SHC

Don’t know about dragons, but I’ve got gators and a permit! Also have a pretty nice smoker! Plus, gator skin makes real purdy leather goods. Anyone wanna send me a mace? Just for testing purposes, I’ll send it back.

I should say she did find what she wants, but George N.M. called it. It’s on back order for 3 months. So she didn’t find anything she wanted that was actually in stock. Incidentally, that set is also Samsung. I’m going back today to pick up the welder, I hope. Then, again I’m hoping, I’ll swing by my friend’s house after I get home and get my own truck, and pick up this table frame. I’ve got “junk”. One thing I have laying around that really interests me now is a crummy grill. It’s small, barrel type. Only reason I didn’t throw it away after the first time I used it is because I kept forgetting to throw it in the truck when I went to the dump. It only gets hot on one end, a spot about large enough to grill one small steak. I hate it. Try feeding four people with that thing. Worst $50 bucks spent on a grill, and the customer service reps for that company can’t be described in family friendly wording. But after it’s collected dust for two years… I found it this morning. Two of my sons did all the moving this summer while I was working a ton of OT. I’d forgotten about the piece of junk until I got to looking for my framing hammer this morning before leaving for work.

I have two angle grinders I consider disposable even though they’re good. I rescued both from the dump when I dropped off some trash. Had to replace the bearings and power cord on the Dewalt I found, the Makita is like new in the case, but it’s not the normal 4” size and no one around here carries attachments for it. Then I have my brand new Dewalt that I bought right before I found these. I have a pile of cut off wheels thanks to a communication error combined with ignorance when I made an online order. I ordered the wrong thing then I was sent the right thing and it didn’t show up so they sent the wrong stuff again but it was wrong so they sent the right stuff and everything showed up at once so now I have a dozen cut off wheels of each size. Frosty thinks I’m overthinking, and he’s right. But just so y’all know, I dragged my wife to Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Best Buy to pick out a washer and dryer. Told her to take her pick, whatever you want. She couldn’t find what she liked, and we’ve both had to wash clothes in the bathtub during the lower parts of our lives. So it’s kind of a trend here in my house I guess. Speaking of, I need to go get a load started now. The washer and dryer we have work, but not well. Gonna upgrade and donate these to someone that needs them. I did find the welding machine I think I’ll get, but I hadn’t had anything to eat but a pop tart early in the morning and I was acting like a bit of a diva if you can believe it. So it was high time we hit the road and grabbed a bite. we went to Applebee’s, it was gross, and we made it back to the house with a pair of work gloves I liked from Home Depot. I guess we’re just picky. I left the house fully prepared to drop about 3 grand on appliances and a few other wants and needs… and bought nothing but a pair of work gloves and some sub par food.

You can try to move the discussion out of the bathroom, but now I REALLY NEED TO KNOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO BUILD A FORGE FROM A TOILET? Cause I have one of those too, and that would be AWESOME!

Meh. I’ll set it to the side for now. Didn’t even think of simply building a fire pot from the sheet metal I already have *facepalm* but it’s not just super heavy duty. I believe it was used to patch things like mower and bush hog decks, because It has patterns cut out of it and I’ve seen metal like it used for that purpose. This is speculation. I was able to pick it up and lean it against a wall easily enough and I’m not a real stout fella anymore what with a bad back and hips. The sink was more of a struggle. I need to pick up a small welder. Wife and I are planning a trip to Home Depot for a new washer and dryer, hopefully this evening, may see what they have there. Got a trained welder in the house, might as well get him to show me a few things before he hits the road again.

These are measurements taken with my iPhone’s built in ruler. It’s not always very accurate but I think in this case it’s close to spot on. Ceramic is in great shape except around the edges, 3/8” uniform thickness throughout, that’s not a rolled/stamped edge. Cast iron maybe? I’m kind of thinking it may be a bit big, but it was free. A friend of mine has a metal welding table frame he wants to give me. I have some fairly heavy sheet metal the original owner of my home left behind the tractor repair shop, angle iron and access to more angle iron. I think if this sink isn’t deemed ridiculously too big by the experts here, all I need is plumbing and a blower to build a pretty sick forge.

I want to build a solid fuel forge that can burn both coal and charcoal, bearing in mind charcoal will be easier to get my hands on and could end up being the primary fuel. Y’all reckon a ceramic lined sink could make a good fire pot? Cause I just found one on the side of the road. It’s a double, but I can cut it. HEAVY. Roth guess, around 70 pounds. pics incoming soon

Beautiful work.

My diabetes (t2) has me trying to keep my blood sugar down. When I was diagnosed it was quite early. I managed to lose a lot of weight by eating mostly grilled meat and fruit. Yes fruit has a lot of fructose, but the right ones tend to have lower carbs and a good deal of fiber. I went from 298 to 217#. My A1C went from 8 something to 4.8 at its lowest. This took place in the space of less than a year and I got in trouble for dropping my A1C too fast. Apparently that can cause heart failure. I told my doctor she should have warned me because I would have greatly enjoyed some fried chicken and mashed taters every now and then. I’m also anemic. My doctor said she’d prescribe steaks if she thought my insurance would pay for it. Alas, steak is an out of pocket medical expense. My neighbor dropped off some deer meat in exchange for some work I did to his rifle. Deer meat ain’t my favorite to cook, I usually manage to dry it out quite well when I’m NOT trying to so I just make jerky from it. Makes for a tasty snack on the road. As to forge work, I’m trying another set of tongs. My first set were trash, I’m gonna salvage the reins for some sort of bird feeder hanger. The second set were flimsy but work. I know the biggest mistake I made with them, I used stock that was too light to begin with. I got an Amazon gift card from work for my safe driving record and bought a set, but y’all know at least a little diversity is needed. I’d read wolf jaw tongs are a good all around style for beginners, and they have been but they’re not great for everything. So I’ve watched some videos and did some reading here on IFI. Sorry, no pics of what I’m building yet, but they’re just basic flat jaw tongs if that’s what you call ‘em, for holding flat stock. It’s not easy to make the time to do this with a demanding day job and home life. So last night I got home from work at around 1900 and moved my bench grinder to the back porch so I could grill some chicken while cleaning up the hoof pick I made and the new tongs that only lack riveting now. I need the hammer skills so that I can forgo the grinding as much as I can, but I just ain’t there yet.

Never heard it called a cranial bounce test before, I’ll have to remember that. Funny enough, that’s how i found out I had pneumonia. Unloaded that new anvil a couple weeks ago, started ranting about dinosaurs chasing me and woke up in the hospital. Lucky that craniums don’t bounce too hard on grass. I didn’t even know I was sick.

I was kinda leaning towards an 18-20” deep footing, 3-4’ square with a column of the proper width coming up from the center, poured in one piece. I’ve done similar bases for fountains and other projects. A single straight column going down 3-4’ would be so much easier and wouldn’t leave a lip I’d have to keep buried to prevent tripping on. If I were to go through the trouble there would definitely be more than just a big stick of concrete sticking out of the ground. I can easily add tool hangers on all sides. But I don’t know anything about a black widow, except I get a nasty headache when I get bitten by them. I did some looking and found some pics in this thread but I’m not sure I understand what exactly would make it more desirable than something else. Can you direct me to some more relevant information or explain anything about it to me? I can stick pieces of metal together but I don’t consider myself a welder by any stretch of the word. I do have one living in my house though, my oldest son went to trade school for it and he enjoys earning his keep.

ID is required here for reasons of theft, and it works. Back around ‘07 or ‘08, price of copper skyrocketed in North Carolina and you could hardly keep it. Some companies found it more cost effective to pay someone to guard their facilities overnight rather than replace their stolen copper. That is when many addicts started stealing it large scale. The ID requirements cut down on it and led to quite a few drug busts in a lot of cities. Recently, two fellas working for a nearby city were busted selling brass water meters and scrapped copper plumbing, and they were caught because of the ID requirements. Sometimes IDs aren’t required to catch a thief. A town I travel through occasionally in Mississippi, I pulled up to a gas station to fill up and was told the pumps were down. I asked what happened, they told me someone tried to steal some power lines. While they were live! It worked out for them about as badly as you can imagine. When I ran the sewer system for my local township, I caught a guy in our small scrap pile. He said he was just trying to do us a favor by getting it out of our way. Most of it was roadside trash, a lot of aluminum, but also a lot of burnt up pumps that cost more to repair than to replace, these are almost always cast iron cases with a lot of stainless guts and copper windings on the motors. He went to jail on several charges, not the least of which that he had to cut the lock to get into the property, which amounted to a federal trespassing charge. Somehow we ended up retaining his truck. I was told to just park it out of the way and someone would come collect it eventually, but no one ever did.

Sheriff’s deputy was called out this morning. Talk about some hypocrites! It was kind of funny though. He showed up and said “Walt? I didn’t know you moved out here. Got a noise complaint though.” I told him the “rest of the story”. We had a laugh and he pointed out we’d gotten our revenge and it would seem fair to him that we go ahead and turn it down, so we went inside and had some bacon and eggs before I headed off to work and he headed back out on patrol. Noise ordinances don’t apply in my area, but he was right, payback was successful and there was no need to continue the torture. Maybe they’ll remember it next time they want to carry on until 0400.

My new Holland settled on some 4X6 pieces, buried about 13.5” into sand and crushed concrete, tamped down nice and solid. I need a slightly bigger stand width wise. I’m thinking of pouring a concrete stand, that’s a skill set I have in spades and the tools/materials to do it. Any thoughts on a concrete stand? I’m not worried about portability, and I can make minor adjustments to height the same way I have with this one, adding or removing a little sand and crushed concrete in my work area.

Looks like I may be staying up whether I want to or not. There is a hunting camp next to us and apparently all the members decided to get together and bring friends and have a party. I won’t complain too much. It’s Friday, NYE, and at least they’re not playing pop country. However… they’ve set up a karaoke machine. And if that screechy drunk woman don’t chill out, I may just have to slip through the woods and see if I can’t find a cord to cut or something. Y’all, she’s HORRIBLE. Absolutely horrible. I have ear plugs. But the feller that did Devil Went down to Georgia a few minutes ago wasn’t half bad. My youngest boy got a new amp for Christmas. I’ve told him to get some sleep, because we’re setting up on the back porch tomorrow morning at about 0600 and gonna see how loud it can get. The kid plays metal, he’s good, and he plays hard. He’s had two guitars refretted this year and I don’t know how many strings he’s gone through. The guy that refretted his telecaster asked us to at least clean the blood off next time. They’re gonna be in for a treat while those hangovers are starting to set in.

In my neck of the woods, if you’re looking for scrap metal then you’re a meth addict. Obviously that’s not always true. But we have addicts stealing and begging for scrap metal to sell for another fix. This leads to more crime, often violent. It’s rampant. So anyone asking for scrap is automatically met with distrust and hostility. I’m guilty of it, but it’s so bad here that I’m not even ashamed to say I’ve run people off my old property at gun point. When they’re twitching and smelling like burnt plastic, I want them to fear for their life when it comes to bothering me. The one you politely turn down is the one you find rummaging through your stuff later that night, and they’re the one who’ll put you down for the $5 in your wallet.

I don’t know what I’d do with single digit humidity again. Last time around I thought I was gonna dry up and blow away. I’m only 37. But I’ve got healthcare, financial security, and a list of old injuries that I can’t even read without taking a break.

Walt USMC 0311/8541 (now 0317) Finished basic at Parris Island in ‘02 as an E-1. Made E-5 middle of ‘06, rapidly made it back to E-3 by my EAS at the end of that year.

Ah, but I don’t have that skill set yet! Nor the time to be taking any sort of orders yet. I’m kicking around the idea of going ahead with retirement. I’ve got secured income and my stocks are doing well. But I’m not very old, late model/high mileage. My body says “screw this”, pride says “show em what you’re made of”.

Picked up my new anvil at the local fastenal location. Got it home, had the boys help me unload it. Then I got pretty sick and don’t remember much of the next few days. Pneumonia apparently. They first thought Covid of course, until I tested negative multiple times. I’ve mostly recovered. Getting tired easy, my lungs aren’t quite clear yet, but I’m back to work on the job and around the house. I’m still on antibiotics and an inhaler I got the anvil set up. The stand is six pieces of 4X6 post treated with creosote, banded together and buried just over a foot into crushed concrete and sand. I tamped the mix around it nice and tight with a steel rod until it just wouldn’t tamp anymore. Then I scraped some loose sand and dirt around it. It’s about half an inch to an inch low, but I figure the sand and dirt will compact as I work around it. If it doesn’t I’ll just do a little rain dance around it, maybe shuffle my feet while I do it. It’ll work out. I’d like to have another pair of 4X6 pieces, but this is what I had to work with. The stand is a little narrow, the base of the anvil overhangs about 3/4” on either side, but it’s nice and stable. I don’t feel it’s in danger of falling. And first project from it. Mama said she needed a new hoof pick and didn’t like any of the ones they sell in the local co-op, and said she thought it’d be cool to have me make one instead of ordering one. It needs a little final shaping and I’ll touch it to the grinder, then blacken it and ship it off. Scraper on one end, pick on the other.

A gate and 300 feet of fence is pretty ambitious. My next project is gonna be some towel hangers for the bathroom.

I’m not sure how much is directed to me and how much of that’s just for everyone’s general knowledge, it is all very good info Glenn and Frosty. Safety with maple and sweet gum especially isn’t something to be taken lightly because of their tendencies to come alive. I do have a background in this though. Grew up cutting firewood, lumber and clearing land. Granddad had a sawmill. Even went to college for forestry and cut timber for a living for a short while. Had differences with the company owner’s son, otherwise I loved it. In regards to felling trees, I’ve done my share but these in particular have been on the ground for years already. I think the freshest one is about two years old, most are from 2015-2017. So that’s something I don’t have to worry about.

I appreciate the thought my friend, but that’s already exactly how I do it. Except I throw a trailer in the mix too. Been gathering firewood since I was big enough to carry a stick. All we had for heat growing up was a wood burning stove, I’ve spent many a night on the floor with the dogs in front of it. At least we had indoor plumbing.

We had trouble finding propane and propane tanks when we bought our house a few months ago. Almost a month of cold showers and cooking on a couple double burner hot plates kinda sucked. With one of my best friends having about a dozen giant oak trees knocked over at his house by storms the past few years, I had my propane fire place converted to wood burning just yesterday. He’s already got saws, axes and a log splitter, I just need to get over there with my boys to provide the labor in exchange for a share of the wood. I think the smallest of those trees is about three feet diameter at the base. And being out in the boonies it takes a while to get power restored when it gets knocked out, so I’m gonna stock up on firewood.

Dang this thread sounds familiar! SupaConducta, I posed just about the exact same question in my first post just recently. There is a difference though. While I just joined this forum and I’m still a total noob to blacksmithing, I’ve been beating on a harbor freight cast iron anvil and piece of rail while lurking on this forum for a little over a year. So I did note the advice given, but didn’t really follow all of it. That harbor freight anvil worked just well enough to convince me I want to do this long term. I can afford to splurge a bit too, just ordered a Holland anvil today and I expect I’ll love it. I know it’s way more anvil than I need right now, but like you, I hope to progress. I don’t intend for this to take the place of my day job, I like it too much and it pays too well to just walk away from it, but I do hope to be pleasantly occupied during my retirement. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably have taken the advice given as the gospel. I hope no one here takes it as disrespect that I didn’t.