BillyBones

When i am at work at night i will go out for a smoke. You can hear the coyotes howling in the distance. Seems there are a lot more now than there used to be. 20 years ago if you would have told me they were in Ohio i would have called you full of it. Now they are everywhere and have become a nuisance for livestock. First time i ever saw one was when i was at NTC, Ft. Irwin Cali, one evening one of them came trotting through where we had our pup tents set up. That was about the same time i almost stepped on a sidewinder getting out of a truck. One day i was tasked with clearing a space to park the tank. So out i got with my entrenching tool and started whacking away at the brush and stuff. My Lt. comes by and about flipped out. I was in the process of whacking down Joshua trees. They did tell me not do it before we got there but just like the Army they failed to show me what a Joshua tree looked like.

We used to roll up strips of newspaper, tie a string in the middle and soak in paraffin to make fire starters when i was a boy scout. They worked well and small enough to keep one in your pocket if needed.

Nice rose. When i was living in Denham Springs we got a couple inches of snow one morning, the owner of the AAMCO i worked at called us at told us to take the day off for the snow. This was after we had already got there, got the shop opened up and had started working. However, what made me laugh was the semi trailer that a guy was selling snowmobiles out of. 3 maybe 4" of snow that melted and was gone before noon. A balmy 14* here this AM, going to get up to a whopping 30*. More of a does not than a don't : 4 wheel drive does not mean you can drive like it is still summer. Still nothing done in the shop. I just cant shake this flu bug. Did get a test, negative, so my doctor says it is just a "flu", been out of work for a week now. I am about to go crazy from the boredom. At least i get plenty of 1970's kung-fu movies and bad sci-fi though.

Submersion heaters are what those are called that go into a water trough or a solvent tank. The solvent does not freeze but you ever wash transmission parts in 20* F solvent you would know why we warmed it with one. Living in Ohio and having to get into a crawl space to insulate pipes or wrap with one of those heater cords, having to prop open the crawl space and aim a torpedo heater under the house ( making the whole house smell like diesel exhaust), laying on my back with a cold drip of water fixing a broken pipe in said crawl space. I swore many years ago any house i own will have a basement.

About "memory metal". Pretty neat stuff can be deformed into just about any shape then when heat or electricity is applied it will return to its original shape. I know this is no surprise to the more sciencey folk but i thought it pretty cool. NASA is supposed to be using it for the wheels on the next Mars rover from what i understand. Could be kind of fun maybe to slip into some ones stock pile. Bang out a nice scroll then when reheated returns to original shape. ( that is meant in jest, i am pretty sure it would not work like that)

And the French and Indian war. Been around for a while now. I am blaming my mistake on the flu. Fever, tired, a bit dehydrated... yeah thats it. Anyway, as a soldier i have to ask, What does Marine stand for? Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Essential. ( got to rib y'all a little bit, much respect to the Marines)

Welcome aboard from Fairborn. Nice to see another Buckeye here. If you are in the AO give us a holler.

BGD, i do not know if it is still around but that suggestion thing was still around 10 years ago. They did not pay a percentage but a lump sum. A kid in an armor unit got a check for $15K for a simple piece of sheet metal. It would have 1 bolt hole that would attach it to the ceiling in the turret of a tank in a threaded lug that is already there. It is over top of the coax machine gun. The metal was bent over to make a sort of ">" shape. Its purpose to close the feed tray of the coax so that it did not get smashed on the top of the turret when the main gun was max depressed. I never had a doubt in my mind that i would join the Army. Just about every direct male descendent i have was a soldier going back to when my family first arrived in what was to become the United States of America. Even when i was a wee lad when asked what i was going to be when i grew up i said a soldier. Duty to God, country and family was very much ingrained into my psyche. One of the reason i am kind of put off by the "Thank you for your service" thing. Not that i do not appreciate it but i was just doing my duty, it was my honor to serve and to wear the uniform, to be accepted into the brotherhood of so many great men who came before me. Did nothing in the shop all weekend, been down with the flu.

JHCC, your cousin is a man to be admired.

JHCC, my dad was an engineer also. He used to tell me that the engineers were the first on a battle field. I looked at him kind of funny the first time he said it and his reply was "Do you think those tank positions built themselves?" Now i took that with a grain of salt from him, he being an engineer and all, but i will say everywhere i went in the ME was a ready made berm to get my tank into. Now, i would think that an invasion like Normandy would be a bit different. Kind of hard to land a battalion of engineers to do all that work with out drawing undo attention. However the German engineers would have been there and gone long before we came and ruined their day. So i guess there is a speck of truth there. Just have to look at the other side of the coin i suppose.

Chelonian, i like that. So here is my offering. A swivel hook. The bottom hook is much more round than the pic, and i wish i would have made a bit smaller. The shoulder on the top hook is the 1/2 square bar i started with. I have plenty of tongs and can make my own when need be, so please pass them on to someone who needs them.

Frazer, i would extend that to a month i think. It took almost 2 weeks for 3 of us to try JLP's poker challenge. Anyway off to the shop to get the creative juices flowing.

Thomas, would a "shot hole" be the hole they drill for the explosives? That is what i assume, but we all knows what happens when you assume.

When i was stationed in Texas my gunner was from Oklahoma. He talked me into coming with him to the family ranch to ride a bull. It is provably lucky for me that my pass was denied and i did not get to do it.

I did know you were doing that, just couldnt quite figure out what the bowling ball was for. My only experience with it was in grade school and i think we used wet newspaper under the metal. My mom has a portrait of her and my aunt done in copper that was made when they were young in the Philippines. I did not however know what the difference was between chasing and repousse. Thank you, and to believe it only took 2 years to get into the jumbled disarray it is in. If i were to replace some of those broken window panes it might cut down on the wind and snow coming in. It is one of those old 1950's garages that are barely big enough for a car much less my truck. So i use the garage for the shop and my barn to park in.

I get my tanks refilled, no exchange. JHCC, i really wish i knew what was going on with that bowling ball and all. Made a swivel hooky thing for my chain today.

Well, that did not take long. Here is the newest member of the clan. 42 cats in the barn and what does the wife do? Brings home a rescue. She brought him home about 2 weeks ago. He promptly found the basement and if it had not been for the cat food disappearing i would have thought he ran off. Well night before last e finelly decided he wanted to live up stairs. His name is Malone.

Welcome aboard. If you have not done so please go to the thread titled "READ THIS FIRST" and read it. It will give tips on the do's and dont's of the forum. Another thing that is encouraged is to put your general location in your header. Nothing specific. There are smiths here from all over the world and many may be close to you and willing to help. Another is for questions just like yours. The laws where i live will very from where others live. What my locality says is legal is different than what yours may be. Without knowing where you are or what the local laws are my best advice is to brush up on local laws and ordnances then go to the council and show that it is not a commercial operation. You may also want to brush up on building codes and show that it is all within the local codes. You may also want to let the neighbors know they are welcome to come and visit so they can see what you are doing and maybe even want to learn themselves. When they see it for themselves it may eliminate any worries they have over your activities. Anyway again welcome aboard, have fun and stay safe.

Possible, it was 20* F or so out yesterday.

After i finally got a drop tong weld and some belly fillin made me a rivet bottom tool. made from the piece of sway bar next to it. Was going good and then i noticed the crack... probably still work but after working down that much material kind of a bummer.

IT STUCK! yay. Pretty happy about that. 1st try to. Ya, ok it is a little off center but for my first time i will take it. Here is another refined a bit more. Yes that is ice, 21* F today.

Das, i do not know how long your chimney lasted but you may want to stash that extra pipe away somewhere for future use. She went with the satin nickel aye? Mine went with the antique bronze stuff.

Coal forge. My scrarf, i will get a pic, but is just a "regular" old scarf, kind of hooky looking. Like two cupped hands meeting at the heel of the hand, fingers on the wrist is the best way i can describe one i guess. I have already put a visit to your school on my bucket list.

Thomas, it is not the basket i am having trouble with it is the drop tong weld to attach the basket to the handle i am having a problem with. I have more of a problem with welding to much of the basket rather than the weld failing, the parts i do not want welded i have had to break apart when untwisting a couple times. I did think about using the block i have for setting on the forge to do the weld, but i figured by that time with my luck when i dropped the tongs they would land on the forge, the roll into the fire or something stupid like that. I am going with the moon was in the wrong phase and Jupiter in the first house for the reason of my failure.

I stopped after my 8th or so try. I could get them to stick in the fire but could not get them to stick on the anvil. I even tried sticking them together in the fire and then to the anvil and just knocked them apart. Think i will finish this one with a wire wrapped to hold them together, then weld wire and everything together. Same way i used to weld on reigns for tongs.