Shabumi

That's not a misunderstanding at all. It's part of the reason its shape signified life to the Egyptians, the combination of male and female to create life. Ausfire, that one looks great, the angle of the arms make me think of your longhorns with ears.

Hahaha, he's actually got decent clearance once you get past his chest. He certainly was built to dig, I've never seen a 10 week old puppy dig a hole to big to climb back out of in 30 min. I set him in our yard and walked inside to finish the dishes and when I walked out I couldn't find him, all I heard was yipping coming from a corner. When I went over there he had dug a hole a foot and a half deep and couldn't get out. Now his favorite past time on the farm is to chase ground squirrels and dig up their holes

Did someone say dachshund? We have a wire coated mini Doxie named Jim Dandy. You can see how his chest comes to a point in front of him to make a 'keel' which bends a bit more than a flat chest so that when they are underground they won't get stuck

Those are some nice looking scorpions, both of you. I got a couple bottle openers done today... Well, the finger fulcrum fob opener is done. I coated it in avocado oil and brought it up to bronze before I got in trouble for using the kitchen oven. I had to test to see if the wrench opener works. Both side work great. Now it will get some gentle groves along the sides for comfort, a 270° twist so both sides open in the same direction and a little spit polish to finish it.

Not too odd a gift, if its meaning could be sumed up in a single word, it would be 'life'. As one of the most widely used symbols in ancient Egypt. Among its many uses, it could be used as a charm against sickness and disease, to promote prosperity in life, a fertility symbol or was buried with their mummies to ensure an easy transition between life and the afterlife. Because there are many ancient gold ankhs, and no/few silver ones, it is agreed that it was a symbol of the sun. Symbolizing the meeting of the sun and the horizon, or the heavens meeting the earth. It was also associated with many of the Egyptian gods, and when combined with the djed and was symbols becomes a symbol of the creator God Ptah, patron of Smith's and Craftsmen. I always the ankh-was-djed scepter would be an interesting piece to try and make once my skills are better. Here's a closer look at a pottery version of a was-ankh found in one of the tombs. Looks like a simple enough animal head to do Oh no, I just realized I said the famous last words 'looks simple enough'

I think it would look nice if you did the overlapping cuts on the Fredericks cross, making the North/south cut deeper. It would help balance the size difference between the the round part and the main body. Sorry for the poor drawing

I was in the shop cleaning and I look out to see our our milk cow had her calf right next to the shop. A little heifer

Here is a picture of what I have been told is called a truckers hitch, though when I looked it up yesterday I now see it is a sheepshank variation of the truckers hitch. I also tie the top loop in a half hitch around the line with the load to stop it from untying. I use it mostly for hauling hay, but also use it for all types of hauling. I have seen it used for lifting a load in a barn high enough to back a truck under, though I will admit I haven't used that method personally. One can use multiple knots on a single load and run the loose end through the loops to a final hitch to compound the leverage when tightening.

All this talk of fools reminds me of a few quotes, everybody's favorite "A fool and his money are soon parted" which tells me to find out what fools in your area like to buy and start making it Religious reference removed

Your right Glenn, both knots are great. The truckie hitch works wonders but I use mostly the sheepshank variant of the truckers hitch with a half hitch to bind the loop. I like it because you can put it in the middle of the rope if you have too much slack, without untying the rest of the rope. I have had ropes fail from the force I put on them without the hitch getting to tight to untie... Back on subject, you can also use the object itself as a simple machine. A 55 gallon drum tilted on edge(lever and fulcrum) to roll it to where you need to go(wheel & axle)

You do amazing work. Your chair is a true work of art, and the spurs are beautiful. I like how you added the little diamonds on the rowl. I think a darker leather for the strap would contrast with the pattern nicely

The thing I use most is the truckers hitch knot (pulley). Probably the most useful knot to cinch loads to your truck, but can also be used to lift heavy objects into your truck, as long as you don't exceed the weight limit of the rope and NEVER stand underneath the object

I've found this out while working on the farm but it pertains to blacksmithing as well... Keep 3 to do lists. The want to do list, the need to do list, and the must do now list.

Its kinda funny how it's put together, the pins don't go through the next piece in the chain. Instead they sit between the links and hold the next one in a groove Now that I have a basic idea what it is, I was able to do some Google-fu. It is an "Ohio Brass high voltage 15000 lb suspension insulator"

Thanks Frosty, now that I know what I'm looking for I'm seeing them all over. I guess I never looked up. Lol. It has a 15k lb rating so I might use it as a lift for the heavier items. It would also make a great scorpion tail.

I was out walking fence in our summer pasture before we bring the cows in and I found this along the riverside in some diftwood. It must have washed up during the record flooding we had 2 years ago because it was above the usual high water line. I think it's something electrical. It has ceramic insulators, the pins and cable are copper and there is a plus sign next to the bolts where the cable is attached. Any idea what it is?

There are alot of places like that. We had to call animal control about people dumping cats on or ranch. We have watched people on multiple occasions stop and set a box/bag on or next to our fence and before we can call out to ask them if they needed help, a couple cats pop out and scatter to our various barns/outbuildings and the people are peeling out in the getaway car. Animal control told us about the local shelter who lent us the traps, spayed/neutered all of them, and adopted out 40 of the 53 cats we caught. All at no cost to us. We are keeping the 13ish cats left to keep the ground squirrels and Rattlers away.

It definitely has some size to it, it is 35" tall, 35" long, 24" wide, it has a 17" blower, and weighs 175lbs. The description I have found for it says "Buffalo blacksmith's hand blower no. 4- This is the largest hand blower made in the world, and is especially designed for flange fires in boiler shops, and extra heavy work in shipsmiths' shops, as it will perform heavier work than any other hand blower built" (pg. 254 buffalo general catalog, 1892) I looked into brazing, and though it seems simple enough I'm not quite ready for another new skill set yet, so I think I will try to find someone in my area who can/will do that kind of work. On the plus side, the pivot point had a groove in it to slip onto the peg, so no reforging there. I will have to replace a pin that held them together, and get a handle that curves like a plow handle that looks like it would be 4' long based off the drawing in the catalog. I'm stoked to be getting closer to having a fully functional hand blower

Haha, I found this in one of our old burn pile areas. I knew it would turn up once I knew what I was looking for. Does anyone know what material buffalo forges are made of? My logic leads me to believe that they are cast to be uniform to sell. But is it cast iron or cast steel, or am I way off? I would like to know what I will be working with before I go ahead with the restoration as It looks like the new piece I found was loosely riveted to the upright leg in the 4th pic above. I may need to draw the peg out a bit and upset it enough to hold the pivot point on again

I would have liked to see that. I feel sorry for the poor fellow who decides to cut down that tree. It's bad enough trying to cut through one and hitting barbed wire or fence staples.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I will try to drift the holes, but from the sound of it it will be a beast of a job. I haven't heard of a gas axe before, does anyone have a pic? Once I get a welder again I will work on the tongs, until then they will go in the to do pile. Here's a picture of the pipes growing out of the tree. It's been in the tree for the 10 years I've been here, and probably a while before that

I think they can be salvaged. They look like they are pretty solid, it was just the one of the reigns that broke so I think I can weld on a new one and get the rivet area hot to get it moving again. The ranch I live and work on has been in the same family since 1877 so I'm always finding old glass, broken China, and odd hunks of metal every time I dig a hole. I even know where there is a tree that has a couple of pipes grown into it where they stacked them on it.

Here's my first bottle opener that works, the hole is a little small for my tastes but it was made from rusty scrap that wasn't useful for much else so it's good in my book. Out of the 3 bottles I opened with it only 1 had to be pried twice. I cleaned it up with an angle grinder and smoothed it out with 500grit sandpaper. I got the color from leaving it on my wood stove overnight

Well, I was out feeding sheep and I saw a hunk of rust poking out of the ground that wasn't there before the 5" of rain in 24 hours we got a couple of days ago. It turns out to be a hand forged gate bolt. It fit the Hardy hole perfectly in my anvil, it almost rested on the anvil block while being snug in the hole, so I guess i could lengthen it to make a post hardy, if there is such a thing. When I found it I looked around some more in the various fields as I was feeding and found a few more things to add to my pile 'o usefulness. A half a grader blade, an old bolt, and a broken pair of 3" flat stock tongs!! I was thinking of using the grader blade to hold my yet to be acquired/made hardies so they aren't sitting in a crate, it already has square holes I just have to enlarge them. Any suggestions on how to do that without too much headache? The shiney piece is a 12" ruler for scale, but there was too much glare to see the numbers in the picture. I've seen a couple of impressive piles on here and wonder if anyone else "grows" useful finds after rain or wind storms

I was surfing the web and came across this interesting study from the association of metallurgical engineers of serbia. They diluted molasses with water to the viscosity of 40wt oil and used it as a quench for high carbon steel. From the info provided, it looks like the molasses quench hardened better than the oil. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post PDFs to the forum so if the moderators need to delete or move this post please do 139-126-2-PB.pdf