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I Forge Iron

Military veterans?


Welshj

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Spc. Craig Olander 1st Cav. 21b

Joined in 03 went to basic at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri. Last duty station Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Wasn't in to long but got to go all over the place. Kuwait, Iraq, Germany. Medically discharged honorably in 06.

Just joined y'all today. Google search has been leading me here a lot. Most of the time stamps were from years ago and for whatever reason and to my delight I just figured out y'all are still very active. Just built a forge three days ago (rotor forge) and I am currently working on a ASO, RR turned on end. I've tried my hand at stock removel with a piece of mystery steel and fell down the rabbit hole so to speak. Finding this whole process therapeutic. Absolutely thrilled to join y'all!

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Welcome!  A lot of us use "forge therapy".  (My wife says it's great for "constipation of the soul"  if I'm in a bad place she can send me out to the forge and I'll come back happy and smiling in just a couple of hours!)

One thing though; an ASO is a cast iron "anvil" that can't be used as an anvil because the cheap cast iron is too soft and brittle to last long.  What you are using is an "improvised anvil" with a long proud history going back thousands of years and *NOTHING* to be ashamed of!

If you are close to me; stop by the smithy sometime or maybe I'll see you at the NMABA meetings!

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Hi all.  United States Navy, '85-'89 active duty.  Reserves for about another 6.  Left as OS1/E-6.  Stationed on the Sixth Fleet Flagship, USS Belknap from "86-'89.  My wife bought me an Anvil Shaped Object a few years ago, haha.  She meant well.  And Joe Dirt, many here ask that you put your location in your profile.

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Joe and Lee, Welcome aboard.  There are a fair number of us here who are vets, probably a higher percentage than the general population.  Smithing is good therapy for whatever ails you, profound or momentary.  It has served me well over the years.

George Monsson

late of 1/C/1/12Cav/1st Cav Div(airmobile), Republic of Viet Nam 1970-'71

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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I'm a vet; did my time  - USAF 461X0; Cold war era post 'nam; but have been to Nambe'. If not for jackass supervisors might have stayed in for a career but, no........ Ended up in a better spot anyway. Grandad was mounted Calvary WWI. Dad WWII, France, Normandy, Rhine, tip of the spear. Several siblings also served. A couple of nieces and nephews too. Proud of them all. I am ashamed of knowing a few vets who are milking the VA system, while others I know of desperately need help but are too proud/badass to game it.

My two centavos.

Oh yeah, I like squishing Fe.

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  Thank y'all for the warm welcome. I've probably been driving everyone around me nuts for a few years with my smithing obsession. Watched a Jason Knight video here a few months back and the points he made, made me realize I was viciously living through every one else's hard work. I should be pounding steel already. It's going to be great learning from y'all 

  Apple Duck completely agree with you. Jumping through hoops and seeing what our brothers and sisters in arms were going through at WRAMC made me realize staying in may not be the best option for me. 

  Lee Justice the Marines are not the only ones eating crayons, I myself find the red ones delicious . I could have sworn I put my location in there. How do I ? Sorry not to tech savvy.

  Thomas Powers thank you for the clarification. I was under the assumption that ASO was anything anvil shaped that wasn't a anvil, but you know what they about assuming. Like I was saying to Lee I eat crayons) It does make me feel better about my RR. That thing has been whoopin my xxx ! It was torched on the exposed end that I put about at wrist height. Decent cut but needed a nice face put on it. What ever clicked in my pea brain told me to go down a little and just recut it with a portable band saw. Did the trick and I just need to smooth it out a little better and round the edges. May have hardened it when the torched it?

  I'm located in Waynesburg Ohio. Small town just south of the Football Hall of Fame. Hope one of y'all ain't to far a way. Thirsty for some wisdom and knowledge. I would prefer not to acquire any bad habits going it alone.

Thank y'all again for the warm welcome!

Sincerely

   Craig aka Joe Dirt

 

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That's perfect, thank you! I can't wait. I've been just digging in here reading everything that catches my attention, so much info. Love the cryo treatment, was always curious about that whole process. Hopefully ordering the beginner bladesmithing book today. Service out here is a little scetchy right now. Finally got a nice face on the RR rail. Still needs some fine tuning on the edges. Working on figuring out how to convert photos so I can share my progress and get some feedback from y'all fine folk. 

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To post pics to Iforge, first save them to a folder on your computer, I resize them in a second folder by doing a "Save As" and saving it under 200kb. with a new name I just add a 01 to the original file name. 

At the bottom of the text widow you write posts in there is a button that says "choose files" select it and double click on the photo file in your resized folder. There is another button "Drag files" but I've never used it so . . . ?

Anyway when you double click a file it'll appear as a thumbnail at the bottom of the window with a + on one side and a trashcan on the other. If you select the + the pic will be inserted where the curser is. You can double click on the pic and a window will appear that will allow you to resize, rotate, etc.

Trust me, doing it is easier than reading my rambly instructions. Honest it is. ;)

Frosty The Lucky.

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  Thank you Frosty. Your explanation is completely understandable. Hope it's that easy on the phone too. Wish I could understand the little ladies astrology that easy. All I hear is"Your asparagus rising is in the house of mustard. Which means there's mercury in your gatorade."

  Frosty T!!! Sorry quick change of subject just realized who you are. Going to be  doing a lot of digging around in here on burners. I'm also really looking forward to hearing your insight as well as the other curmudgeons on my work once I get started. Can't believe I didn't put the two together right away. Must be the mercury in my gatorade. Thank you for your time.

Joe Dirt

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You're welcome, I like looking at pictures. I agree about astrology, that's why I stick to fortune cookies for my daily forecast. 

Yeah, I'm THAT Frosty:ph34r:. Please don't tell Mother, she thinks I'm a piano player in a house of ill repute!

There's a step by step how to sticky in the propane burner section. "T burner illustrated instructions," If IIRC. Not being able to remember the name of my own darned article is a TBI issue, it's close but I'm not sure.

Ditto emailing Iphone pics to myself and posting them to Iforge from my laptop.

Frosty The Lucky.

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House of ill repute that's great. Have that on my instagram profile. Gets me every time. I'm heading that way as long as I don't get side tracked.  Going to have to dust off my notebook so I can start coming back to articles and keep on track.

  I have a coal forge I built but I would like to have a propane one as well.  Use the coal for preforms and the propane for temp. sensitive stuff. 

 Thank y'all again. Highly appreciated.

 Joe Dirt

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  Thanks again Frosty, you inadvertently helped me in my conundrum. Phones are pretty much computers so it got me thinking and I started clicking around. Accidentally hit print with my sausage fingers in the option menu. Any who it saves it as a PDF since there's no printer out here in the sticks.

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Sorry I don't think I figured it out, and now I don't know how to delete those post. My apologies. I will make sure I have this completely figured out before I post pictures again. Only able to use the phone right now and it's proving difficult.

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Glenn thank you again for your time, patience, and guidance.

  BillyBones absolutely will. Thank you. Complete noob so any help is appreciated.

  Seffers93 welcome aboard. I know the feeling. When you're willing to embrace the suck, your job really sucks lol

  Joe Dirt

 

 

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