Frosty

Nevermind. Frosty The Lucky.

Just the picture of a cholla gives me the willies! Pretty flowers aren't enough to give me good memories of jumping cactus you know. Reminds me of the first time I brushed into one; I was maybe 11 and after getting tweasered thorn free I went back with a long stick seeking revenge. I don't remember how long I spent beating that shrub sized cactus to smithereens but I didn't leave a piece larger than a walnut, well maybe a tad larger. When I went back to that part of the wash after rainy season I discovered a really big patch of Cholla, at least 50'+ around. When I talked about the amazing event my Grandmother told me every single piece of cactus with a thorn will take root and grow another cactus. <sigh> Prickly Pear are tasty when ripe, we had lots of those around, LOTS. There was lots of Yucca too, really pretty when they bloom. Anyone remember the song with, "Yucca bean, Yucca stew," in it? Now it's going to bug me all day. Glad you're not too close to the fires, I can still smell the Chaparral smoke in my memory. Frosty The Lucky.

Sorry, I meant to ask what the sowblock is. Brain fart on my part. Frosty The Lucky.

Good score on the vise! I can't put my finger on where but there are how toos here on IFI about making tongs and making tongs is excellent practice. It isn't all that hard, takes some good control but that comes from practice. making nails is an excellent way to practice control and consistency. Frosty The Lucky.

Old hex (Alan) wrenches and old drill bits make good punches, chisels, chasing tools, etc. remember to make sure the struck end is tempered softer than the working end and keep it chamfered to avoid chips. I've sure missed a lot in this thread. I love the dog hooks John and Bryan, your dog bottle openers are WAY cool too. All the bottle opener needs is to be bent out a bit so it can be screwed to a cabinet near the fridge so you don't have to go hunting your dog to open a brew. On another note, we just had a fellow from North Pole sign onto the club YahooGroup. Looks like you may have a new playmate near you! Frosty The Lucky. Frosty The Lucky.

While you could get most of your designs to work, anything can be MADE to work. What I'm saying so poorly is they're over thought. A fuller is actually a simple tool, just take a piece of round stock, double a section a couple inches long to fit the hardy. Then bend one section back and up in a semi circle, as the spring, and back over, past the shank a few inches. The other end coming off of the shank lays on the anvil and extends a few inches. The two need to be aligned with the long, springy end on top leaving an inch or so space between for your stock to be worked. That's it, they're really simple, I can make one faster than it took to write this. I hope this isn't more confusing than the tool by a huge margin. Just experiment with a paper clip or similar bit of springy wire and you'll have it. Frosty The Lucky.

May God rest your soul Alan. Frosty The Lucky.

Darned nice video Dave. You make it look easy, most folk looking at your finished pieces would think there was more TUIT. <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

Well done, good deal and good dickering technique. A little rust on the sides don't mean a thing and the face will clean up with use. If you must, go ahead and brush it, I wouldn't but that's me, I'm kind of lazy when I can. Frosty The Lucky.

Try rubbing it with chalk then wiping it off with a light touch. Another technique is to have the light at an oblique angle, almost parallel to the surface being photographed. Taking a rubbing should work if there's any definition. The yellow stripe is nothing but in the way. Looks good, overall pics would be nice. Frosty The Lucky.

May God rest your soul Gilly. Frosty The Lucky.

Once you get the temp close try a heavier hammer, preferably a turning hammer, use the domed pein. It'll concentrate the impact energy in a smaller area driving it deeper. I also have better luck avoiding fishmouthing by forging the tip to a near point first then working back. Of course YMMV. Frosty The Lucky.

Oh yeah, that's worth it. It's in terrific condition and Fishers are quiet that's really important, your ears are worth a lot. Make a counter offer and ask for any other tools near it as part of the deal. Can't hurt to ask. Frosty The Lucky.

I asked my neighbor the State Trooper and he said the vehicle passing is the one doing something out of the norm and most liable. (I can't recall the term he used, stupid tree!) I didn't think you were passing on a double yellow but had to ask, no offense intended. Heck, just today I had to get snappish with a friend here who put his fingers in a shear for a joke! I'm a habitual seat belt fastener too, you should've heard Dad and the guys in his shop laugh when I jumped in his truck to grab something out of the glove box and ended up hanging myself from the seat belt when I tried jumping out. Sounds like your insurance company is doing you right, congratulations on not having cut rate insurance. Frosty The Lucky.

It's hard to beat having someone give rave reviews of a tool you made them. Well done. Frosty The Lucky.

They're the same stuff anhydrous means the hygroscopic water is driven out. John, if a naturally aspirated gas forge is scaling it's running lean, richen it up a little at a time till you have a little orange dragon's breath. I forge weld in mine whenever I want with no problem I don't cause myself by getting lazy or in a hurry, etc. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. Good score, unless more of the face is unbonded it'll work nicely for most anything. tapping with a hammer should ring clear, it it has a buzz to the note it's loose under or close to where you struck, just taps will do, don't give it a big smack, it's just a sound test. If you'll put your general location in your header you might be happily surprised at how many folk here live within visiting distance, we're a big well spread out gang. Frosty The Lucky.

Oh shoot, I forgot to say Welcome aboard Mason, glad to have you! If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised at how many folk here live within visiting distance. I have another snappy sentence I usually put here but I've rambled enough for now. Frosty The Lucky.

when you tried your Al Cu mokume did you have it wrapped in SS foil to keep the oxy off it? Some charcoal or better, graphite powder (available at an art supply in the paint section, stick with black/gray) in the package to absorb any residual oxy. The biggest problem with al is you can't see it's sweating temp, copper is easy but way too hot. what makes metal a metal is the extra electrons in the outer/valence shell, put in close contact with another metal they will eventually start trading electrons and the rest of the atoms will follow soon. Of course if you add an electrolite they make a battery and no bond occurs except maybe a corrosion scale bond and that's just interlocked crud with no strength. Certain eutectic bonds aren't good choices, the most common mistake is brass and silver, well before you get a diffusion bond you WILL get a silver solder puddle. Silver and copper or bronze has nice contrast and is easy to bond, not needing a wrapper. They MUST be very clean, a light sanding wearing linen gloves, immediately stacked and clamped is better than cleaning with solvent. For the most part a steel clamp is plenty, steel has a much lower coefficient of expansion than most non-ferrous metals so as the stack heats it expands a lot more than the clamp putting a serious squeeze on the stack. Quarter mokume is an excellent place to start, both copper and nickle are pretty easy diffusion candidates and the contrast is nice. Be careful they make a puddle at a medium orange, it's a eutectic thing. You don't need to get them super clean either, the high nickle alloy outer on quarters bond together easily. I usually just flatten them on the anvil for good contact and have at it. Frosty The Lucky.

Very nice. While I haven't seen a clutch like that on a home made hammer I've seen similar on mechanical winches on drill rigs, geotech drills, not oil. What is the anvil base? It sure looks like a dandy. Frosty The Lucky.

While I don't know, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there are a number of folk from Egypt here, as I recall we have more than 150 countries represented. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice shear Sam. However if I saw you put your fingers in any shear in my shop I'd 86 you so fast all you'd leave is a POP! I know you were just joking but one of those things will maim you in an instant and unless you had someone else right there right then . . . NEVER do something like that again or I'll catch a flight down and slap the crap out of you!. Frosty The Lucky.

I've never heard a bad thing about Chiliforge. Here's a perfect example of why a business should have a NICE lady answering the phone, everybody reacts better to a nice person and even better yet to a nice lady. Enjoy the heat. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Bam Bam, glad to have you. Don't worry about a slow reply from Bam, they're blacksmiths volunteering, not office workers, they'll be with you in a while. Frosty The Lucky.

Having a hot saw disk cut loose is always a scary thing, happily I've never been more than bruised by one, thanks to PPE. I only use a hot saw on thin stock as my band saw with bi-metal blades will handle most anything else is it's not too hardened of course. I've never been holding onto a big hot saw that cut loose though, I'm pretty sure bruises would be the least of my worries were I in the way. Guards are a must and staying out of the plane of rotation as much as possible is highly desirable. At work we had a large hot saw, later converted to a dry saw and it had a long handle so you could stand well away from the action, later they put a treadle on it so you could be several feet out of the plane of rotation. It was a bad boy able to cut RR rail from the rail surface in about 4 seconds. Frosty The Lucky.