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I Forge Iron

Ricky

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  • Location
    Jonesboro, Arkansas
  • Biography
    Been an industrial electrician/mechanic all my life except for a stint in the US Navy
  • Interests
    I love to fix old "hopeless" stuff like a garden tiller found in a weed patch
  • Occupation
    Currently working as a maintenance mechanic in a snack food factory

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  1. Okay Little, That’s just mean. “Oh woe is me! I’ve got three million awesome hammers and I just don’t know where I’m gonna put them all. I guess I’ll have to build a whole new shop to hold them all blah blah blah....” (lol)
  2. Power Hammers? There are Power Hammers?
  3. Hi John, If I leave the house with $500 in my pocket, I’d better be on my way to buy a kidney.
  4. Dear Thomas, I truly appreciate your advice although I’m not sure that I fully grasp two of the odd phrases that you used, specifically “don’t need” and “giving away”. It’s entirely possible that there is some difference in dialect or culture but these are alien terms to me. How could I possibly have too many chisels, hammers, or metal thingys that look sort of like a question mark without the dot at the bottom? (unless you put one of the big ole rusty ball bearings from the five gallon bucket underneath them.)Then they look exactly like a question mark. I’ll just have to keep trying to reason with my wife.(FYI- Threatening to leave and take all my stuff did not work and if fact, only added a pile of discount advertisements from local moving companies to my workbench. Still, all is not lost. Those ads are great for lighting forge fires.
  5. Fellow “Tool Enthusiasts “, I tried the “It’s a collection” ruse. DO NOT- I repeat, DO NOT attempt to use this argument with your wife if you have ever attempted to “collect “ anything before. She will not fall for it. She has a detailed list somewhere in her brain of all of the stuff you’ve ever “collected “. Also do not try to tell her that your collection will one day be valuable unless you are impervious to snide remarks. Well, when my collection of old, used fishing sinkers turns out to be priceless some day, we’ll see who has the last laugh.
  6. Yes Mr. Charles, But won’t I need tools to make the tools with? Hmmmmmm....let me think about this for a little bit.
  7. Jim, My wife is also beautiful. Except for the rolling eye and sighing part. And sometimes I find her to be completely ungrateful. Like the year that I got her a wonderful, dedicated knife-forging hammer for Christmas. Do you think that she appreciated it? Oh no. She reacted so violently that I was forced to take the hammer out to my shop and lock it up out of her sight.(Purely for safety’s sake you understand). I then had to rush out and buy her a new pair of shoes to calm her down. I have no idea what she needs so many shoes for. The only good thing that came out of the whole situation was that while shoe shopping, I was able to pick up a sweet little cross-pein for half price.
  8. For me, this all started with a combination of two things. 1. I have been a maintenance mechanic all my life. (oddly you would think that I would be better at it). 2. I have a little bit of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I wii explain how these two things are connected. As a mechanic I am required to buy the tools that I need to do my job. You guys understand, right? Now here’s where the OCD kicks in. How can a guy buy just one wrench from somewhere in the middle of a set? That wrench screams for its brothers and sisters on either side of it in the set. And is it not madness to have one wrench of a different brand making up a set? Thanks. I knew you’d understand. Now back to the hammer addiction. One of my favorite makers, N.R., though I’ve never met him, I feel sure is an evil and miserly man. Not only does he make seventeen thousand different models, they are always displayed for sale laid out in a beautiful display in order or “sets”. And so I sit here thumbing through catalogs and surfing web pages and calculating, “She doesn’t even wear that ring anymore.” and “Do I really need two kidneys?” Then I watch those videos where those show offs forge an entire, lift-sized dragon with a single hammer that they bought for a dollar from a quick mart. Maybe I should just pick one hammer, put down the mini-tablet, and actually practice. Naw, that’s crazy talk. Now where did I put the kid’s college fund savings book.....
  9. Hi again arkie, i joined the NE Arkansas Chapter. I live in Jonesboro on the South end of Crowley’s Ridge. I’m about a good slingshots throw from the Craighead/Poinsett county line.
  10. My name is Ricky and I’m addicted to hammers. “Hello Ricky”. I am no longer allowed to go alone to a flea market, yard sale or ANY place that tools might be sold without first surrendering all forms of payment with the exception of a single ten dollar bill. That is because my wife knows that I cannot be trusted with more money than that. She does not fear that I will be enticed by another woman, (when I suggest this she just laughs at me) nor doe she worry about gambling, booze, or drugs. What she knows is that I am incapable of walking past a forging hammer without it following me home. My eyes get all shiny and just like that the seller has my money and I have a new hammer. It matters not that I have seventeen of exactly the same make, shape, size, and weight, or that the one I just bought only slightly even resembles a hammer, I’m coming home with a “new” hammer. I have fantasies where I’m walking down a back street in the bad part of a big city. As I walk past a dark alley I hear a low voice whisper, “Hey buddy, wanna buy a ball pein?” A shady character steps out from the shadows in an open trench coat. “I got anything you need. How about a B.B. hand forged rounding hammer?” “How much?” I whimper, already knowing the answer. He sneers, “Ten-fifty”. Nooooooooooo! I sit up in bed and wipe away the cold sweat. It has become obvious that I need professional help (or for my kids to NOT tell their mom that they gave me twenty dollars for my birthday).
  11. Hey Arkie! I just sent in my dues to BOA back in November after meeting a few of the guys at the Parker Homestead. I haven’t heard from anybody yet so I don’t know if they got my stuff or not. I’ve been kinda learning on my own via DVD and internet, and the old tried-and-true, “Well shoot! That didn’t work!” I don’t get to forge nearly as much as I want to because the people that I work for unfairly insist that I show up for work whenever they say so. I don’t have a dedicated smithy yet (just wanted to use the word “smithy” in a sentence) but I am going to try to build one in the coming year. I haven’t found a source of coal that doesn’t need to come in a Loomis truck yet, so I use mostly chunk charcoal or “gasp” propane. I should also confess that I make mostly knives. This is apparently a severe character flaw. While making small talk at the Homestead with someone, I casually mentioned that I did more knife forging than anything else. At once the other smiths branded me a wild-eyed fanatic, and would only look at me through squinty eyes. Truth is, I make what people ask me for, (which is mostly knives), and sometimes I make other stuff to answer the questions, 1. I wonder if I can make one of those and 2. I’ll bet you can’t make one of those, can you? You guys seem to have a lot of fun on this forum. I haven’t really posted much since I signed on in 2013(?) but if you guys don’t mind, I think I’ll just take a deep breath and jump in. It looks like a lot of fun. Talk to ya soon..
  12. Just a few words from an "advanced newbie" to the "beginner newbies" out there. When I first started forging, it seems like I bought a new hammer every other week. Some of them were pretty expensive too. Now most of them fall out on my foot when I open my tool cabinet. I do mostly blade smithing work with an occasional project here and there. My favorite hammer to have in my hand is a 24 oz ball pen that I dressed with nice round edges. I find that I can control it very well. If I need something bigger, I use a 2-12 pound Swedish style that I also dressed the way I like it. I took the long way around to say this. Read what these guys have to say. Choose one or two good quality basic hammers (not too heavy), and then spend some quality time learning how each one moves the metal. Spend the money you save on a good, basic class or a couple of good general forging videos. Whew! That was a mouthful.
  13. Hello Everyone, I love making stuff. Always have. I am just getting started in knife making. I want to hand forge just because that's the way I'm wired. I have a very small coal forge (I believe it's a farrier forge or possibly it was used by elves). I am hoping that someone knows someone in the Jonesboro, Arkansas area who has a larger charcoal forge or at least a larger hand cranked blower that they would let go for less than a kidney. I could also use some tongs. Maybe someone has some extra stuff that they don't use and would be willing to put together a basic package for a reasonable price. Saturday, a friend went to a farm sale and came back to tell me that they had a medium sized coal forge with a hand cranked blower that looked like it had been kept in storage. Great condition. I told him what I could give thinking I was offering a pretty good price. I went to work thinking that forge was as good as mine! I wasn't even close. So I, I,.....I, Sorry I can't talk about it now.... Thanks for any help you can give.
  14. Thanks for the good solid advice. I have a copy of "New Edge of the Anvil". I'll start working some of the basics there first. Thanks again.
  15. Howdy, I'm new to forging, just played around some but I already love it. I'd really like to try and make a hawk. Does anyone have a good beginner tutorial that they would share?
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