Frosty

That'd be really hard for me to deal with. I'm normally an easy going downright nice guy but not PC. I ASSIGN projects unless the student shows that level of expertise already. Bad attitudes know where the door is. That's in my shop though, even the Public school "special" kids come to my shop and operate by my rules. I don't know how long I could teach anything with the PC police looking over my shoulder. Frosty The Lucky.

Some things are so obvious even a thick head like me will get the idea. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Welric, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. I don't put a flare on mine but it's not a rule. I use a thread protector which sort of acts like a flare but the reason I use them at all is it makes it easier to stand the burner on my forge. I have a hole saw that cuts a hole exactly right to slide over a thread protector. I cut largish washers and weld them on the thread protector so the burner will stand on top of my forge without help. Frosty The Lucky.

Oh yeah, everything else I have can be replaced or done without, I ain't letting Deb go for anything. Frosty The Lucky.

You use PECAN? That's just nuts! That was too good a strait line to let lay, I had to shell one out. I've be quiet if I had something related to fill my pie hole. Frosty The Lucky.

I'll say a prayer for Alex Charles. Frosty The Lucky.

You have that right Thomas. You can only learn ABOUT something by studying it, to learn to DO it you have to. Frosty The Lucky.

A Christmas Story reference? Nice one, well shot. Frosty The Lucky.

Pat: I'm wondering what you're using for torsion plates. Steel has a much lower expansion coefficient than any of the other metals you're listing in your billet. How can pressure possibly decrease when the billet is expanding farther and faster than the bolts? Frosty The Lucky.

Wow Mr. Reynolds: A student with an attitude like that usually doesn't come back for a second session and I've had a few. Are you a public school teacher in one form or another without 86 authority? I've had a student or two who had never and I mean NEVER swung a hammer. One spent two sessions one unfinished nail first session and three okay nails his second. He found someone closer to where he lives and is developing basic eye hand skills by learning blacksmithing. I hope I see him next club meeting. He didn't quit he's worth the effort on my or someone's part. The other kid not only had zero experience using a hammer, he needed instruction to use pliers. Pliers! He was finishing his last semester of High school and couldn't figure the area of a square, a SQUARE! I saw him at a couple meetings and he found a couple other guys to "teach" him. Unfortunately he seemed to thing BSing folk into doing things for him would make him a smith. Sad cases, there are always sad cases, kids and adults who'll probably never be anything but a burden to others. Ultimately there's nothing I can do for them, things aren't run on my watch or "sink or swim" would be the rule of the land. Sure there are folk who genuinely need help and I'm there for them but lazy folk can get to know what hungry feels like. I don't know of better motivators than an empty belly, cold wet place to sleep and fear of failure. Then again I'm not a PC guy though I AM on the books as an instructor with the local school system. I work with "autistic" kids. (I have my own unflattering definition for folk who label hard to teach kids autistic) "Autistic" kids don't get PC language, they understand direct, cause and affect terms. The hardest lesson I have teaching kids with learning and communication issues is, "I don't know." I had to threaten one kid with sweeping the floor if he wouldn't say, "I don't know." People will live up to your expectations, expect them to be delicate flowers with sensitive feelings and that's what they'll be. Expect them to be do it yourself, problem solvers with good attitudes and that's what they'll be. One of my biggest satisfactions with some of these kids is when we have a good laugh at a mistake and they start taking it apart to see what happened. It didn't necessarily go wrong, it just didn't work. Cause and affect rules the smithy, failure analysis is the rule of thumb for advancement. Rules of nature. Frosty The Lucky.

Beautiful work as always Cliff. I'd have to hold it and see how the handle fit my hand before passing final judgement for my desire level. I have this thing for wanting any tool to have good utility but that's MY thing. Frosty The Lucky.

Okay, I'll give you the long winded skewed sense of humor similarity, it takes us at least an hour to ask a quick yes or no question. I'd spend a lot of time on the phone if I had unlimited minutes on my phone. There are a bunch of folk on IFI I'd love to talk to vocal cord to vocal cord. <sigh> Nice scroll Jim, I love scrolls and on the diamond is as beautiful as it is difficult to do well. Just because I'm brain damaged and have a blacksmith's attitude towards problems doesn't mean I'm messed up enough to do it! Good grief Jim, Pres, ME? Nope can't see Russia from here we don't live on Little Diomede isle. I wouldn't know what you were talking about if Tina Fey and her Sat. Night Live skit wasn't reported on the Nat. News. We'll probably have to bribe or cajole Teenylittlemetalguy for a pic of those scrolling tongs, they're hanging in his shop somewhere. Frosty The Lucky.

Bottle openers often need some tweaking to get right, I don't drink enough beer to test more than 4 a week. Nice job on the spike wall mount openers too. Counter sinking mount holes makes for a nice clean pro design. It's almost as important as making sure there aren't any burs or sharp edges where they can snag clothing or flesh. What are you finishing with? Frosty The Lucky.

Glenn's accent!? I don't even have a touch of charming southern drawl. You might want to start wearing hearing protection. Frosty The Lucky.

They look pretty nice. Potential buyers like being able to see transition forged into recognizable items. It's one reason RR spikes make such popular products. How do they work? I see a lot of intensive testing there. Frosty The Lucky.

To separate the slag be it charcoal glass borax or . . .slag. You can use a crucible or ladle with a lip that has a dam. If you've seen a mustache cup, keeps coffee off your mustache or your mustache out of your coffee. Anyway, the copper flows under a low gate that separates the charcoal by scraping it off the surface. You can NOT pour all the melt or the dross will follow in out. That may be okay though if your mold is full the cap material will float and not contaminate the casting. Frosty The Lucky.

My Mother gave Deb her bent rolling pin, says it matches Dad's head. Thank you very much for the thought though. Frosty The Lucky.

Pretty slick Dave. I'm thinking if you put the treadle on another lever linkage you'll have a compound lever for severe grippage. Welcome aboard Martin, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many IFI folk live within visiting distance. Frosty The Lucky.

A while ago Teenylittlemetalguy suggested to Victoria Patti she interview me for her Podcast oriented Blacksmither site. Well, okay Frosty says, sounds like fun. Sure I have to come up with something suitable to get even with Teenylittlemetalguy but I can be patient. Glenn gave me the OK to link the podcast directly as there are commercials. My interview is Episode #44 So if you have some time to kill the link follows. . . No promises though! - http://www.blacksmither.com/?p=1659 Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah, I remember the time and effort I spent trying to teach myself the craft. For any years I was just beating steel on something. I didn't know about ABANA nor any blacksmithing books till the early mid 80's and I found "The Art Of Blacksmithing" by Alex Bealer on a close out table at a local book store. That was my first exposure to actual blacksmithing info. Why somethings didn't work or Yeah right that Does work, etc. but how to do things, what this meant, etc. etc. After a while I started running into people who did a little and a LOT was Mother Earth News BS. Written by folk who didn't actually know didly for people who didn't know that much. Still it was something, use a SINK for a forge! DUH. When the internet went public it paid for itself for me in the first 2 hours by putting me in contact with ABANA's theforge.list and the old Artmetal.list. I was in contact and I was off and running. The rant of mine was just me being cranky. Folk who have to have their information spoon fed them are pursuing the wrong craft. Asking a question you've already decided for yourself THEN complaining about folk who don't agree is either an underveloped personality or a Troll. Pile that on a response from someone who was taking a number of blacksmiths with differing answers for being hostile. Two guys who thought because we disagree we're being hostile just got to me. It's okay though I got my mad out without naming names or calling names and Glenn posted it here instead of where I did. It's all good. Frosty The Lucky.

That's rascal Charles, lazy rascal. It's in your spell check for lazy's sake MAN. I'm still looking to get some decent tech illustrations straightened out and I'll have a how to or BP or. . . some darned thing about putting a T burner together. I'm about ready to just do a freehand sketch and let folk figure out what I mean. Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah, you me and a whole bunch of us too. The way he opened the tank it's hard to estimate blanket thickness. I think print the pics out and take a compass to it you can use objects in the pic of known dimension to infer a good estimate. Personally I like 2" minimum on the Kaowool. Frosty The Lucky.

Ayup, we're on the same page Donnie, my main use for the horn is as a bottom fuller but I do use the hardy hole to hole my . . . hardies. Frosty The Lucky.

Uh, isn't the choppy poky part the OTHER end of the pole? Personally I want to stay on the end of the pole. Of course that's just me I could be wrong. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice spear. I thought the boar stops were mounted at a 90 to the blade face so once the spear was stopped any thrashing the spear carrier or boar did would slice. The way they're mounted as pictured it'd be more likely to bend the blade than mince the recipient. Frosty The Lucky.