BillyBones

I have heard them called binding screws or rivet screws. Most hardware stores sell them, at least here in the states they do. Different things for pins? Experiment. Use steel, brass, copper, plastic whatever you fancy. Stainless steel tube for lanyard eye or filled with epoxy and colored pieces makes nice mosaics. A pin is but a straight piece going through the handle to provide mechanical connection. Material can be any shape, size, color or material, (providing it is strong enough) that you desire. Since you are also new, welcome aboard. I highly suggest you go to the general discussion section and then to the "READ THIS FIRST" post and read it. Lots of helpful tips on navigating the site and how to stay off the mods radar. Fill out the header, let us know where you are from. Just a general location is fine. May be surprised how many of us live close to you and would be willing to help you out on your journey into blades and bladesmithing. Also there are smiths here from over 150 countires. If i knew you were in the states i would tell you to call the local Ace hardware, mine carries those screws. Anyway again, welcome aboard stay safe and keep it fun.

Nodebt, if your journey east takes you through Ohio, like the I-70 route, there is an old quarry here that has been turned into a park. People come from all over the world to hunt fossils in the park. Oaks quarry is the name of the park. No sharks teeth though. The fossils here predate sharks by a year or 2. Most are like those trilobyte things or tube worms and the like. Some really rare and valuable fossils have been found here though. We also have loads and loads off flint, it is the states gemstone even. I found what i called a nautilus shell but was corrected and cant remember what it is called now, in a load of driveway gravel. I-70 is about a 5 min (10 mins to the 70/75 junction) drive from that park, so it would be a nice stop just to do some leg stretchin, walk the dog and maybe find something interesting.

Aco. 3/8 cav. 1st cav. Also did some time in the 3rd ID. If your ever near Dayton with some time to kill hit me up.

Yes, yes they can. Look up friction folders. There are some that are upwards of 2' long folded. That forged in fire show had an episode of the contestants making them. If i recall correctly they said they were of French design. I am not a blade guru so i cant say for sure. But the ones they made were more like folding swords. But really i would say that you can make any style folder as big or as small as your hearts desire.

Paul, i have a friend who is a bowyer. He is the one who made my long bow. Hickory with a bamboo backing. He traded me the bow for a tomahawk. I tried to make one but it ended up in about 3 pieces the first time i attempted to bend it. As far as archery goes, the only danger i am to anything is to bystanders. I cant hit the broad side of the barn on a sunny day at 10 paces myself. He also uses a drawknife i made for him to make his bows. Which led to some work for some local craftsmen who do traditional wood working. Making them drawknives and small carving chisels. i guess that is what they are called, used by hand not hit with a hammer. (Any carpenters out there please correct my terminology if i am wrong)

DennisCA, look up hearth bird roasters. Birds were hung on a rack vertically next to the fire to cook. The rack was big enough to hold 3 or 4 birds at the same time with a drip pan underneath to catch all the juicy goodness. These racks were made by blacksmiths and can be quite simple to very fancy. Could be something fun to try in the shop.

I would say no on the door/window screen. That stuff is pretty light weight and, at least in this area, almost near impossible to find in metal now a days. Wire cloth may work if you can find it small enough, but that is fairly stiff and would have to be done in bi-fold panels for ease of movement. If you look at fireplace screen it is actually more like chain link fence than screen. As a matter a fact i had a house that the fire place screen was a bunch of small chains. So you could make your own. Make some long spirals with wire then start one end of one into another and "screw" them together, then flatten when you have the desired size. Or you could make chain mail. Both would be incredibly tedious though. Just a quick look at that retail internet site named after the river in S. America show they have it for $50. So would it be more cost efficient to make it or buy it? Kind of like hammer handles. I can spend half a day making one, 4 hours at $20 an hour comes to $80 just in labor, or go buy one for $10. You can also start scrounging the scrap yard for old fireplace screens or give some folks doing remodeling a call and ask if they have any they are replacing. While on the phone with those folks you can also let them know you are making the screens and mantles and ask if they would be interested in seeing your work.

There is a circular indentation around the edge of the rivet end. I would guess some sort of rivet header was used. Maybe one with a square tenon to fit the square hole to keep from deforming it when struck and to be used as a handle to free the rivet so it spins?

Any one remember that show on PBS called "The Woodwright's Shop" ? From what i gather it is still being filmed and and episode i just watched was with Peter Ross making a lock from the 1600's found in colonial Jamestown (? i could be wrong about the town) Anywho it is available on the you tube thing (dont know if it is frowned upon to link so...) It was pretty cool to watch, Peter Ross is in a few episodes of that show, worth watching. Not too in-depth but just fun and historical.

Chad 2 questions, what is the blue stuff for that handle? And, does antler hurt as bad as a lego found in the wee morning hours on the way to the bathroom? My mom used to have this cat that would leave small squishy "gifts" in the floor at night. She would do it at least 3 or 4 times a week in the exact spot my dad was going to step. I cant count how many times i heard my dad cussin on his way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Na, i pretty much try and avoid Chicago. (rimshot)

I got a big blob of bacon grease in mine. As with all things bacon can only make it better.

JHCC, yes please what do the runes say? The ones i know dont seem to work. I get "KIKKELS SUIRT". But there are many many different styles of runes so i am provably using the wrong translation. Nice sword though. So a little research i found the word "Kikkeli" in Finnish, i can not give a translation for fear of being banned, lets just say men have one. So i am pretty sure that is off, i do not think you would put that on a friends blade.

twice now before the coffee kicked in i have read that as "codpiece", gives a whole different perspective there.

Pat, get some pieces of steel 6 or 8 inches long 1/2" maybe 5/8" round or so bend into "U" shapes. Those can be put into that vice and used for turning forks. The closer or further apart the "tines" of the "U" the different size stock you can use them on. A welder, 2 pieces of angle iron, a couple inches of 1/2" square bar, and a handful of 1/2" drive sockets and you can easily make an adjustable bending jig for your vice also. Deimos, no idea what that is but by gum does it look tasty. Chimera, Your punch holder looks alright and is quite functional so i would call it a success. Yesterday i emptied the garbage can in the shop.

Alexandr, thanks for the pics. You have a good eye for getting the wood and iron to compliment each other.

Alexandr, you are a true artist in your craft. That lamp is just... wow. I like that a lot. That clock does however get some ideas floating around in my head that i may be tempted to try.

Finally arrived. So of course i had to try it out. That is a slice off of a piece of railroad track with it. Now to find things to cut. There is a piece of metal welded to the other side of the slice of track if it looks weird.

How do we have this discussion with out politics? Coal, NG, etc. are huge political issues at this time. Anyway here goes. One of the problems with availability is developing nations. 80% +/- of coal usage is in the US, Russia, and Asia. Of that almost 70% is in China alone. China has been building coal fire power plants for a few years now and has drastically increased their consumption of coal. China is not as coal rich as the US so a lot of our coal is exported to China and various other developing nations. Industrial use of coal has almost doubled since 2000 and is forecasted to keep increasing until 2040. One other solution could be manure. Oh, yeah the fresh smell of burning poo in the morning, smells like...exactly what you would think it smells like.

Thomas, i only had to do it once but we dug it 3x6x6. When i was about 13 i had an aunt that passed. The family was to poor to hire a grave digger so we did it ourselves. I completely missed the part about the mouse hole. I also have one. Mine is 153# or t least stamped 1-1-13, so it is provably a little less after 170 years. Still has better than 90% rebound. A few nicks and dings on the face but only a couple small spots chipped off the edges.

Thanks for the sympathy ya'll. I had no idea about the BLO and heavy metals. It is on now though so no going back. I could switch up with the next coats though. Kind of amazed that in this day and age they would still make wood finishes that have heavy metals in them. I was thinking maybe a lite polyurethane coat. Just enough so that it is shiny in spots but dull in others so it kind of looks worn. The wife wants the rustic paint peeling worn look to them. That pic was taken not long after i applied the BLO and you can still see some wet spots, that is what i am kind of going after. Figured out my welding problem also i think. Amperage too low. I was running at the lower side of advised amps so i turned it up towards the higher and the welds are much better.

I like wrapping chicken livers in bacon then cooking them under the broiler.

I know goette. For yall that dont it is pronounced "get-a" short "a" sort like "get a job" or " get a that nasty stuff off a my plate." I love me some liver an onions. When i was about 4 or 5 years old me and my parents went out to eat. The waitress asked me what i wanted and i said liver and onions. I guess form what my mom said she gave me the weirdest look and looked at my mom who said that is what he wants. Yes even as a kid i liked liver and onions. My daughters will not eat stuffing at Thanksgiving after that discovered that i cut up the heart, liver, gizzard and the neck to put into the stuffing. They loved it till they watched me make it.

DHarris, i did the same thing you have done. Took that stimulus and invested it. I was also thinking new Fontanini, but the 460#. Great minds think alike.

The wife's cat had to be put down yesterday. She was taken by cancer. 9 years old. She was originally my granddaughters cat. Found her in a bush in a wallyworld parking lot in North Carolina. My granddaughters dad had to tear out half a wall in his house to rescue her when they moved here to Ohio. That was when she came to live with us. Spent the better part of her 9 years with us. Now she is buried out back by the barn next to my dog...a couple barn cats, a possum and a raccoon. Anyway this is Arin. She was one of those small compact cats. Not big but weighed a lot.