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I Forge Iron

Blacksmithing gems and pearls


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IForgeIron contains some real gems and some pearls of wisdom you can find no where else.

As you read the posts on IForgeIron and find one of these items, it may be interesting to list them here for reference.

Flux is not glue

Do not build a box, that way you do not have to think outside the box.

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Cool is when you have to add clothes over top your 2nd t-shirt.
Cold is when water in the slack tub forms ice.
Really cold is when the entire 30 gallon (or larger) slack tub turns solid.
Working in the cold is when you quench enough metal to melt the ice in the slack tub.

Below that just put another log on the fire and stay inside.

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Blacksmithing is the truest form of recycling. You take a piece of scrap from your pile, heat it and beat it around for a few hours or days until you figure you've done all you can to it and then throw it back into the scrap pile again.

If it wasn't for making mistakes my days would been unfulfilled.

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Better to have [insert tool here] and not need, than need [insert tool here] and not have. Otherwise, make one! :)

I won't claim the quote about only getting one chance to over-design something because it's not mine, but that one should definitely be on this list!

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If it's worth making, it's worth making out of metal.  

 

Life jackets? <snicker>

And couple Gems: chainsaw bar oil and Duralube for lubrication jobs that need to stick and be slick, chainsaw bars of course and I REALLY like it on my Little Giant, less than a 1/4 tsp squirt in the journal pads and it's slicked up for weeks. It's slicked up and doesn't slobber oil. 

 

My other Gem is Treewax for finishing, it's carnuba wax and is very hard and durable, it's the stuff used to armor bowling alley lanes.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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One measure to see how busy a blacksmith may be; is by observing how much water there is in his slack tub by noon. If he started out in the morning with a full tub of water and it is down to a half tub by noon, he has most likely been working steady.

 

This was when they used a full whiskey barrel as a slack tub.

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“Don’t waist a good bend over”.

 

 

When I was in my mid 60’s, I trained to do Repousse with Mr. Naham Hersom.

He made me call him Grandpa.

While I was training with Grandpa; I dropped something and bent over to pick it up.

With a loud voice of authority Grandpa said “don’t move”!!!!
All was quiet for a few seconds, and then he said

“pick up everything you can while you are down there.

Don’t waist a good bend over”.

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