Frosty

Nice contrast and pattern development Sam. I'm looking forward to seeing progress pics. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice work Tom. It's been a long time since I saw an ashtray with that style cig holder. Isn't copper fun to do repousse and chasing with? I learned with Altoid tins, they're deep draw steel and almost as malleable as copper. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm honored. Frosty The Lucky.

Prayers for your whole family from here Jerry. Frosty The Lucky.

Jeff: I thought I responded to your prayer request when you made it but I must've hit return rather than post. You're all on the prayer list here. Ted: Prayer works, I'm living proof. I still have the letter you sent me, it's sitting on the side table by my recliner, I read it again day before yesterday. Frosty The Lucky.

Very cool Bruce! I'm not sure how to describe the feeling I get from the piece, it's not quite a metal drawing, maybe closer to a line drawing made with a caligraphy pen or brush, or . . . I'm sure looking forward to seeing it as it evolves. Frosty The Lucky.

Whoever you find to visit you WILL take pictures or we'll give you such a drubbing you wouldn't believe! Trip of a lifetime is right, I'd love to get a chance to wander through ancient man's works. You're a lucky dog, make the most. Frosty The Lucky.

Your whole family is on the list here. Frosty The Lucky.

That's a heck of a first go Mark! Well done. Frosty The Lucky.

right you are John. That was my suggestion and how I do any slit and drift. Slit then upset, then drift. It eases the force necessary to drift the stock and reduces the distortion. Dave, if you wanted some ventilation at your forge couldn't you have opened the window? Frosty The Lucky.

Looks good, there's lots of potential for these holders. Are you going to make one for paper towels or do you use paper towels? Frosty The Lucky.

I don't know if there are any adjectives left to properly express how delighted I am with this piece. Take a break now, the phones are surely going to start ringing with orders soon. Frosty The Lucky.

A good solid and mobile base can be made by cutting a large circle of plate and welding a post to mount the vise to to the plate. If you have plate thick enough you can just torch or drill a hole for the vise's leg to socket into. Otherwise a little creative thinking will be needed to fit it. To move it all you need to do is tip it up on edge and roll it. To use it stand on the base plate, a thin smear of silicone calking on the bottom will keep it from sliding at all. I do NOT mean glue it to the floor! My folding portable vise stand isn't solid enough but is okay for now so I won't post the pics again. Frosty The Lucky.

I sure do, I'm the only person I can hear clearly since the accident damaged the nerves on my left side. I'm also the only one to whom I hardly ever have to explain what I meant. Louder, quieter? I don't care, I usually just need some cussin out for the last dumb stunt, turning whatever the wrong way, whatever. Left? Right? Does it matter? Ask the voice in back, they always have an opinion. If they didn't answer, what'd be the point? Heck, I'm muttering to myself right now. Frosty The Lucky.

Of course if you carry a small tape measure in your pocket like I do, the next time you're in a department store grocery store, etc. you can just measure a banana hanger. They can be as fancy or simple as you like, be free standing or hang from some handy thingy in the kitchen, say an upper shelf. Frosty The Lucky.

Masterful work Beth. Doing a little speculative work on occasion is good for the soul, it really helps your mind's eye to atune to the public's tastes. I'm going to FWD the pic of the dog's new coat to my wife, Deb. She's sewn more clothes for our half chihuahua, half miniature doxy than I have and she'll love it. I love having kids around while I'm working so long as I get the safety rules through to them well enough, they ask the BEST questions and have suggestions untainted by what won't work. I've tried to cultivate the inner child in myself my whole life but still don't know how well that's worked. Various different opinions abound. <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

Beautiful Thomas. I'm sure looking forward to seeing the corn roaster. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. Rocks can be dangerous as Glenn says and it's really hard to move if you need to rearrange. Rearranging is pretty normal when you're getting started. If you do go with a stone forge be sure to bed the fire table and fire pot with several inches of rammed clay to help reduce shrapnel injuries. An anvil is anything heavy enough to beat hot iron on, it doesn't have to look like a london pattern, have a horn, hardy or steel face. RR rail works well better if mounted on end but almost anything will work. The thing to remember is the anvil's effectiveness comes from depth of rebound rather than hardness. This means the deeper the iron/steel is beneath the hammer's impact zone the better the work moves. This is why standing rail on end works so well. You also don't need much more anvil face than the hammer face, just a bit so you don't have to be exact. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Grahame, glad to have you. There's lots of you blokes here at IFI and plenty of guys who have built their own hammers so plans will be coming as will suggestions of varying degrees of practicality. Frosty The Lucky.

You expect another? Frosty The Lucky

Good score Jeddly! Frosty The Lucky

Thanks again Lyle! Great video, it's so good to see Brian and Dave working together. Frosty The Lucky

Welcome aboard Jason, glad to have you. There are few things as satisfying as making and using your own tools and you're making the tools to make the tools to go fishing. Going fishing is way up on the satisfying pursuits list. I'm thinking you're a heck of a guy. Thanks for showing your work, we love pics here and you're posting eye candy. We love eye candy. Thanks! Frosty The Lucky

Your forge looks good Shawn. Your burners aren't one of Ron's, he builds linear inducers and yours are ejectors commonly called "side arm" burners and are a bit more efficient than linears. For the pig tail, put a door on the back opening and a pig tail handle to open/close it. It'll make everybody happy and be useful, what I call a win win. The only thing I find with protruding door lips is the heat tends to warp them sooner than later. It's not always a problem but sometimes is. Well done Shawn. Frosty The Lucky

There's nothing wrong with setting your sights high Jason but there're only so many shortcuts a person can successfully take. Thomas has laid out what's probably the most likely to succeed course to set yourself. Taking a bladesmithing course or attaching yourself to a bladesmith is maybe better. You can learn on your own but it's a long road, full of failed projects. Failed projects are how I learned, learning from my mistakes means I SHOULD hold several PHDs! Frosty The Lucky