pnut

I've had one of those little chinese anvils for a while and that hole is nearly useless. I don't think I've figured out a way to put it into service save for shearing the biscuit out of one hole I punched that actually fit over the hole without the step up to the face getting in the way. I use the hardy hole or bolsters. Pnut

I also use a mattress pump. I just put a ball valve between the pump and pipe and it works pretty well. I wonder if it's something peculiar to the clay in your area. I've melted red clay bricks before but never the clay I've dug locally. I'm puzzled. Keep us updated. I'm sure some other folks such as Charles might have some thoughts on the problem. Pnut

I've never had that problem using just clay or sand and clay in about a 3 to 1 ratio. It vitrifies like glass but has never become runny. What are you using for an air supply? It could be that you're giving the fire too much air. Pnut

I put an ad on the Facebook buy&sell page for my town looking for free or cheap horseshoes or rasps. I finally got a reply. Pnut

I think it's my strongest sense. I'm always the first person to smell something and sometimes the only person. It's very strongly connected to memory too. Just the other day I caught a whiff of something and I swear it took me back to three years old sitting on my grandmother's lap. I worried too when I heard that loss of smell was a covid-19 symptom. A strong sense of smell is a double edged sword though. Some odors will make me have to get out of the area. Pnut

Not very often. I have watched those programs in the past though but the storage show especially wasn't my cup of tea. I'm not an anti television person by any means. I usually have it or music on twenty four hours a day. I'm not a fan of most reality shows but I used to watch Forged in Fire. It was a weekly tradition that I would watch it with my mother who was in her seventies. Nothing funnier than hearing a tiny little old lady say, "I'm nearly blind and can see that cold shut or that surface looks awfully dirty to try to forge weld it to anything." I would give anything to watch it with her again. She passed away just as I was getting things together to start Blacksmithing. I'd have liked to seen her make something. I'm fully confident she could have. I stopped watching it after she passed away so I guess that means I was watching it just to spend time with her. Pnut

I thought I was weird for bringing incomplete projects to ponder on with me. Looks like that's not what making me weird Pnut

Since I don't have cable anymore I watch PBS channels almost exclusively. I'm fortunate that I live in a place that overlaps a few different markets. I get PBS channels from Lexington, Louisville, and Covington KY along with Cincinnati and Dayton. I think I get about 25 or 30 different PBS channels. It's on now since I haven't been able to do anything more than sit because of my back. Pnut

Last time I was in a casino the slot machines only took bills and paid out in a receipt you had to take to the cashier. Hearing all the clinking when you won was a good portion of the fun. Needless to say I didn't stay long. Pnut

Yes but strangely enough it's not my voice. Pnut

I didn't know that either. I assumed everyone had an inner monologue that was a voice. Mine never seems to shut up. Pnut

I get a kick out of the ancient aliens guy. The Von Danniken protege. I think his name is George Tsoukilas or something similar. They will grab any scrap and turn it into "irrefutable" evidence. His enthusiasm and crazy hair is endlessly entertaining to me. I haven't seen it in a few years though since I got rid of cable. Pnut

Charles R Stevens has already let them know about the inaccuracies. There's a comment section at the bottom of the article. Pnut

I have to buy a whole pallet of coal to get the TSC near me to order any. They got taken for a ride a few years back by some mennonites. One guy talked them into ordering a couple pallets. He didn't come back to get any but in the spring another possibly unrelated mennonite guy showed up and bought it all at a discount. Pnut

Is good bituminous coal readily available in your area? Ease of access is what determined the fuel I started with which was charcoal. Pnut

Either anvil would be fine as far as size goes for about anything. The 125 pound anvil is about as small as would be considered an all around shop anvil and there's nothing Short of industrial forgings you couldn't forge on the 165 pound anvil but after you get past five bucks a pound you're getting closer to the price of a new anvil. Have you considered buying new? Pnut

I wonder if he was hired or sub contracted by the treehouse company or the production staff? Pnut

Sounds like the same one. It was a good way to get started. Pnut

I'm not artistically gifted in any way but with practice you can develop enough technique to still make pleasing artwork. It's a perishable skill though so you have to keep at it or it goes away, or at least it does for me. Pnut I started with just a little set I bought at Michaels or hobby lobby. It came in a silk covered box with a little ink stick ,a stone, a bowl, a couple of brushes, and a brush rest. I've upgraded since then but the brushes it came with were surprisingly good. I still use them from time to time.

You'll have to push the coals back off the grate and poke them clean. Have you looked at the grate used in the 55 forge? It's a piece of stock shaped like a squished Z or just a couple pieces of 3/8in round stock welded across the air inlet. Holes tend to clog but yours are pretty good sized though. Are you using bituminous coal or anthracite? Pnut

If you turn off the blast for a little bit the clinker will solidify. Then scoot the coals back and sometimes you can hook it out in one piece then push the coals back over the tuyere. It really depends on what type of tuyere and grate you're using and also if there's a clinker breaker

I just used it like for brush painting. Rubbed the ink stick in water in a mixing stone like JHCC mentioned then brushed it on. I was having a hard time seeing the lines I scribed to cut the shape out so I coated the whole piece and scribed as normal. It came off with soap and water. I'm not sure of the composition of the ink stick but they're usually lamp black mixed with some vegetables oil. Pnut Some of them are truly works of art. The brush racks too. I like all the elaborate tools involved in Sumi e. Pnut

I've never used real layout fluid. I've laid down Sumi e brush painting ink prior to tracing a template to help see scribe lines but never a product specifically for the purpose. Pnut

She was my favorite cat. I had her from her birth until I had to put her to sleep twelve years later. She used to bring home rabbits. All the pictures of her are on a CF card and I don't have anything to upload them to except the camera I took them on. She saved my life in more ways than one. Pnut

If the body is a temple then tattoos are like stained glass Pnut