Les L

A friend changed the "fingers" on his hay rake and brought me the old ones. 32 pieces of 1/4 x 16 round spring steel

Chris, I would just put it in a sealed container stir it around then and shake and tumble it by hand a few minutes. It shouldn't take much to mix evenly. Jennifer, I know what you mean about welding flux popping off and sticking to you. It's amazing how it can find the smallest space in your PPE to get to your skin, one reason I always wear ear plugs while welding.

Very nice Ted

Thanks Frosty, you’re right on the overlap and I didn’t have it equal either. Das, thanks for the tip on the rattle can clear coat I didn’t know it came in a can

Thanks Das, I wish I had your skills and imagination so I could make her more, maybe next year I’ll be able to make her a bouquet of roses.

JHCC & Jim, Worked on my cross some more, thanks for the advise on what I did wrong on my previous one, I am see improvement. One of them will be for my Aunt, I am using her late husband's forge, we will celebrate her 100 th. birthday this afternoon. If you met her you would think she was in her 70"s.

Great job on both

Good catch

Jon, Very nice shop. I don't know how tall you have to make your chimney, but would it be possible to have it hinged so you could lay it on it's side, into a cradle to store it, when not in use. That would keep you off the ladder and eliminate a possible fall.

JHCC and Jim, Thanks for the advice. I will work on correcting it. I hope to be able to make one 1/2 as nice as yours one day, probably after I finish the or so one.

Made my first Frederick's cross. It's not perfect, but I'm pleased with my first try.

Great video, thanks for sharing,

Glen, that’s a great idea I keep a notebook and pencil on the counter in my shop, but I always run into one of two problems. I forget to write my ideas down or I forget the idea by the time I get to the notebook

Thomas, thanks for the information on how the face was welded on, I looked at my MH this weekend and can barely make out the weld line where the two pieces are welded together. I probably would have never noticed it, but if I had it would have driven me crazy thinking the face had been arc welded on by someone doing repairs.

All are awesome! I like how the handle on the silver ferrule matches the feather pattern.

Countermeasure, I am new to blacksmithing also, I took a hammer making class last month, there were eight in the class we formed four teams and took turns being the smith and the striker, each of us making a 2 1/2 lb. rounding hammer. We used 12 lb. mauls. Punching the eyes was the hardest part. It was a lot of work, but was very rewarding with the experience we all learned. This is definitely something you need an experienced smith, with the proper tooling, to teach you.

I finally had a chance to get int he shop today. Made a plate to go on the anvil with 4 different shoulders, because my anvil doesn't have good ones, added spots to set rivets, a 5/16 drift and a set of bolt tongs.

One of my cousins gave me my grandfather's branding irons, a shoe and his nippers that came out of his blacksmith shop when it was torn down. He was a blacksmith, wheel right and farrier and made the branding iron and shoe, between late 1800 and mid 1900, using some of the equipment I am using now, He still had 40 head of cattle and one milk cow at 86 yrs. of age, but wasn't branding them anymore.

JHCC, congratulations on the nice band saw. At least you got a note from the TSA, all they leave me is a big mess in my bag after they went through it.

Frosty, I did the “return junk mail” for a while and one time I received my package back with a “very nice “ note in it, but I didn’t get anything else from them again.

You can't beat a rabbit sauce piquant. The meat will melt in your mouth.

Frosty, Thanks for the warning.

Looking good Jennifer. I wish I was close, I would be the first enrolled in your first class. I'd even come help you work on it so you could start the classes earlier.

GMoore, There are fittings available to allow you to attach two hoses to one tank

We came out lucky, it wasn't as bad as they thought it would get. too many useless blank lines removed