George N. M.

I have seen construction where sand bags (smaller than yours) were filled with concrete and stacked which allowed them to droop and nest while the concrete was soft. This locked them together. after a few years the sand bags disintegrated from UV but the concrete remained solid. I think the trick to constructing something like this would be to mix the concrete and fill the bags at the same rate as they would/could be placed in the construction. Timing and synchronising of all the steps would be crucial. Also, bags of the size you mention would be HEAVY when full of anything. You would need machinery such as a back hoe or a good size fork lift to move them around. It would not be hand work. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear CGL, I just had an idea about a candle holder from a horse shoe which keeps intact the nail fuller: Curl up one end in a spiral with one caulk drawn out and pointed up as a picket to place the candle. Then, curve the shoe, with the nail fuller gradually in the opposite direction and make a reverse spiral at the other end. This just popped into my head when I read your post and may or may not be what you have in mind or find pleasing. Feel free to use the idea if you care to. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Were you just demoing or were you also selling your wares? I have found that by myself I can do one or the other. If I am demoing I can focus on the work and keep a a patter and conversation with the spectators but I can't also talk about the goods table, make change, etc.. If I am going to do both I have to have someone helping with the commercial side of the operation. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I have a similar tool and have always assumed that it was a crimper of some sort, possibly for swaging a lead or soft copper sleeve over a wire splice. The pattern on the inside looks like something to tighten down a soft metal. It came in a misc. box from an auction. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Alexandr, All I can say about your work is, "Reverente vidite, mortales, heroem laborare." ("Look on in awe, mortals, a demigod is at work.") "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear Ted, My hardware store weed puller/cutter has the inside edges of the fork sharpened to cut tap roots and works well. I think the moveable fulcrum on yours will work better than just the curved handle on the commercial one. Nice wrapping work on the handle. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand"

Dear Jasent, I post this just to let you know that troubled teens sometimes do grow out of it. My son was depressed and apathetic as a teen. It didn't help that his mother with whom he was very close was diagnosed with terminal cancer when he was 16. He was my assistant care giver during the 6 years she fought it. He was treated by a psychiatrist and was on anti-depressants and just drifted. He graduated from the local community college but when he went away to a 4 year university he did not have focus or motivation and dropped out several times. He finally found an interest that engaged him and is at the University of North Dakota majoring in Aviation and will be a commercial pilot when he graduates. He is doing very well and has made the Dean's List. This has been a great relief to me and is a great weight off my heart. I no longer have the fear of him being 35 years old, living in my basement, and playing video games. So, sometimes these stories have happy endings. Hang in there and do your best. Sometimes you have to present them with 2 uncomfortable choices, e.g. get a job and pay rent or move out. When you love someone it is hard not to let yourself be an enabler and part of the problem. It is not easy but a lot of us have been there. You may need counseling yourself to keep on an even keel. Good luck and you are in our prayers. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

The only difference between hot and cold rolled steel is how crisp the edges are and how smooth the flats are. Cold rolled has sharper corners and smoother flats and is usually more expensive for the same size as hot rolled. There is no difference in the metal. There should be no difference in forge welding as long as you have prepared your welding faces properly. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

In my new shop I am finally getting to mount the post drill which has been under my bench for 25 years. I am wondering if there is a "correct" height to mount a post drill similar to mounting an anvil at knuckle height and a vise at elbow height. My guess is that the most ergonomic position would be having the axle for the crank should be at the same height as your shoulder joint. Any thoughts? I'm not sure that I will use it much when I have my electric drill press nearby but it does add to the blacksmith shop atmosphere and decor. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

"Beares Auctions, London has today announced a new world record for the most expensive violin bow ever sold in history at auction. The silver and ebony mounted violin bow, made by Francois Xavier Tourte, was purchased on Monday for a world record auction price of US $288,960.Nov 4, 2015" There are violin bows on ebay for $65k and $85k. We all may have gotten into the wrong craft. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

If you don't want to forge or arc weld you could treat the two ends of the loop as rivet heads by inserting through the holes in the bar and peening them over from the back side. It may be sufficient and easier than welding. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

There has to be a balance of tradition and innovation. Without some generally accepted "rules" things can get pretty chaotic. If someone says, "Me go store." he has conveyed accurately who is going where but his lack of syntax and grammar will communicate more information, intentionally or unintentionally, about the speaker. If someone on IFI speaks of holding hot iron with a grabber and hitting it with a pounder instead of tongs and a hammer we will probably not give his or her opinion as much value because the generally accepted rules of nomenclature are not being followed. That said, language, music, ways of thinking and doing things, evolve at a greater and lesser pace. That is the natural order of human affairs. The rate of change will vary and sometimes for no obvious reason. We could intelligibly speak with someone from the court of Henry VIII of 500 years ago but the Tudor courtier could not have made himself understood with someone 150 years before his time. Why? No one has come up with a convincing explanation of why Middle English shifted to Modern English in just a few generations. You will see similar jumps and rapid changes in types and styles of music. This does not mean that change or tradition is good or bad in and of themselves, just that it happens. The subjective value of changing or not changing is personal. I may think a particular change is a terrible thing that is an indicator of the fall of Western Civilization or I may embrace it as something much better than what has gone before. Those millions of individual decisions are what makes up the decision of a society of whether to change or not. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Don't be hatin' on vice grips. I've been forging for over 40 years and I still use vice grips about 75% of the time when I can't hold something by hand. Tongs are good for some applications but IMO vice grips are better than tongs in other situations. I'll do a little digging and send/post contact info for the SCA group in Sioux Falls. From what you say I think you and your family would enjoy it.

Treozen, Check with farrier supply places in your area and on line for both coal and coke. Generally, farrier coal is very good for general blacksmithing and coke does not put out smoke, etc. but does need to have forced air to it all times or it will go out. Without going into a long geologic posting there is coal and there is coal. Not all of it is good for blacksmithing. There isn't any currently mined in the Pacific Northwest to my knowledge. So, one way or another it has to be shipped in. Stay away from anything mined in Wyoming or Montana. It is used for power generation because it is low in sulphur but not terribly good for blacksmithing usage. Both the forges look good to me but IMO are at the upper end of the reasonable price range. That said, everything connected with blacksmithing has inflated dramatically. Some of that is the Forged in Fire effect. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear Jay, My guess is that the Ren Faires which are single weekend events my be locally organized non-profit events and multiple weekend events on a dedicated site are probably commercial operations. There are probably exceptions to this rule but I bet that it is valid a majority of the time. I'm not saying that non-profit equals good or that commercial equals bad. You can have fun at both and sometimes the commercial ones have more professional entertainment, e.g. jousters. But if you ever want to get involved beyond being an attendee it is good to know with what kind of an organization you are dealing. And knowing that it is an entertainment as much as a sporting event, play, or concert helps put things into perspective. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

There are probably still some smaller Ren Faires around that are non-profit and run by volunteers for the fun of it all (Sioux Falls just might be one of them) but just about all the large ones are commercial enterprises. Very often the owner, an individual, partnership, or corporation will own several around the country with the ones in the northern states happening in the summer and the ones in the southern tier of states in the winter months. There are "Rennies" or people who follow the various faires to conduct their businesses. They will spend 6 weeks at the one in Colorado then a month at one in Minnesota, then several weeks in Ohio, etc.. It's a little like the carnies who follow traveling carnivals or circus folk. It is a way of life for some people. I was once approached to be the blacksmith at the one in Colorado but I said "no" because it was a commitment of 7 consecutive weekends out of a summer and I knew folk who had been treated poorly by the owners of the Faire and did not want to contribute my time and skills to the organization. It was too big a commitment for someone with a regular 5 day a week job. You would be working at the Faire all weekend, doing your regular job during the week, and having to work at the forge every week night to restock what you had sold the previous weekend. And, you had to pay a significant fee to the Faire owner for the privilege of being there plus if you built a semi-permanent booth or smithy it became the property of the Faire owner. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear Jay, Don't confuse the Ren Faire experience with the SCA. The Ren Faires are generally for profit entertainment events. They are into fantasy and things like pirates and fairies. They are there to make money for the organizers and owners and to a lesser extent the merchants and entertainers. The merchants have to pay a fee to have a booth and the jugglers, dancers, singers, troubadors, etc. either work for tips or are paid a fairly low wage by the organizers. The jousters are professional entertainers with fairly high overhead who are paid by the organizers. That is what a portion of the entrance fee goes for. The SCA is a volunteer organization dedicated to researching the period of about AD 500 to AD 1600. There are people (like me) who focus on arts and crafts such as blacksmithing, spinning, weaving, glass blowing, calligraphy, costume and clothing design and construction, etc.. There is a combat aspect where there is "heavy" combat using armor and rattan weapons and "light" combat of fencing and archery. Check it out on the national organization web site and the web site of the regional group ("kingdom"). If it looks like something you and your family would find fun (the SCA is very family friendly and usually has activities for the kiddos at events) you may want to investigate it. If not, not. The way I usually describe the SCA is that it is like the folk who re-enact the Mountain Man era, or the Civil War, or the American Revolution, only 500 years earlier. I have kept doing SCA activities for 40 years because of the cool people I have met there. I have fairly eclectic interests and the SCA has a higher proportion of people who are interested in the same things that I am. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

The SCA is the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medieval re-enactment group which has somewhere around 30-40K participants world wide. I'm sure there is a local group in Sioux Falls. Thomas Powers and I are both long term participants (me since about 1978) and I am sure that there are others on IFI who are current or past participants. RE: Bullet proof armor. This has been a goal since the advent of fire arms. The question is always protection versus weight. You can be pretty invulnerable but you will be pretty immobile. You also have to decide HOW bullet proof you want to be. Stopping a .22 rimfire isn't too hard but stopping a .458 Weatherby magnum is something else. Even the breast plates of late medieval and early modern horsemen were proof against the pistols of the day but not large bore armor smashing muskets. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I've known guys in the SCA who have had some very nice leather armor. Look up "cour boulli"" (spelling ?). Black metal and red leather has always looked good IMO. Also, pierced metal with leather backing can give interesting effects. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear Jay, I've always thought that leather working and iron working were complimentary. There are a number of areas where one will support the other. Sheaths are an obvious connection. Making tools for leather working is another. I've always thought that a lot of the tools at Tandy were way overpriced and were something I could make myself. Fancy rivet heads can make leatherwork unique. Good luck. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Jay: You may look around for someone who has a detached garage who wants to rent it. I'd post something on the bulletin board at the local senior center or post something in the local "Thrifty Nickle" paper. And ask at where ever you work or post something on the physical of e-bulletin board there. There are some storage places that cater to start up businesses. Try the Chamber of Commerce or the Economic Development Office. Tell them you are a part time metal working business. Even if you have only sold one item for $1 that makes you a business. Drive around town and look for vacant properties that might make a shop. Then check with the County Assessor (often, you can do this on line if you have the physical street address) to find out who the owner is. Then contact them and see if they will rent out the space. You's be surprised at how much space is out there if you dig a bit. Don't forget to drive up and down alleys. I've seen quite a number of places in alleys that would make fine shops. Even though you might have told the Chamber of Commerce that you are a business if you rent something in a residential zoned neighborhood your story is that you are a mere hobbiest. Finally, a lease is probably a good thing to have so that you have a specific period of time when you know that you can't be told to move. If you are just on a month to month rental agreement you can be told to be out on a pretty short notice. And be a good neighbor when it comes to noise, smoke, and odors. It's like the Thomas Powers Anvil Acquisition Technique: Keep asking and pestering people until you find what you want.

Dear Jay, I've lived several places where I could not have a shop. I got around this by renting a garage or storage locker. The storage locker has to have electricity and you are limited to semi-decent weather if you have a solid fuel forge and need to have the door open when you are working. Even if you are using a propane forge make sure you have the door cracked so that you don't start getting a carbon monoxide build up. (A friend of mine did that with a propane forge in a tight garage and nearly killed himself. If his wife hadn't checked on him and found him on the floor he would have been gone. He had to spend a good bit of time in a high oxygen hyperbartic chamber to flush out the CO. It was a good thing he was in a metro area where that was available.) Sioux Falls can have some pretty serious winters which can be a factor in selecting a shop site. Also, check with any local blacksmithing groups. There may be someone nearby who might let you share shop space. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Pun on the title of the thread. A little weak but worth posting.

Laramie has been similar to Frosty's SEARING temperatures. Upper 70s and low 80s. That's summer at 7500 feet elevation. Can still see snow fields in the Medicine Bow mountains from the shop. "Oh, the huge manatee!""

Dear Jennifer, I suspect that our favorite hammers are the ones we use most often and for which we have developed a muscle memory of its size and balance. I use a 2.5 lb farrier's hammer and it is just right for the size work I usually do. If I use a 2.5 lb cross pein it just doesn't feel the same because of the slightly different balance. If I'm working on something larger or smaller than average a heavier or lighter hammer feels right for the work. I think that there is a feedback loop that we use a particular hammer most because it is our favorite and it is our favorite because we use it the most. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."