George N. M.

Toolshed, This is a formal welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. Although there are lots of blacksmithing tools which make particular tasks easier it is basically a pretty low tech craft. All you need is a heat source, a piece of metal to get hot, something to grab it with, something to hit it on, and something to hit it with. There are some good videos on Youtube (and some really bad and dangerous ones) and there are good hard copy books around. Ask if you want recommendations. Welcome to the mysteries of the craft. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

John, You may well know this already but I will mention it in case you don't and if you do it's for the benefit of others. The amount of safety a respirator provides depends on the type of filters or the source of the air if it is a full face model with an air supply. Many respirators are just glorified dust masks with filters that will trap particles larger than X diameter. They will not stop actual gases or fumes which are molecule size. To stop those you need filters that contain activated charcoal or other chemicals which chemically bond with the gas molecules. Of course, if you are using an air supply away from the source you are much better off but those also usually have filters at the air intake. IMO you are probably pretty OK with an air flow that moves the heavy metal fumes away from you. The filter issue is similar to gas masks that you may see at surplus stores because they usually contain training filters that will stop particles (CS [tear] gas is actually a very fine powder) and aerosols. They need charcoal filters to stop war gases. This is why fire fighters use self contained oxygen tanks rather than a filter mask. Filters are really not very good at removing things like carbon monoxide. Apologies if this is already in your knowledge box but others may not and it is information that can be very important. G

Also, good videos from JLP Services, Inc. (our very own Jennifer). And while videos are good hard copy books are an excellent resource too. Let us know if you want recommendations. I'm not sure how available some of them may be internationally.

Michael, Welcome aboard from 7500 feet (2286 meters) in SE Wyoming, USA. Glad to have you. There are some good videos on Youtube and some really bad/dangerous ones. The channels I like are Black Bear Forge, Torbjorn Ahman from Sweden, and Christ Centered Ironworks. Some folk like Alec Steele but I'm not a fan of his presentation style. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I grew up in Chicago listening to WLS, "The Prarie Farmer Station." I can recall getting ready for school in the morning and listening to the farm report ("Barrowa and gelts steady" and wondering what a barrow or gelt was. That was information that was lost on a city kid.

And they probably want $2k for it. It looks like it was buried or possibly submerged in sea water for an extended period. If I were give it and if I were a better welder I might try refacing it with hard rods and pre and post heating and cooling and milling the surface flat. This could be one of the very few times where welding on an anvil might make sense. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Billy, we used to have a cat who would complain that he was going to STARVE if he could see the bottom of his food dish. The fact that he had been a stray at one time may have made him more concerned about not having food. "As God is my witness, I will never be hungry again!"

Billy, at demos I have had a fair number of people tell me that their father/grandfather was a blacksmith. I doubt there were that many folk back in the day making their money as blacksmiths. It would have been like Amway with people buying and selling to each other every day. It was probably like the situation you describe where a farmer would have a small setup to do repairs on a smallish scale. A modern analog would be if everyone who had a welding set up was described as a "welder."

Alex, are the pieces making up the trellis solid or hollow tubing? They are beautiful as usual. My late wife was a rosarian and if she had seen these I know what I would have been spending all my shop time on. Thanks. George

Every job is an excuse for a new tool.

I'd say it is a tree and I like it.

There was an official in DC who got in trouble a few years ago for using the word "niggardly' in its correct meaning of being tight with money. The dreaded homonym (almost). And I suppose that "homonym" itself would be thought by some folk these days of having to do with something regarding with sexual orientation. Having a large vocabulary can get one into trouble with folk with a more limited knowledge of words. BTW I obtained my copy of the OED many years ago here in Wyoming by trading it for a buffalo skull and a couple of deer hides.

Yes, there are some folk (furry or not) who are "just not right in the head."

Historic seaxes (sometimes spelled "sax", hence "Saxon") come in lengths of about 5-6" up to about 20". The smaller ones would have been used as a utility belt knife and the longer ones are clearly a weapon. The ones in between could probably be used as both depending on the circumstances. Is a bowie knife with and 11-12" blade a tool or a weapon? Both depending on the situation. And the angle from the spine to the point could vary greatly. Some are about 45 degrees and some are so shallow that it results in a very tapered blade. BTW, welcome aboard. As Frosty says, it helps us if we know where, generally, you are. This is a world wide forum and we don't know if you are in Lapland, Tasmania, or Idaho. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Depends on the cat. My late wife and I had a cat who if he percieved a possible threat would get between us and the possible danger. If my wife was sick in bed he woud sit on the bed and look at her in a worried way and occasionally reach out and pat her face. Maybe it was enlightened self interest on his part. If we got killed by a danger or if my wife died of an illness there would be no one to operate the can opener and he'd starve. That said, what you described is the manifestation of canine pack behavior and the more solitary loyalties and self interest of felines. A dog sees you as a member of his or her pack and is hard wired to protect other pack members. A cat, being evolved for a more solitary existance, does not have the same instinct to act on behalf of the group. It would be interesting to study group loyalty in a pack of wolves versus a pride of lions. Of course, lions are kind of an exception amongst felines in that they act as a member of a group rather than a solitary life style and hunting behavior.

I was a junior in high school when ZIP codes came in and it just added 3 digits to the existing zone number. We went from "Chicago 49, ILL" to "Chicago, IL 60649". I'm not sure exactly when the 2 letter state abbreviations came in. Also, I believe that prior to ZIP codes only large cities had 2 digit zone codes.

John, it takes a bit of historical knowledge that not everyone has to immediately pick up on the zone code meaning. Made me smile.

Shaina, a couple of questions: Did you calculate the length of stock needed befre you started or did you start with a long piece and then cut off what you didn't need? And what kind of steel did you use, mild or something with a higher C content? In case you don;t know something with a higher C content give a higher and truer pitch when struck than mild steel. Unwound coil springs are really good for this kind of project. G

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. Your question is similar to the conundrum in knife making, how to have a edge hard enough that you aren't frequently resharpening and tough enough that it doesn't ship while still having a blade that is not brittle. These are a function of the steel you are using and the hardening and tempering used. If you are trying to improve a factory made shovel you are stuck with whatever steel the manufacturer used. As Frosty says, you probably will not be able to find out what exactly the steel is. So, you have to find out by experimentation. This may involve cutting up a shovel into smaller pieces so that you can experiment with various techniques and mediums for hardening and tempering on each piece to see what works best (while keeping notes). Tempering to different hardnesses is known for differential tempering. Different hardnesses are indicated by the color steel turns at different temperatures. If it were me, and I knew the shovel steel had enough carbon in it to harden and take a temper I would heat the shovel blade to a temperature above the critical point (where the steel becomes non-magnetic) then quench it in the hardening medium of my choice (probably oil or water or brine) up to a line that includes all of the edge. Then I would wire brush the scale off to bare metal so that I could see the tempering colors. Then, using a propane or oxy/acetelyne torch I would heat the body of the shovel to a blue color and watch as the colors "ran" towards the edge. When the edge was a straw or bronze color I would quench it again to freeze the colors. If you do that and the shovel edge chips in use I would repeat but let the edge be a bit softer. If it dulled or rolled I would redo it and keep the edge a bit harder. This is actually easier to talk about than to do. It takes some practice and experiment to sense when you've got the right combination of hardness and toughness on that particular steel. Once you've got it it is pretty easy to repeat. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

If anyone is interested in acquiring a Brunton compass there is a hack to do it on the cheap. A new Brunton is about $660. However you can buy a military surplus M2 compass for less than $100. However, an M2 is calibrated in mils (6400 mils = 360 degrees). But, you can send off the M2 to the Brunton Company to have the bezel ring replaced with one that is calibrated in degrees (either 360 or 4 quadrants). The total cost will be a LOT less than the cost of new instrument.

For years Bruntons were made by the Ainsworth Company in Denver, CO. In the '70s the Ainsworth Company folded and all the rights were bought by the Brunton Company of Riverton, WY where they are made today. Riverton is in west Central Wyoming, about halfway between Casper and the the Tetons. I worked there as a geologist in the late '70s and early '80s. I see that they are now making Bruntons in bright colors which may actually be an improvement because you may be less likely to leave it lying on an outcrop (the version which blows a siren and sends up flares if left unattended for a period of time is yet to come).

Probably the most "fun" mapping I have done is cave surveying. It adds another layer to the fun when it is dark, cold, and wet and everything is in 3 dimensions. These were the old analog days (today they use lasers) and the standard tools were Brunton pocket transits (aka a Brunton compass) and cloth tapes and make sure that your notebook has waterproof paper. "Though your survey teams desert you and your stations wash away, keep you eye upon life's purpose and try to map a mile a day" (from a caving song)

Converting old surveys which use old measurments to modern units and and locating them on a modern map can be a very interesting exercise. One link = 1/100 of a chain, 1 chain = 66 feet. So, 1 link = 7.92 inches. Also, 1 rod (aka a perch or pole) = 5.5 yards or 16.5 feet. And while most old surveys are oriented to True North I have seen a few that used Magnetic North which, when converting to what things are today requires a calculation of how much magnetic declination has varied since the survey was made because of the wandering of the North Magnetic Pole. Once, when we were trying to locate some old mining claims we were having a hell of a time getting things to fit on the ground until we realized that the original surveyor had applied magnetic declination in the wrong direction and the lines were, from true North, twice the declination and in the wrong direction. Fun times. Electronic distance measuring and GPS locating has made surveying a lot easier and faster than in the old analog days. I have never used a Gunter's chain but I have used a steel tape (a lot), which if you want to be as accurate as possible you use a spring scale to put tension on it so that your tension is consistent for every measurement and you can also take the temperature and allow for the coefficient of expansion of steel from a standard temperature (72 degrees F IIRC). Also, I have made geologic maps using a plane table and alidade which is a technique now included in the Lost Secrets of the Ancients. One of what is now called a "hack" was that to keep a plane table steady in the Wyoming wind you fill the plane table bag with rocks and hang it from the bottom of the tripod to give it more weight and mass.

Just to lead things in a slightly different direction, one of the interesting things in medieval and renaissance recepies is how they convey time instructions to folk who do not have wrist watches or other mechanical time pieces handy. Sometimes it is very general, such as, "cook until it be enow (enough)" but there are others which are more specific, "seeth (boil) it for the time it takes to walk a mile" or "the time it takes to say 3 pater nosters ('Our Father ...'). However, specific measurement are usually more of a 19th century cookbook thing.

During WW2 Yorkshire men in the British Army could just about make themselves understood in NW Germany where the Angles and Jutes originated. It also helped that Yorkshire had been part of the Danelaw.