Frosty

Excellent, I like being able to provide another work station when I can. Can I bring anything else? I have some planer blades and ball bearings for iron in the hat. They might make some nice blade billets. Frosty The Lucky.

Alex: I'll bet driving that into a block wears out a mallet pretty quickly. I'd just use a piece of 2"x4" to cushion a hammer then use the resulting kindling to start the wood stove. Frosty The Lucky.

Strategize all you want but it's only a guideline once the action starts. An old adage goes, "It's best to be good and lucky. If you can only be one, be lucky." An old fencing tactic goes, "the second swordsman isn't the one to fear it's the worst." I believe there's a version of this adage in every martial craft practiced. I don't recall the one Sensei taught us but I certainly recall how true it is. Frosty The Lucky.

The fan blade is inside a wire cage you can't touch it with anything larger than a pencil. It's not unreachable I just never applied myself to the modification. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice minion. Who says a feral minion can't have a xxxx gun and why would s/he care what anybody said? I'd be tempted to build one REALLY hot fire in it, well away from anybody and burn the galvy off before painting. Well, try burning it off. Frosty The Lucky.

True, while I think I notice the difference in work a steel stand delivers over a wooden one I may just be seeing or I thinking I want. Regardless I doubt it's a significant difference. My concerns are for two things, the steel stand under my anvils quietens them considerably, they're much more solid and easier to move than the wood blocks. I developed my hammer style in part based on what my Father taught me about using tools that returned a lot of energy into the body. Scissor tool metal spinning will cripple a person who brute strengths the tool. Dad taught me to always look for leverage and even more always sidestep the recoil. A few days ago Mr. Helm posted a Youtube video, "Hammering Helm style" Well, I think that's the title. Anyway, our grips are very similar and for the same basic reasons. We describe the hows and whys a little differently but were on the same page. I've been using what I call the "fencer's" grip on hammers for at least 30 years and it's what I teach. I can hammer all day without joint or unreasonable muscle pain. I still get achy if I'm out of shape of course. Anyway, how as where the anvil is mounted isn't nearly so important as how you use it. A good technique and the anvil has to be a long way out of ideal to cause physical problems and if you don't recognize the conditions and call it quits you deserve a little pain. Pain's a good educator. Frosty The Lucky.

So true Thomas and it keeps leaving the alleys the living language. Frosty The Lucky.

You're chasing this thread awful hard! Frosty The Lucky.

Ed: Was it actually Victor or the guy at the counter who it would work or it was designed to work with oxy propane torches? There is a WORLD of difference. Most acet regulators can not be turned down to low enough pressure and still supply enough volume to make an oxy propane torch work properly. Even the perdoodly poor propane tips they still sell. In any case that tip is for a brazing head NOT a cutting head. There is NO orifice to allow the oxy cutting jet to pass but the thumb valve is still there on the handle. Those valves are rarely fully gas tight so it's possible line pressure was being trapped against that tip. No tip without a cutting orifice should be mounted on a cutting torch. No matter how it happened you got oxy injected into the fuel hose. Had it been fuel injected into the oxy hose it well could've exploded. In what order did you shut the valves off? I've just run into a surprise checking with Harris web site and discovered I can't find a different listing for acet or prop torches. I'm going to have to ask around and see if I'm just behind the times or don't know where to look? To Alan's point about shut down. ALWAYS shut off the fuel at the handle FIRST. Without fuel oxy will just blow the flame out. Then shut off the oxy. Only then shut off the tank valves and bleed the hoses. I'd definitely bleed the hoses in your case, one serious back fire is enough for me. Frosty The Lucky.

When I saw the first pic I said to myself, 'oh boy another pallet hammer rack'. Not that there's anything wrong with them but there are an awfully lot of them pictured on Iforge. . . Somewhere. Then as I scrolled down through the spread it got fancier and fancier without getting overdone. About the only suggestions I can think of being maybe putting a couple horizontal stock racks on the upper two multi board racks. A little fold down desk on the back side with a hanging lamp under the shelf would be cool handy and dynamite at demonstrations. Of course that's probably violating my own rule about getting silly and doing just because. Frosty The Lucky.

Boy has this thread been comic stripped! Frosty The Lucky.

No anvil bridge for either of mine and making one isn't in the cards, I have a full week. Nuts. well, I'll see what I can come up with, there's a lot of . . . stuff in the shop. Do you you have a bridge that'll work with a 1" hardy hole? Frosty The Lucky.

Amusement? You actually think you amuse us? I'm afraid you're still operating under an over inflated image of yourself. Not only will the craft not disappear if we talk to you like you were grown up. Nobody was insulting you for amusement sake. Nobody insulted you they just told you to refine your researching skills so you can ask good questions. You took umbrage. In spite of your attitude a number of very accomplished smiths tried to pry enough information out of you to answer your questions and you talked to them like they were playing dumb. You're still talking down to us, explaining how WE should answer your questions when it's you who doesn't know enough to define the problem? I recognize the problem, I've defined it well enough to cope and will solve it by not insulting you with further reply.

It was pretty common for Frankish warriors to carry more than one francesca and they were excellent throwing axes. No plan survives contact with the enemy eh? Frosty The Lucky.

Do NOT use that cobbled together thing!! Whoever sold you that should be FIRED maybe jailed for gross malfeasance! Did he tell you you need a propane regulator? Acetylene regulators generally supply MUCH to high pressure and the diaphrams are NOT rated for propane. Propane is VERY chemically reactive and tends to eat rubber not formulated for it. Just sticking a big tip on your cutting torch is asking for trouble. Trouble of the burn your shop down kind. What happened to your torch is called a B-A-D back fire. Normally a backfire in a torch stays in the tip or at worst the handle and sounds like a machine gun. There's no mistaking a back fire like that. However when it migrates back into the hoses it's a MAJOR danger. I'm speculating as to why it did what it did so don't take this as anything but a possibility. If your fuel regulator was set as high as I think it was and you didn't shut it off properly. Say you shut the torch off with the final adjustment valves or even the handle valves in the wrong order. The high fuel pressure could have back flowed, (forced it's way into the oxy hose) and burned. If there was the smallest flow through the oxy valve the rubber in the hose would burn. Again, that's just speculation but I've seen some scary weird things happen with oxy fuel torches. Search online for "Harris torch company" and their alternative fuel torches. They've been making oxy prop torches that work properly and are as safe as any oxy fuel torch can be. They've been making a hugely good oxy propane torch for at least 50 years that I know of and seeing as the company they made the torches for let the patent lapse Harris is marketing the same system under their trademark for maybe 1/3 the price. It's expensive off the shelf but costs about 2% in oxy fuel as an equivalent oxy acet torch for work done. Whatever you do do NOT use that torch set up like that again! Frosty The Lucky.

My folks especially used to buy elephants for me. I had ONE fun experience with a few at a circus and my rep was established. I have a couple stamped sheet metal elephants intended to do "things" in breezes. Long spring legs, long spring trunk and large wind stopper body. The other has a propeller in the body that spins in the breeze. I've been tempted since I got it to put something on one blade so it'd bounce shimmy, giggle, ? in breezes but nope too far on the back burner. A yard sculpture has a lot of possibilities. An elephant standing on hit's hind legs or maybe one leg mounted on a "kitchen table or chair" stand with a little mousy on the ground. Heck on a table a person could make it rotate like a wind vane. Hmmmm, could be a fun niche. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Yura, glad to have you! If you'll put your general location in the header folk won't wonder where that guy from Poland is if they have tips, referrals, etc. That's a beautiful railing, I'm sure you can find work here, it might take time but that level of craftsmanship is marketable. Not long ago an American company was posting ads to hire on Iforge. Frosty The Lucky.

Disappeared reply and won't accept a cut and paste. I'll be back later if I remember what I was saying. Well, maybe if the edit works. I'm a real proponent of welding a shank to bottom tools rather than forging them. There are several benefits: If you weld the sank to one end rather than the bottom you don't need to scarf heavily or clean up the welds where they'll contact the anvil face. Another is being able to place the bottom tool over the center of the anvil rather than hanging on the heal. Lastly is a little thought for you. If you weld the shank at a little angle so it'll jam in the hardy hole like a hold fast your bottom tool won't move in use no bounce, jitter, rattle, etc. Just make the shank long enough to tap it free from underneath! Fingers crossed, Frosty The Lucky.

No worries there Das, That one one is a certain lag. Frosty The Lucky.

Times change eh? Scrap yards I'm aware of in south central Alaska all operate under single buyer contracts so they're liable if they sell anything to anybody but the contract buyer. It's all been getting loaded on bulk cargo ships bound for China. Well, it seems the Chinese are learning about building a supply faster than the market will bear. They built so many foundries and mills they can't afford to sell to cover fuel combined with how over extended their entire economy is right now they're not buying much of anything. Who knows someone might open a couple American mills eh? I'm waiting for the time when China is found in breach and local scrap yards start selling to anybody again. Frosty The Lucky.

Pretty darn cool elephant. I think it's darned marketable. Some sproingier spring legs and a mouse would make a pretty neat dances in a breeze piece. I like, lots. Frosty The Lucky.

That's a pretty shallow pitch Das. Try harder you don't want to wash-er out this early in the game. Frosty The Lucky.

Sounds good Mark, I was afraid I'd missed it. I'm pretty sure I can get Friday the 15th. clear, I'll check with the boss. Should I bring anything? My portable forge isn't up and working and moving the shop forge does it too much damage. The Soderfors is available as always and I have a number of bottom swages if they'd help. I also have some strap stock though I'll have to check the dimensions. I'll bring something for iron in the hat I have a few goodies, stock wise. Frosty The Lucky.

At least till it's tapped out. Frosty The Lucky.

I get the walking candle stick impression, you did that well. "The Sorcerers Apprentice" exactly, maybe make a bucket the handle can hold. You have a good idea once you've made a few dozen they'll start to come together. I expect your friends and relatives will have all the candle holders they can use by time you have it mastered. Frosty The Lucky.