CrazyGoatLady

SLAG, thank you for the information. I was kind of thinking tongue and cheek because those folks can't seem to get a fire going to save their lives. Literally. And they choose the bow drill to take with them. Not me! Plus, a little blacksmithery on the show would be good to see. Some have forged their own knives though

I just remembered. I even have some flint stone my husband brought back from Arkansas!

Oh that's nice. I think I'll do the same with the one near me. I usually use varathane paste wax, but I need a food safe finish. Would be neat to support a local business and promote that in my work and farm. We are big on" buy local" and we provide eggs and meat so I'd like to give back where I can.

arkie, great video. Those people on Naked And Afraid should use a flint striker kit if they can. They always seem to have a hard time starting fires. The bow drill thing doesn't work out so well most of the time. I think it's probably too damp when they are in a jungle. He's right, you wife might kill you for using her washcloths. But I will probably use them myself . This has inspired me to make a flint striker

Any honey bee farms near you? There's one in the little town near me and I thought about inquiring about wax from them. It'd help support local business and I'd get a good product for my work

I understand that. That would probably be the position I'd be in with it.

Welcome to the forum Josh. Those areas of your background may help you in ways you wouldn't think of. I had no real experience with metal either. But art and running a business spill over into my smithing by the way I look at things, the way I manage my time, organization, quality of work, ethics, etc. It's not just brute strength and pounding away on something with a hammer. Your brain gets a workout too! I hope you can get started soon and before you know it, you'll be hopelessly addicted.

Thanks Robert. The customer liked his a lot and I got another order now! I'd like to see your horseshoe chime when your done. I've been thinking of doing one from a shoe and making horse heads for the chimes. Thomas, that goldmine of stuff you found would be fun to go through and then hard to decide what to keep and what to sell

Thank you Das. I hope he likes it. I think I made what he asked for. I made myself nerve wracked through the process a bit. It seems if I'm just making something, it goes along real well most times. I got afraid of missing the deadline I set for myself. He didn't set a timeline. So I started rushing. My first knife had a crack in it and as soon as I saw it I stopped. The whole piece of stock had a crack running down the length. So had to find something else. I should have stopped with the spoon and started over, so I'm glad it broke and forced me to. I'd rather give someone the best quality I know how to do and develop a good reputation more than anything.

Nice work on everything. That knife looks like a real chopper. I like your brooches. The ending in the braided one is a neat touch. How well does the pin slide around it?

I hope you get the job JHCC

Good suggestion as always Thomas. Thanks Jennifer and Chris. I put a little kick out on the ends of the tines because it seemed to me it would hold food better. Most I see are straight out. Maybe point them out even further? Or maybe I misunderstood

Finally got my customer order done. I had to work for this money for sure. Should have been fairly easy, but if it could go wrong, it did. Then last night, had everything forged and polished up. I had a cold shut on the transition of the spoon bowl and the neck and stupidly thought I could grind it out. I did alright. Then it was too thin and I bent that sucker. So, back to the forge I go. But it worked out alright because the bowl is bigger and better shaped on the second one. I decided I don't like to set shoulders on the edge of the anvil. I put them in leaves on the horn and from now on, I'll do it with cutlery as well.

Always a good idea to stop while your ahead when things start going wonky. I was in the shop yesterday when a spring like storm came through. High sideways winds and hail. It was near 70 degrees. I don't know how much it rained throughout the evening and night, but it's flooded everywhere. Then woke up to this this morning. We don't get much snow, so sort of a rarity. And I nearly lost my boots in the mud. It's supposed to be back up to 70 by Monday.

I don't know how it is for anyone else, but around here, track rail like that is easy to source. Two scrapyards located next to the train depot in town. All the rail and spikes you could want. Nice stand JHCC and good work on your punches Les

Mark, I like the table. Is it for you or for a customer? Real nice.

Winter hasn't hit us yet. A few cold snaps, but that's about it. Used to get cold a lot earlier, but it seems to be becoming a norm for late winter and barely any spring befor it gets hot. Yeah the wind was high today.

Been in the upper 60s last few days. Then hovering around freezing at night. I've been forging starting in the late evening. By time I'm done, I don't realize how cold it is. Then I get in the house and discover my feet are frozen. I forge a lot in the summer and I've had days where it was 100° + and it felt cooler standing in the sun than it did in the shop.

He'd probably try to help you out if he could. He's very supportive of what I do, as is my whole family

Thanks Chris, he is

I like the sound of the rain on the metal roof of my shop. Except when the wind is blowing hard. Which it does a lot here. Evidently, there's a loose panel somewhere and it makes an awful, flapping noise. We need to fix it and that would be that.

This followed my son home and he left it sitting out for me to find this morning. What a great way to start the day

I really dig the horse head. I think if I worked at it, I could do one like that. Might take a long time and a lot of practice to make one look as good as yours. Reason why I was talking about a dremel is, I thought I could forge out the shape of the head then use that like a pencil and put in fine details. Not just eyes, nose, mouth etc., but the veins and more defined bone and muscle, eyes and mane. Would probably take a month of Sunday's to do. Late night in the shop where everything went wrong. Either forged something too thin or was way off the mark. Or something fun like a big ole crack running down the length of the only stock you have in that size. Not one successful thing except the practice. I'll be thankful for that because it was highly frustrating.

Thank you Das. And thank you for the pointers Mark. I've made horse heads before, but not like that one, so I figured I ought to. What I really want to do is make a 3D head and use a dremel probably and "carve" out the features.

Real nice Mark. You get a lot done and done very well. That piece you're holding in the tongs looks like the handles on a collection of old branding irons I have. Only a couple things for me. Made my first horse head. Never even tried before. I don't have nose or eye punches or anything like that. Used a pin punch for the eye. Should have set it more forward of the cheek bone and he looks surprised... I'll do different on the ear from now on as well.