Mick

As your proposing to use a log and maul to form your hood I'm guessing you plan on having curved elements. I'm thinking a cardboard template would be easier to to tape together to check your sizing and dry fit before attacking the drier carcass. Oh and I would also be testing the paint finish on the carcass with forge temperatures to see what kind smoke and fumes it might give off during the first few uses.
Love the recycling idea.

I'm guessing it would be too cold to stick weld when you have to get the O/A fired up to melt the frozen arc.

CLOGOTOMY.

The surgical removal of Frosty's boot from your bum after you muck up the other word game.

Well that was a kick in the bum from Frosty's CLOG, and if I didn't have such thick skin I might have cracked the SADS, but being the warm loving guy that he is I'm sure he meant no HARM.

Watching PULP on the tube might seem a SAFE pass-time, but is that really playing your PART?

'your heart'
the place where old dogs live for ever.

'your memory'

the place where you can visit with him any time you want.

GRIPTION - The lack of which causes tools, work pieces etc., to fall, fly uncontrolled across the shop.

WOBBLEOCITY - Uncontrolled and unplanned movement in a structure or fabrication generally present in direct proportion to lack of bracing and or forethought.

That is one beautifully crafted and impressive stick whittler. You should be unashamedly proud.

Such Alaskan recipes are not for the SLIM, full bellys cause them to lay about IDLE, stuffed to the CORE.

I took the recipe and cooked that fish on a heated TILE, to improve the taste I added a stange blue PILL, but I guess it wasn't such a good idea, cause now my belly is SORE.

When he found the girls' favors were for SALE, his ardor it did KILL, and he told her to go from whence she CAME.

Well I tried to PAVE that road with my good intentions, but that remark was a bitter PILL to swallow, so I will take Frosty's harsh remarks with a grain of SALT.

Sebiche is a dish I would never HAVE, but to make it, put the ingredients in a MILL then bury the results in a HOLE.

Those locals were a bunch of thieves and their leaders name was DAVE, he had a really long police FILE. They had been unable to catch him for years so they decided to send in a MOLE.

When I had eaten all Frosty's party colored reef fish whilst siting in a CAVE, I caught a big PIKE, with my trusty fishing POLE.

Hmmmm. Belly button notions? I wonder what department in the fabric store those would be in?

What do you call a fly without wings?....................................

A walk.

What do you call a dog without legs?

Don't call him anything cos he won't come anyway.

Orgtwister is right, that shop is disgustingly neat , tidy, well organised and CLEAN. Mrs Mick must never be allowed to see that photo, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER.
All that and a superbly simple tyre hammer and grand bellows.
GobblerForge, could the lack of wear in the pivot points be in the greater part due to the excellent design concept of using the hydraulic piston in the cut down cylinder, thus eliminating a lot of friction, stiction and allround freeplay in the hamer mechanism?
I am mightily impressed.

Ya Know Ten Hammers, I reckon if an old time journeyman blacksmith was still alive today, he would be doing pretty much what you just described. Even in his day I don't think his time would have been spent making decorative scrolls, and bottle openers, more likely repairing machinery, fabricating stuff and conjuring up solutions to problems with the tools and equipment available to him, and I also reckon if he could have lit up a gas torch when he needed to make one weld instead of firing up the forge he would have thought himself a lucky man.
By my reckoning the work you described fits the spirit of blacksmithing just fine.

OK let me preface this by saying that the best weld I ever did be it gas, stick or mig looks like cocky poo, but in my quest for more knowledge I came across this on a site tonight, (no I don't recall the site) however the advise was to fill a big gap using stick, feed a second rod into the arc like you would with filler rod on TIG. Made sense to me and might be worth a try. FWIW.

Don't worry about having it declared finished! Lots of artwork is 'developed', even the great masters might have made tens of sketches, scaled down models etc, before evolving the so called finished piece. I have seen loads of examples of this in sculpture and painting, so don't worry if you are not entirely happy with this piece. Alter it or make another then another, you will probably never be entirely happy with any piece but guess what, the flaws that you see may be invisible to others. Its called the creative process, enjoy it or at least use it to develop you work. Keep up the good work.

Mick

Frosty is that the same tongue position required to execute a forge weld?

I went to a garage sale, the guy wouldn't sell me his garage!!!!!!!!

Keep at it Wes, you will get there. This I would call a character building exersize. Oh and wash your hands before dinner.