BillyBones

Frosty, sage words of advice there. "if my dog dont trust you, i dont trust you." Good move on the photos thing. I also believe that even if all seems on the up and up, do not go alone, make it some place public during the day, and my personal preference is a 1911 .45 with me.

You still have dumps? They closed up all the ones around here. The trash company takes everything, and i do mean everything. You can put just about anything in the trash here. Couches, beds, engine blocks, dead animals, anything. I would bet they are like the east coast trash companies, "family" owned.

Quite an interesting read. I like the 21,500 miles on a set of tires.

Nice little skinner. What materials did you use?

That is a right cool paper weight, looks like a nautilus shell. Not a blackberry fight but along those lines. When we were kids we would pick the small green apples of the tree and throw them at each other. Know how bad it stings getting it with a little green apple. One year papa wooped us good, he had planted peach trees and the first year they got fruit on them...yup, just like apples. We pick every little green peach off and hurled them at each other.

That is pretty cool.

My ex-wife's parents used to do cowboy re-enactments. My father in law loved it. Out riding horses and shooting their guns yeehawin and a yahooin and the like. My mother in law hated it. lugging water, starting a fire, makin butter, cooking and washing dishes next to an open fire when it is 90* in a long dress with long sleeves and a bonnet on. As a side note my father in law had some really nice guns. If Clint Eastwood had a gun in a western he had one or at least a replica. I had no clue that they used inflatable tires in 1911. I am assuming that puncture proof means they are inflatable. Frosty, i think i have seen that photo you speak of. That's pretty cool to be related to one of them guys.

I am imagining something like that throne from that show "Game of Thrones". I would find a pick but i am not sure about copyrights and such on it.

He is wearing a leather apron. Back in the day people did not own as many clothes as they do today, that could have very well been the only pair of britches he owned and the apron is to keep from burning them. The shirt is billowy to allow air to flow around and through, helps keep you a little cooler. And of course no proper man would be with out a hat, even if he does not have a bald spot. One thing that amazes me about folks at the turn of the century is the clothes they wore. I have old family photos of men in long wool pants, long sleeve shirts, and wool jackets in the summer. Yes days like the past few have been a proper man did not go out with out being properly dressed. Now a days its too hot for people to be inside in the AC in just a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

My old lady got the grandkids these "insect repellent" bracelets. I keep telling her she bought them flea collars. (".." gives a clue as to there effectiveness)

Window weights, you can throw them at a burglar, use singarly or tie a few together for workout equipment, deadfall booby trap again for intruders, throw at small to medium sized game, build a catapult and lay siege of your neighbors house, tie 2 together and go Bruce Lee with some iron nunchuku, hang from a hoop and make wind chimes. just a coupe ideas off the top of my head. (just to be clear, that is my sad attempt at humor)

Tongs are not to difficult to make once you get the hang of it. That is the first set i have ever bought. All the others i made. My biggest problem is with making the reign side of the boss, i always want to flip them to the right rather than the left. Tooling around here is crazy expensive and half the time the seller does not even know what it is. Just that it is old and must be valuable. So it boils down to "need a tool, make a tool."

That top hammer we have a slang term for that is not family friendly. They are used for auto body work. Snap-on wants $80 for one.

Another miserable hot day today so i decided to go to the flea market. Aint been there in years. Not much to be had, oh of course they had the NASCAR stuff and some candles, one guy selling honey had a tank full of bee's. Well i could not make a 30 min drive and leave empty handed. Found an old guy that had a pretty beat up small raw hide mallet, but even for a buck a passed on it then i found these. $3 for hammer eye tongs, even though beat up a bit and the reigns bent, easily fixed in a nice hot fire, well they followed me home. I asked about any other tooling and he said it was getting plain old hard to find and expensive. 2 hot cut hardies went for over a $100 at auction he said.

Got to love these mid west summers.

Ceaser's Creek is about a 20 min drive from my house. I have not been there nor Turtle Creek in years. There used to be an Amish flea market across the road from Ceaser's creek, that was the place to buy tools at. I remember i got a 32 oz balpeen for $2 i think. Interesting little tid bit, the Ceaser from Ceasers Creek, the lake, flea market, town, and stream are named after was a run away slave. If memory serves correct he fought alongside of Blue Jacket.

Finished a set of tongs i started about 2 months ago. Made a steak flipper and my first cross. Cross started as a piece of 1/2 round, squared, slit, and formed...mouse approved.

May i too offer prayers and condolences. I know loss is hard but i like to believe there is a greater plan and it is all for a reason. I am also fond of the history of things. It holds a story. My post vice was my great grandfathers, i remember my granddad using it in the barn, then my dad in the garage, and now has a home in my shop. I hope that one day my grandson will use it. Before i started smithing i just looked at it as an old vice. No idea what it was worth. That was when it was in my dads garage. He asked me one day if i wanted it. I almost said no and he would have scrapped it. However knowing it was in the family so long and the memories of me and my papa working together with it i said yes. So glad i did now, at least i can teach my grandson its value.

Very nice work.

I was stationed at Ft. Hood for a couple years and it was hot. But the humidity was not near as bad. Then we had to go out to Ft. Irwin in the Mojave for a month out of the year for desert training. I remember one evening standing around before formation, nice summer evening, when the Capt. had us fall in he asked if any of us knew the temp. It blew my mind when he said 114*. I would have guessed upper 80's. I think it has peaked today at 95*, no idea what the heat index is but i would guess 105*

The sand box is pretty easy to build. I am sure you will find one in the "show me your anvil satnd thread". Mine is more of a pedestal, 4, 4x4's with 2x4's ringing the top and bottom. It is narrow but i have a concrete floor and it is solidly anchored with angle iron and concrete anchors. I used turn buckles and angle iron to hold down the anvil. When i hit it it is a dull thud. John at Black bear forge did a video on tying down the anvil to reduce ring. Quite the informative video. Anyway i am envious of the new anvil, nice score. It is cool to say it was grandpa's anvil, but saying grandma's anvil is even better.

I just use the walls. I like the chalk boards though pretty cool.

Going to be a scorcher Friday. I think here it is supposed to be 93 and of course humid.

It has been a long time since i lived somewheres you could run into a bear. The one and only time i have ever been bear hunting was when one of our dogs got tore up pretty bad from one. The dog was a huge Norwegian Elkhound so it werent no cub we were looking for. Never did find it.

I loves me some spiders also. We got mostly red tails here and rarely you will see an Eagle. Lots and lots of turkey however. We also got a good sized population of owls. I am really fond of the barn owls and barred owls though. Just about any given summer night i can sit outside and here them hootin in the distance. Interesting story: I was driving to work one day and there was a hawk on the side of the road eating his dinner. I got that feeling that said he was going to jump out in front of me. And he did. He flew in front of my windsheild of my truck, between the windshield and antenna. He had to turn and i could see every spot and could have counted the feathers. Dragonflies are the only creature other than humans that can anticipate where their prey will be and take up a flight path to intercept. They can see 360*. They can fly in any direction up, down, sideways, and diagonally and hover. Some dragonfly larva can get big enough to eat small frogs. They stay in the larva stage for 5 years and the adult stage for a single season. Truly an amazing creature. Well the old lady just came in and told me wind just about ripped my barn door off, gotta go fix it.