Les L

My condolences to Glen’s family and friends. I never had the opportunity to speak with him, but I have gained much by the wisdom and advice that he shared with everyone on this site. I will miss his presence, but never forget him. 

Another piece of art! I enjoyed the story of creating it, thanks for sharing 

Davor, I like all of them, great job 

Great job on the torches Billy

The utility company I retired from had workers in Arkansas, in an area that had a large tick problem, the employees placed tic/flea collars for dogs on their boots for prevention. It worked very good.

Templehound, Amazing work, as usual! I love the design, it says "use me". 

What is the knife laying on in the pictures?

JHCC, Nice rose. Have you tried flame coloring copper? I find it adds a nice touch to the project. I clean my copper projects by soaking in vinegar or a bath of water with PH down added then flame color after.

Cavpilot, great looking hawk, I don’t think you’ll have any problems selling it, and have several orders for one after people see it. 

drilling several holes in the refractory, with a masonry bit, may help to break it loose

I just checked the temperature in my shop, 102 with high humidity, I have 3 fans running that only moving hot air around. I have to shut down all forging by 11:00 am and do easy tasks in front of a fan the rest of the day, while drinking plenty water.

I hope everyone pays attention to the advice Glenn and George N.M. have given and realize that it’s too late when you think you can keep going instead of shutting down heavy work and do something easier.
Mother Nature is meaner than any person ever born, so don’t think you can win if you go against her. She will sneak up and get you any time you ignore a hazard or drop your guard.

Das, great job! Your imagination always amazes me 

45 years of welding taught me the same concern as Frosty, it’s not what lands on you, it’s what gets under you that causes the problems. In your case I would use a leather apron that covers the entire chair. You will have plenty time to grab the apron and shake the hot object off before getting burned and keep it from getting between your body and chair. I would recommend lace up boots also, hot metal loves to find it’s way into pull on boots, especially when sitting, it only takes one time to learn that lesson 

The gunsmith shop was closed when we were there, they had a table set up outside for you to view some examples from a distance, but you couldn’t get close enough to see the details, my only disappointment during the time we were there 

The blacksmith forge at Colonial Williamsburg has a hand cranked drill press, like an overgrown brace and bit, that uses bits like this. The crank is mounted to a long overhead beam, with a movable weight to adjust pressure on the bit. When I tried it out it was set up to drill a 1/2 inch hole in a steel plate and worked perfectly. The bit was hand forged in their forge. If the operator is right handed he would want to crank in a counter clockwise rotation and would use a left twist bit. 

When I visited I was lucky to know a young smith, that was a summer intern working at the forge, who is now an apprentice there, who gave me a nice tour. I wasn't able to enter the forge working area, but he was able to show me all work areas, explain the history and rebuilding of the forge plus introduce me to all of the smiths working there. the drill press is located out of the forge area, behind the tourist viewing area, so it is not noticed by most entering the forge. Great place to visit if you are in the area.

Good looking knife and cone Goods

Templehound, another work of art! Now I’m back to impatiently waiting to see what you make next, please don’t take 9 years to make the next one and post it. 

Thom, thanks for all the updates, tell Thomas that I am praying for his quick recovery and missing his words of wisdom while he’s not able to give all of us on IFI advice on how to do something correctly or how to correct the mistakes we are making 

Les

I spent Saturday with “The Little Blacksmith” at our joint meeting with the Louisiana Metalsmiths Association and the Gulf Coast Blacksmith Association, in Robert, La, but unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures. Mark spent the morning helping one of our 14 yr old members demonstrate making an elephant head then spent the evening helping members make rounding hammers. 

Saul, George just gave you the best advice that can be given. I advise that you read it carefully, then decide how you are going to proceed. This is a very enjoyable craft, I am just doing it as a hobby, but it is a self sufficient hobby for me. 

Thanks Frosty, the gang liked it at our meeting today 

I took IronDragon’s advice for a simple solution and spent 5 minutes separating the hat from the forehead. 
thanks again, that’s one of the things I appreciate about IFI, it doesn’t take long for someone to come up with a solution to your problems. 

Irondragon, thanks for the comments, I agree, this was one of those first time projects, where I sit back and ask myself why I didn’t do this or that. My wife recently told me not to give her any of my “firsts” because I always improve on the rest. 
While writing this your advice made me think about scoring a line with a hacksaw then dressing it up with the triangle file. Thanks for making me think of an easier solution than putting it back in the forge 

I needed a bottle opener today and didn’t have one, so I trolled around in the shop, grabbed a RR spike and came up with this. After looking at him I think that I need to put him back in the forge and create a separation between the hat and forehead 

He will stand up, but the picture didn’t come out good.

Very nice Alexandr 

Templehound, I also wish we could get together and spend some quality time discussing different techniques we use in our craft. Until then I will be forced to impatiently wait for your next post of latest project.

I especially appreciated one of your recent posts where you shared some of your techniques, such as using your vice to set the rivets in your handles. This type of information really helps novices such as me. 
Thanks, for sharing with us