pnut

Nice work. Very blacksmitherly of you to make your own bending forks. I've never seen any quite that small. I might try to forge a small bending fork if it ever cools down enough for me to light the forge. Pnut

Predictive text strikes again. I hate predictive text. I use my phone exclusively. It's my only internet connection and I've had some pretty amusing typos due to predictive text. I'll see the word I want as I'm typing it out but the last letter I typed changes the word in the predictive text box from when I first seen it and typed the last letter. I hate it. Pnut

An anvil devil just lays on the face of the anvil. They are handy if you don't have a hardy hole. Pnut

The symptoms you described are typical for carbon monoxide poisoning. If the burner is adjusted to produce a reducing flame it will generate quite a bit of CO. There's portable CO detectors you could bring with you to the smithy. Kidde is one manufacturer right off the top of my head. I'm glad to see another person using a washtub or jabod. Another thing I've learned is that breaking the charcoal into approximately one to one and a half inch pieces helps a lot. Good luck, be safe, and remember it's supposed to be fun. Pnut

You're not as smart as you think you are. Pnut

The only time I've seen an abundance of fire fleas is if the blast is turned up too high or with damp charcoal. As everyone else has said a bucket of water or a hose is a good idea. I also keep a small fire extinguisher on hand just in case. I've also noticed pine charcoal seems to be less prone to producing fire fleas than hardwood charcoal. Pnut

Make sure you break the charcoal into approximately one to one point five inch pieces. The chunks you get straight from the bag are much too large for effective use. Pnut

Very true. I had to put them in Manila envelopes because the paint marker was wearing off. I don't have stamps but I have an electric engraver. Same result. That's actually something I can do today. Pnut

Don't know how I missed that. I usually read things very carefully. Nothing bugs me more than a lazy reader. My apologies. The ATF acetone mix is probably the cheapest option and surprisingly is probably the most effective too. Pnut

Nice work on the fence. Did you collar or rivet the scrolls? Pnut

I think five degrees is the approximate sweet spot. It'll move the fireball away from the wall slightly. Pnut

Why not just use a ball valve on the end of the pipe nearest the dryer? It's what I use on an electric mattress pump. It's adjustable from full blast to zero blast. Pnut

You can try soaking the stuck screw in a fifty fifty mixture of acetone and automatic transmission fluid. I'd be concerned about that crack though. Pnut

I opted for dry Kitty litter fill but it requires a fire pot. Pnut

My condolences. I hope he found the peace he was seeking. I will honor his memory today. Pnut

I just checked out a book that my local library recently purchased. I think I'm the first person to have checked it out truthfully. The Everyday Blacksmith (Learn to forge 55 simple projects. By Nicholas Wicks ISBN 978-1-63159-712-1. 160 pages. $24.99 Quarry publications. It's a good place to start. I thought I'd mention it as I'd never heard it referenced before. It's first printing was 2019. Pnut

Every time I get a piece of known steel I cut off an couple inches and label it for future comparative testing against mystery steels. Pnut

That's what I meant when I said agitators. Agitation screening. I was trying to word it so it couldn't be confused for something else. Most of the media used in the tumblers we produced looked like thick jacks or caltrops. Like twisted X's but we made all shapes depending on the application or whatever the customers wanted. Pnut

Tumbling media. I used to work at a company called Sweco that manufactured agitators, tumblers, and the media to be used with them. Pnut

I don't think it would last very long without a cover but yeah it's almost so basic it's easy to overlook how complex or simple the jabod concept can be. My first jabod lasted about a year before the press board night stand it was made from swelled and rotted away. I've recently built a Mark III type jabod with dry litter and bricks and I like the way it's performing so far. I haven't had a chance to use it much. I was sick for a while and now the heat is just too much. I'm going to put it through it's paces fully before too long hopefully, as I haven't tried to weld in it yet. The trench style jabod would get hot enough so I don't see why the Mark III type wouldn't. I am worried about how the bricks will handle welding heat. They'll need replacing after methinks. Pnut

The dirt should insulate it well enough to prevent any warping. Truthfully the box can be anything. You could even skip the box and just put a couple inches of dirt on a flat surface with a mound on either side with the tuyere in one. Good luck, be safe, and remember it's supposed to be fun. Pnut

Thanks, I'll have to take a look at them. Technical pens are great. I have Koh-I-Noor rapidograpghs. I had some pens that were disposable that sound similar to the ones you mentioned. I can't recall their brand off the top of my head. Prisma maybe? Anyway thanks I'll check it out. Pnut Speedball may be the brand but I think mine were made by prismacolor.

I have a set of nice rapidograpgh pens that are excellent for stippling and pointillism drawing but they're a pain to take apart and clean. If you don't use them frequently you have to take them apart and clean everything or you'll destroy a forty dollar pen. I don't draw as much as I once did so nibs are easier to deal with. Pnut

I tried it a long time ago. It's trickier than you'd think. You have to split it and drill a tiny hole at the end of the split so it doesn't propagate. I think it also acts as a reservoir for the ink using surface tension. To answer your question, nope no more quill sharpening. I've stepped up to steel nibs. This is the age of the difference engine. Out with the old and in with the new. Pnut

I've recently stepped into the 19th century and gotten a mechanical pencil but I still do a lot of sketching with a nib and holder you have to dip in ink like a quill. I can't remember the date but in the late seventies in the opening of the Buck Rogers remake I think they said he started his mission in 1988. It's funny watching old sci-fi films and they use year 2000 as the date when they think we'll be colonizing the moon etc. Pnut