $30-$40 a pop, All I ended up buying a champion rivet forge, a 65 pound saltfork swage block a forge hood, and a small pile of top tooling, an I spent way to much on that stuff, i gave $180 for the swage block, I figured that was as a fair deal since they sell new for $250 plus tax an shipping, $190 for the champion rivet forge, $30 for the forge hood, looks like it got built and never used, I’ll get pics later it’s still in the truck $30 for a atha made top swage, $27 for pile of top tools, atha double peen, a couple fullers, ball peen, an some weird hammer I have no clue, there was a steam engine there I wanted an it sold cheap under $400, but I didn’t really wanna have to move that thing, and I didn’t bring any straps or chains

Right a time critical mission to save historical artifacts! forget Indiana Jones, here comes Oklahoma Billy!

That’s awesome arkie!!! I wasn’t talkin bout oil field tanks but that would make one heck of a chicken coop! you could run a couple hundred layin hens outta that thing with no problem! and the great thing about steel tanks is ya ain’t gotta worry bout possums an bobcats Breaking in an chowin down on your birds!

Bahaha imma run that by my wife next time she asks me why on earth I’m heading out to buy more junk outta a some ol barn! I’ll strike a heroic pose an say don’t worry honey I’m saving history one piece at a time! Then jump in the pickup a yell “high ho Chevy away!!!!” As I ride off down the road! If I had rose gold piled that deep I’d just pay someone else to work on the battery powered junk!

I thought the same thing at first but Most curtain hanging rings I’ve seen have a hook on em to go through the curtains I’ve never noticed any that had a loop on a ring

Jerry, I ain’t never hear’d tell of a rusty gold mine before is that were they find that rose colored gold? im glad someone thinks I got some nice stuff around here, most folks that come here think imma runnin a salvage yard!

Lol come on back down anytime a if ya can bring a ol pickup truck! GVRW is only a suggestion! We will load that dude up! I hope ya get some good use outta that stuff, I can’t wait to see the new vise stand you build!

Ya know Aric, In a body shop, metal working, forming, shaping, ect… tools are a tax write off, a the really expensive ones can be depreciated over several years!!! just sayin John, yes its a very awesome feeling! This anvil was my most treasured possession at one time, now my family I’m not rich by no means now days but back then I really didn’t make or have a lot of money when I bought it, at the time it seemed like a fortune when I bought it for $300 bucks I didn’t know diddly about blacksmithing at the time but I sure tried my hardest to setup a smithy, I was very proud of myself when I had a forge a blower a post vise an anvil! I thought I was eatin high on the hog! it was a major blow for me to suck it up an to let go of my stuff at the time So like I said before this particular load of junk may not have been worth it to a lot of folks an I didn’t really need it back, I’ve got plenty others, but it was a sense of accomplishment and a matter of pride to retrieve it for me That’s cause you lived in town somewhere! Shoulda moved to peavine youda still had it! I’m the mayor here don’tcha know! I run a tight ship! Ain’t no anvil thieves in peavine! Besides you ain’t fooling no one!!! We all know you done bought sold a traded a truck load of anvils by the time you turned two!!! George, im glad to hear you got hold of your grandfathers tools! I imagine that was worth a small fortune to you, I’ve inherited some of my grandparents an great grandparents odds and ends that I’ve set aside for Max when the time comes for me to pass it on to him

Looks pretty slick to me natkova!