Donal Harris

Worked on the walking stick head a bit yesterday evening. I still need to finish forming the grin and add the eyes. I used a Dremel cutting wheel on the feather ends. Those look horrid, but some work with files will fix that. 
 

But before I do anything else to it, I should probably punch and drift the eye. 
 

I was a little rusty. Hit my anvil three times with my small Brent Baily hammer. Tore up the hammer face badly. I will have to redress it. Maybe redo the heat treatment while I am at it. The handle seems soft. It dented easily. I will replace it with one of bois d’arc, the king of all handle wood. 

Did a bit of shaping to the beak and got the feathers ready to split and shape. 
 

Sanded it down. Will put layout fluid on tomorrow to work out the mouth and eyes. 
 

The feathers along the top of the head I am expecting to give me problems. They sure did with the clay anyway. 
 

It is down to 1.66 lbs now. 

I have been pretty much flat on my back for the past two weeks. I think it may have been caused by my anvil and stump falling over on me as I was trying to drag it from the truck bed. I slipped and it was coming over. I barely managed to shift the horn to fall between my right arm and upper chest. As we it and I were going down, the horn was looking for my sternum. 
 

Two docs and 5 chiropractor visits later, I am Ok except for a “stinger” in my left shoulder. Haven’t forged for more than two weeks. 
 

Today I did this. It will be a woodpecker or AKA The Thrush Muffler logo. I did a rough shape out using modeling clay. The piece below it is what once was a failed, small WI hammer project. Now that I have sort of rehearsed moving the bits around, I believe I can get there. The bottom is looking at the bird head from the top. I may need to weld a little more WI to the sides to bulk it up. 
 

It will be the head of a walking stick. Should prove useful if a dog or some other varmint comes at me. The stick itself will be bois d’arc. The feathers on the back of the head are spring steel and will be pointy. The beak is also spring steel and will likewise be pointy. It will be just shy of 2 lbs I believe. 

Some may see it as being an icon which has been co-opted by the Peckerwoods, but it has nothing at all to do with them or any other similar organizations.

It does look a bit like a hippo. Not sure why. Maybe the eyes and ears?

Oh the hammer is great. It is just the crack. I have done that more than once, and every time it hurts me. 

I just received the hammer back from Brent Bailey’s demo at our conference. I bought it at the Iron in the Hat auction at the end of the conference. When it got up to my final bid of $170, I told the guys I was leaving with the hammer no matter how stupid high it got, so they should just stop bidding. 
 

I think he sells this same exact hammer on his website for $75, but I wasn’t buying it to use. I wish I could have seen him straighten the eye. He said he uses die grinders to fix crooked eyes. With the handle, it weighs 2.562 lbs. 

The handle is oval shaped, which I do not like, but it is fat enough I can relieve the sides and it should still be Ok. He said he had some bois d’arc for a handle, but this is either ash or hickory. I may remove it and install a handle of my own. Just not sure. 

On 11/1/2021 at 9:21 PM, Goods said:

Took some 3/8” coil spring and make a “rasp” chisel. (Probably a better term.) I used that to raise rasp like burrs on both sides of the wedge. I really don’t think this one’s coming out!

Did the wedge crack the handle?

A few weeks ago the travel trailer followed me home. Since my little Ranger wouldn’t pull it, and my dad was a little reluctant to let me keep borrowing his, I had to get a different truck. 
 

It took a bit, but I finally found a fairly low mileage 2013 F-150 with a V-8 which wasn’t a 4x4. I was pretty shocked at the price of used F-150s. A lot in Pauls Valley wanted $38k to $42k for 2018 models with 80k miles. This one has 77k miles. They wanted $25k, but settled on $19,750 after factoring in the trade in of my 96’ Ranger. 
 

I was a little put off by the blue, but it is growing on me. My Ranger would do 80 — downhill with a strong tailwind with the pedal to the floor. Getting up to a safe highway speed on I-35 was difficult. On I-35, even 70 is too slow. The blue truck will do 80 and still have plenty in reserve. 
 

Speed kills, but not on I-35. 

Began trying to shape a piece from a failed WI hammer project into a raven’s head early this morning. Then spent the rest of the day shopping for a used F-150. My wife and I bought a travel trailer a few months ago, but don’t currently have a truck to pull it.
 

Took till late evening, but we may have found something. The first dealership we stopped at had me thinking we were on a fool’s errand. They wanted over $50k for the first truck we looked at. That is over $30k more than we paid for our first house. I was thinking maybe $20k-$25k.  The first guy laughed at us a bit. 

On 10/24/2021 at 12:45 PM, Les L said:

DHarris, that’s the max fill level valve, the one on my blower, identical to yours, is missing also and had been replaced with a bolt by my uncle when he was using it back in the 40’s.
::Snip::

On 10/25/2021 at 10:39 AM, ThomasPowers said:

::snip:: I'd try a screw extractor to remove the piece left in.  Hopefully it was well oiled at one time!

::snip::

I think I will go with a wing bolt.
 

Assuming I can remove the remaining piece, what are the odds the threads will match those of modern bolts?

If not, which would be easier for a novice to tap: the remaining brass piece or the cast iron of the gear box?

Where can I get one of these? Or something which would serve the same purpose? It appears to have broken off mine at some point. 

Bought a blower at the SCABA “Iron in the Hat” auction. 
 

Canedy-Otto Western Chief. Works great, but leaks oil about as fast as you pour it in. 
 

Needs to be wire brushed and painted. Handle needs to be rebuilt as well. 
 

I paid $160. Didn’t need it, but the Iron in the Hat auction is how some of the club’s costs to put on the conference are paid for.

Brent had trouble adjusting to the power hammer supplied. It kept stopping. 
 

The hammer he made is pretty rough. He will have to straighten the eye, but he told me not to worry, when it comes back to me I will be pleased with it. 
 

He said he doesn’t understand why makers will trash hammers or other tools with mistakes. He said correcting mistakes is easy. This crooked eye for example he will fix with a die grinder. 

This weekend was spent at the SCABA conference. Turnout was a little low. 25 fewer men and about 36 fewer females. 
 

I was hoping to buy some tailgate sale items, but it was skimpy. I bought two tongs from someone from a group in Missouri who had come down to sell  few tongs they had made. Good tongs. They need a couple of tweeks, but work well. 
 

Brent Bailey is a great guy. At the auction I bought the hammer he had made during his demo.  I paid at least three times over what I could have bought a similar hammer from him online. But there was no bloody way I was leaving without that hammer. I paid $170. He gave me his address so I could mail it to him to finish and dress it up like those from his shop are. I asked if he could hang it with a bois d’arc handle. He said he has some and would do that for me. It’s name will be “Dreaming”.  The first photo is of him making the hammer. 
 

I knew it was going to be a sweet weekend because of the brindle dog. During the demo, those in attendance were shooing they dog or kicking rocks at it to make it go away. Brent just smiled at the dog and called him over to be petted. After that, the dog decided Brent belonged to him. He is spending a pretty large sum to have the dog crated and shipped to him in California. 
 

The axe I made in the workshop is below. It’s name is Rush Creek. It is modeled after Brent’s axe, “Middle of Nowhere”. 
 

The workshop would have been cheap at even 5 times the price. Three days of personal instruction from my favorite blacksmith. I had a blast. 

Small axe punch fought for me by Brent Bailey. Later he showed me how to make the Drift. 

At the SCABA conference in Sulphur, Oklahoma today. First guy was Palmer Robbins. His demo was making a leaf. 

Demo now is Brent Bailey making a hammer. Cool guy and he really does use just crushed coal as a punch lube as he says in his videos. 

Are you quite sure you paid the right people, Thomas?

Firearm?

I could use one or two. 
 

He isn’t afraid and looks sickly. 

I figured I would just use a cutting disc on an angle grinder. I still don’t have a torch. 
 

I am going to remove the valves and flood them with water first.  I have been wanting to try a project like this for a long time. 

5 hours ago, Jobtiel1 said:

The feet were forge welded, next time I do have to weld them further shut, as I think the stress riser at the bend might cause the whole thing to fail, but time will tell.

Looks cool and perfectly functional. I see what you mean about possible failure at some point, which is not something you would want to happen with that sort of thing while it is in use.

I’ve made one, but it was made as a “trade item” for a SCABA meeting a few years ago, so I can’t take a picture of it.  I made it without any welds.  My inspiration was a Ping Craz-E putter head.  They are big and monstrous things, but they will stand upright on their own.

I still have the lid-lifter I drew in the trade.  I forget the maker’s name, but he is a very good blacksmith.  I will take a picture and post it along with his name.

Below is Mandell Greteman, our current club president.  I don’t know if the lid-lifter he is using was one he made, but it probably is.  He has a very well equipped shop.  The picture is of him checking on the cobbler he was cooking at a meeting.  He cooks pretty good. 

I agree. Just take some of that corrugated roofing material you must have stacked around somewhere and some of the posts and 2x4s and do a lean-to. 

I actually prefer my open space. It isn’t so great in the afternoons in the summer, but in the fall and winter it is shady most days. It is just past the drip line of a huge oak in the back corner of my yard, so it is shady year round until about 1400. In the fall and winter, the afternoon sun is blocked by a line of oaks in my neighbors yard. In the afternoon during the summer, I have to poke what I am working on under the forge to see the color, but that isn’t a problem really, because it is too hot to be out there anyway. 

What I wish I had was something other than dirt to work on.  It is a mud pit after it rains and moving around in the same spot day after day, I wear a hollow where I am working.  Some day I plan to brick it.  I have a small pile of bricks I have been collecting for it.  Once I have a large pile, I will prepare the ground and place them. 

I have trouble with my glasses trying to fall off, especially if I am welding at an odd angle, but I can’t see anything up close without them. Someday I will buy a magnifier for the hood. 
 

These auto-darkening lenses are a rather new thing. When I learned to weld there were none. MIG is not hard without them, but stick is awkward. I think it would have been much easier for me to learn had they been around back then.

I can’t say the less expensive ones are worth having, but I do know that with most tools (and golf clubs) there is a price at which only someone using the tools for hours each day would really benefit or even notice the difference in most cases.

Tack welding with stick is the area where I really find auto-darkening lenses to be extremely handy. I had always hated doing it before. Now, not so much. 
 

These followed me home yesterday. Two bells and two dishing stumps. The local welding supply shop was tossing them. I said, “You are doing WHAT!!!!”  He let me have them. 
 

Being CO2 tanks, an explosion while cutting them shouldn’t be an issue to be overly concerned about?

Didn’t forge today. After church and leftover quail from yesterday, I went for a walk around outside to make sure everything which should be secure is secure. Most of the state is in a severe Tornado Watch.

It felt spooky out. Not even the barest trace of a breeze. Sun out. Not hardly any clouds. The last time all the meteorologists were freaking like this was the day before the tornado took out an elementary school and our Norman Regional Moore hospital in Moore.   It is times like this that I almost wish I had cable. 
 

Jeez!  Is there anything you do not have? (Prompted by the background objects)

If you don’t have one already, you should look into a hood with an auto-darkening lens and variable shade levels. 

Welding is easy. The hard part is pulling the money out of the bank to purchase the welder needed without my wife realizing it is gone. Since I don’t have a welder, I have to drive down to Rush Springs to see my dad or my FIL and use theirs. 
 

Which is what I am doing later today. I want to add a few elements to my forge table, so I cleaned it up to load. I want to raise the back and sides some, add a tong rack, and add a slide out extension to the front to support longer pieces. 
 

When cleaning it, I noticed a burnt bearing I had picked up from my FIL years ago when he was repairing one of his tractors. I am thinking it might be a good piece to add to my grate. 
 

It is at the top in the first pic. I am thinking I can smooth out the inside and slip what I am currently using as a grate down inside it. I am not sure if it will work. It may raise the top of the grate too high, causing it to burn. As it is now, I have had 10-15 fires in the pot and the grate shows no sign of deterioration. 

On the way down, I plan to stop at a farm and ranch store to see if I can find some flexible tubing which will allow me to hook up my crank blower. I bought it 4 or 5 years ago, but never got around to hooking it up. Hair dryers are just too bloody convenient. But I am doing the Brent Bailey three day workshop at our conference in a couple of weeks. I don’t want to show up with a hair dryer.