Glenn Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 The bamboo can be used in many ways, including tomato or plant stakes, wind chimes, bundle them together and offer them for sale at the farmers market, or use them as fuel for a solid fuel forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 I was thinking tomato stakes with them. My tomatoes are doing nice and will need staked soon. Making a batch of fried green tomatoes this weekend. Also was thinking they would be good for my green beans as well. Got a lot of good stuff coming up. Had some new potatoes with green onion the other day. My watermelons have started flowering. Muscadine is doing nice, hope the birds dont get them all. Got a couple apples that are starting to get red, be a while longer on most though. And i may get a few hazel nuts finally this year. My local farmers market i am not doing this year. They decided to make a rule that you had to be there every Saturday, the day it is open, and if you missed one you would lose your spot. And you could not leave early or come late, had to be there open to close. Frosty, i read your post at work. Dont know what happened to it. But anywho, they pulled the screws out of the door, not cut. So it could have been made out of unobtanium and it would not have helped. They did leave the crow bar though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 7 hours ago, Glenn said: use them as fuel for a solid fuel forge Just make sure to split them first. Burning unsplit bamboo can be startlingly explosive when the air in the cavities heats up and bursts them from the inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shainarue Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 On 7/18/2023 at 4:16 AM, jlpservicesinc said: Hows the ABANA course going? Oh, I finished that back in June! I have a picture of all the required projects signed off on and ready for submission - but I'm not a member of ABANA so I don't get a certificate until I do that, lol. I don't need a piece of paper - I mainly did this to push myself out of my comfort zone and it was awesome! I figure if I go further and finish their Level 2 course, then I'll get the membership and submit both. Because with Level 2 certification, I can be listed as an official instructor for the Level 1 course and I think that would be pretty cool. There are a few places here locally that I might be able to get into as an instructor. For now though, I'm quite content to just keep playing, lol BillyBones, those are some beautiful torches! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexandr Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 A bunch of little work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melancholy Rivet Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 Nice work everyone! It's always inspiring to scroll through this thread! I made a set of ball end dies from 3/4" square to fit my little guillotine tool, and forged a few hooks to try them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewoon ik Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 Alexander is all your work on commision? The people order direct to you? Or do you make series of work for gardencentra and home-decorationshops? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexandr Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 I work directly with clients. I have a group of 32,000 subscribers in a Russian-language social network, 2 websites and advertise in different places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewoon ik Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 Ah yes with that big of a reach, there is always somebody ordering something. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 You shipped a large commission to Alaska, was it last year Alex? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 More getting ready for repoussé: thinning down hammer handles and polishing various tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexandr Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 23 hours ago, gewoon ik said: Ah yes with that big of a reach, there is always somebody ordering something. For more than 30 years of blacksmithing, I have many regular customers. They give me a lot of work. 20 hours ago, Frosty said: You shipped a large commission to Alaska, was it last year Alex? HI Jer ! Sent last winter to Seattle. In Kenai, the customer hired a truck. I made 4 chandeliers for them, but unfortunately they did not send a photo. It may not have been installed yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerooster Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 I've done nothing at the forge since December of last year. When the hood on the forge started causing more trouble than it was worth, I put forging on pause until I can get another hood built. Then the "Honey Dews" started, then the weather got warm, and projects around the house. And now replacing the engine in "Ol' Blue", an old '85 Pontiac Parisienne with about 400,000 miles on it. Got the engine out today, got it all cleaned up in the engine bay, and cleaned up a few of the parts that need to be transferred to the new (to me) engine. Billy, Those torches look great! I'd had an idea along those lines, but it never came to fruition. Alexandr, You sir, do some exceptional work. I really enjoy looking at your pictures. The only metal work I've done lately has been in the custom car shop. And as I pretty much do the same thing day in day out, I fail to take pics of some of the panels that I've had to fabricate and install. I'm thinking very seriously about building a forge for use at the shop. Many is the time I wish I had one on hand. I could set it up on wheels, roll it out, fire it up, make my part, rake out the fire, roll it back in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 I wish I knew more people living in Kenai. There is a lot of monied folk living in the area and importing custom forged chandeliers from Russia owns serious bragging rights, Who would get around. Maybe there is a local home and garden type magazine in Kenai. Hmmmm. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexandr Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 9 minutes ago, Frosty said: I wish I knew more people living in Kenai. There is a lot of monied folk living in the area and importing custom forged chandeliers from Russia owns serious bragging rights, Who would get around. Maybe there is a local home and garden type magazine in Kenai. Hmmmm. The wife of a customer's neighbor from Ukraine. Despite the war, we remained on good terms with her. I'll write to her and ask. 24 minutes ago, bluerooster said: You sir, do some exceptional work. I really enjoy looking at your pictures. Спасибо !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 4 hours ago, JHCC said: polishing various tools And final polish: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 Alexandr that is fantastic. I still don't know how you do it alone.. Your production rate is off the charts.. If you don't mind me asking.. what do you charge per hour or shop rate? I did some forging today in prep of Peters valley. Few show and tell items of possible class materials. JHCC.. Lots of finer and finer sand paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 Yup. And a buffing wheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 That would be grand Alex but no need to go out of your way, Deb and I probably won't make it to Kenai this year, I believe she has her eye on going north. It's no surprise you remain on good terms with acquaintances and friends in and from Ukraine, it isn't the people causing the war. If you think of it next time you talk it'll be more than enough. Thank you. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 It looks like I’m selling my coal forge, since so it’s been doing is taking up space and gathering junk. So, disassembled, out to the driveway, and covered with a tarp to await its new owner.* Naturally, this means that I have to reorganize the rest of the shop. Which included modifying the cabinet on the side of my tool chest to hold the angle grinders. The little shelf was already there and is just the right size for the big grinder, the various side handles (which I may move to a different spot), and the containers of spindle nuts and wrenches. *About whom, a funny story: she’s comparatively new to smithing (this is her first forge of her very own), but forges with a local club a few towns away. When she got started, she found IFI, saw my posts, saw that we live in the same town, and spent a couple of years trying to figure out who I was! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 Wow, you have converted over to the dark side. Sadly with the way the coal mines aren't running these days it's probably the wave of the future. Unless of course, someone has ample time to make charcoal or other biomass-type fuels. Going simply by today.. The heyday of soft coal is in the rearview mirror. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad J. Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 I've been a bit busy, this last weekend I was helping at an OSTA here. I had a lot if fun helping kids of all ages make a hook or bottle opener. One youngv girl sticks out in that she got up early, walked to the park and did a great job almost completely in her own. She said she really wanted to learn smithing. When I got done helping her I gave her a pair of you tube channels that had great tutorials to start, Blackbear Forge and JLP Services. Anyway I did help one kid make a bracelet, with a nice quick twist. We had a couple hundred people through the tent over 2 days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 1 hour ago, jlpservicesinc said: the dark side Well, the pale blue side, anyway. I do like coal, but propane is so much more convenient for my situation that I haven’t actually used my solid fuel forge in years. I figure that if I really need to, I can throw together a JABOD and burn charcoal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 Propane forges aren't on the dark side if you light them, mine are on the yellow white side. I'd burn coal when appropriate but smithing coal is a matter of heading to the old decommissioned strip mine, picking the right seam and collecting your own. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 You guys are too serious.. it's all a joke.. Before too long, I'll probably be propane myself. I dread that day. Solid fuels are so precise heat-wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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