Shabumi

Everything looks wonderful. This is the kind of work I wanted to do when I got started. You've provided even more inspiration for me. I've been working on the basics to get a clean look before I try larger projects like a gate or fence. But I might try a free standing vine support like the one in the third picture so I can feel I've accomplished something more than a hook or bottle opener. Thank you for sharing.

Very nice. Simple, elegant, off just enough that your eyes don't see past/through it, and I like the way the white contrasts the plantings while still being complemented by the verigated plant in the corner.

We had alot of roses that were neglected by my great Aunt. They all had died back to the root stuck, so we had to remove all but a few. I'm not complaining too much, pruning roses is about as much fun as clearing briars. Now we try to keep our plantings as care free as possible. The garden should be enjoyable. The garden looks wonderful. I love the archway. Is it the angle of the photo, or is it designed to be off center?

Thank you Alexandr, it's still a work in progress. Those photos were of this summer, here's the disarray it's in now. Quick gardening tip: if you design the garden to look good in your harshest season, it'll look great the rest of the year. For us it's winter, so we use conifers as the backbone as they look great through our winters. Another tip is repetition is key. Shape, color, texture and height. You can see that with the conifers. Most have the same "sharp" texture in blue and dark green, but are different shapes. Others are the same shape, but have a "flowing" texture to them. We plant grasses and daylillies around the conifers to add contrasting textures with their light airy-ness and pops of color. Mix in some barberries to get some bold reds and yellows through the summer, maples for autumnal color, and you have a garden that has year round interest. I think this tip would translate over to forging gates and fences well too.

I agree with Frosty about the doxies, we have a pack of mini doxies and 2 Dobermans and I would rather try to get past the 2 Dobermans than the pack of dachshunds. They're little dogs with a big dogs teeth, we call them fluffy alligators

Haha, "light frost". I wish we would have frost like that. That reminds me of how it used to snow around here when I was a kid. Now were lucky to get any snow during the winter. We do get some nice inversion layers where the clouds sink into the valleys My favorite times are in the spring and early summer when the gardens are in full bloom

I'll pass on the complements. I'm sure he'll be delighted to hear them.

Had the nephew up to visit, and asked if he wanted to make an ornament. As he is only 8 years old I decided to skip the hot metal part, so I pulled out some 16ga sheet, cut a tree out and filed it so it wasn't sharp. The rest was all him. He asked a few questions on how to curve it and make the lights, but once I told him how to use light taps at the step in front of the horn and how to use a center punch, he did it himself. He colored it on both sides with sharpies and then it was clear coated. Had a bit of color bleed with the clear coat, it was fine when we sprayed, but as it dried the trunk had bled up the tree and the green settled into the low spots. Good teaching moment for the nephew. Just because it didn't go how you wanted, it doesn't mean it's a bad thing. His mom reaffirmed it when he showed off his handy work and she mentioned how realistic the trunk looked with the "branches"

In one sense, the art of blacksmithing and the craft of blacksmithing are one and the same. In another, you need the craft to create the art. Even if your first brush strokes on a canvas are called art, you still used the craft to create the art. Then art and craft can be independent from each other. The artistic beauty of Yellowstone, or the craftiness of a backyard mechanic. While a craft is a craft, no matter who you ask, art can be completely subjective. Andy Warhols Campbell soup can is a good example, some people feel that it is a masterpiece, and they are right. It is one because they say it's one. My personal opinion is it's just a picture of a can of soup, no more, no less. I have about a hundred pictures on my phone of similar, unassuming objects. I'm sure others feel the same way about what I feel art is, where I see the beauty in a forest others just see trees and dirt. Opinions can change too, I never saw the beauty of a broken down old truck for years, until one early morning when the fog was rolling out and I saw that truck appear out of the mists. Absolutely stunning... For about 15 minutes it was what I would call art, then it went back to being an old junker. I would have to agree with Dave in PA. It depends on your market as to whether it's art or craft. If your customers believe you are selling art, then that's exactly what they're buying. If they are buying it for it's craftsmanship, then they are buying the craft. Oh, I almost forgot an obvious difference. Art is the pilot of the air Craft

The only person who can waist your time is you. YOU choose how to use your time. If you don't want to waist it answering the same question over an over, then don't. There are others on here who aren't so jaded who can help, leaving you to answer the more involved questions. I do enjoy your in depth explanations, they are very informative. You are a huge asset to the smithing world, but you tend to be a bit crusty around the edges when it comes to New folk who don't know that a question has been asked a hundred times before. To them this is all new. I know when I first came here it was like going to the library the first time. So many books, how do I find what I want? I'll ask someone. "Excuse me, where is XYZ book?" I get my book and I'm done. After being there a few time I then change my question to "Excuse me, how can I find for the book I'm looking for?" The librarian teaches me the Dewey decimal system and then has time to help everyone else.

Just because i've been around the block 100 times doesn't mean you have. Respect other people's journey.

My grandfather used to say "There are no dumb questions, only dumb people. If your asking questions, even those that sound dumb, then your not a dumb person"

Yeah, I thought the handles were a bit sharp, and the taper towards the end would make it more likely to slip. The tool did intrigue me, maybe not as a hammer though. The weight on either side would make it want to roll to one side or the other with each hit, especially if the faces aren't the same weight. Now as a top set with a mild steel button in between the faces to hit might work. I'm thinking eye punches... Socket, ball and pupil on one tool.

As I was looking around online at random blacksmiths tools I came across this. Has anyone had any experience with a hammer like this? If so what did you think about it?

Why not just throw the anvil in a chest freezer? Wouldn't the cold freeze out any moisture? A bit off topic, but this talk of lighter than air vehicles has me thinking of a LTA anvil stand. Need the anvil at a different height? Just add or remove your LTA gas of choice. Heck, the extra lift provided might make it more efficient at moving metal.

Your welcome jhcc. The site is very informative, I suggest going through their FAQs if anyone has any other questions about it. Another cool thing is it's mostly water so when the liquid level goes down you can top it off with a hose. The water just acts as a carrier for everything. My guess is it stops working when there is no more free sulphur in the solution to collect the iron. Maybe if you have the stinky egg smelling water, you could use it indefinitely.

This one is a little basic, but it's stood the test of time. If you put the hot thing onto a hard thing and hit it with another hard thing, the hot thing changes shape.

I saw this thread earlier and it had piqued my interest, so I went to the source, the evaporust website. It has alot of explanations of what evaporust is and does, but a summery is that while vinegar is an acid that disolves everything. Evaporust, IIRC, is a chelating agent that only effects iron molecules, pulling them from the iron oxide and "relocating" them to sulphur in the solution to create iron sulfide, thus freeing the chelator to work some more. The black residue on higher carbon metal is the carbon left over after the iron is removed from the rust.

I believe Mr. Slag is correct about the seismometer, I remember one of the park rangers telling me about it when they stayed up at the fire lookout on top of the Black Buttes for the summer. She also told me that when a storm came in, she could deal with the flashing and vibrations, and wearing earplugs underneath noise canceling earmuffs for the sound, but she could never get used to the feeling of electricity everywhere. She'd have to shut the solar power system down, grab a lantern and sit in the Faraday cage in the middle of the lookout while lightning is striking the rods next to the lookout. Alot of times all through the night. Same kind of country as Mt. Beckworth with "bald" mountain tops and lots of strikes. We did get a good rain so far. First rain of the season and we got 1.5" between Wednesday and Thursday. Today should drop quite a bit more, 3"-5" projected. Last I saw, the fire was 95% contained which is wonderful. Missing is back down to the 500s and dropping. Death toll has been rising slowly, 83 currently. ~15,000 homes, or ⅛ of all homes in Butte county have been destroyed. And I heard on the news that the smoke from this fire made it to, and was noticable in New York City yesterday. Though I'm not sure if I believe that one. Frosty. I've always been too busy to attend Graeagles railroad days, it's always looked like so much fun. I enjoy going camping up there for the 4th of July, the surrounding lakes are amazing. Even living here I've noticed that unless you stop to learn the history of Nevada City, it looks like any other gold rush town in California. We are very proud of our rich history though, like having the first Pelton wheel cast here. Some of it isn't the best thing to be proud of, like the invention of hydraulic mining. Good or bad, its our history, and we embrace it. In fact i think I'll show off some of our heavy metal history. This isn't the original, but this 12', 15 ton Pelton wheel was cast and assembled here in 1927. Moved to it's current location in 2001 This is a 21" gate valve used in a hydro mine from 1880 until the Sawyer decision in 1884 stop hydraulic mining. 1500 lbs, build in San Francisco by Joshua Hendy Works, used to regulate the water needed to blast away whole mountainsides... ...with this water cannon(monitor). Besides the 90° bends, these were built at the mine instead of being manufactured, so dating is tough for these. And here's a 5 headed "power hammer"(stamp mill), used to crush the quartz ore to get to the gold

Frosty, I've only been to the Portola area once, but I remember it being very beautiful. I too enjoy watching the lightning storms, as long as the wet stuff comes with them. It gets really nerve racking when we get them without rain, on a "good" thunderstorm we'll get 80-100 strikes an hour in a very small area around here. Im in North Columbia, a little town with a population of 9, near Downieville. I think you said you'd been there on an old post, though I might be mistaken. Glenn, thank you for your way with words. I tried to convey the severity of this inferno, but I never seem to be able to express the way I want when typing. You are absolutely right about lives being more important than the fire. California has burned long before we were here and will burn long after we're gone. The land will be fine. It's the lives we need to worry about. The firefighters, first responders and search teams are all heroes in my eyes. It looks like the prayers for rain were answered. The weather says rain on Wednesday and again early Friday and from the looks of it, they should be good soaking rains. This will REALLY help out the firefighting efforts.

It has been horrible watching this unfold so close to home. The latest numbers I saw were 350 found safe, but the missing more than doubled to 630 and they expect it to climb as this was an incomplete count of the current missing/found persons filed. At least the winds shouldn't pick up for a few days so they should be able to get some more containment. Unfortunately no wind also means no smoke dispersal. Some places around here have smoke so thick the visibility is down to ¾ mile, and it's reduced the daytime highs so Lake Tahoe, which is above the smoke at 6300' elevation has higher daytime temps than Sacramento at 30' elevation

Found this 3"x2.5" pipe reducer with a soft inside edge and thought I'd try out dishing for the first time. I managed to get a scrap 6in flat circle raised 2.5in before the smoke drove me back inside. The smoke from the Camp fire is so thick the sun was the color of a dull red heat, but it made for nice diffused lighting for the pictures.

Please send your thoughts and prayers to all those effected by the Camp fire, California's deadliest wildfire. 56 dead, nearly 300 still missing. Fire so hot it's burning the bones. They have to rely on cadaver dogs and are testing the ashes where they signal to try and confirm deaths. The town of Paradise is all but destroyed. I'll be sending extra prayers for those who have lost, or are still missing loved ones.

I can't judge you too much, I did the same thing. What stopped me from wearing the wrong shoes was when i dropped some red hot metal on my sneakers. The metal didn't touch my feet, but the synthetic material melted on to my foot and left one of the worse burns I've ever had. Ever since then it's been leather boots in the shop for me

It always amazes me how much can be done with so little. Now with all that money you saved you might think about investing in some steel toed boots. I require everyone coming near my forge to have closed toe shoes, thongs on your feet is just asking for a hot foot. The other kind of thong is optional, as long as you wear proper protective gear over it