Still Learnin' Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Hey ya'll... I've been in chat a few times and just wanted to "formally" introduce myself. I'm between jobs and finally (at the urging of my wife) decided to open my shop for business. I'm a Christian and wanted to honor God, so I named my business "Resurrection Forge" and our motto is "We bring your ideas to life". I used to be the lead ornamental iron man at a shop in NC and "things" happened and now here I am ! I try to see the good in the bad though and I'm taking this as a new route to retirement. lol I am working on my second million as I gave up on the first. ;^) I love the iforgeiron site and hopefully soon I will have my own website. I'm speaking it and so it MUST happen ! I posted an online ad for blacksmithing and the second day got an email but the guy never followed up on it. The third day I got a call from a gentleman and he wasn't even that close. I was honest and upfront with him and even suggested he find someone closer. I hate to turn down work but I didn't want to mislead this gentleman, however he was very surprised at my honesty and insisted it wasn't that far. It wasn't a smithing job but it was a welding fab and it was a PAYING job !!! <grin> He even wants me to do some more work (welding) and really wants to see some blacksmithing however he only needs the welding at present. Hey, I'm happy. I make my own hours and until the BIG JOB calls, this is where I'm gonna be. Oh, almost forgot to mention... the neighbor across the street runs a scrapyard and the biggest scrapyard in the area is only 10 minutes away !!! I guess I should also mention I applied there for their welder position. woohooo !!! I almost hope I don't get the job though as I'm fairly sure I might be fired for scrounging on the clock !!! hahaha I do welding (GMAW,SMAW,GTAW,FCAW,gas) but I need a foot pedal for my dialarc, so no GTAW at present. I do ornamental work, bladesmithing, furniture and the usual RR spike stuff. I'm a bonafide C/L addict and have found some killer deals on there. Got a South Bend 16 with taper attachment, 2-3 jaw chucks, 1-4 jaw chuck and 1-scroll plate plus lathe tooling, Burke Millrite vertical mill with motorized cross feed and an indexing table plus collets and tooling, Montgomery Ward's AC welder, 60 gal air comp, oxy/acet torch, ENCO 7"x12" horiz/vert bandsaw with 3 extra blades and a 5hp three phase motor to run the mill and lathe. He even threw in an old machinist handbook and buckets of tooling, hold downs and mics, calipers, drill bits, live centers, dead centers, end mills, center drills and all kinds of other stuff as well as a condensed school of instruction. We went to Tampa to pick up a motorhome and I checked C/L before heading down. That's where I saw this guy's ad for a machine shop for $2000 !!! I promptly phoned a buddy of mine and asked to borrow his 6 ton equipment trailer. I rented a forklift on the way down and it was waiting for me as I pulled up to the guys shop. I would've got his welding table too but I couldn't fit anything else on the truck and trailer !!! I honestly can't tell you how relieved I was to finally pull up to my shop with all of that stuff after a 12 hr ride alone (wife brought the motorhome back a day later as it needed tires on it but I had to get back for work) and after passing what seemed like a thousand cops and DOT's from FL to GA and finally SC. I think I was legal but I didn't wanna push it. I had the whole mess tarped and that lasted all of about 300 miles. I finally cut off the remnants and wished for the best. I even tagged my truck with 15000# commercial tags before I left... just in case but it was all good. Keep a watch out on C/L, ya never know when a deal might show. I'd tell ya about the Wilton square wheel grinder for $80 or the FREE mankel gas forge from C/L but I have gone on long enough. Happy hunting everybody and if ya see me in chat please feel free to say, "Hey". Joe Hehner aka Still Learnin' Resurrection Forge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Welcome brother! Enjoy your stay! Mark<>< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still Learnin' Posted January 26, 2011 Author Share Posted January 26, 2011 Thank you Mark. It was a pleasure chatting with you tonight. Until next time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironsmith Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 nice to meet ya "still learnin" I am in south carolina too, and in case you didnt know we have a guild in the state that meets every other month, here is the link to the website. happy and safe smithin to ya~! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still Learnin' Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 nice to meet ya "still learnin" I am in south carolina too, and in case you didnt know we have a guild in the state that meets every other month, here is the link to the website. happy and safe smithin to ya~! Nice to meet you too Ironsmith. Thanks for the guild invite. I actually belong to a guild in NC but it's not far at all. We meet in Tryon,usually the 3rd Saturday of every month unless a holiday falls on it. Here is the link, hopefully I did this right... lol http://www.thefcbg.org/Home_Page.php Unfortunately if I were to show up they wouldn't recognize me as I haven't been to a meeting for quite some time but that's my fault. I don't know what part of the Upstate you are in but I'd love to check out your shop if you have one. Hopefully we will have a chance to meet soon. Happy smithing to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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