Pault17

Yeah, Hops have roots Cool idea Mr. Smith. Thanks

Great first shot Dave. if they hold metal securely, they work. My very first pair was modeled after Glen's Son's blueprint. simple, straight forward and (in my case) BUGLY. but they hold very solidly and always have. I still use them for certain applications keep it up

Mark, Yeah. I will be there all day the first friday, half saturday, all tuesday and half wednesday. we setup the shop on the first

I am a residential home inspector by day, and a few weeks ago I met a client that did 3-d animation. Because so many of the smiths I know in the NCABANA chapter I am a member in are IT professionals, any time I meet someone in the IT field, I ask them if they are interested in blacksmithing. Well this time his wife looked at me and said "it's your!!!" she then proceeded to show me pictures taken at the state fair last year of the blacksmiths and the store. amazing, to say the least. Well the really cool thing was that the husband does 3-d and said to check their site out. http://www.breakiron.com/ pt

Thomas, I wish I lived closer. you'd have to kick me out.

Most definitely congratulations ("tink, tink, tink" on the anvil for you).

Thomas, (head slap) "why didn't I think of that!!". thanks for the great idea. I could probably even slip that on past my loving wife. thanks

I put a drum, with a bunch of 1/2 inch holes all around the bottom, on top of several cinder blocks and surrounded with dirt to make it air tite, leaving a block opening at one side (of a circle??) I was lucky and got one that had a removeable lid with a big bung-hole. I build a small fire in teh bottom and put in cut-offs from local construction sites and cut up pallets that can be had for free just about anywhere. The cutoffs are pine and the pallets range from poplar to oak, so my charcoal is sporadic. anyhoo, I get a big fire going and keep piling wood in until the wood is sticking up above the top of the drum. once the wood has burned below the top of the drum, I put the lid on it and put a few bricks on to make sure it doesn't blow off. I then block up and cover with dirt the opening at the bottom. This makes a solid stream of smoke come out the bung hole. This smoke is almost thick enough to cut. Well, the trick I read about was to light this smoke on fire - it will burn like a blow torch for a few minutes. once this fire goes out. I cap the bung hole and leave it for a day/24 hours. over the course of a week, I generated about 75 gallons (volume) of charcoal. I went through 7 pallets and who knows how many 2x4 blocks. very little ash and only one mistake drum. I will tell you to make completely sure that there are no live coals or the whole drum will go to ash in very short order. Now all I have to do is build a forge that will burn it so's I can try it out

I appreciate this info too. I have just completed a little double bellows whose stream of air can be felt across a two-car garage. I have already welded up a brake drum forge tuyere with dump, but haven't clayed it in as yet. I also have 1 1/2 55 gallon drums full of "pallet charcoal" waiting to be used. my next plans are to build a Lively-style tub forge. My only beef at this point is the hassle of moving all of the stuff out into the back yard to light up and bang. I don't have any kind of shed or shop, and currenly just work with my freon tank forge in the garage. I built the bellows specifically for charcoal, figuring it didn't need as much air. I will put up pics soon, but, regretably did not take many during construction (over a 1 year period)

At the NCABANA triangle chapter, the big anvil we use for the state fair was just resurfaced a few years back. I asked the smith that did the work (been doing it more decades than I am alive, and very successfully) what he used, i.e. hard-face? He said that hardfacing is not the greatest for anvil resurfaceing as it is too brittle. He said that he used a 70100 or 70120 rod and basket weaved the surface (base run lenght-wise on the anvil, second run side to side, etc) then ground and milled the thing flat. for the past two years it has been used at the fair with no noticeable signs of wear. biggest thing is pre-heating the mass of metal to prevent warping or cracking. at least that was what I remember him saying.

Thomas and Gerald (and everybody else too), My 15 year-old daughter was reading one of the Laura Ingals-Wilder books (long series of Little house on the prarie books) and she came up with a recipie of 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar to 1 qt of water with a few tsp's of sugar to cut the youza effect, along with a tsp of ginger powder. I was recently up in the attic for a few hours working on my heat pump - ended up re-running all of the thermostat wire, a major pita. the attic temp was above 150 the whole time. I sweated a bunch. But even being as hot as I was, I could and did drink more than half a gallon of this stuff, refigerator cold, with no cramping and no heat related problems. once you get used to the taste, it ain't bad. and somewhere I read that drinking bits of vinegar is good for the system. Oh, and sponging vinegar onto a sunburn almost immediately takes the pain away for a good long while

Sam, I love Gemmel too!! just finished listening to Druss the legend, again. How has your work on snaga been coming?

Basher, the blade design looks very balanced and usefull. you definitely managed "the flow of the steel". thanks for sharing

Awesome. I like the blade shape, the integral-ness of it all and the handle. I have a friend who would love something like this. I iwll have to give it a try. thanks for the knot-tying video link too. that is my kind of learnin'... watch it while doing it

Man-o-man but that sounds like an envious deal. like Bentiron said, all of us started making small things. it is amazing that people will watch you make a simple drive hook and suddenly they just have to buy it. not from the bunch on the counter, but the one you just made. I would give quite a lot to be able to work in a shop that is already there and supplied.

I appreciate this. For some reason, I was actually cognizant enough to follow and understand.

Last fall, I had the privelege of working at the NC state fair. one of the things I did (and actually finished at the fair) was this. The idea was two birds (his and hers) nestling together forming a heart, with him sheltering her. My friend said that his daughter and son-in-law keep it displayed for all to see. The bodies started as 3/4 round with 1/4 legs bedded in a chunk of broken countertop. the tails are flattened and curled. This was my first piece of intentional "artwork"

I can remember this really dumb kid taking an aluminum arrow, filling it with black powder, capping it with a .38 shell that had the bullet pulled, that was capped with a roofing nail in a cork, and shooting it at a dumpster. blew a fist sized hole through the dumpster. bo and luke lookout! didn't do it a second time. very scary.

I'm not advanced enough in age to be considered wise, yet, but I too am a ditch digger for splinters. I regularly was digging them out with my utility knife. My wife used to (probably still does) think I was a nut for that, but it works. My hands now look like I rassle angry kittens for a hobby. Oh, and Thomas, I too use the REM idea for metal splinters in the eye. been there, pulled that. As much as I love the use of safety glasses, ALL of the times I went to the ER for removal of splinters in the eyeball, was a result of the sawdust swirling around behind the glasses. I tried goggles but they just fog up.

Only a few years back, I was taking a "stick 101" welding class in the eveningsat the local community college, and found out that they had closed the machine shop to make room for a new cosmetology course. way sad state of affairs. I managed to picks up a bund of mill and bastard files, along with a bench of Hex stock in various sizes

Lyle, that is some enviable stuff - both the end products and the time spent learning. I was just looking through the second link for pictures (you catching up) and found that if you have a fast enough connection you can tap through each picture and almost make it a movie; kinda like when I used to draw little balls or stick people on the corners of my school text books and flip through the pages. thanks again. paul

nice hangers Curley. you could make 'em "lockable" by drilling a hole through the face of the front of the hook and tap a hole through the back of the hanger. then use a long allen-headed machine screw and the long-arm woun't come free. not as secure as a lockable safe, but enough to prevent small hands from playing hanger.bmp

Paul is reading a bedtime story to our boys. I am his curious wife and sometimes blacksmithing assistant. I love your towel holder, it is gorgeous! -Margie

I would have to wholly agree with maddog on the technique comment. I watched one of Mr. Brazeal's "one-heat" videos and saw that technique in motion. I started trying it out was was able to forge a nice looking RR spike knife/letter opener with a forged-in clip point and only minor filing to put a edge on it. The handle was a good 4.5 inches with a 5.5 inch blade of even thickness. Mind you, I did all of this in less than an hour while my brother and his son stood and watched. My brother is now in the process of building the gas forge he has been talking about because his son wants to do this stuff. Sorry for my long-windedness, but the point is the technique really works, if you don't have access to a power hammer paul Oh, and I will have to borrow your idea with a little change here and there. thanks

Ian, I see you figured away to get the ridges in. looks great. nice idea on the twisting as well