Ohio

Crap. You're right. I forgot. Do you want me to come up there and fix your limp? I'll need a hammer, maybe two, some caulking, a stapler, and some bits and pieces. Fix you right up, my guy. Been cold (not Alaska cold, but still) until today. Smells like the rain's coming back. We had almost two solid months of rain, and then three weeks of too cold and dry. Funny, the rain usually means it's warm enough to be in the Wonder Hut, which is heated and insulated but I'm a big baby. I like what you said about using the smoker as a forge because it has extra room for tools, etc. It's funny how everybody wants to make the entire container a forge instead of separating it into workspaces. The forge doesn't need to be big (usually) but it needs to be controllable so it can get to heat and use fuel efficiently. Solid-fuel forges are fun but only if you can get to heat quickly enough to get work done. Unless you're like me and just like fire.

We're doing well, Frosty. Thanks for asking. Busy. This manuscript has not been writing itself. I've had time to do woodworking but every little metalworking, uncluding blacksmithing. I did get a 100# of two kinds of brass for casting once I get the Wonder Hut (me metal working shop) in order. I had the Wonder Hut in order and then I decided to re-do stuff. And replace the ambient lighting. Sigh. How you? whittler The charcoal Frosty mentions is the real stuff. You can make a charcoal kiln (I have a thread about how I made mine, nihittlercknamed Burnie) or you can get 20# bags at your local grocery store that will work well enough for you to find out if you want to try it. What a JABOD/JAGOD is good for is you can make it quickly, fire it up, and see if blacksmithing makes you happy. Whatever you do, have fun and good luck.

I didn't build a coal forge, but I did use a grill for a charcoal/wood forge. In addition to a JABOD (Just a Box of Dirt) forge thread here, Torbjörn Åhman builds one ion his youtube channel. JABODs and JAGODs aren't hard to build, they really work, and you'll quickly learn what works for you and how to adjust the design for your process. Plus, if you decided blacksmithing just isn't your thing, you've spent next to nothing other than a bit of time.

Sorry for no posts or photos. The basic grinder and flat table are built and painted. I have a couple more accessories to put together, but I was at a good place to stop and change up. I've moved the project back to my shop, the Wonder Hut, for the last parts. I also got the steel pegboard up on the last bench and need to replace the lighting before working on this or any other project. I had a set of scaffolding I was using as a fabrication table, but I think I'm going to change that out to a small fixture table with a top from Fireball Tool. Whew, my aching wallet. Regardless, I still have to weed out some tools and build rolling stands for others. I'm also going to build a Japanese-style forge on a rolling cart with a super sucker hood so I can move it to the door and send the smoke outside. I was going to have a permanent installation, and I still might at some point, but I have a small shop and move from project to project a lot. Anyway, I'll try to be in touch more.

It is fun when something suddenly starts looking like what it's supposed to be for sure. Going over now to weld more of the assemblies. I organized all the parts, made cuts, and prepped for welding all the bits, so I think today will be all about fire. Then I'll grind as necessary. Normally I'd do one at a time, but they all use the same material for the arms and I know that material works as it's supposed to. Maybe this will speed things up. Maybe not. And maybe I'll change my mind once I get there. It is fun, though my neck and shoulders are feeling it.

Well, at least my welds hold, as ugly as they are. It is exciting to make something and see it sort of looks the way it's supposed to. The platen assembly looks right and appears to work. I need to clean up the welds on the back of the platen—there are two bolt lengths on the back for attaching to the rest of the assembly. I don't need to do much, probably a bit of filing, and then use spacers to make sure the face of the platen is on the same plane as the assembly wheels. I mean, it really does look like what it is, so yay me. Next is the arm with the assembly for holding the tables. All the parts are cut and prepped but I have to bend some of the bits once I have most of it in place. I'll try to get more pictures but I keep forgetting.

So I angle-ground some cuts and drilled some holes and then MIG welded the arm to the platen assembly. I took this before cleaning anything up. Next, I need to weld on these tiny little spacers. I'll probably glue them and do some tiny tacks. Got a bit cold in JT's shop. I always quit before I get tired—I learned this when skiing (which I don't do anymore because strapping my old butt to a couple of sticks and getting shoved downhill just isn't fun anymore): The minutes you say, "just one more run," it's time to stop before making a mistake or getting hurt. So I have a bunch of parts ready when I have this platen and assembly done.

The sandblaster is in a cabinet in a shelter behind JTs shop. It works okay. I'm pretty much done with all that for now. The mineral oil is the stuff you get from the pharmacy or grocery store. I use it on cutting boards and it works very well. I've also wiped it on hot steel and it's beautiful and surprisingly tough. I've also polished it into steel work surfaces and it keeps the rust off pretty dang well, which is a big concern for me. The Wonder Hut is insulated (including the floor) and I have a fan blowing in there all the time (old one I used in a greenhouse) because dang, man, it's wet here, especially with El Nino making things el damp-o. Most of the coatings have gotten pretty good, so I'm feeling fairly confident the paint will work fine and my beeswax mix will work fine and all that. Now all I can see are each and every thing I messed up during the build. And designing a stand. And wondering if I could design and build some sort of fume/chip extractor so the dust is under control as the Wonder Hut is small. Next project (after sorting out the Wonder Hut) will probably be the bender trailer hitch stand. Or melting things. I miss melting things.

Heh. Frosty, you kill me. So yesterday was more cutting and sandblasting of material. I have the Jer Schmidt with all the attachments and after some mistakes and miscounting, I had to get more material. How sad I had to go to one of my favorite store, Everett Steel. So, so sad. Tragic really. Because of the holidays, the drop bins were near empty, which is a bummer as there's often treasures in there. But I got what I needed so today I'll finish cutting and blasting and with a bit of, get back to welding the assemblies for the platen, fixed and moving tables, contact wheel, and something else I can't remember. After a brief discussion with JT, I think I'll be using a bit of heat and a beeswax/mineral oil wipe on some of the parts. I've used this a lot on forged and other items and it holds up well and resists rust. Since we're beekeepers (there's a story about that maybe I'll tell later) I have easy access to the wax and the mix I use is also food safe for use on wooden items like cutting boards, spoons, etc., which I also make. It's an easy finish and pleasant to work with. I'll still paint parts of my as-yet-unnamed grinder, but for parts that have to move, this finish should serve me well. Sandblasting is cool. At first. It's wonderful to see a surface get all nice and clean but then I start feeling it in my hands, arms, shoulders, neck, etc. It can be sort of hypnotic, which is nice. I do not like cutting with the abrasive saw. It's smelly and loud. I really like using bandsaws but JT's bandsaw is not great. I have an adorable little Craftsman that I rebuilt and cuts very well and a Jet that someone gave me (that needs to be rebuilt and tuned), but they are sitting, lonely and forlorn, in the Wonder Hut. So abrasive saw it is. I wear full PPE for all this stuff but it's just less pleasant than using other tools. Boo hoo, boo hoo. And when I start feeling tired, I'm done. I do this for fun and getting hurt is what I call no fun. At some point I'll be back to welding and I keep forgetting to take pictures.

Yesterday was organizing and sandblasting. I have to build the platen assembly and thought I'd do some easier stuff first. So I gathered the pieces for the fixed and adjustable tables and sandblasted the parts. I should have spent the first two days of the project sandblasting everything before assembly and weld, but too bad, so sad, I didn't. I still have to separate pieces into the other assemblies, such as the large wheel and small wheel forks and sandblast them but it is DUMPING rain, as in, maybe I should start gathering animals and making sure the ark has a room for poo<-this is a joke, no need to tell me that the poo would just get flung overboard. So I am staying home and drinking hot chocolate in my jammies today. I also have to get some 1.5"x1.5"x,25" wall mild steel as I used this material in the wrong places and need more. That's swell. And it's going to be a bummer because I can either go to the scrap yard, where I end up buying material I don't need because of the price, or I go to Everett Steel and go through the drop bin like a crazed racoon looking for rusty treasure. My fab GF wants to go along this time, so that will be fun. I'm usually not profligate with money but I can feel my Visa card slipping out of my wallet as soon as I step foot in these places. Well, at least I have a current tetanus shot and some steel-toed workboots. I'll probably refrain from fabrication until next week and let my buddy enjoy his holidays. The fab GF baked him a stollen yesterday and he seemed pretty happy about that—it was still warm when she brought it over.

So yesterday, I forged an eyebolt-ish thing instead of cutting an existing one to sue on the grinder. I've got the tension arm on and the axle for the upper wheel. The entire thing looks funny, especially the legs, and I don't like the stand. I'm sure it will work fine but I'll probably change that once I know exactly what I want. I have to build the platen with the smallest wheels and the table, then I have an adjustable table and a big wheel attachment accessories to build. Then clean (should have sandblasted prior), prime and paint in Wonder Hut forest green. Yes, my built or restored tools are forest green. I belong to an online metalheads group and that's where I bought in for lasercut parts for this build. JT was going to make all the parts but one of the metalheads was selling his kit for a get-it-out-of-here price. So I got JT his pre-cut parts for his build for like, a hundred bucks. And the metalhead I got it from let me see his shop. Dude was a fabricator and let me tell you, his "hobby" shop is awesome—and the welds on his build of this grinder (his painted John Deere green) are, like, beautiful. The metalheads are mostly fabricators/welders/machinists with tons of experience and they're pretty cool. Anyway, JT got a five-gallon bucket and parts and I'm pretty sure he cried a little. I don't think he gets many presents. And he cleared out his shop so his forge will be free of crap and ready to work after the first of the year. I'm pretty excited. I have my charcoal-based forge but the Wonder Hut is a disaster and I get overwhelmed when I look in there (yes, I will get it sorted, and soon). JT has a multi-burner propane-based table where he uses firebrick to build the forge shapes he needs for certain projects. I'll be back to re-learning hammer technique. Yesterday, though, forging the eyebolt was really fun. We used a torch to heat up the steel and I got it done in all of five minutes. And we lathed another part to fit a piece of pipe—making stuff is fun.

So I said I'd get some pictures but I am a liar. It's wet and cold and I started freezing up pretty quickly. Yeah, okay, it's not Alaska cold, and I am a delicate flower. I finished welding together the main body and the tensioner arm. Got out a flap wheel to clean up my usual mess. The new welding helmet is great but the welder was being cranky. JT says he's got a new regulator coming and that should solve the issue. Way more spatter than before and definitely connected to not enough shielding gas coming through. Annoying more than anything. Clamp small bits to other small bits is actually kind of fun. Until I screw it up and parts roll under a bench or big pile of scrap. I actually enjoy it, though. Next step is assembly of the main body of the grinder. I have some other parts to weld, but I think the idea is to make sure the main body goes together and rotates properly. Then comes building the sliding table, fork for the big wheel and all that. JT has been inside taking care of his spouse, so it's not as fun. I do get more done, but when he's around, I end up laughing a lot more. I miss being in the Wonder Hut (when it's organized), which reminds me---I need to get some of those HF LED shop lights for in there. Quote of the day: "When you can see, you can actually weld." JT because my welds look a lot better because of my new welding helmet.

I'm going to follow your poetry, Frosty, with a naming story of my own. We named the Toto toilets in the new house (which I built and still haven't finished---don't ask) after my parents. They insisted on giving us money so I told them I'd pay for the plumbing fixtures and name the toilets after them. My mom was all, "Just be sure to get good ones." I have to put the nameplates up still.

Well, yeah. If you hear a string of swear words coming from the south, that's me. Sorry if they hurt your delicate sensibilities. I know how fragile your sense of propriety is. I like the story about your mom—that's really sweet and what a great way to honor somebody. And the rename jinx is totally real and that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Yes! Like a flashlight. Perfect description. The BD welder runs like that and it's so surprising because this welder was inexpensive. It makes doing the welds really enjoyable, though I like it even when the welder runs like a crapmobile. I always find it amazing that I, me, a semi-normal person, can melt metal with lightning and make other metal stick together and it actually works. Same thing with forging, me, a normal person, hits hot metal with a hammer and it moves. I find this delightful and amazing. Once I'm over my delight, I need grinders. All sorts of grinders. "Grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain't," as they say. My grinder-to-welder use ratio is about 10:1, which is better because it used to be 25:1. This build is about realizing that better technique using well-designed and appropriate tools will give me a better result. Getting better is another source of amazement and delight.

Of course it's coarse. And that's just fine. Or finer. Or maybe finest. Or maybe just enough to take the edge off. I'll stop now and file this away. I may have to put up a poll to let everybody vote on names. I like most of them. So I think I've recovered enough from this little bit of surgery to go back in the shop tomorrow and/or Friday. Bzzzt bzzt bzzt <- that's the sound of me MIG welding the rest of the bits. JT has this little lunchbox-y Blue Demon MIG welder that works...great. I'm not a professional, though I can spell "welding," so that makes me qualified. Srsly, I have one of those little Lincoln 140 MIG/fluxcore welders and I'm thinking maybe I'd get one of these Blue Demons. That last bit is a lie. If I get another welder, it will be something different as Weldy (not its real name) is just fine for my needs. Need a better cart and I need to get the shielding gas set up, but I've done a lot with the Lincoln and fluxcore. I would like to 1) not suck at welding 2) have different capabilities for different projects, like TIG for aluminum, and 3) use fire in new and exciting (but not painful other than to the wallet) ways. I've kinda fell into that got-more-projects-that-need-bigger-tools pit. I don't think I'll ever do automobiles----not my thing, but the neighbor on the other side is really into that. He built a rock-climbing truck and it was great to see him put it together. Dude's gifted and that's not sarcasm. He's a certified welder and has a ton of skills. It's fun to watch him, other than that he plays very heavy metal and very loud volume. He's a good guy. We're lucky---most of our neighbors are great and feel perfectly comfortable coming over to "help" by giving me "advice" aka pointing and laughing. Anyway, I'll see if I can get some pictures. And does anyone know if I can do a poll? That'd be hilarious, esp. if one of youse says. "let's call it Grindy McGrinderface" and that's the one that wins.