Mick

Ok Dale we can get that round the back no problem. Chester could do it at a walk, just check him out here - YouTube - Chester pulling sled - this was today, our first session in harness. Camera operator - Julie - and she now wants a medal for bravery.

Hooley dooley, we get some big flies here in the Latrobe Valley, but they must be huuuuge over there in the Yarra Valley if'n ya need a 12 tonner to press em.

3rd or 300th try, I would still be mighty pleased to produce a piece like that and I think your recipient should be blown away to receive it. By way of critique not criticism, IMH(humble)O maybe the base and pedestal are a little heavy weight for the size of the top, but I suspect it was made with materials available. I love the concept, well done mate.

Let me start by saying I do not advocate diagnosis by internet - and I do not endorse any practitioner other than the particular one I use. After many years abusing my body on the tools as a builder I had developed severe tendonitis in both elbows, (tennis and golfers combined). Two or three hours with a hammer would near cripple me for the next 2 - 3 weeks. I also had an old (3 years) wrist injury from a ladder fall, which would react the same. I was referred to a Bowen therapist, the treatment was excruciating at the time but 2 years later I have had no recurrence of the elbow pain / tendonitis, and needed one tune up of the wrist. This guy has also fixed my sciatic pain and I see him once or twice a year to fix up the results of my bad posture and assorted body abuse, he also works on our horses with incredible results. Bye the bye I do not follow alternate therapies, navel gazing, sniffology or any such, and I was sceptical before seeing this guy. All I can say is it worked for me and it might be worth your while looking into it. Good luck and I hope you can find relief for the pain.

Getting it out of the forby should be no probs, open the back, point her uphill and dump the clutch, with any luck it might land somewhere near where ya want it. Bigger problems is going to be finding enough hacksaw blades to cut that anvil out. Good score, lumps like that don't fall off the back of truck everyday. Hmmmmm, maybe you will have trouble getting out of the forby.

Drako, you obviously believe you have the smithing skills to start out on your own but that is probably the least important skill you will need to survive in your own business. I have seen plenty of skilled tradesmen start out on their own only to fail because they lack either business skills or the discipline needed to be your own boss. If you decide to go at it the best insurance you can have is to find a businessman to mentor you. Doesn't need to be associated with the kind of work you do because business skills is business skills. If he or she is successful in business, listen to what they tell you and believe the stories of doom and gloom, long hours, overheads, hidden costs, set backs, failures, bad customers. Better still listen to how they avoid or deal with these things and if you still reckon your prepared for these possibilities then go for it. Just remember if you haven't got a tool in your hand you aren't making any money. When you are sick, having a day off or vacation, talking on the phone, listening to customers life stories or just shooting the bull, you aren't making any money. Hope that's ot too much doom and gloom for ya.

If your man puts the sock over the ball wet that would tend to prevent the shrinkage in the first place. If the wiffle ball is what I think it is, like an open mesh plastic, that would aid in air circulation, just let the sock dry over the ball. Repeated shrinking and stretching can't be god for the sock material doesn't matter what it's made from. Maybe he could also try some Martha Stewart type non shrinking wash methods, like washing in cold water only.

I need help. I have to forge 6 tug stops for wagon shafts. My smithing tools are on the most generous description less than basic and my experience level is somewhat less than that. The long leg is screwed to the wagon shaft, the outside face is curved on about a 2" diameter, to fit up snug to the shaft. The short leg has a flat outside face and sits at 90deg to the long leg. It has a square outside corner between the two legs. The inside faces are founded like rail capping and both ends are rounded. Material is mild steel. This gismo stops the wagon shafts from sliding through the harness. Can anyone help me with a BP for method and sequence to forge these. There should be 2 more photos but I went wrong somewhere. ]

Be very careful using common bricks in your forge, clay bricks have a tendency to fracture, spall or even explode when exposed to high temps, especially if a) it contains any moisture there is a considerable temp difference across the brick. Cement bricks are usually worse. I would suggest clay, refactory compound or refactory bricks, plenty of recipes in the archives.

Seven of nine had a mind!!!!!!!! Geez I hadn't ever noticed that.

It looks kind of like a copper head, no wait I think it might be one of those rare steel head snakes found around Charleston Ill. It's a unique piece and one to proud of Tcf, we tend to be our own harshest critics, so when you make the next one you will no doubt try a few things different, and the next one and the next. Darn good use of a hot coal fire IMO. Well done mate.

Rich that knife exudes excellence and beauty on so many different levels, now if you would post it to me for a physical appraisal just to check that it matches up to its appearance I will return it to you in about thirty years or so.

This was my thought also, these things take any amount of punishment, just think of the weight of a farm implement bouncing around on the back of the tractor in a dusty paddock for years at a time. The eye ends and pins are available off the shelf as spares and you get the choice of cat1 or cat11 pins. The last one I bought was $35 Aus, brand new.

Was it just me or did anyone else start to get withdrawal symptoms and a slight feeling of panic during the the recent site closure?

Jr. round these parts we say that ' where there's a will there's a relative.' On the other hand these guys have obviously got far too much free time.

thanks blokes, your comments make feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Mark, please don't get to feeling we're all ganging up on you. Everyone is on your side with this one, we just trying to beat the benefit of our own hard learned lessons into you in the hope you don't get caught out like we have in the past. Gotta tell ya some of the experiences can be real hard on your confidence, your faith in human kind, your ego but worst of all your wallet. Like kindly uncles we all want you to succeed, but ifn ya don't take heed I'll come over there and beat you about the head with a lump of 2x4. I have faith in your enthusiasm and will to make good with this. Last word from me on this : When your putting it together, believe your measurements but trust your eye.

Rob you'd better hope Connor doesn't have an excursion to the Lithgow museum, I can just see him wanting to forge up a .22 and some bayonets.

I'm a newbie blacksmith but a long time builder. Ditto for the above about costing especially Smithing Mans comments in the first reply, did I say that loud enough. When it comes to one off specialty stuff like this, nearly every tradesman I know will underestimate time requirements by a big margin. When you are taking on a project that is outside your experience base, like this one, I would definitely make a sample panel BEFORE I submitted a price. If you need to build jigs, special layout tables, buy tooling etc, all of it should be factored into the price. The hours you spend negotiating, designing etc, should be factored into the price. Make sure that your payment schedule is part of the contract as well as detailed specifications for your product, so that they and you know what you will be paid, when you will be paid and exactly what you are expected to supply. A big thing to remember is that you cannot start building your railings etc until finished surfaces of the building are in place! You will be one of the last suppliers on the job, that is when the money, tempers, and patience is at it's shortest. Build schedules will have allready gone way over time and the pressure will be on for you to get your product installed. Not trying to put you off but this stuff I know from hard learnt experience. Good luck and I wish you success. I don't know who said it but its worth remembering, "There are no friends in business."

I have built a few different trailers for use around the farm, being that I sometimes need to pull them with the implement bar on the tractor and sometimes with the tow hitch on my vehicle, I have welded a square tube receiver to the drawer bars and mounted a hitch or a ring to another square tube that fits inside it, held in with a pin. Works exactly the same as removable tow ball on some tow bars. When not using the trailer take the hitch out . You could also use locking hitch pin in the hole to stop an enterprising thief from putting his own attachment in. Like this one http://www.haymanreese.com.au/index.htm

I reckon WDB2 is on the right track. Obviously what is need here is an Escher anvil, the thing simply couldn't be made without one. Heading off to fleabay right now to find one.

Well done that young man. Now he will have to have his own hammer, tongs, anvil oh the list is endless. I now have mental image of giant holes in your back yard and a young man putting his miners spike to good use.