TWISTEDWILLOW

Only in January!

You’ll be alright as long as you don’t use to much moose in your hair

Lol, that’s a great idea Thomas but all my forges are coal forges, I ain’t got no propane ones

Just starting out I’ve seen a lot of people use a bench vise till they found a post vise, But that vise is way over priced, a decent used bench vise or post vise can be bought for that price in a lot better shape, Vaughns hope iron works is also a maker of new post vises,

That’s cool Gandalfgreen! Did you hammer that outta duplex nail?

Awesome news about Debi! keep us posted on Ma, I hope they get her fixed up without much trouble

Y’all come on down anytime!

Maybe all the people up there that had the good stuff have their assets frozen?

Lol not yet

Thanks Frazer an Anvil, im getting around much better today, the pains went down, im keeping the one that started the mess an used me for a chew toy over here at the shop with me for now till we get things figured out, Thomas, I work with the public so I already foam at the mouth most days fluid intake has been steady coffee in the morning water in the afternoon and beer in the evening! although I have had a strange craving for a really rare steak and a urge to howl at the moon?

Howdy from eastern Oklahoma and welcome to the forum!

I take checks all the time here at the shop, It’s mostly from people in their 50s on up, but no one younger then that ever writes checks, An all the schools, fire, street, county, utilities ect.. they all take an invoice an mail a check, im not setup to run cards so people usually just stop by the bank on their way out here an grab cash, ive only had one person throw a hissy fit over me not excepting cards an that was several years ago, Of course now days people got PayPal, vemo, Apple Pay, crypto coins an lord knows what else, I guess I’m a little out dated here lol

I don’t know what it’s called but you can get oddball cast iron an cast steel fittings from several big steel suppliers, I think I saw something like that when I was looking for cast steel balls last winter, I can’t remember the name of the company but it was down in Texas and they had all kinds of odds and ends, I’ll see if I can find the invoice an find the name of the company,

Sometimes I get over paid by my customers when I’m busy with a bunch of other customers I don’t have time to count the cash, they’ve handed me after they load up, when things slow down an i count and I realize I’ve been over paid I just call them back up an tell them an it’s here when they got time to come grab it, some people will rush right back to grab a $5 bill an others won’t even bother driving back for a $20 an just say keep it, I’ve only ever had one hot check wrote but as soon as I contacted the guy he rushed down and paid the amount he owed plus the fee I was charged by the bank when it bounced, he apologized and explained they had an issue with someone who had got hold of their account number and he had to shut it down and reopen another account, so all the checks he wrote were canceled for a time span an he had to go around an make good, I get had every now an then when I Trust a customer an I let them take a part home to verify the fit an they never come back an pay… but that’s my fault for trusting on a handshake… so I just mark it off to experience, an put them on my list of people not to allow back or trust, or do business with im the only repair shop in the county so you’ll have to drive outta state or outta area in the future and it will cost you way more in the long run…

Maybe I need to build a robot this winter when things slow down, to be a shop helper,

thats a fact now is it? There are literally hundreds of thousands of simple straight forward jobs to be had, are there no factories? No farms? No small businesses? no municipalities? no landscape services? No logging or sawmills? No mines or quarries? No construction companies? No mail carriers? No drivers? No spinning a sign out front of a pizza parlor? No grounds keepers? No maintenance? No drywall install? No roofing? The list goes on an on… just how simple of a hard work job are we looking for here? I know in my area you can get paid to pick strawberries that’s pretty simple yes? Surely there’s some sort of manual farm labor in the state of Florida? Orange orchards maybe? Anyone who says there’s no simple straightforward “hard work” to be had is not looking very hard in my humble opinion… im lucky if I can find an employee that lasts a month at my repair shop before quitting with some lame excuse… I personally know many other businesses owners in the same boat, we can’t find anyone who wants to work, I interviewed a young man just a week ago, who had no job, no income, no experience, no nothing… I offered him a job on the spot and have yet to hear back… I guess the job was to much hard work or to simple for him? i have a sneaky suspicion that there are plenty of jobs of all kinds in every industry to be had in your region, just as there is everywhere else… I respect the fact your looking to expand your horizons and learn a craft and potentially create your own income, but let me clue you in on something about being self employed… there’s no check coming at the end of the week, there’s no time off, no one’s gonna run it for you, taxes, parts, shipments, invoices, customers, budgets ect.. there’s no one coming help when your in a tight spot, What if you get hurt or sick? to bad!! you gotta drag yourself out there an work anyways if you wanna make ends meet, your customers wont care why you haven’t been able to finish their projects yet an the mortgage company? The utilities? Medical bills? Parts or material suppliers? They don’t care either… you still gotta pay.. I have certifications, years of experience, tens of thousands of dollars worth of tools, equipment an machinery, I have a massive customer base, I own my own shop an everything in it even with all that goin for me I hit bad spots, I get low on funds, I have bad months, I get to make some hard decisions sometimes… But your talking about learning a new craft from scratch? Then become self sufficient, self employed, an provide for your family? How many others are trying to pedal the same stuff they learned on YT? or the internet? There’s only so much of a market for hand made goods I’m not trying to sway you from your dream by all means become a professional blacksmith!!!! All I’m saying you better think long an hard before trying to start a company from the ground up with no experience in that field, I wish you the best best of luck Sir! your gonna need it…

George, yes they are both uncut males, I realize that could put a chip on their shoulders, never been a problem for four years they played, napped, ate, Barked at wildlife an hung out every day all day together, an no fights I’ve never had an issues with any intact male dogs I’ve ever owned, but I do understand that can be a contributing factor I might understand if there had been previous problems but these to have always got along, John hes not a real bull dog he’s just a mutt, im sorry to here you got chewed up too! thank you for the offer! I might take you up on that sometime!

Lol I’ll get by with a stick I don’t quite need a walker, I did use the hose this morning to try an drowned em out I sprayed em an even shot a stream down their noses an mouths hopeful it would choke em up an make em back off, the bull dog mix is actually smaller then the Aussie, he’s only 40-50 pounds and the Aussie is around 65-70, but I hadn’t thought about grabbing his rear legs… I wish I’d have known that before all this mess thanks for the offer to help Randy I’ll get it figured out!

Sounds good!

Looks pretty good to me! How’s the ring an rebound?

it wasn’t a new dog he just had a bath an a haircut, they’ve lived together for 4 years now with no issues, you would think he’d recognize his buddy but I guess not, I agree with though that’s why one’s leaving, it’s kinda sad an kinda funny at the same time all three of us are stove up an can’t move, one outside, one inside an me, I’ll be locking one up over infront of my repair shop to keep ‘em seperated till Monday when I can take him to town, to avoid any further fights

Muahahaha! I like it! Lemme know when ya got one for sale! I’ll put it on my shop door or gates!

in that case I’ll call before I come an see what ya need first before I haul a bunch up there lol

Thanks Scott, I could definitely use some help, this coming weeks gonna be brutal between the heat and my leg, an I’m way backed out as it is, I’ve already had some machines picked up because I couldn’t get to them fast enough, now I’m gonna be moving even slower lol Lol I’ll try an remember that Thomas! I don’t have a roller but I do have some old fold up chairs I use around the shop, George, yes we will be getting rid of the one that started the both the fights an torn my leg up, Even if I was just caught in the crossfire an he didn’t mean to get me, I still don’t want him here, I’ll probably end up taking him to the vet to get him fixed up, an then I’ll prolly turn him over to the shelter, they hand over the shelter dogs to the aspca every two weeks to be shipped out an re homed he’s always been wonderful with children, an people, Even strangers! He loves people, so when I take him in I’ll just make sure to tell them not to send him to a home with another male dog, or no other dogs, I hate to send him away after having him for four years, but like you said Maxs safety is priority, I don’t even wanna think about if he had been caught in the middle instead of me…