Frosty

Oh my what the nit wits pull doff. Frosty The Lucky.

Gote: I think you have advice for anyone with wit to listen. The more you write the better I like you. I hope we get a chance to meet some day. Frosty The Lucky.

Don't feel fleeced guys we're just spinning a yarn. Frosty The Lucky.

Cutting edge is often high carbon but but sometimes it's a more exotic or high alloy.It's the tungsten carbide granules in the steel that gives it abrasion resistance, making a steel that can take the punishment is usually a proprietary thing. That makes it really iffy to forge, depending on the maker's recipe. I've gotten some pretty surprising results trying to work the stuff. I have some edge on the pile and it can stay there till I need an upsetting plate or something. Working it is too iffy for my blood. If you know who makes the plow you can find out what the edge steel is so you don't have to do as much guessing. Frosty The Lucky.

Oh, I was hoping you were offering to buy tickets. <sigh> We'll get some of the guys together if any of the gang make it this far. I understand, it's MUCH easier to cook a batch than just for two people. I made a "small" meatloaf a while back and it was making sandwiches for a week. Wrapped it in pizza dough and popped it back in the oven for about 20 minutes to bake it. Meatloaf Wellington heals with meatloaf gravy make for squabbles over who gets one. Fortunately two heals is perfect for Deb and I. Frosty The Lucky.

It was probably a commercial site. Diamond drill bits are pretty common even at the big box stores. They'll last a LOT longer if you spin them fast and use gentle down pressure and do NOT put the bit in contact then turn it on, that just pops the diamond out of the matrix. Get it spinning THEN ease it into it. Coring is coring whether it's an 8" barrel or a 1/64" burr OR a diamond saw. They all work the same way and are vulnerable to the same problems. Frosty The Lucky.

Cool I'll wash some plates. It's going to take some extraordinary coordination to visit me in NM, IN, OK, WV, etc. though, It's a bit out of my neighborhood. Sounds like fun though, are you going to bring apple desert for everybody? Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Jim, glad to have you. Don't worry about asking questions, er have lots of Texican members so we're used to it. There is a lot of information archived here by category and any question you may have has been answered many times. Seriously, thousands of posts in more categories than a boy could need. if you start out in the getting started section and move on from there it's pretty hard to go wrong. Just learning the jargon makes a huge difference learning the craft for example a shrinking hammer is WAY different than a plannishing hammer but are closely related. Enjoy the ride. Frosty The Lucky.

Thomas: Do you have drawings or diagrams of the bloomery you use? Photos are nice but nothing beats a dimensioned drawing and diagrams to build with. Frosty The Lucky.

The home brew flux I've been using before I discovered an economical commercial flux was: 1 pt. boric acid to 3-4 pts, borax and it works well though nothing compared to Tristan's "Alaska Flux." The commercial flux I found at the local "Wasilla" welding supply is "Petterson's #?" I can't recall the number designation but it's NOT the high temp flux. It's primarily anhydrous borax and boric acid with a couple proprietary ingredients, one to turn it blue I'm sure. Anyway, the stuff is on the shelf in Wasilla for $26.and change shipping included. Buying a 1lb. can of "forge" welding flux starts at $50.00+ Plus shipping. The Petterson's high temp flux contains iron powder but needs more heat to melt. As it stands Tristan's "Alaska Flux" beats the commercial fluxes hands down. The only change I'd make it to use anhydrous borax for it's superior wetting characteristics. One of our guys did a welding demo a few meetings ago with a head to head comparison showing that while laundry borax is boiling out the water content the anhydrous is coating (wetting) the steel. Convinced me in one. Making 20 Mule team into anhydrous borax is pretty labor intensive, it's easy to drive out the water, "Hygroscopic moisture" cooks out at 230f but it glues the borax into a hard lump. It is NOT necessary to melt the borax to make it anhydrous but driving off the hygroscopic moisture causes it's own issues. I've given it a try and it still requires a mortar and pestle to reduce the anhydrous lumps to usable powder. However, a rock tumbler and ball bearings would make an outstanding ball mill to powder the anhydrous, charcoal and mix all the ingredients as well as possible. I mean a commercial grade product. Hmmmm. Another tool to add to the garage sale list. My list now includes: smithing tools and equipment, ball pein hammers, spinning gear for Deb and now a rock tumbler. Cool. Frosty The Lucky.

Oh come on guys, you live within reasonable visiting distance of some blacksmithing greats and confabs to die for. I'm just a hobbyist who spends time reading and playing with fire and hammers. On the other hand I'd dearly love to spend some time with any of you lugs let alone at the anvil. A boy can dream. On that topic, my shop is open to visitors with a day's lead time. Can't be surprising Deb you know. Frosty The Lucky.

Cousin Judy sent another update tonight with this Youtube fire map. the fellow putting it up updates it regularly, daily I think. Judy and Don's retirement home is in Kettle Falls, not lake. A neighbor of theirs says the flames are cresting the mountains and ridges on 3 sides and closing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgp8SDoo3O4 Frosty The Lucky.

That's true if the motor relies on the blower for cooling air. Frosty The Lucky.

No butts about it. Frosty The Lucky.

I can't imagine anyone putting in the time and effort to learn to play well unless they were doing it for themselves. It takes the kind of devotion only love can inspire. I understand what you mean by "suck at it," doesn't mean you haven't mastered the art. As much as I love blue grass I never learned to play anything because I wasn't willing to invest the time. Being able to adapt on the fly varies with subject as well as person I can adjust to some things without thinking but have to stop and regroup for others. Frosty The Lucky.

You can make "cleaner" ferric chloride using HCL rather than muriatic, though I doubt they dilute HCL with anything but distilled water to make it but if a person is a purist. . . HCL is a LOT faster too, more dangerous but fast. Frosty The Lucky. HLC = Muratic acid, they are the same thing.

That's what I was thinking too. Can we use the ATT RPG tag in the email list? I already have my filters set to move it to my RPG folder. It'll make it easier for everybody to keep track if all our emails go to one folder. A game history so to speak. Takeo

Good grief Thomas, do we have to explain everything to him? Must be reversed coriolis in action. Frosty The Lucky.

As much as the newest thing in credit card sales where all you have to do is walk past the machine? Were I less honest I'd be looking for one of those scanners. Frosty The Lucky.

I have Kern's book and it doesn't say anything about Pitman dimensions for any of the listed hammers that I can find. Frosty The Lucky.

Hi Pat. . . What Fergy said. How do you mean build one like in the old days? Red iron steel on a concrete slab was old when we were born and I like steel. As a rule of thumb or maybe a natural law, whatever you build will be too small, won't have enough outlets, lights, windows, doors, etc. If you're going to build frame or post and beam I really like a shed roof. They're much easier to expand by building another one mated to the high wall. Frosty The Lucky.

See Hal? I told you there are a lot of blacksmiths in the Carolinas. Frosty The Lucky.

Don't over think the thing S, it's really pretty straight forward. I knocked this one out for a friend who wanted to make nails for his cabin. Well, actually he wanted to buy hand made nails till he found out what he'd be charged. The idea behind this tool is NOT needing anything but a hammer and camp fire or wood stove to make small items, nails in particular. In the pic with it laying on the anvil with a couple sample nails the bar across the stake is a stop to prevent the tool being driven too deep in use AND it's the hot cut. Unfortunately the fellow I made it for isn't really a tool using kind of guy and and broke it right off using it to drive the stake into a log. <sigh> Anyway they aren't something to over complicate like this example. Frosty The Lucky.

It might be inactive but there should be some contact info. You can try organizations farther out in a search pattern. Sooner or later you'll contact someone who knows someone who . . . etc. How close to Brasstown are you? I have a couple blacksmith friends or maybe I should say a blacksmith couple there. I have to pass on posting their contact info but if you'd like I'll pass yours to them. PM me if you'd rather not send contact info on a public forum. Frosty The Lucky.

Good idea John but if we can't see it it didn't happen you know. Frosty The Lucky.