CrazyGoatLady

Thank you and yes sir. S&W snub nose .357. It belonged to my Dad. I didn't realize I caught a peek of it in the pic.

This is my work today. I haven't done anything in a little while. Just wanted to check in and say "Hey Y'all" and I'm still at it

Truthfully, nobody really knows what to do. It's a new thing to all of us and quite an evolving learning process. Amazing how much life has changed in such a short time. Tommie went to work with a guy who lives right around the corner from us this morning. May be only temporary, but it's something for now. Eggs and rabbits have become very in demand. This time of year it's usually Easter bunnies people want and even that's finicky. Now, more people are looking to feed their families in the long term. The calls have been at rapid speed. Never been like this in over 5 years of raising them.

That's good news Steve. We started major cleanup around the farm and since we have more people to do it and more time, it should go fast. Finished tearing down old chicken tractors yesterday and harvesting good parts from them. This is some of the hardware I had made for them. Pretty sure I could do them much better now, but the new tractors are of different construction so we don't need latches or handles like these.

Used to, I didn't listen to music in the shop at all. And sometimes I still don't. But I have more lately and it's usually country music. Sometimes '80s rock and pop. I grew up on country, but was a heavy metal kid in the '80s, so occasionally I go there. And talk radio on occasion.

I think it is an interesting thing as well. I haven't heard of Gov. Abbott saying anything like that for Texas. However, having said, I do think we are behind the curve on shutting down. It seems to be going county by county. Larger areas first. We haven't been shut down, but places are giving out cards to people to prove they are going to work. Business are rapidly shutting down regardless and I look for us to shut down as a state soon. But who knows? On the brighter side, Tommie has a line on 3 jobs. He's waiting on a call back from one today that's he's hoping for. Completely different than he normally does, but it pays good

Wasn't thinking of that, Chris. I believe in you and look forward to seeing your tongs!

It's actually giving me more work to do. Everyone is home all the time now. We've had nothing but rain for over a week. With 4 people and 3 dogs in and out, it's all I can do to keep the floors clean. I've organized my kitchen and cleaned out my freezers to make room for the extra stuff we've gotten. I'm a creature of habit, so it's taking a bit to get used to the new normal. I'm sure that's the case for nearly all of us. I am reading a bit more though.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Glenn. I do that too after you gave me that advice

I'm not a welder so I can't help you there. I try to forge longer stock as much as I can as I dislike using tongs when I don't have to. One less thing between me and the steel and hammer. When it's a piece I'm going to hold with my hand, I place it at angle in the mouth of the forge so it's not so directly in the line of fire. If it starts getting too hot, I'll grab it with a pair of tongs at the hot end and quench the end I want to hold. If the hot end cools off too much, I just heat it back it up, but the far end will take a few times before it gets too hot again. Wash, rinse, repeat

Have a good evening and safe travels Thomas. I hope we get to hear from you often

Congratulations on your forge Chris. I'm glad you got it going. CC, good to see your work again. Good stuff. Everyone's work is looking good. I'm happy to see it all

I don't really have a clue to tell you the truth, SLAG my friend. Absolutely CtG, strange times indeed

Interesting. It's weird how things are going. One town 15 miles from us and they close up everything at 8 30pm. Another town 4 miles from us are still pretty much closing at normal times. We are right in between counties.

CtG, my sentiments exactly. And thanks for the information for our state. I didn't think we were shutting down yet.

Right on, Thomas

I haven't heard anything for the whole state of Texas, just parts. But I may have missed it somehow.

Sorry about that Thomas... So far, it seems to be business as useful around us for the most part. It's almost like reality hasn't set in as to what's happening

Thanks Chris. CtG, I hope your work holds up. He's got a line on a possible job, but he's still going to file for unemployment. They are recommending getting online to do it late at night because the system keeps crashing because there's so much traffic. Even if he gets this job, who knows if it'll even stay open? I may go back to wal mart as bad as I hate to, but they aren't hiring. I talked to my old boss and he would help get me on. Glenn, I have been pondering on building a JABOD anyway, so I agree, this may be the perfect time

Everyone at our house is out of a job. One day they told Tommie they were cutting hours to 40. Then the next day, they laid them off with the possibility of not even opening business again. Dallas county goes on stay at home orders tonight. In our area, most things are closing early, but no stay at home in effect for us yet, but it's getting closer. I think we are stocked up though. The only thing good is it's gotten quiet again. Hardly any traffic for two days now. They closed the bars and places like that Friday night. So my daughter is out of a job. I'm not even forging at the moment to conserve fuel. So everything I make is going to have to count. Cuts out doing it just for fun

Thanks for putting this up. I hadn't even thought of this. The only new steel I have is a stick of 3/8" round rod I bought a few days ago. Every bit of information we can learn at this time is good to have.

Thanks Frosty. And I have that very idea of a hacksaw in mind. I use any tool available if it gets the job done. I just try to do as much with simple tools as possible. My hacksaw sees a lot of use. I just ordered my dog's RX food from Chewy. It usually arrives he next day, but it says they are backed up and it may be 5-8 days before it gets here. I understand. Strange times indeed

Jungle, sorry to hear about your job situation. It's hitting us too. Thank you Jennifer, Les and Rojo. The opener is just 1/4" × 1" flat stock. I wanted it to be a little more robust, but after filing where I chisel cut out the top and bottom of the H to clean it up, I was left with much less material than I anticipated.

I really like the tiger stripe look of it. Very nice stuff there

Real nice Mark. Always great work from you. Here's a bit of mine. Bottle opener didn't come out quite like I envisioned, but I know what to do different with anything like it again. My friend's last name is Hercules ( ain't that cool?) so it's an H. Spoon needs finish work. I have some more, but I didn't want to drag them all in the house. I'm getting better with the bowl shape I think. Y'all have a good night and take care out there