BillyBones

Soft and hard woods is kind of a misnomer. For example balsa wood which is quite soft and light is a hard wood. The hardest hard wood is harder than any soft but there are many soft woods that are harder than hard woods. Soft or hard is the way the resin veins are in the wood not the density of the wood. I use pine 4x4's for my anvil stand. Pine is actually a pretty tough wood or else we would not use it in so much construction. You could make a couple steel hoops to go around the log but i think like Frosty said it will work just fine as is. A plus to the hoops is that you can incorporate some tool and hammer holding hoops, hooks, etc. into them.

JSR, i see the Pink Floyd Wall there, nice. When i was in high school i made a ceramic wall hanging of the face coming out of the wall inspired by the scene in that movie. It was one of my best sculptures. I used a plaster mold to make the face with and the mold was made from a plaster mold of my girlfriends face. She had to sit still with straws in her nose while i put the plaster on her face and it dried. The straws were so she could breathe.

If my translator is working correct, "draga" is the word for "dear" in Bosnian. It says that "jelen" is the Bosnian word for deer, the animal. If my translator is working correct, "draga" is the word for "dear" in Bosnian. It says that "jelen" is the Bosnian word for deer, the animal.

The smartest thing a man can say to his wife "Yes, dear".

That is an old timey thing there. My granddad taught me that when i was but a wee lad. Jewelweed also grows in the same conditions as poison ivy, find one and you will find the other. I had to fix a window on the old house once, one in the attic. That involved getting up on a ladder. As i went to drive in the first nail i discovered, the hard way mind you, that yellow jackets had decided to make a nest at the roof peak. I got a good 10 or 12 hits before i could get down. Since i have not been in the shop a lot lately i have taken up mead making. I knew honey was a bit pricey but when you are buying 5# or 10# at a time, wow that stuff is expensive. Nobody, i have to ask, do you know of meadowfoam honey? I just heard of it recently and from what i understand it tastes like marsh mellows. We mostly have clover, wildflower, or apple blossom honey in these parts. Not a fan of clover honey, it has a bit of a bitter aftertaste to me.

My doctor told me not to do any strenuous activity till they get my arteries fixed. So i have had to hire someone to mow my grass, especially with as hot as t has been. Yesterday my lawn guy stopped by and asked if i could use these 2 springs and 3 stock supports, of course i said yes. The adjusting screws are rusted tight of course so i gave them a good soak down with P'Blaster. Since i can not do much my shop is getting quite clean and organized though, so that is a plus.

Frosty, I used a small air brush sand blaster sometimes, it helped to smooth out the design. But i found that an engraver worked much better for fine details. I tried the acid stuff they make but never had a very good result. I have Psalm 144:1 engraved on my 1911. I had that professionally done though and i think they used a laser. JHCC. not sure if Con-Tact was it, most of what i see as contact paper is usually vinyl, this was like printer paper with a sticky backing like the contact paper. I went to the local big box hardware store looking for contact paper not long ago, i asked the girl in the paint/wall paper part of the store about it and she had no clue as to what i was talking about.

I used to do glass etching on cars. That was years ago so no pics. That was even when computers were big bulky things but i could print designs out on sticky paper, not sure what it was actually called but they knew what i wanted when i bought it. I would meticulously cut out the design with an exacto, put it on the window and use a rotary engraver to etch the glass.

Tommy, the late Thomas Powers is the one who gave me the idea for the jig. I was asked for a couple hamburger weight thingys. Piece of steel plate with the corners knocked off, i was just going to make little knobby things for the top to grab. Then it occurred to me that sitting on a grill they would get hot so i put loops so you could use a steak flipper or something to lift them. pic was taken before i piened over the tenon in the one. Both still need a bit of clean up and a finish. One of these days i may just put my torpedo heater away.

Tommy, some of that is tedious yes but i had blast doing the cabin latch final project. I have no need for a cert either i just wanted to try one day when i did not have much to do. But i enjoy the challenge of holding a tolerance. If you get 2 pieces of angle and weld a piece of 1/2" square bar to each you can make an adjustable bending fork. A 1/2" drive socket fits over the square bars giving different radii, the angle iron pieces can be set at different widths and held in the vice. You could also use 3/8" and 1/4" square bars to get even smaller radii. If i think of it later i will try and get a pic of mine, to lazy to do it right now.

Gazz, we use kovar in the shop where i work, some expensive stuff and a PITA to machine. The parts we make go into sensors for aircraft. Where in the plane i have no idea. But we use it becuase of its thermal expansion properties.

TW, that angers me as well. As the legendary Merle Haggard once said "walking on the fightin' side of me".

Frosty, when i was building my first propane forge i used the Ron Reil (? spelling) design. It was a short while later that i found the "Frosty T burner". That was many years ago. I remember when i first joined the site and finding out it was your design and thinking wow this guy is the one who designed it. Almost like being on a car forum and a guy there named Shelby and then realizing it was Carl Shelby you had been talking to the whole time. I was going to make another burner that had an adjustable tip using a piece of lamp threaded pipe thingy. IIRC that was also one of your designs and i recall reading that you said not to use it. I do not remember the reason but i decided not to do it.

Welcome aboard. Yes, no, maybe? That all depends on where you live. Which is the reason we encourage folks to fill out the header and let us know where you are from. I assume that you are in the states but we have members here from all over the world, so i do not know. Many questions you may ask, like the dam building, or designing a smoke stack, or building a shop, even to how much the average on the price of an anvil is is dependent on where you are at. Dam, smoke stack, and shop building are all dictated by your local building codes. I can tell you what they are in Dayton Oh. but i have no clue as to what they would be in Bug Tussle Missouri. I may also point out that even though i can tell you my local building codes, do not take my word for it even here. I am not a building inspector, city engineer, or planner. Go and get that information straight from the horses mouth so to say. Anyway, again welcome to the site. Make beautiful things and show them off. Have fun and stay safe doing it.

Roland Paladin of Charlemagne fell in battle against the Saracens in late 700's AD lodged his sword into the stone cliff face Rocamadour France. The sword was said to contain several Holy relics including a bit of Mary's robes, unbreakable, and always sharp. Legend says that before he died he treid breaking the sword against rocks to no avail. So he hurled it into the air where it flew, some accounts say 100s of miles, and lodged itself in the rock face. Where it has been resting for 1300 years. The sword was stolen just days ago. Ok, now enough with the myths and legends. The priest of the Church there has said this is the "umpteenth" replica that has disappeared. So no that sword has not been there for 1300 years. While it is a tourist attraction and pride of the town it is not Durendal. A loss for the town in any sense. Being as how we are blacksmiths and bladesmiths here, who also many seem to have a love of lore and history along with metal work i thought this may be a story of interest.