Frosty

By lube the gear box Bigguns means a FEW drops in the oil ports and relube with a few every 4-5 hours or so. They don't need nor like a lot of oil, put too much in and they'll express their displeasure by freeing it on your shop floor. Do you really need to ask how I know that? Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Takota, 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. If you go to the Iforge opening page you'll find many sections arranged by type. Eg: general, blades, Forges, coal, charcoal, gas anvils, tools, and so on. There are tens of thousands of pages of recorded knowledge to get a fellow started. If nothing else you'll learn enough of the language of blacksmithing to be able to ask good questions and understand the answers. We're more than happy to answer questions but I guarantee you can't think of something that hasn't been answered many times right here. We're not here to jump people through hoots to pay dues, we're here to share the company of blacksmiths, help each other, learn tricks and more. We really like to help you succeed but you're going to need to put your head down and work for it. Not work because we say so but because blacksmithing is work on every level mostly brain work. Frosty The Lucky.

Maybe it'll let me post this time. I grew up in Sylmar, moved to Simi 11 days after the 71 Sylmar quake. Didn't have any contact with smiths back then farriers only and Dad made sure I wasn't around when he had the horses shod. Welcome aboard, glad to have you. I'm crossing my fingers now and hitting submit. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. Nice looking forge and it's a fine size anvil. You want a flue even outdoors it'll help keep smoke out of your face and shield the fire from erratic winds. Not that a little breeze on the top of the fire makes a lot of difference but a stable environment is always nice. A side draft hood and flue work well and you don't need a support structure beyond a brace or two unlike an overhead hood. You and the boy are going to have many days of Kodak Moments to reminisce about to the coming generations. Giant swords eh. Normal boy you got there. Frosty The Lucky.

Very little on any pneumatic hammer. I have a few hours on a K-40 Kuhn and a good half hour on a Nazel 3B. I recently got a 50lb. Little Giant mechanical. What I have is experience covering my bets buying expensive equipment. A good guarantee from a company you can get to is worth a lot. I take anything a salesman says as suspect until proven otherwise and look for outside opinions. On general principle aligning things that are attached is much easier than things that rely on gravity to be immobile. Put the pieces under impact and it becomes more problematical. A one piece hammer will remain aligned so long as it doesn't get bent and they do not have enough energy in the machinery to bend it. Before I believed a salesman that a cast iron one piece base was secure enough to keep the sow from shifting on a 2 piece power hammer I'd have to see the plate in person and run it a while. That's just my take and I'm a guy living in the forest in Alaska. Frosty The Lucky.

Time to try the Forbidden shuffle! I'm REALLY getting to hate IPS! Frosty

You want a little slack do you? I have a LOT of slack for folk doing good things. I'll be honored with the privilege to do what I can to help you help them. Pics, lots of pics! A recipe or two might be nice too. Frosty The Lucky.

The wet clay will shrink check as it dries unless you're REALLY lucky, if it doesn't buy a lottery ticket! Just damp enough to squeeze into a hard clump in your hand then rammed hard with a mallet or such makes a nice hard clay liner that lasts a lot longer and won't check. Frosty The Lucky.

Yes you will but we're all about breaking the rules. Just so it works. Frosty The Lucky.

Sure, it works a treat. Being the lazy old coot I am I didn't drive the bearing into a heated plate first as recommended I just drilled a little less that 12 the bearing diameter into a plate so the bearing would stay. worked a treat and it's soooooo much easier and faster than forging a bearing in. BBs, .177 up to .22 cal. make very nice size small eye punches but BBs don't forge into a set plate worth spit. The punch will mushroom every time, just dress it afterwards. It's the perfect time to shape it for the eye socket you wish. For instance Dragons are pictured with an ovate eye and vertical slit. A tiny chisel slit or SHARP center punch in the bearing before you drive it into the punch makes a pupil. IF you''re LUCKY. Frosty The Lucky.

When we suggest you put your general location in the Header it's so it will appear under your Avatar every time you post a message. Telling us in a single message won't help later on, we aren't going to remember once we open another message. There isn't a rule saying you have to but you'd be surprised how many folk living in and near Norway read and post here. If they don't know you're near you can be missing out on good opportunities to get together with others, maybe get invited to shows, events, parties, etc. Like I say it's not a rule but it has more benefits than liabilities by a long shot. Frosty The Lucky.

My skeptic's instinct tells me I'd rather trust John's opinion than someone who's job is to sell a product. John has been working with pneumatic hammers of all types for a long time and has no dog in the fight. He has nothing to gain however you decide. The representative from the company you're considering buying from most certainly has an interest. That's my opinion, I could be wrong. Frosty The Lucky.

Okay, Nebraska is on the must visit list. You have no idea how hard it is to find smithing tools in Alaska. Even though I actually have most everything I want let alone need . . . Oh BABY! Frosty The Lucky.

Done that, 6/10s was a way of life for me for almost 20 years. It isn't the camera it's the lighting, the flash is bouncing straight back at the lens. A little tissue does wonders and is WAY cheaper than fancy filters, diffusion covers on filler lamps, reflectors, etc. etc. The picture quality of the camera is good enough for forum pics it just needs a little help. Frosty The Lucky.

All those are good products, especially if you put a little something special into them to make them your own. Horse shoes make fine barn, shed, gate, etc. hinges. Frosty The Lucky.

Stop showing me these things! <sniff> Frosty The Lucky.

That'd be a duck's nest instead of a fire pot. When you clay it make a depression leading down to the fire grate and you're golden. Don't get fancy with the grate either just lay some 1/2" rd. bars next to each other with a little something to hold them apart, say 1/4" nuts, etc. You can weld it up but it's not necessary. A bar grate is nice in a couple ways my favorite is how easy they are to clean. Just scrape lengthwise with the point of your fire rake and the clinker will knock right out. Another good thing about a duck's nest is it's adjustability you can easily change it's shape and size by arranging fire bricks around it. A fire pot on the other hand is a real PITA to make larger, longer, etc. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. I haven't seen a horse shoe belt buckle with a spread cross. Sounds like an idea worth the effort. Give it a try or three and post pics please. We LOVE pics. I'm betting it's a marketable idea with a little tweaking. Don't worry too much about "stealing" someone else's ideas I doubt there are many things you can do with a horse shoe that hasn't been done. So long as you don't counterfeit someone else's work and try passing it off as such you're on pretty good ground. The blacksmith's craft is a series of mastered basics, the most complex project is made up of those basics. Once someone has mastered them you can't keep a secret about how something was made. Sure details maybe but not the project itself. Enjoy the craft. Frosty The Lucky.

Of course my cyborg donkey is smart, I spent three months pay just on his last AI upgrade. He has a real talent as a software engineer and dearly loves kicking SOTware developers to the gutter on lonely barren planetoids. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Ted 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. The HB looks to be in really nice shape, have you done a rebound test on it? It will allow you to evaluate the condition of the face and detect any places where it may be coming delaminated. Dropping a ball bearing from a given height and eyeball estimating how far it rebounds tells the story. You can do similar with a small smooth faced hammer, ball peins are perfect. A specific rebound height isn't as important so long as it's at least 50%, finding dead spots shows spots where the face plate has come unwelded from the body. The anvil with the rougher face is a better candidate for using a light hammer. I'm going to let someone else say what they think the maker of that one is. Frosty The Lucky.

Then let us practice serious RP fun! You keep her tuned I'll drive with wild cyborg abandon. Say, the third joint in my lower left manipulator arm clicks when I lube my left tread bogeys. Can you take a look at it? Frosty click click squeel.

Ayup, long reply forbidden. See if Edit works. Nope, edit doesn't like it either. Frosty the Ticked.

Depends on who you talk to at the counter I guess. It got to where the folk up front couldn't talk with folk out back unless it was on the invoice. I think the bean counters were taking over by then. At the place out here in the Valley I buy from the guy at the counter walks out the door, pulls and cuts stock while talking. I haven't been to the place I used to buy from in Anchorage, last I stopped by most of the guys I knew had retired. Frosty The Lucky.

You're a CRUEL man buying your buddy with the injured digits finger food! I kind of like that in a person. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, 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. Besides once we check another post we aren't going to remember where you are and you'll miss out on invites to hammer ins, meetings, BBQs, etc. If you scroll to near the bottom of the Iforge opening page you'll find the regional organizations sections, pick one close to you and get hooked up. You'll learn more in a few hours with an experienced smith than days or weeks trying to figure it out yourself. Frosty The Lucky.