Randy Griffin

And if you are going to be making your own charcoal, look into making it from pine. I made a 55 gallon drum of pine charcoal last week and I am loving that stuff. It burns hotter.

I took a week's vacation and started making some fuel for the forge. Almost a half barrel now. Couple more burnings and I should have enough to last a while.

That's great pnut. It's all ways good to be mobile.

I see it now. I'm going to try something a little different and run my tuyere the full length of the trench blowing from the side in order to get a longer hot spot. I'll only use it for heat treating longer pieces. I'll post the results here.

Pnut, how's your tuyere built? Is it drilled down the length of the trench? And, does it blow from the side of the trench? I'm going to build one similar so I can heat treat longer blades without having to stroke them through the hot spot.

Looking at that picture, no need to forge weld. They're already attracted like two magnets. Congratulations dude. Daughter's are special. I have three. Just make sure you have a dog house. You're outnumbered.

The motor pulley would need to be somewhere between 2" and 3". It's a ratio. Divide 3400 by the speed you want to get your ratio. Then divide 10.25 by the ratio for the small pulley. 800 would be midway and would take a 2.5" pulley on the motor.

12" disc sander at my local junk dealer. Needs a little work to make safer. Re-wiring for sure. It runs like new. I'm going to try and clean the tag. I'd like to know how old it is.

My house is an old house built in the 30's. It belonged to my uncle Ambrose. My kids are all teenagers now but still think all those noises old houses make is uncle Ambrose stumbling around looking for his pipe. I wonder who told them that?

I keep several knives in my truck in case I need one. On my person, fingernail Clippers, small led streamlight and rolaids. The flashlight is the most handy tool I ever carried.

I had a great aunt that died after her colonoscopy. The doctor nicked something and she bled out at home. I don't understand how you could not know you were bleeding.

I've heard about that stuff. You're ok drinking the first round but need to be sitting on the toilet for the next round. I bet you could let a hog drink it before butchering and the chitterlings would be clean. I need to schedule one for myself. I'm 59 and never had one.

You may be ok then Steve. What's more, everybody else will be ok.

Not for me. Those teeth look hollow. You need solid mass under the hammer. You can get a much better anvil for much less at the scrap yard.

Yeap, they go in the same way for surgery. I had bloodclots too. Feels funny when they come out.

I had 2 shots of morphine and a lortab all within a 30 minute span when I had bladder surgery. They don't cut you for bladder surgery so you can imagine how they get in there. By that time I didn't care if it hurt or not. Steve, did they say no food or drink? I think that means coffee too. Glad I'm in Alabama.

Key words, "take very good care of them." Thanks JHCC. I forgot to mention that part.

Nicholson files if you can find NOS (new old stock). That means they are made in the U.S.A. all the new ones are made in Mexico or Brazil. If you can't find those, Pferd is a good brand. Bahco is another that I prefer. They're good files and readily available to me. Do your research and know which files you need. There are many different types and lots of info on line. Here's a good read on files. The history of how they got to where they are today and explains many different types. https://books.google.com/books?id=DlZAAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=file+making&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjm6rbPkeXnAhUJVK0KHcDfAOcQ6wEIGzAC#v=onepage&q=file making&f=false

What Thomas said. Don't spend a lot of time on your first one. Just build it and learn from the experience. You will redesign it several times before you're satisfied. I modified mine 4 times and I think I'm finally satisfied. I am going to build a trench style in order to heat treat longer blades. Thanks Pnut.

Not today but yesterday. Decided to try a blacksmiths knife. I'll try and get the edge ground and sharpened tonight.

Well said Steve. I've never heard it put exactly that way. Tobacco was my biggest problem. I stopped keeping up with time but must be around 7-8 years non smoker. 2 years completely tobacco free. I pat myself on the back all the time. I'm pulling for all of you.

Some of our politicians are using T-posts on their signs now. Those don't make it to election day.

Take care of Mom first. I'll keep her in my prayers.

I would have done two, one hour cycles at 400f. You can go another hour at 400f. Not going to make much difference. You just need to come to room temp. between cycles. Straw is what you want.

That actually sounds very good. Anything in bacon fat sounds good and I love rutabaga.