Cross Pein

What - and lose the only sanctuary left? :D

BIGGUNDOCTOR, I cant remember the last time I consumed from a twist off. Soda bottles are plastic (I don't drink soda - scared of Diabetes!) and the kind of beer that comes in twist-off bottles is so bland that I would rather drink water or go dry. I brew most of the beer I drink - so twist off is not an option. When we go out - it's Sam Adams or Guinness (both need an opener - but I don't open them!) I had my first Sam Adams when they introduced it (probably 15 years ago) and haven't had a Bud or a Miller since - probably never will. McMonky - Welcome to the forum. I love the bottle opener. I have seen tons of stuff on this forum that I want to try when the smithy is complete - Yours is the first that has inspired me to finally create a folder and bookmark the thread. Thanks for sharing. I will probably make some of those for gifts. It will be a nice small piece to practice on.

I don't know about corn fed, but here in Massachusetts they sure do like the garden. I put an electric fence around it about 8 years ago and it kept them and the woodchucks out until this year. This year they learned they could jump the fence and they decimated it. They ate everything. I have a bow hunting friend and let him put up a tree stand. He saw 20 deer the first day of the season - but passed on the does as they were small (Texas sized?). Then he was face to face with an 8 point buck - and passed on the shot - to many branches in between! Never saw another. Shotgun season just opened but even with 9.5 acres, there just isn't room to safely shoot on my property. I hope he comes back with the bow after the snow flies. Bill

Welcome back Frosty. The place just ain't the same without you.

My condolences to his family. I am saddened by his passing. I always enjoyed his posts and learned a lot from that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands. Bill

You know I been thinking of taking up smoking. This clinches it! Just kidding - I'm going out for a smoke.

Piglet, Peach Bottom is one of our clients, but I have never been on-site there. I have been to Pilgrim, Vermont Yankee, Millstone, Cooper, DC Cook, and I worked for 10 months at Indian Point. Peach Bottom and Limerick still run our old cable and raceway software. What do you do there?

Piglet, where do you work? I'm in the industry. I work for a fire protection company in Massachusetts. We work at many sites. Bill

They should have made that burro powered!

You absolutely can't just put a crank on it. My buffalo 200 goes thru 2 sets of gears to get the RPMs needed. You will need a drive pulley - and if you want it to be hand cranked, you will probably want to step it up twice. I have never seen one like this (in person), but it looks to me like that thing is made to bolt to the underside of the forge and the 'other one' is the ash dump. let us know how it turns out. Bill

Drako, I am not a blacksmith (yet), Still gathering the tools. But I have had a lot of work experiences. Let me start with a quote: "Work is an essential part of being alive. Your work is your identity. It tells you who you are. It's gotten so abstract. People don't work for the sake of working. They're working for a car, a new house, or a vacation. It's not the work itself that's important to them. There's such a joy in doing work well." -- Kay Stepkin, baker, as quoted in Working, by Studs Terkel Nothing can make your life as good as spending your time doing what you love to do. - except family. At 18, you don't (likely) have a wife and kids to think about, but you probably will someday. You will need to be able to provide for them. As the holder of a Business Degree, I am somewhat dubious of the value that it would likely bring to a blacksmith career. But then again, if that is what you focus on, maybe. There is just so much BS associated with getting a BS (or a BA.) I realize that this posting is not an answer to can you make a living. If money is important - I would suggest college or one of the licensed trades. But if making your life is important - go for it. At 50, I often wish I had pursued a career that I truly enjoyed rather than just a paycheck. Being a cube monkey, or babysitting a machine all day is not fulfilling. Hope this helps, Bill

Utube it if it is comical - we could all use a good laugh. ;)

Any scrap yard is a LOT more fun than Walmart .... My dentist is more fun than China Inc. Shopping at Walmart is unpatriotic and unAmerican.

I've had jobs like that - where one summer = a year!

That is very close to me - I just spent about $1000 on a gun safe this morning. I don't want to push things with the Mrs. She is extremely patient with my hobbies, but I can't buy any more big ticket items for a while. Doug C, Please let us know what you see there and what is left (if anything) when you are done. I do need a forge - I just figure that if he has 6 anvils, the forge is probably a whole lot more than I need. Plus Archiphile has graciously offered to help me build one. I just need to decide what I want.

We had a pretty bad infestation here. I can tell if they get in my barn, they love to chew up the paper towels. I decided to stop filling the bird feeders and the problem stopped. There may have been some other reason - snakes, owls what have you, I don't know. But I won't ever have bird feeders again. Bill

Have you considered using the tailgating section of this site? I understand that blacksmiths occasionally visit this site - Maybe even a few from N. Y. or Penn. need an anvil. This would be a great place to sell them locally. Bill

Brian, Thanks - that makes sense - I was originally thinking that it had to do with banking/coking. As I read your reply I realized that I think you use pet coke for fuel and wouldn't need to bank to make coke. Bill

Brian, It looks like you have raised the fire pot up off the table. What is the reason for this?

The downside would be that my wife would probably knock all my teeth out with it! hmmm, really long straw comes to mind.

I don't have any advice about a stand but I really like your cross. Is it intended for indoors or out? I guess you have to think about it disappearing if it is for outside. What do you plan for finish - paint or natural? Looks great to me, I would probably want some kind of protective faux rust finish. Bill

I like the hook on extension imagedude. very adaptable.

Well, I am getting a lot out of this. First and foremost a good fire pot - Roger Lorance's are very highly regarded. I found a phone number on the internet - but it was disconnected :mad: - But a search on this site had a different number (309 475-9012 - Thanks Brian). I will try that one next Friday - I have that day off. I did find one of his fire pots for sale at a website - but why not go right to the source. They seem less expensive than some I have looked at. I have read about sprinkling the coal with water when making coke- If I crack a brake drum I can recover - but a $400. fire pot / Tuyere - that has me thinking twice about any water anywhere near the casting. Is this a false concern or is there a way to prevent any possible damage? Also I need a large enough table - I won't have room for 4' X 4' like Richard Thibeau's, but 30" X 36" might be possible. I need to leave a pass-thru on the sides for longer pieces. I won't be doing any real long pieces for a long while - I expect making my tools is going to keep me busy for a good long time, but decorative iron work - railings and gates - may be in the future. By the way Richard, there is some stunning work on your website - I am in awe. I love the spider web gate. Divermike's Quench tray has me wondering - is that an advantage over a bucket on the ground? Also Brian's set-up is intriguing. I see the hand tools on one side and the handled tools on the other but I don't see the tools that I would expect to see the most hanging on his forge. Brian, where do you keep the tongs? Also Brian, Do you use a hood or windscreen of any kind? To answer ThomasPowers questions - and mind you that I was not very specific in my original post intentionally - I did not want a great idea to not come up because I had limited the possibilities. The forge I build will probably be rolled out of my barn or my shed until I make a permanent home for it. I would like it to be small enough for the first and strudy enough to be acceptable for the second. I figure the real trick will be moving the anvil around - I don't want to leave that exposed to the elements. My barn would be a great place for the smithy except for the wooden floor - no way it will be in there without some major reconfiguration. The 10'x12' shed is on the small side - especially given the 7' ceiling height. Thanks for all the help - and keep it coming. Bill