May 30, 20188 yr 27 minutes ago, ausfire said: Ha Ha Woody! He looks a bit like a smart Alex to me. Hope he didn't get Byrnt. No fooling you Darryl!
May 30, 20188 yr 8 hours ago, iron woodrow said: No fooling you Darryl! Not that easily anyway. Frosty The Lucky.
June 8, 20188 yr It's been a weird couple of weeks in my shop for animals. A bear cub, a couple of wolves, and an elephant (REALLY rare here in the Western foothills of Mt Rainier). Fortunately I got pictures of them all in case none of you believe me. Here's the bear cub: Here're the wolves: And here's the elephant (thanks to Freddy Rodriguez): as always peace and love billyO
June 9, 20188 yr Today---so far: coyote, kestrels, quail, roadrunner, rabbits all visible from my window working from home.
June 10, 20188 yr Two days ago I was shoveling a load of coal out of my truck, me on the ground, looked down and a 3' long timber rattler was slithering by about 4-5 feet away...too close for comfort!!!
June 10, 20188 yr Depending on what it's been eating rattle snake is pretty tasty, the long fillets cook nicely wrapped around a stick. Too close for sure, glad it was just passing through and not feeling threatened. Frosty The Lucky.
June 10, 20188 yr Pleasant memories of a BBQ rattlesnake and moonshine dinner baby sitting an oil well drilling rig down in east TX, (after my tour of course). The cajuns working it were surprised that I was happy to chow down when they offered---cajuns will cook and eat most anything---but they make it taste *good*!
June 11, 20188 yr Yeah, the right spice load and you can make anything taste good. A school friend was a skinny little kid who could easily put away 3x what any of the rest of us could and faster. I've always been the cook in the group and mac and cheese could be made in mass quantities that'd take the edge off Rubin's appetite and my folks could afford so I made lots over the years. Well, one day I made a large batch for Rubin, Tom S. and I but I left the mac out from one package of the usual three, replacing it with short pieces of surgical tubing. Rubin was happily scarfing mac and cheese while I ate carefully, first bite Tom scowled at me, took a piece of tubing out of his mouth and I nodded at Rubin. Tom and I carefully dumped the left over surgical tubing in our bowls while Rubin finished off the leftovers mopping up the last cheese sauce with a . . . nother slice of home made bread. I could dream of what I could get Rubin to eat with a little spice. If I didn't like him so much. Frosty The Lucky.
June 11, 20188 yr On 6/8/2018 at 6:14 PM, billyO said: And here's the elephant (thanks to Freddy Rodriguez): That's a great piece, billyO. I can see how you can split the metal to form the trunk and two tusks, but where did the ears come from?? I'm assuming the head is one piece. Well done, anyway.
June 11, 20188 yr On 6/10/2018 at 4:59 PM, Frosty said: Depending on what it's been eating rattle snake is pretty tasty, the long fillets cook nicely wrapped around a stick. I have eaten rattlers on a few occasions...it is delicious...like they say "tastes like chicken".
June 12, 20188 yr 16 hours ago, ausfire said: I can see how you can split the metal to form the trunk and two tusks, but where did the ears come from?? Thanks for the compliments. I'm not sure I can explain in words how to do this, but I'll try. There's actually a couple of ways to do this, depending on the approach you take to the head. One way is to take a hot cut to peel a chunk of material off the parent stock from the back, then draw out the ear with a cross peen (you can see the hammer marks). Another way to get the mass needed is when you forge the pre-shape of the head, using a spring-fuller or guillotine tool to isolate the head from the parent stock, then use a fullering tool in a "scooping" motion with your blows to pull out the material, then use the cross-peen as above. The first way is much easier. For a better explanation, I'd suggest trying to get a hold of one of Darryl Nelson's animal Head DVDs. Either the bear's head or lynx head would show the basics for this. as always peace and love billyO
June 12, 20188 yr 21 hours ago, iron woodrow said: Gonna give it a try darryl? Why not? Makes a change from rams and bulls, Woody! 6 hours ago, billyO said: I'm not sure I can explain in words how to do this, but I'll try. There's actually a couple of ways to do this, depending on the approach you take to the head. One way is to take a hot cut to peel a chunk of material off the parent stock from the back, then draw out the ear with a cross peen (you can see the hammer marks). Thanks. That seems like the way to go. Sounds easy (shouldn't say that!) so I might give ol' Jumbo a shot. Not during demo time though - I'll wait till the visitors are gone. What was the starting stock?
June 12, 20188 yr That one was 1 1/4" square stock. In my experience, animal heads up to 1 1/2" square aren't too tough. I'm almost finished with a husky out of 2" square, and not sure I'll do that again. It took 2 days of hammering just to get the pre-shape formed. But I guess I'm getting some good definition in my hammer forearm muscles.... 15 hours ago, iron woodrow said: Post results! Yes. Please do, I'd love to see it as well.
June 17, 20188 yr Well, I did have a go at the elephant today, but using smaller stock than 1 1/4 square. It needs more work and I'm not posting the result yet. It looks a bit like a walrus at the moment.
June 17, 20188 yr Havent seen anyone try a walrus yet! Imagine the size elephant you can make with a 3cwt alldays and onion!
June 21, 20188 yr Author You have to be careful when you make adjustments to shop machinery. This is a non-poisonous Corn Snake, a bit larger than a penny in diameter and 20-24 inches long. It was a nice snake that did not try to strike, bite, or even try to escape. Can you tell the difference between three three snakes and choose the poisonous one, and the two non-poisonous ones? Top: Make and female Copperhead Snakes which are poisonous. Middle: Northern Water Snake which is non-poisonous. Bottom: Corn Snake which is non-poisonous. The one in the shop. YOU have the advantage of see all three snakes together and are able to compare them one to another. The adult Corn Snake is 30 – 48 inches long and is orange, reddish brown, brown, or gray with 27-40 squarish black-outlined brown or reddish blotches. The belly is checkered with white and black markings, resembling a piano keyboard or Indian corn. Other distinguishing characteristics include a spear-shaped blotch on top of the head, pointing toward the nose, black stripes on either side of the bottom of the tail, smooth scales, and a stripe extending from the back of the eye past the corner of the jaw. Corn snakes are often mistaken for venomous copperheads. Copperheads, however, have hourglass-shaped (rather than square) blotches, and are generally browner than corn snakes. The way to tell the difference (this location) is the poisonous snake had two nose holes each side of the face (pits), and slit eye pupils (like a cat). The belly bands (scales) go clear across the body from nose to the tip of the tail. The non-poisonous snakes Northern Water Snake and Corn Snake have only one nose hole on each side of the face, and round eye pupils (like people). The belly bands (scales) go clear across the body to the anus, then there are two belly bands (scales) from there to the tip of the tail. This lesson in herpetology supposes that you are interested enough in the snake to identify the snake as poisonous or non-poisonous, and then to identify which snake it is. The snake is now part of the witness relocation program and was moved to the scrap pile for its safety.
June 21, 20188 yr Funny how folks refer to snakes as being 'poisonous'. As far as I know there are no poisonous snakes. I haven't eaten that many so can't be sure. If you bite it and you die, it's poisonous: if it bites you and you die it's VENOMOUS.
June 21, 20188 yr Seeing as how I can not tell the difference between those three species, I am glad that I live out here where the Vipers have buzzers on one end! Robert Taylor
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