BillyBones

When i was stationed in TX. one of my freinds was a graffiti artist. He had a lot of pictures of park benches, walls, etc. that he had painted. What i thought was cool was that he was paid by the city of Los Angeles to do it. He would cover up gang or offensive graffiti. One of my daughters freinds tagged a billboard once. Took him about 3 hours to do becuase it was one of those that had the rotating slats so it would change ads every few seconds. He would paint a bit then have to wait for that side to come back around.

Already done, wish i would have known about the jet dry thing. I disassembled it, sprayed it down thoroughly, let it dry then a good coat of oil over the whole thing. Over the summer i obtained another post vice. I am thinking of retiring this one, well relocating it and not using as much, and start using the "new" one. The stationary jaw has been repaired though and it sits just a smidge above the movable jaw. I really bought becuase the screw box is in excellent condition.

There is also one in his belly so i would say... supper?

Well, not being a bladesmith guess what i did today, made a couple knives. A freind asked if i could make him a couple steak knives. I replied i can barely make a knife much less a serrated edge. So we decided on a 4 piece set of i guess dinner or table knives they would be called. 1095 with 1/8" brass pins and padauk wood handle. This the first one, #2 i had to re-epoxy one side of the handle. I glued the handle on before the pins and when i drilled the holes one side came a bit loose. Blade is ~8" and handle maybe 5 or so.

A bit of Widespread Panic:

I am no bladesmith so i am definitely no expert so this is an honest question, but shouldnt a seax have a flat blade with out a belly or up curve, what ever you call that part of the blade?

JHCC, thanks. I was actually thinking that it would be you or Frosty that would say "yeah do that" or " no do this instead".

I would do it the same way as the single jaw basically. Isolate an piece on the end that looks like an "H-" (with out the space between the "H" and the "-") kind of. Then usng the vise to clamp it, rather than use the jaw as the "anvil" put it in the same direction as the jaw and use 2 pieces of stock that are the size you want as the "anvil". Using a flatter and a fuller draw out the back two pieces. You will need to hit one side a couple times then the other or you will push the mid section over your "anvils". Once you get them drawn out split the end, draw out those to side, then make upset corners like doing a cooking fork to get the "T" shape on the end.

Yes, nice rack. may have to steal the idea. I kind of got lucky or pushed her but my daughter has the same reading tastes as i do. Which is mostly fantasy and horror/macabre. I did of course buy her the Harry Potter books becuase she was of that age when they came out. She still loves them and my granddaughter is named Luna after one of the characters. I read them with her, i actually found them, in my opinion, well written and quite enjoyable. They were kids books but not so dumbed down that an adult could not enjoy the story. So as far as what did i do in the shop today... anyone have any suggestions on cleaning up acid? I managed to spill a gallon of muriatic acid. My first thought was to dilute it with water until i remembered the big box of baking soda. That, and washed away with water took care of the larger portions. My problem is that it managed to also coat my post vice. My old, old vice that was my great grand dad's. Of course i covered it in copious amounts of baking powder then rinsed water. What i am concerned with id the spots that i could not get baking soda nor water into, the nooks an crannies. The screw box, around the screw box, the wedge and collar, etc. I would just take it off the bench and out side to the water hose, execpt it is winter and no hose available. I though about the shower, but i prefer not to face the wife's wrath over that. So what i was thinking is a spray bottle filled with a baking soda water mix that will get into all those places. Then when dry a good coat of oil. Or am i worrying to much?

Here i go showing my age again. When i was a kid i loved to read the Encyclopedia Brown mysteries and the chose your own adventure books. When i was kid my uncle also bought me a collection of books. One of those books was "Treasure Island". I got hooked on pirates and the swashbuckling tails, hence the screen name "Billy Bones". He is the pirate that gave Jim Hawkins the map to the treasure. When my daughter was young i would read to her, still to this day her favorite book is "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". Another book i got her was "Irish Fairy and Folktales" by W.B. Yeats which she wore out. I used to make it a point to buy her books for birthdyas and Christmas. But i always got her the classics. She has read may of the epic poems, Homer, Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Fionn MacCumhail, the stories of King Arthur (which of course led to watching Monty Python) She is also a big fan of Poe.

Depends on what kind of car it came off of. When i was still turning wrenches we made scrap runs with them. I have had 1 get over $800 for, while some will go for around $60 -$100, and some just scrap weight. Really though they do not fetch the prices they did years ago when the majority contained precious metals. TW, you can pick up after market cats now for around $80 or so. I know it is better to not spend the money at all but look around for prices so you do not get taken to the bank. Around here a lot of places want to replace the whole exhaust section and that , on my GMC truck for example, is around $1000 just for the part. They are not that difficult to replace either if want to do it yourself.

First i would like to say my way is not THE way, it is what works for me. Take what advice or suggestions you get and make them work for you. Geroge, $18!!!! good greif. I think the one i bought was around $5. Spot on about PPE. Get it, use it. Since winter has arrived i find myself working in long sleeves now. I do not know if it would be considered PPE but i now know why you see pics of the old time craftsmen wearing sleeve garters. The cuffs of my shirt get wrapped around my tongs when i turn them, caught on my vice handle, etc. I am constantly pushing them up. I am looking at them now like i would wearing ties, necklaces, long hair, etc. around machinery. I have met a couple smiths who wear wooden shoes. I myself prefer steel toed work boots, but i also wear those boots everywhere i go, even when i go to Mass. I honestly do not even know where my tennis shoes are at, if i still own a pair.

I have to admit i had to look up what "swarf" was. Me and most people i know just call them "chips", or "Hey you, get that broom and clean that ... up around the saw." was another i heard.

Instead of octopus how about an Appalachian Mud Squid?

Showing my age a bit here but when i started paying D&D dwarf, elf, and half orc were character classes, not races. But then i also started playing before Advanced D&D came out.

Merry Christmas

I have sold a few small bags of coal the past few weeks. $0.50 worth of coal in a brown paper sack... $5 a piece. I guess parents like to use it as a gag gift in stockings.

I would get a bigger bucket for the water than an ammo can. I use a 30gal. barrel for a slack tank. I got mine from the local transmission shop for free. Not only can you use it to cool your work and tools but if you have a fire, tipping it over can help. Which also brings me to ask where is your fire extinguisher? Get rid of that plastic bucket under your forge. You can pick up metal buckets from the local hardware store pretty cheap. Or if you can still find one, tar, paint, and grease used to come in 5gal metal buckets. Plastic and hot ash/coals do not mix well. Your water is fine for use until your start forging high carbon. If you go with a larger container such as the 30gal barrel, you will want to leave it in place and not refill it everytie you use it. If you do drop a piece of copper pipe or bar, what ever into it. The copper will keep algae and the like from growing. A bit of veg oil in the water will make a film on top that will keep mosquitos from breeding in it. It looks as if you also have a couple pavers of cinder brick under you anvil stand. Take this from my own experience, get rid of them. Eventually, and a lot sooner than you may think, the continued hammering on your anvil will cause them to break. You would be much better off with a couple pieces of 4x4 or 2x4 under it. Overall though i would say you are well on your way to getting a working smithy up and running. Just a few tweaks and lessons to learn but we were all there at one time in our journey. And still are, there is always something to learn. As my drill sgt. used to say, A day that you do not learn something is a wasted day.

when i read the title i thought why would you give small peices of metal? Using coupon as the term that we use for the small test piece for heat treating and such. Which got me thinking, you could quickly do some texturing/chamfering, cold even, on a few pieces of flat bar. Then if you have letter/number stamps use those for your coupons. Or you could engrave them with a dremal or some such tool. I make stuff for Christmas all year. I actually do not make anything specifically for Christmas but use it as a reason to purge all the stuff i have lying about.

That 3rd pic took me a minute to try and figure out the stairs, then i realized it was a mirror. Not real fancy nor elegant, actually pretty simple but i made one of the hangers for my dad's gun rack. There will be 2, one for each side. What is different is that this is only the 2nd time i have ever worked with wrought iron successfully. Quite a learning curve. Still need to drill the holes but the forging is done. And yes i did think about punching but i do not want to push my luck.

When i was stationed in Texas one of my freinds was from San Antonio, we would go there to visit his girl and his parents. His dad played in a Tejano band. His mom would always send us back with a couple brown paper grocery bags plum full of tamales. They were so good. She is also the one that gave me my first bowl of menudo.

Rojo, when i do ladles i use bright nails for rivets. They work quite dandy. However i do not do much with copper at all though so i am sure a copper rivet would look much better on that. Shainarue, that far away i cant blame you. I forget at times that the amenities here differ from other parts of the country and i have a Menards about 5 mins away from my house.

I been looking for one but my freind had a bumper sticker on his truck that said "Yes i own a truck, no will not help you move".

Living in the states i have never encountered a jar of jam that i could not get a teaspoon in. We mostly use a Mason jar and they are pretty wide. David, been there done that. I have a scare on my finger from when i was cutting wax for my ex-wife's candle making period and had to get 5 stitches in it, Feel for ya brother. Mothman, Like that bracelet. To me it does not look Celtic but more later like Saxon/Danish time. Shainarue, send in those rebates from Menards. Buying a house means many trips to the local home improvement store. Menards while being affordable also give that rebate. Then use those rebates to put more money into your new home. It is definitely worth it becuase their prices are not much different than any of the big box stores to start with. Many times even cheaper.

That is really cool and i have decided i will steal this idea from you.