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I Forge Iron

Favorite handle making and wedging method?


Justin Topp

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I'll ask clear questions from now on.

I'll ask clear questions from now on.

I'll ask clear questions from now on.

I'll ask clear questions from now on.

I'll ask clear questions from now on.

I'll ask clear questions from now on.

I'll ask clear questions from now on.

Hope that computer pixles are okay to wright that in Mr Frosty. I promis to do better next time!

I do not have a vacuum chamber or pump and i dont know anyone that does. How do you treat wood with epoxy? Can you do it with out a vacuum chamber?  

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 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:!!! Oh brother you are so going to fit in here. Well played sir.

Cactus juice is a heat cure epoxy, no need to mix a catalyst. Yeah, the vac chamber is the rub, I was going to strip the pump out of an old dorm room size fridge that's being a small locker in the shop. But talking about it at Friday night Free play for the dogs one of the guys said he'd loan me one of the extras he carries around for work. 

I didn't use Cactus juice, it's harder to get shipped up here being classified as a haz mat by state idjits. Found out later one of the suppliers will send it Flat Rate, the Feds don't consider it a Haz Mat so it's legal. Instead I used two part epoxy light on the catalyst (hardener) and worked fast.

However there is the alternate old timey method of thinning catalyzed epoxy resin with Tolulene or better Toluol and soaking the wood. Warming it up to maybe 130f.  enhances capillarity which is what draws the thinned epoxy into the wood as it cools. Remove and the epoxy will set as the solvent evaporates out. 

While that works there's a good reason folk use vacuum and heat cure epoxy. The biggest improvement besides more thorough penetration is no time limit, Cactus juice needs to be heated to cure in less than half a year.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Alright. The only epoxy ive ever used is some cheap harbor freight stuff that really likes to break and not stick to stuff. Its super thick and came in two tubes ine that said a and another that said b. With that kinda stuff work of do i need a thiner epoxy? And wich one is the catalyst? How can i find out?

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Ya a thought about mentioning that but i think my response was witty enough already plus my age was on my profile so thought yoi would eventuality figur it out. And yes my mom is reinforcement enough, im homeschooled so she accualy is my teacher and has the power ro do just that to me. Lol

Sorry thats alot of typos. Yikes! 

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I'm sure you did, I don't remember things, some things worse than others. I'm a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) survivor so things just get lost in there hide behind the dents I think. Your response was excellent and you don't come across like the typical 14 yr old. I almost never look at profiles unless I need to.  

John pointed out my mistake to join in the funnin, I make a good target and love a good laugh. You don't have to explain about Mother, virtually anybody who's survived any length of time knows about. "Never mess with the Mamma!" My Mother could just look at me and correct whatever she didn't like. They ALL have eyes in the back of their head and can see into other rooms. 

Being home schooled explains the good attitude. I'm proud to help you however I can and call you friend.

Frosty The Lucky.

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1 hour ago, JHCC said:

I don't think there's a wife in the picture: Virusds is only 14!

Mr. Grammar Hammer,  (a.k.a.  JHCC, ) Youth is a condition that most of the afflicted soon out grow.

The SLAG  knows, from personal experience. 

SLAG.

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Just to be clear, "Cactus Juice" is a brand name. Don't go squeezing any prickly pears expecting to get a heat-curable resin.

(Although the fruit of the prickly pear is quite delicious. Smells good too, especially when the wind drives the smell into your face.)

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Dont worry jhcc. Didn't think so. And ive never accualy seen the fruit of the variety of prickly pear that grows here. But if u can saw off all the skin and prickles the flesh of the leaves is also pretty good. It tastes like cucumber 

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The flowers are also edible, fun fact. And they really smell good. And the mice will steal all of the dried up fruit and you will lift up a rock and there is a mouse storage center of dry frute just sitting there! Its also really cool to see how they survive the 19° winters here. They slowly shrivel up while they use the water that is stored in their leaves and when it finally rains in the spring thay grow big again! For some reson the leaves almost never die even though they freeze solid in the winter.

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I have a cactus garden right by my front porch. I had some growing there already when we moved here and I've planted some different varieties. They've been there so long they are getting huge. But it's a pretty common sight all over. Not anything like what I've seen in NM and Arizona though. 

And west Texas

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I’ve only seen a few natural types of cactus When I went to the western side of the state  and they are just these Little tiny things. Other than those and plants from the store cactus won’t grow up here because it’s too cold for them. occasionally I’ll see fresh prickly pears at the store and buy a few but they go bad quickly i assume because they grow so far and have to be transported all the way up here 

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G.D.2,  and  C.G.L.

There are at lest three species of cactus* that you can find in Alberta  just north of North Dakota.

Indeed, you can spot some of them on the side of the trans Canada highway.

The plants are not tall so a careful look would be required.

The reason that they are small is,  I surmise,  that the winter weather can be savagely cold. And being situated among larger bushes and also,  being snow covered keeps the temperature from being anyway near the air temperature.

SLAG.

* they are true cacti,  not Euphorbiacea

p.s.  C.G.L.,  How is Sam doing?

 

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Thorns and skin aren't a problem on prickly pear cactus leaves of fruit. Skewer it on a stick and give it a little time over a fire, a couple seconds takes care of the thorns and a little longer loosens the skin so it just sloughs off with a little help.  Yummy things prickly pear cactus.

Frosty The Lucky.

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