SinDoc

Alexandr, I wish I had your shop. Both tons of woodworking AND smithing goodies!

Back in high school, our carpentry teacher would give the safety talk at the start of nearly every week. He had zero tolerance for just about anything, especially the lathes. He would always show a large tuff of hair from a girl who thought it was more important to look good than be safe around equipment and her hair got caught up in the drill press and ripped a giant chunk of her hair out. I remember one class me and 3 others were working on the lathes making bowls for our projects as we were the only ones brave enough to work on them. Well one guy didn't quite let his pieces glue dry enough and when he fired the lathe up, the piece split in two and one half went flying across the shop at probably 50 miles and hour barely missing a person. Needless to say, the teacher wouldn't let him use the lathe anymore unless he personally inspected his work that was going onto it. I miss that woodworking class, but now I prefer banging on metal

My family was always bewildered that I am not terrified of dogs. When I was little, we apparently had a Doberman named Lady. According to the parents, we were best buds and while they tried to stop me from doing it, I would "ride" her around sometimes. Well apparently when I went to climb onto her one time, I must have grabbed something she didn't like or was tender as she turned around and bit me square in the top of my head. Needless to say, even though she instantly let go, she still bit the baby. By the time mom had rushed over, grabbed me and got me in the car and left for the hospital, dad had already put her down. According to them, it was really surprising she did it because she was such a gentle and loving dog but nevertheless, she bit the baby and that couldn't be tolerated. I obviously have no recollection of the event as I was like 2, but still have about a 2 1/2 inch scar along the top left of my forehead from it. Parents thought I would be terrified of dogs after that, but they got Collies a few years later and I grew up with them without any problems whatsoever.

That is what I had thought. I didn't think a google search would return anything, but apparently Shurap does it because spicy more or less is sharp in Russian, so he does it as a joke to "add sharpness". What I get for posting something before checking Dr Google first.

Not sure if this would be the correct category or not, as I am not sure that is what it is being used for, but I was watching the video below by Shurap. In the beginning, before he seals up the cannister, he puts what I assume is cracked black pepper and some kind of Chili pepper. What is the purpose of that? Is it being put in to act as a sort of flux? EDIT: Disregard the question. Apparently it is done as a joke to add "sharpness" due to something in the Russian language about spicy being sharp.

"Stop or I will trade you for a new hammer like your brother" "But I don't have a brother" "And I have a nice hammer that is only a few years old."

Tried to but the wife objected.

Was dragged through Kentucky into Tennessee over the weekend by the misses (gotta love those 6 hour drives). Kids had fun which is all that matters in the end but I did get to stop by a flea market somewhere around London, KY and they had some blacksmithing items I would have liked, but the car was too packed to fit anything

That is a pretty cool looking skyscraper Alexandr!

That is a really cool wand Rojo! A wand has been on my list of things to make (if I ever actually get time to forge) as my wife is a big Harry Potter fan. Spent my weekend in at the very bottom of Kentucky in Williamsburg, so no forging although I did get to browse at a flea market. On Friday however, I got to spend several hours at a local smiths shop and watch him forge for a few things and learn some odds and ends.

My wife's friend spent nearly a month in the hospital earlier this year after her cat bit her and it quite quickly turned into sepsis. Had her hooked up to all kinds of things pumping her full of stuff. Every now and then I see an article about a person who suffered a minor cat bite or scratch and all of sudden didn't feel well, passed out then woke up in the hospital weeks later missing a limb.

I got to watch someone load their boat up, get back in their truck and drive off the ramp only to realize they forgot to tie the boat down so it just floated back off when they pulled out from under it. Nothing ended damaged and no one got hurt so it was pretty funny.

That would suck on so many levels if that landed on the leg lol.

Rojo, that is what I had in mind for it. Downside is, it doesn't fit in my forge . I am going to have to try to chop it up into smaller bits, or try to heat it up in the JABOD to straighten pieces out. Also, I did try to forge those weights. They went splat, almost like jello.

I learned to drive in a stick as well. Dad took me out and while going up on steep hill on a back road that had little to no traffic, killed it and said well be here until you can get this going without rolling back or stalling it out. We were there for a bit. I just traded in my 2014 Fusion back in March and it was standard. I like my new automatic Acadia but man, the first few days I nearly put myself through the windshield hitting the break trying to shift lol. I was just so used to shifting that when I would hear the motor reach a certain rpm, I would just instinctively shift. Wife never could understand how I knew when to shift by simply listening to the motor.

When I was shopping for a forge, I came very close to buying the same forge as you Pnut, but I then discovered that Majestic was made in the tiny little town that I grew up in so when I went to visit the parents, I just swung by their shop and picked one up lol. It has its pros and cons, but I can't complain for what I paid for it. That 2 burner Chile though, well lets put it this way, IF they happen to do another stimulus (which I personally doubt), I may just have to donate it to the guys over at Chile Forge lol.

While I have never gotten to use a Diamondback, I use a Majestic 2 burner knifemakers forge. At this point, I believe I have put around 100# of propane through it and it works for what I want. Is it perfect? Not at all, but I feel like I got what I paid for which is really all that matters in the end (to me at least). The only other forge I have gotten to use is a 2 burner Chile, which was pretty darn nice and would love to have one, but it is more than double the cost of my little Majestic being around $1000. I agree with Pnut, building one is the way to go, but only after you get to know what you want/expect from your forge and it all boils down to how much your time is worth and if building one is right for you.

That is pretty funny Billy. For those hard rock / metal fans, anyone heard the new Ice Nine Kills song? It is awesome. Video is creepy as all get up as well lol.

Nothing super fantasic, but I did finally get out for a minute. Turned a small piece of 5/8 rod i had into a punch. Forged it down then grinded on it for a minute to round it out and clean it up, because who doesn't like shiny?

Finally remembered to take a picture of one of the springs. Its very, wait for it, springy! Almost like a giant slinky, so it isnt a super stiff spring.

Also, anyone think I can use those weights for anything other than...well...weighing things down?

JHCC, those springs on your hammer look like what they are. So does the metal tend to be that of a higher C content in those springs?

Think they are garage door springs? They seemed a bit large for that, but it has been a minute since I have actually looked at a spring for a garage door lol. That is what I initially searched when trying to find a project for them though, and a lot of things I found (even here) mentioned making woodworking tools out of them.

First the springs. They are roughly a 2" wide coil that is very tightly coiled together and is roughly 3' long. If I had to guess at the thickness of the metal, I would say maybe 1/4"? Looks comparable to 4 gauge wire. No idea where the neighbor got them, or what they were used for, so figuring out what kind of metal they are might be tricky. If I had to guess what they are from, they look comparable to the springs you would see on a trailers tail gate, although they seem much to heavy duty for that unless it was quite the heavy gate. Maybe something akin to a toy hauler camper? Will have to get pictures. The second item I was given are what appear to be really old window sash weights. In the research I did on them, they can supposedly be pig iron which from my understanding isn't forgeable as it splatters. They are very hard without any kind of annealing having been attempted as my drill bit nor sawzall blade could even remotely cut through them and the friend who gave them to me said his large table metal saw had issues cutting through them as well. Can anything be done with the weights? And what are some projects I could do with the springs? I read about making small chisels and such for woodworking out of the coil springs, but wasn't sure if there might be other interesting things I can do with them. Length wise, there is a whole lot of metal to be used from them.

Was given several springs yesterday. No idea what they were for or are made of, but they are about 2" wide and roughly 3' long, so there is a lot of metal there.