Paul TIKI

pnut That same heatwave is killing me as well. we might get below 100 today, but not by much. It looks so inviting to go forge from inside, but then you open the door...

Nice find there! I have been coveting band saws lately. It's on my "Save cash for one later" list up near the top, right after a better anvil.

I now live in mortal fear of my table saw and angle grinder. kinda makes me glad I don't have more power tools. OK, yeah, it's a serious respect thing for me. one second of inattention is all it takes to have a really bad day. If you behave like your power tools can and will try to kill you you will hopefully never have that one second. We had a lady where I worked ages ago get her hand caught in the die of 20 ton steel press when she knelt down to pick something up, and didn't take her foot off the pedal. there wasn't enough of her hand to reattach. So just remember kids, your tools are actively trying to murder you, take necessary precautions.

Super Excited now. I FINALLY got to light the redesigned forge and it mad an enormous difference. Lots more heat, easier to get to the sweet spot, and a bigger fireball means I can heat bigger and odder shapes. New tongs worked really well. It held the steel well and kept it from turning or rolling. It took a bit to get them adjusted right. Then I used them to take half of a 12 inch nail and I turned out an ugly, but much thinner leaf than I ever have before, and in less time and fewer heats. I think I have about 90 more leaves to go to meet my goal of 100 leaves.

Thanks Dax. I tend to be the same way. Once I get them straightened out a bit they should work pretty well. I have high hopes for the forge redesign as well. The dang weather is being contrary and I may not get to try it for another week though. It's making me crazy

Well, after a few months out of the forging world thanks to a pinched nerve in my neck (and work and extreme heat and rain) I have finally been able to do a few things around the forge. I redesigned the forge to be a bottom blast rather than a side blast. I used the top of a 55 gallon drum and a section of handrail from an old dead treadmill. I cut some channels into the handrail and peeled them out so I could have some tabs to bolt to the oil drum lid. Once attached, I drilled some holes through to allow the air. Folded the lid to fit inside the grill body. made the fire pit with bricks and filled the remaining gaps with sand. Was Losing the light so I haven't lit it yet to test it, but I have high hopes. I also drilled out the holes I drifted in my tongs project and dropped a bolt through they need tuning and aligning. they are also UGLY, but they ought to hold things nicely.

Well, after a brief visit to Albuquerque and then the Sangre de Cristo mountains for a family reunion and memorial for my parents, aunt, and uncle, I had some pictures follow me home. I hope they aren't too big

Very Nice DHarris. I'd love to have one but I hate pulling a trailer.

I had an opportunity when I was 15 to buy a '70 Nova with a 350 for $500. I passed, but now I really wished I hadn't. We also had a neighbor with a 67 Chevelle SS he was selling for $1500. Missed that one too, dang it

I used to have an album by Dweezil a while back. He turned out to be pretty darn good on he guitar. Fun Tidbit, He was in the Arnold S classic "The Running Man" as one of the Resistance guys. Hes the one with the Beret and Unibrow always standing behind Mick Fleetwood

Very Nice Satori. A couple of tools that should last a couple of lifetimes gotta say I'm jealous.

It has not been a fantastic week here. Rain on the days when I would have had time to forge, No time on the days it would have been perfect. Then pinched a nerve in my neck and my left arm is next to useless. I don't know what I did but it hurts like the dickens. I did finish my walking stick. I "carved" the head into the likeness of a Zuni Bear. It's made out of a chunk of cedar from the front yard and the stick is a branch from the maple tree in the front yard. The shape was simple so I did a rough cutout with a Jigsaw, then refined it with a chisel and a file. Finally took it to the belt sander (Hand held model fixed in a vice). Then I coated the whole thing in BLO. I'm pretty pleased. It feels good in the hand and I like the way the cedar wood grain came out. Now to figure out what iron accents to create for it.

Looks like you got lucky with the Aussie Mix. I have an Aussie/Lab mix that frankly, isn't very bright. He's sweet, but not smart. He once ate an empty can of cat food. Just the can. We had to force feed him a bunch of pumpkin to get him to pass it without hurting himself. To quote Foghorn Leghorn "Nice boy, but he's as sharp as a sack of wet mice"

These puns are so reVolting I almost Diode.

SinDoc, kids learn a lot with Positive reinforcement. The will grow up knowing Watts important