Wind Chapman

Wood also here. I have several reasons that I use it before other materials. The biggest is that I am able to keep hickory splits in the shop to fit any hammer I have so I save some money and I avoid a trip to Ace Hardware. It is also quite pleasing to the eye, especially as sweat and time enhance it.

Here the problem is scorpions. I hang almost everything on the walls even indoors because of them. Now to trivia... Can anyone tell me why it is bad luck to get rid of spider webs in a blacksmith shop?

I have had a man come around a few times and look at my work at various places lately. Today, he requested that I make andirons to match a fireplace set that he had bought from a blacksmith in Colorado years ago. He brought a poker for me to look at and this was it. The set was made by Francis Whitaker who worked under Samuel Yellin. I just hope that I can meet his expectations. Not bragging here. I just wanted to share.

Stewart, it's all in the video I posted :~)

If Brian won't post it, I will!

Sort of like dihydrogen oxide causing deaths,and erosion?

Judging from what I have read, it is going to change a LOT of things that I am able to do around the shop. It is going to allow me to weld a lot of difficult joints that I was not able to do before. Just that little bit of difference will do a lot here at Flute's.

I have not scavenged any but there is an old stamp mill on the Yahoola creek here in Dahlonega. The iron has a pretty wood grain pattern and is in 20 foot rods about an inch and a half. There must be at least a ton and a half of it. For my actual scavenging, I dig through the recycle bin at the machine shops to get odd shaped scraps.

I came across a product today that promises that you can forge weld now at a red heat and make complex joints simply by heating the work, brushing the scale and ash off, applying the flux and then striking to weld without putting it back into the fire. The ingredients on the bottle state: Didsodium Borate and Iron. Well, as far as I know, that is plain old borax with iron filings in it. I would be very skeptical of these claims except for the person making them is one of the most respected blacksmiths alive today. Input of thoughts and ideas would be apperciated.

I doubt it is the noise and smoke since I traditionally can sell more when I don't demonstrate. As a rule, almost everything I sell is premade and the demo stuff is smallish and quick. I only demonstrated once last year because of health reasons, so they know I can sell without smoke.

I did talk with one smith and he is going to write a letter of concern. I have not been able to contact the other yet. I have never seen one blacksmith not back up another one and I really hope that I won't be disappointed.

I recently have run into something very disturbing. While applying to craft fairs that I have been to and not been to, I have gotten turned down because the fair already had a blacksmith. At the largest fair, I protested to the person in charge pointing out the multiples of potters, jewelers, painters, and so on. That seemed to have done the trick. However, I applied at Bear on the Square here in my own town. It is a show I was in last year. I had met Dave Custer (Firery Furnace) there the year before. I taught him how to forge weld that day. There is also Paul from the folk school in NC. They both come as a "package deal" and the jury committee wants to keep them. That is all well and good, but when I am not let in because three blacksmiths would upset the balance, especially when my work is exactly what they fair wants and they all agreed that my work was excellent. I become less than happy. I let the committee know that I expected to see no more than two potters, painters.... when fair time comes around. What can be done about this? I am not going to take it, yet I don't want to sue them for discriminating against blacksmiths.

I am looking at the die springs on the LG 50's and they all have 6 coils on the spring. As you can see, the spring I have has 6 coils and it is overloaded.

Oh, that's Sid's site!