Strine

My turn again. To all those doing this to keep the wolf from the door, to put food on the table, to support a family. I have no bones to chew over how you make your living. Oh, did I mention, I have no bones to chew over how you make your living. If you're only intent is to study, practise, record, display or demonstrate how something was done in times past stick to your principles. Do it the hard way if you want (I want) and don't be disheartened because your neighbour does it the easy way and earns a fortune. His principles are not the same as yours, neither lesser nor greater just not the same. Oh I forgot, I have no bones to chew over how you make a living unless the constabulary or society in general does.

Ok Maybe I went over the top, perhaps I should have said some of the skills of the smith if not being lost are at least being shunned. Viz; rivetting, tenonning and other non electric/gas means of fitting parts. Or do my eyes deceive me as I read the posts. Which facit of non electric/gas means is next to go? Oh and Froggy, my definition is that the hand forged parts are hand forged, but the overall job, be it high art, utilitarian or utter carp is only partly hand forged; a major partly or a minor partly but still only 'partly'. Yes, it sure is a tichy subject eh? I wonder which way Bruce will go. As long as we're being gentlemen, which I think we are, we should be able to argue about this hoary chestnut for a long time to come. I'll go back to my cave :)

Like I said, if it's your living do what you want. If it's your passion do what you want. I think most of the posters here live in free countries. The discussion here though makes it obvious, to me at least, that the skill of shaping metal with fire, hammer and hand are being overshadowed. And that's sad. The circle is turning again toward a point where someone will again recognise that the skill of the smith is being lost and needs preservation, not in some museum displaying dusty old anvils but by people getting there hands dirty. I don't think the skill of the welder needs preserving yet. Maybe the overiding factor in all this, dare I say it, is money or profits and how well you can dupe customer into believing he's getting a genuine article, not process. Well this little black duck is only interested in the process. I give away most of the stuff I make, even to total strangers if they're good lookers. For me it's the journey not the destination that provides the riches. I better get ready for some of your stones HW Having said all that if 'they' invent some device whereby I can survey a block of land without getting out of the ute then I want one.

1. Young Olly says at the dinner table, after finishing off his bowl of watery gruel, "Please Sir, can I've some more?" "MORE? I'm a "traditional" smith, I snub all types of modern convenience. There is no more! When metal working pays the bills, feeds the kids, roofs the family and occupies your working hours you must do what you have to. Needs must when the devil drives. As long as your endeavours are honest, above board and legal then no one has the right to argue against your modus opperandi. End of argument. 2. As for what's blacksmithing and what's not, if modern methods, which are also used in the fabrication industry are all the go, stop the bus I want to get off.

Well you got me in. What the dickens is a dial indicator. What does it indicate

Thick as two planks Thick as a brick

Sorry to stir the pot folks :mrgreen: but as I said to Glenn privately I love these sorts of brain teasers. They're much more fun than trying to solve trigonometry or calculus problems. I also said it's really interesting to see the responses and how the imagination can take you in all sorts of directions. A lot of the suggestions were very close to the mark, especially the ones about gripping things, even nose wipers but this morning, when I saw reference to measuring, I suggested to Glenn that the nut had been pretty well cracked hence Glenn's latest post. There is just one correction to make. There are 8 furlongs in a mile not a chain and there are ten chains in a furlong. That makes 80 chain to the mile. And one last thing, I vehemently deny the fingerprints are mine :wink:

There's a kangaroo loose in the top paddock

Fair Go H no point spoiling a good yarn with some well founded research. I like it heaps and the explanation wasn't too drawn out either.

This'll be good. You asked a delicate question Bruce and I'm interested to see the responses.

OWF those kids are just the best aren't they

Not to put too fine a point on it Anvillian, and without hammering out the details it's a fair bet if 'it' was all bent it'd end up at the smith for repair.

The "precision" insciption gets me. Why would a wire-pulling or banding-grabbing have to be precise. I agree though it looks like it grabs something or other. It's very much the same principle as my carpenter's saw rack in the shed which holds ten saws.

Glenn I read somewhere :wink: that rust, which would surely appear sooner rather than later with all the soil clooging up the holes, is not at all good for plants. Now you have read it somewhere too. Glad to be of assistance in marital relations how ever far away On the other hand, wouldn't it be lovely to have half of your acorn covered in primroses right in the middle of your shop. How does scale work as a fertiliser cos the primrose half would be a good spot to sweep it all too.

Is it something for marking animal ears? But it looks like the two prongs go on either side of the little round anvil. Maybe the prongs held another piece? Could it be a tram conductors thingy for punching tickets. On Melbourne trams the 'connies' had their own shape, be it a star, a heart a diamond etc I think there were lots of different ones "Tickets please" Got it. It's something somebody made years ago when he had nothing else to do, thinking one day someone is going to ask what on earth do these pliers do. Then he hid them in the bottom of a tool box. That's him in the background finally having a giggle.

Wow, :shock: You go through three truckloads of coke per day. Now that's impressive. I'd hate to think they were "B Doubles". Just pulling your leg. What a great find

Congratulations DB and DG. and good on you for the bravery shown in posting the post. It's always hard to admit how poorly you're own grey matter operates sometimes. I hope it all goes well.

I'd have to be pretty thirsty to drink out of my slake tub but I get the drift H

Quite often, I'm questioned here as to whether it is in fact English that we Australians speak. We do really. It's the isolation; our language has evolved differently.... a bit like how come our indigeneous rabbits evolved into animals with really long tails and bound around on there back legs :wink: What we might consider to be common usage has a lot of other English speakers scratching their heads. The 'ocky strap' instance immediately springs to mind. Anyway, what I thought might be of interest is a collection of common terms, phrases or cliches (I hate that word it's such an annoying cliche) that trace their roots to Blacksmithing. Forging ahead or Forging a link are obvious. This is common ground I reckon and sidesteps the language barriers. So how about it, strike while the iron's hot and make an addition :)

One thing about all extiguishers Ed is that they need a regular check by an authorised person. If you've had one for a while it's probably either due for a check or is verbotun to own on account of it being harmful to the environment. My fireman mate came into my shed a while back and just took my extinguisher :shock: He could have replaced it :cry:

Very True as well Ed. All this reminds me of a hammering story I like to tell about a young freshly graduated surveyor I had the pleasure of entertaining for a while. As with a lot of fresh graduates they are all knowing. Well they don't teach hammer control at Uni do they? The Universities rely on the good will, knowledge and experience of those that are being told their knowledge and experience is old hat, to pass on the menial aspects of the work. Universities will one day realise that a surveyor's lot is basically banging pegs into the ground for one reason or another. On this particular day we were setting out a house which meant banging in 2 x 1 stakes. We always used a block splitter for this as it was not too heavy and could also be used to chop as well. A block splitter is best described as a long handled, square faced hammer with a sharp 'straight pein'. Having made all the calculations I issued my mate with his share of the sixty stakes and off we went, hammers in hand. He being left handed and me being right handed we were working back to back about twenty metres apart down the line. All seemed to be going fine. I could hear him working away so just got on with it. After about ten stakes I felt I was getting ahead a bit so thought I could get away with a bit of a spell. I turned around to see the other bloke still trying to get the first stake in and there's a pile of smashed up stakes laying around. Mmmm not so smart after all, I thought as I wandered over to gloa...er... assist. "The Bloody hammer's no good" he said. Wrong answer I thought which may have expained my annoyance. I checked it over for manufacturing defects or signs of wear; even tested its balance. It looked fine to me. So I had a go with it. Two hits and there's another stake done. There was nothing wrong with the 'tool', it must've been something else. :wink: I put another one in as more of a demo. But that was it, I wasn't putting anymore in! As they say ... you don't catch old birds on chaff. He was adamant he was doing exactly what I was. I don't make a habit of standing in front of someone swinging an implement with a big lump of steel and a sharp edge on the end but what I saw from the side seemed fine... nice swing, reasonable action, good hand work, accurate for at least some of the time but still another smashed up stake. I took the risk and watched from the front. From this angle it all became clear. In the downward swing he was actually turning the hammer head maybe 20 degrees. The hammer either glanced off the stake or hit it like a wedge. He wasn't surveying i.e. bangin' in pegs, he was cutting up kindling for the lunchtime Barby This explained why some of his reject stakes were as pointy on the top as they were on the bottom. I allowed him to watch me put a few more of my ration of stakes in and then he went back to his lot. Well that seemed to work a bit better and there were far less breakages. That job cost at least a hundred stakes :!: Make what you will out of this true tale, but don't sprout to me that you know what you're doing, especially if you a new graduate unless you know what you're doing. If you admit you don't know what you're doing I'll drop everything to help. I often worry whether I was ever so uppity, treating my elders' wider experience with contempt. I hope not but I suppose I was just as guilty in my youth. And one last thing, I'd suggest turning the head of the hammer in the downward swing is sometimes a handy skill at the anvil.

Lead is known for its dangers and I'd be worried that an ingot of tin would cost an arm and a leg. A lump of wood is as good as anything to practice using a hammer. Hardword is best as it will splinter up into bits of kindling to light the fire. In fact its how I make a handful everytime I fire up. Just lay it on the anvil and hit it till there's a danger of hitting the anvil face. You could even hold it with tongs to practise that as well.

:lol: That'd be "Shifty as a particular house rat". (Rude word replaced on account of the family nature of this forum). Dunny would be used thus.. just for your edification and in preparation for your trip Tinker. Take care lest your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny door down. In other words to quote a bloke from your neck of the woods, "the best laid plans of mice and men oft gang astray. And I hope that any Plan B is not just Plan A with an element of panic. It will be the tour of dreams

Good luck Can't wait to hear the Yorkshire accent. Sorry, can't wait to hear Yorkshire accent. An addage you might like to take with you for use under circumstances good or bad..."No worries mate...she'll be right" Edit: duplicate post removed

Joelon It's the first bit that got me in. Your skill will improve proportionately to the time you spend practising. So will mine for that matter . So my first suggestion would be to find the time to work at the forge. As for the other stuff, have a good look around here, there's lots of chatter about basic stuff that you'll find really useful.