jake - well, tell me what ingredients and seasoning you can get hold of including herbs and such and i will do you a good recipe... i guess its red meat? like beef or venison (loosely speaking )

why did you leave his eyeballs in?? your not going to eat em are you? hmmmm.... and long cooking kills that awful nerve spangling bug? the slower the cooking the better always with meat i reckon. might just be me...

OR... just wall mounted on the boards separately with visual help with the PRESSURE thing with the underlay or the burn marks whatever looked best... ... still would be best directly on a wall....

Hi Beth, want to indicate pressure, what about seating them onto the expanding foam builders use for sealing gaps in masonry ?

Beth - I must have missed it, What are you going to display?

Beth,i'm sorry,i do indeed eat the eyeballs,as well as anything else.I'm a low-down,feral,awful creature,and i don't have a kitchen...Not even a designated spot in the establishment for one.
I'm a proud owner of an aged,2-burner Coleman stove,that looks absolutely disgusting,and that's that.
The only thing i miss for the last few years is an oven,i bake a lot of bread when i'm around one,but lately been blowing off even that.
My place is a modular shop,that transmogrifies into whatever purpose that it currently serves.When i was rebuilding that steam-engine,then the cooking utensils were hung upon,and intermingled with it's parts,then something else comes in,and so it goes!

My buddy who's in his 90'ies always said:"I'll sleep when i'm dead".Well,i extend that to eating,and many other aspects of life that people in general consider important

Yes,trichonae are destroyed by cooking temp.,actually quite low,140F.BUT!It must be the true,throughout temp,not just your dial on your oven!

Hey,look what i've come across in the shop-an early masterpiece!My Very First Forgeweld Ever!!!
Ain't it lovely?!(the boy's a genius!).I was SO inordinately proud of meself!(And i'd hate to tell you just how not so very long ago it was,either!) :)

Jake - I think you'll like the copies I made for you, and with them, you'll get to use that forge welding skill to make that fork :D

As far as bear recipes go we liked eating mine as stew meat better than any other way. That would be easy to cook on even your camp stove too or just on the woodstove. Still a lot of leeway for using anything available as ingredients or spices that way too. I do agree about processing meat quickly... I was one to cut my deer up within a day or two if possible.

Re: Pheasant though, I did read a story about a writer who tried out an a very old way of fixing them which required that they be hung head down for a WEEK before cleaning them. This is supposed to allow the juices from the guts to moisten the breast meat. Mind you that in the Idaho farm areas we hunted pheasant in fairly warm weather often and we would field dress them IMMEDIATELY to prevent spoilage... pheasant is prone to get smelly in just a few hours otherwise. Those week-hung birds must have smelt quite AWFUL! The writer does so affirm but also says that he now knows why this was considered food fit for KINGS! He did add that he could NEVER have made this experiment if his wife had not been on a trip away at the time! IME all creatures that eat meat recognize the superior quality of pheasant meat... a few times we stashed birds in the field to retrieve as we returned... thus lightening our loads. We learned to stash only ducks in this way as pheasants and even quail would be stolen by hawks before we could get back... a few times we were outraged witnesses to this felonius behavior!

Alright I'm gonna try this again. I had this wonderful post all done and did ... I don't know what... and everything went bye bye. So, to paraphrase, darkside knife. 52100, thanks Jake. Did wrought iron leaf, not so good. Got tired and learned that I shouldn't rush. Over did things somewhat.

Beth, my knee won't straighten all the way out. If you were to keep your right knee one inch above the floor you would have the angle my leg is at. Then walk, stand, ect. and you will have an idea of what I have been going through. I almost went on a long tirade about how bad the medical system is in my home country but I decided not to. I know some people won't agree with me. But, believe me, it has serious issues.

The knife (notice the darkside bold) will continue to be worked on tomorrow I have most of the forging work done. Just need to work on the tang and figure out how to do the ricasso? sp maybe? Then its lots and lots of file and sanding work. But I like how its shaping up so far.

Well,hey,Bryan,right on,you're happenin'.Did you have a tough time with the tip?How did the bevels go for you?

You know that the knives ain't my thang,but as far as i know,the forged-in ricasso is a fine thing to do with them bevellled guillotine jobs people build just for that(MORE tool building!.

Clay,hanging birds(with guts and feathers,no less!),is an English custom,we must tread carefully here!
Beth,(you're roadkill hunter-i shoulda known!kindred spirit:)c'mon,fess up,what horrible things do you guys over there do with pheasants?

And don't be shy,you know,everyone around here does some funky fermentation gig,many,actually.There's this cool way of putting up the whitefish,called "kots'idl'ah",very labor-saving,you just lay them out on some surface,et voila!Best right when they turn green and just as they start turning brown just a little!

And of course right across the divide NW of here,the Inuit,oh,they have some rich fermentation/storage lore!Oh,yes indeedy:)

The tip wasn't difficult I just took my time and went slow. I still have some work to do on the bevels. And I was thinking about one of those bevelled guillotine thingies today. I may just have to make one. I thought of using a hand held butcher of some sort. But its another tool too. Thats ok though. I could file it in. Or grind it. I can do either. I did a decient job on the distal taper. Over all I'm pretty pleased with how its going. I'll work on it more tomorrow. I have an idea for the guillotine, it would take two pieces of plate with a post of some sort and a couple of bolts. Not difficult to do at all really.

Bryan,do you mean some nasty device such as this here?



If so,then good thinking,as the radial nature of it's swing action can be made to fit the angle of convergence of your bevels(even give it a few extry holes,at,say,20 deg.,25 ,et c).
I'll supply you with all the necessary spring,sorry that i haven't yet.

I'd like to use this occasion to sqwauk a little about my idee fixe,the Bellybutton.

See,when the necessity arises that the stock be worked in two dimentions,identically(mirror of each other),and as regularly as possible,then normally it is where the top+bottom tool come into play.

Any forge deserving of the name had sets upon the sexy sets of matched T&B tools,in 1/8" increments.
That same forge also had a half-dozen brain-dead but muscle-bound strikers running aboot.

Because,if the work needs to be held,the top tool nedds to be held,and the hammer,it also must be held,how many hands is that?

Und zo,given the way we work today,that's where the bellybutton begins to become prehensile,or,it's mechanical version,that post that you mention earlier.They act as the third hand.

To tell you the truth,i'm inclined toward the B.B.,meself.Worse,i've been naturally slipping toward striking with a top tool(a peen,usually,of a right dia.btw.,yours in the photo looks dangerously sharp,counterproductive,in my opinion,hurts the material).

It's messier,imagine that if i did have to forge in a ricasso,i'd have any number of blows overlapping there(as in doing it over the edge of anvil with correct radii).
But,the work will be filed/ground anyway,and,it's a good way to practice your ninja hammering...

Like i said,just mulling over this,muttering to myself,the internet version of an old man mumbling into his wiskers...

john - expanding foam! i like it - not much choice of color though.... is that a bratty statement too far?? it would certainly allow for a sense of squashing!

jk hello!! its not much really, a small exhibition that if ive time i will put some work into, its really a reason to make some shapes ive been thinking about for years, namely the wall brace fixtures you see a lot in this country - there were loads of shots further back in the bygones of this thread, they are interesting. to me anyhow! what are you working on? i hope things are cool with you?
jake - i have a few things to take you to task on - mainly the eat when your dead statement.... oh how you dissapoint me! surely this subject is one of the finest known to man, the 'task' of eating and enjoying and making the most of our food!!!!! there are two sides to this coin, and i find it hard to be too appalled with a man who is prepared to eat eyeballs and 'everything" that is very good work, it is admitt4edly slightly feral, but i like that, and its somethihg i actively encourage in my chikldren I also feel a bit sorry you have no facility for bread making- this is entiresly another subject worthy of a thread of its own (dont panic - i wont do it - not enough hours for all this great conversation as it is - can barely keep up...) but i dont think there is anything wrong with your two ring appliance at all!@!- disgusting or otherwise - i still call it a kitchen and you should give it its dignity by naming it too! i will ponder your situation jake.... and you may not enjoy cooking, but it would enjoy you - you MUST have some rough old herbs growing somewhere that would lend the bear beef some tender lovin care and the flavour of someone having bothered with it - some bitter or herby flavour that comliments meat so well.???? (i defy you brother )

and as for the pheasant - its a matter of taste really, we regularly hang for a few days in feather and with guts intact (in cool obviously) - not really nec i dont think on young fresh birds only let out of their 'pens' a few weeks, but later in the saeson maybe more worth it to soft4n the older meat slightly - and i like the gamey flavour - although i would say for me personally there is a limit and that would prob be about a week, (too strong a flavour is kind of acrid )although this is i guess a conservative middle ground in uk . i think on bigger creatures killed when 2 or more years old for meat like cows, older deer then hanging is better and for much longer, and as we know - some of the finest meats are hung for aGES over here and other places in europe - i dont know the details and would be interested to know how long for different cuts and flavours. we are getting onto 'curing' territory too there - which is a brillaiant way to preserve and eat meats of all types... jake - im staggered that your not interested in cooking - am still reeling from that information!!!

has any of you read 'close range - wyoming stories' - its by annie proulx and its just GREAT. :)

woah - there was more - the blade - the belly button ...
bryan NICE ONE!! so glad you got to create - the blade is cool - i have never made one and cannot offer any useful perspective - im so pleased you got in your workshop though! i feel very bad about your knee, it must be something that is frustrating beyond reason at times.. i hope it is something that will /can improve?
jake i like yr nasty device very much - and the belly button move - do you bend your legs??
i have actually started using the little accessed resource of my own belly button in the times i have worked since hearing about yours jake and its finest hour at your place, bryan i wonder if your on board too???
as for proper set ups - i dont have hundreds (any )top and bottom stuff, i hope that doesnt mean im out on my ear..or loads of 'grunts' with big hammers and bigger muscles to run around for me... maybe this is why progress is so SLOOOOOW...

Beth, you don't need hundreds of top and bottom stuff just ingenuity goes a long way, and as for colouring the foam, watercolour paints should do the trick, and if you use stuff that reacts with the foam, well , ain't that texturing?

john! you make me laugh because you really have an answer for everything - you are a wonder! will let you know what i decide - i wont be doing nuffink till tuesday anyway........

and yes - thats def texturing!!! :lol:

Hi Beth, I don't have an answer for everything, just try to comment on things I do know a little about.

Most of this stuff between you and Jake is way over my head, after all I as i think I once told you I failed the interview for the village idiot, and became the village blacksmith, suits me fine,
Why?
Well you can only heat so much metal at a time, and only do one thing at a time with it, And if it goes wrong, you either feature it, or leave it in the forge a couple of minutes too long and destroy the evidence,

In any case you are onto a winner whichever choice you take.

Roll on Tuesday !

yeah - but you show your brains more by every word you say john! and as we all know - the village blacksmith is a title and a task that not many can look in the eye - certainly not me - but you cant fool me with the village idiot talk ! there is not a lot on here you dont have an answer for - and i dont mean a silly one like wot i sometimes give, but a real useful one. its just the way youre made.. you may have no idea why i would want to make those brace things in boxes, but you still apply yourself to solving my conundrum, and its very much appreciated! besides - im sure the idle chit chat on this thread doesnt entirely pass you by, or your input would not be so coherent - dont dissappear - your talk is always so wonderfully down to earth!!!!!!

and yes roll on tuesday - and i guiltily also say roll on term time... sorry kids...

jake - i cant get hold of you on your email - but please dont worry, it sounds very hectic - hope work goes quickly and is fascinating in some way! - i will send you my address as soon as i can get it together postally :)

its on its way :lol:

Yes, Jake exactly like that. I have an idea of how to put one together with some mild plate i have. It would be stout enough for hot work I believe. Small things like knives would be fine. Going to work on the tang right now. I'll post some pics when I get done with it today. I stiil have to get together with my friend and pick his brain about making it. He's a stock removal guy and has been making knives for a very long time. Some beautiful work he's done. Anyway out to the forge to hit something with something and make noise. Hopefully it will be productive and I don't screw up this nice piece of steel.

Ok, so here it is almost five hours later and I have some good progress I feel. I was able to get most of the hilt done. I've decided to go with a full hilt design. Just looks and feels better in my hand. I refined the tip and got that done, and did some final work on the flats and bevel. Now just to get the scale off of it and start sanding, filing and grinding. Vinegar for that I think would be the easy way.

And just for fun did a key fob out of some of the wrought chain that Jake sent me. Forges like butta.

And I'm getting an Internal Server Error when I try to upload a pic. I'll try later.

ok - so heres the wall brace thing... its not really very satisfactory on any level, i dont have time to make the other two i wanted either, started the s shapeone, and also wanted to do another (still could another day) have no more time this week tho and i need to give it to The Lady at The Church on sunday... so i did mud and straew in the end, bit of a balls up but there you are. here it is.. also made a nice pretty bolt head for the middle, which i then got stuck in the hole i made, then wedged it into a hole in my bench trying to get it out again, by which time it was disappointingly mishapen and i was too tired to bother with it, having had utterly tragic lack of sleep recently. what a baby!!!!!

aha - like bryan i am having trouble... laters ship mates....

trouble with the photo upload that is, not wanting to drag bryan into anything more sinister :D