This is the absolute best way to cook sweet corn. Last May. 
 

I asked Brent which I would find more useful, his more traditional rounding hammer or his Modified New Style. He said his new style would be better because of the square face. He asked what weight I wanted, but I haven’t decided yet. I am thinking 3 lbs, but my most commonly used hammer is 2.5. 

My most used is 3#. 2.5# is a good weight too. Pick the one you think you will really use the most. 

I don't have red crayfish here. Never ate one. The rest is a good combo. I do love a clam bake but I haven't had many in my life. 

Irondragon, i thought the luna moths were green. We had one in the shop a couple months ago i thought was a luna moth. Big huge green guy. Seems i am seeing more and more of these huge moths around. Hope the Earth is not reverting to a lost time when giant insects were the norm. Hate to run into a 6' dragon fly. 

Das, to get good crawfish here in the midwest, you have to go and catch them yourself in the local creek. Our local grocery has them but they are shipped pre-cooked and frozen. Also as far as red goes i think that is a result of boiling them like lobster. 

When i was a kid me and my friends would catch crawfish and cook them on the riverbank. We would usually have nothing with us so our "pot" was usually something like an old beer can and water from the river to boil them in. 

I was kidding about the red part. We would catch crayfish in the creeks but we never ate them. We would just catch and release. I like shrimp and lobster so I guess they wouldn't be bad. 

  Crab boils are good to.  When my sister retired from the Army she had a huge one.  They just dumped it all on a picnic table with a cloth on it and everybody just took what looked good to them.  Shrimp, crab (mostly), lobster...corn, spuds I can't remember what all.

Ah, should have known that was jokeing, but right over my head.

We also used carwfish for bait. 

Scott, that is how the ones i went to in Louisiana were put one. Heck even in the resturants they were just put on giant platters.

  Billy, I ate at a place in chinatown, NYC once that had a round personal tables with a lazy suzanne in the middle and you just spun it around to get what you want.  There must have been 15 dishes on it.  It was not cheap.  There were 6 of us and you had to be polite when trying to turn the food wheel so as not to be pulling against each other.

  Big cats like crawdads.

1 hour ago, Scott NC said:

Big cats like crawdads.

And all Cajuns!

if you’ve never been to crayfish boil plan on attending on of our Louisiana Metalsmiths Association, (LAMA), conferences the second weekend of March each year, Saturday night dinner is a crayfish boil. Last year we did crayfish and shrimp, that was well received, so we may continue that 

Havn't been in the shop in a while, and was getting the urge to make SOMETHING..... so, I fired up the forge this afternoon.... and randomly made a spoon... a heavy one.

Did you forge the mass down or fold and forge weld the end for the bowl?

keep it fun,

David

I hammered dirt, lol

I wanted to reconfigure my jabod and the clay dirt had hardened so I had to break it up to be able to form it. 

Hey Goods, 

I forged the whole thing from one piece of scrap stock. No welding in this, just shaping... was a bar about 3/8 x 3/4 x 6". 

 

Last day at the Hardwick fair demo..  

This years theme was "the blacksmith"..    Was super cool.. 

Wrought iron with high carbon face welded on..  Punched on the corner/diagonal.. Little tough with no swage to hold it steady but gotter done.. 

Little more clean up..  Started life at 1.125" Sq from the Longfellow bridge in Boston..  The steel face was old heavy lawn mower blade. 

Had a great time chatting with everyone.. 

36 minutes ago, Shainarue said:

I hammered dirt, lol

I’ve done that a time or two myself, is it just red dirt or have you mixed in other materials with it?

Jennifer,

hammer looks awesome!

it looks like you need a refill on your hardwick cup! 

Thanks..   could use a few fills for sure..   was a hot one out there today.. 

 

Jennifer, quite nice.

Had a day to play so tried something new, a sliding latch thing. Did not get the receiver piece done but had fun doing it.

Installed my door handle.

A bi closer to the door than a anticipated, may have to correct.

That is a good looking dogs head hammer Jennifer. About what does it weigh?

Billy I would probably straighten the handle a little bit so it doesn't rub on the door as it wears in. Good looking classy handle.

Nice work, everyone!

I ground down the butt of one of my touchmarks so that it would fit the tool holder of my fly press. Happy with the result.

(Funny moment: I was testing the mark on a scrap of leather to make sure it was making contact squarely, when I forgot for a second that it wasn’t steel and gave the press an almighty tug. The poor piece of leather practically exploded!)

Twisted: the first time it was just the dirt. Today I mixed in some ash from a recent wood burn.  

Jlp: nice hammer head! How long did it take? Did people hang around to watch the full process? 

Billy: I love that door handle.  Did you do the plate as well? 

Jennifer I sure do admire the forge welding high carbon to wrought that you do.

Made this adjutable vise spacer. Surprised how well it works, doesn't fall when making adjustments.

 

Amazing work everyone.

IDF&C, the pic is not good. The angle makes it look much more curved than i actually is. It is still more than i wanted though and needs corrected. 

Shainarue, no i did not make the lock plates. My house was built in the mid-late 1800's and that is what all the lock plates look like on my interior doors. The locks them selves and the striker plates all have the same pattern. I been going through the house cleaning them up and getting many decades of paint off of them. Why someone would paint over them is beyond me. 

Fifth time's the charm? 

Still trying to get these piton bottle openers looking like pitons *and* able to open bottles.  It's been educational.  Try four really looked like a good piton, but the 'biner ring was too small and the lip didn't engage the bottle top.

Looks like I may be close...  It'll work,  but still needs some refining.

 

I had to look up "piton". It deffinately looks like one.

Lary.. Love the spacer.. I will copying the idea. 

The Hammer is about 2 3/4lbs.  Initial etch..