nuge

I like ETSY. True, it is a sea of "craft", but if your work is unique and/or top notch people will find you. its cheep to list an item (20 cents) and selling fees combined with paypal are maybe 15%. Much better than a gallery or shop. Plus you get to see who buys what and talk with them. Valuable information to someone who wants to tailor their wares. A guy wont make a living off the place but its a real kick in the pants when some random lady from Witchita buys some ironwork from you. Pretty soon your paypal is juiced and you can buy your own junk.

Nice. That's a lot of "touch" to work that small.

Any chance we could see a photo or drawing of the "pointing swage" you used for the bicks? They are pretty.

I have been doing a fair amount of gas shield mig lately. Usually I tig most everything and enjoy the cleanliness of the process. I was wondering why mig is so much "dirtier" as far as fumes?

Unless you are forging large stock it is often more pleasant to forge copper cold and anneal (heat to dull red and quench) as it work hardens. A torch is useful for the annealing.

Yummy. Nice looking shop too.

2'd the UMBA video catalog. UMBA Library Affordable.

Paul Hubler did a good, simple book on animal heads, finding it will probably be tough(maybe Norm Larson books?). Paul has a slot or two in that video list.

Yes they do have a weight limit---70 pounds for the large one and it's quite possible to exceed it when you are dealing with metal!

Didn't know that. Weight didn't seem to come into play earlier this year when I talked a guy off craigslist into mailing me about 3/4 of a five gallon bucket of steel tumbling media. He split it up into 3 of those boxes if I remember right, in different sizes. The postal workers on my end didn't see the humor. (They made me come back and wheel a cart out) Not even when I strapped 'em on the motorbike.

Live life like its a cartoon!

what is cheap?

Whatever gets it moving quick and you(she) can live with. You don't want a big, long process, right? Chop it up and sell it. Could be its not worth your time.

If you can spend the time to cut it to fit, the Postal service priority mail boxes have no weight limit (domestically). Sell it here, sell it kinda cheap and it will be gone in no time and everyone's happy.

Is the stuff well refined? Can you draw a real long thin taper with it? Pictures?

yellow ochre

Most jewelry suppliers carry it, and it works by contaminating your flux. Paints on really easily

sandpaper? a file? thats the problem with pre-made hardy tools, they are not really that familiar with you hardy hole. Better too big than too small, fo' sho'.

Problem solved!!

I wish sometimes I was one of those guys who loves to take stuff apart and see what is goin' on in there. Mostly I just want stuff to work so I can squish the metal, but from now on I'm going to confront these mechanical problems head on! Probably.

Took off the fan assembly to have a look at the "centrifugal switch" today and whats this?... theres a set screw missing and the switch is spinning freely on the shaft. And whats this?...theres the little screw on the floor. Five more minutes and problem solved.

I'm interested in knowing how to check if a capacitor is on the fritz. The motor on my bandsaw did a stragne thing the otherday. First it started slow but ran then it started slow then quit. I can hear the brushes rubbing when I trun it by hand...

I googled "fixing capacitor on motor" and the first hit had some good info on testing.

I haven't taken mine off to check it yet...have to coax a few more jobs out of the hammer.

Well done.

Sounds to me like the capacitor is gone. They are an easy fix.
The capacitor is used to get the motor STARTED, and from that point on it will run at a steady speed.
If the capicitor is gone, the motor will not start. Instead it will just sit there and hum.
The fact that you can COAX it into starting leads me to believe it is the cap.

That sound about right. The capacitors are likely in one of the the round bump outs on the top of the motor, correct? I'm pretty green when it comes to this stuff. How do I go about testing/fixing the problem.

I started messing with it some more and took off the fan guard and had a peek. There is a spring loaded mechanism next to the fan and when I joggle that and spin the shaft at that location, VOILA.

What is the problem with the motor you have 3 ph and you need single or is it burned out

It's pretty much burned out. Well, I shouldn't say that because I don't know too much about motors. I can coax it along by spinning by hand but it's getting worse quickly. Having a hard time finding someone to take a look in my area. Any ideas?

I am looking for a new motor for my self contained hammer. There is a 3 h.p., 1720 rpm currently on the machine. What do I look for in a quality replacement. Will there be any problems going larger?

Great to hear you are pulling through! Gonna have to put a stool in front of the Little Giant for a bit. We'll have to send some guys up there to tend fire.

There was a 200lb Chambersburg that went on ebay not too long ago that ended up in your neck of the woods, nakedanvil. I had this killer plan to swoop in at the last minute and snap it up for the opening bid of 5K. Somebody else had a better plan to pay the very reasonable 8K for the "buy it now". Doh.

i'm running 10w non detergent in my 33lb. those rings are tight and its cold much of the time in montana. the thinner stuff made a huge difference in start up time.

Whether you slot punch or slit chisel, you will obtain a frog eye (side swelling) when drifting which is part of the design and provides chiaroscuro

sweet word, that "chiaroscuro". something to aspire to with forgework...

No reason to be sorry. If you have to bust out hundreds of leaves and not have it hurt or ending up costing you, watch those vids and take notes.

Oh yeah, Unkle Spike - that chisel holding device is O(utside) T(he) B(ox)... OTB! Lovely.

Heres a leaf swage in action.

YouTube - Forging Vine Picketts part 2

This guy's all business. From his production skills to his speaking style. Impressive.

Thanks! I wonder about the Harbour Freight ball pein's? Great stuff!

Travis -

Thanks for the link to the safety (lack of) stories and the grisly photo's. It's important to see that stuff. It's odd that the guy who lost some of his finger sliced it off on the guard. Angle grinders are so effective and so dangerous, especially with a grabby wire wheel. If you are using wire wheels to remove scale and raise highlights they don't need to be spinning at 10K+ rpm's.

One of the motorcycle forums I check out now and then has a section where you can post pictures of when things go wrong. Protruding bones, huge lacerations, etc... Usually the poster has a coinciding thread in the classifieds. Really helps to slow you down and be smart.