Ben Hoover

Looks good Rojo.  That gives me an idea.  I may have to try something along those lines.

I take a shot maybe once every week or two.  Take metformin twice a day, if I even look at white bread, white rice or such the wife gives me the stink eye... no fried foods either.  I get allowed a hot dog once in a while.

   I'll adjust.   I keep my blood sugar as low as I can, and, as long as it is 140 or lower, I won't take an insulin shot, but if it goes over that?  Yep.  Shot time.  
  

   Well, it is the weekend now for me.  Tomorrow I will give the sand mai to damascus a go.  See if I can't balance out my latest acquisition, a Champion 200 blower and rivet forge that seems to want to fall over every time you look at it funny, and possibly clay it.  Never used coal before, and all I can get around here is anthracite, but I don't mind.

   Gonna do the cat litter liner in it and give her a run.

5 hours ago, George N. M. said:

Ben, I am a Type 2 diabetic too as a result of Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam.   I have been able to bring down my daily blood sugar and A1c to near normal levels through diet and my wife's help. 

First to Frosty, trust me, I'm not so much complaining.  I have few friends who made it this far, and I am glad for every day I am not a worm buffet.
 

   The doctors said that was the highest blood sugar he had seen someone wake up from.  Sometimes we get lucky, other times we are just part timex, and take a licking and keep on ticking.

   I currently have my blood sugar and A1C under control to the point where I am not on a daily insulin shot, and control it mostly through diet.  I'll go toe to toe with a grizzly bear, but when the Mrs says 'this is how it's gonna be done'... well, that's how it is gonna be done.

   I may wear the pants, but I don't run the carnival.  My biggest question, aside from colors of metal for forge welding and such?  What do you do for your sweet tooth?  I am sick to death of not having sweets beyond Werther's sugar free hard candies. 

   I tried Russell Stovers and that stuff.. it may be sugar free but the dairy in it jacked me up and I want candy!!

11 hours ago, Frosty said:

Ooops! Lesson learned? Good, now clean up the Not Scrap, weld them into a billet, fold repeat and forge a damascus blade. Hmmm?

We don't make mistakes, we have happy accidents. Bob Ross

Frosty The Lucky.

Hmmm... well, I think I'll give that a go.  I got my new el cheapo flux welder, and still have a LOT of the saw blade and 1084 left... will weld it together and give it a go.  I'll update early next week after I figure out what it did.

   Thanks Frosty.

9 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Hi Ben; what type of Diabetes?  I've had LADA sometimes called type 1.5 for 20 years now and am on the pump.  In blacksmithing I mainly have to watch out to stay hydrated and tone down my insulin due to the extra exercise---why the pump is handy!

When bladesmithing I don't like to have an open water container in my smithy!  Blades will go through the most Rococo shenanigans to commit suicide in a water bucket.   Keeps one from making absent minded mistakes too.

I think that the open slack tub is more a leftover from when 90% of general smithing was using very low carbon wrought iron and quenching it had no effect and so was a handly way to cool a piece.  Nowadays most stuff would be better off normalized than quenched!

   Hey Thomas.  Type 2 diabetes.  Doctor was surprised I woke up from the coma.  My blood sugar was 1694 when I went off the rails.

   Gonna move the slack tub and move it.   I am just getting back up to it, but am going to get better.  Knocking the rust off and working on building the stamina up again.  Getting old sucks.

Wise man say, do not water quench when attempting san mai with saw blade and 1084.  Stupid man ignore wise man... now has two pieces of scrap instead of one.

   First time back in the forge in eight months after Covid, a coma, COPD and diabetes.  Been fun.  But I can now swing a hammer again.

Frosty, I  promise to begin the process of working the 'new' off it as fast as possible.  It really does detract from the overall appearance.

Well, after over a year of the Lithuanian nightmare... wife told me to go ahead.   So today I got my new toy from Majestic forge.  It is called the Two Burner Multi-Purpose, and I am looking forward to giving it a go.  Gotta put it together first, but this should be fun.

Great work Rojo.  My new forge is due in Wednesday, and this coming weekend I am going to get to do some hammering.  May have to make some of those.

No real forging involved, but I made a new version of an old filing jig.  Grabbed some Tee nuts, 5/16 rod, a heim bolt, some 5/16 wing nuts, threaded rod, a bolt and bit of wood and glue/screws and Frankenfile was born....  Makes adjusting the angle a lot easier and I don't have to go from one hole to the other in reality for most of what I need it for.

I had no clue what I wanted to do.  I grabbed a RR spike and just wanted to play around, and this guy came up.   While it was supposed to be a gator, it turned out to be a Gecko with scales on the back... Ah well.  Wife loves it.

Learned a valuable lesson.  Even though it is 45 minutes each way, I will happily make the trip to buy my steel now.  Been getting four foot chunks of mystery metal from Big Box, today I got 100 feet for 100.00.   20 feet of one inch round,, 20 feet of 3/4, 20 feet of 3/8 by 1 inch, and 40 feet of 1/4 by one.  I think I should be okay for a couple days.  Still trying to figure out what possessed me to buy the 1 inch round.

   I also have my first grinder.  Not gonna set any land speed records, but it will definitely be a step up from hand forging. 

JLP, that looks to be a beast!!

Friend of mine was on vacation with his wife out  of state and texted me a picture of a Vulcan anvil that had a bar welded across the top, and asked if that was what I was looking for (I was using a RR Track at the time). 

   I replied and said yes, but didn't have the  extra funds at the time.

   Three days later he came back from vacation and had it in his trunk for me.  His father in law heard I was beginning to blacksmith and said 'all it's doing is gathering rust out there, go give it to your friend'.  

   So... I now have my anvil.  Along with a lot of other stuff he's given me to help me along.  Obviously, his money is no good  with me, and I've made him a few things along the way and given them to him and his wife.  Will continue to do so.  I like my little anvil, but his friendship and support are worth far more.

Very nice GoFish.  

Das, nice paddle.  I thought I was about the only one out there that did those!!   They seem to be rather popular.

On 10/2/2019 at 9:11 PM, Fowllife said:

I agree that the studs are Nelson studs.  It looks like some of the other stuff is shim packs and weld backers bar. 

Thanks Fowlife.  They are not galvanized.  I soaked them (even though I didn't think they were galvanized) just to be safe.  The rust is gone!! that  was the only change.  The shims I am just tossing aside.  The rest?  Time to play.

15 hours ago, Old Crew said:

The round rods with the round head are HCA  or Headed Concrete Anchors or are more commonly know by the brand name Nelson Studs. 

Thanks David.  Got a couple in vinegar.  I think they're galvanized, but once cleaned up I'll play with them.

My oldest son brought me some steel from his job.  He works in a business that  does a lot of fab work.  

   I know not to mess with the  tool dies, I am going to use them as a poor man's swage for the  moment.  I THINK the quarter by half inch steel he gave me (about fifteen to twenty foot long sticks of it) are tool steel.

   But those pins?  I have not a single clue what they are.  Any ideas?

Now I have to make more.  I've made five so far, cutting the paddles, sanding and then forging and attaching the hooks. Simple project, but folks seem to like the concept.

   Still have a way to go, but folks like this.

Don't beat it like it owes you money.  Controlled strikes using necessary force, and planish when it's cooling. (I learned this the hard way.)

On 6/1/2019 at 8:01 PM, ausfire said:

I'm not much of a forge welder either, Ben, but you just have to keep at it. I get by, but never do it as a demo … too many sparks and not enough confidence. Read up on the threads here about fire welding 

Same boat Ausfire.  I appreciate the comment. I'll figure it out.

I am thinking I need to close off the opening to trap heat and get better at adjusting then.

Rofl!! I deserved that. I have not yet figured out how to do it then.  I am going to have to determine what to get next forge wise.

No need to quote the post we all just read.

Finally got a chance to play for a bit. Got some filing left to do.  And my forge will not forge weld!! Ugly, but I made it.

Thanks JHCC. I'll leave it then.