1 hour ago, CrazyGoatLady said:

I am not familiar with that method but I will look into it.

There's a thread:

 

JHCC, thank you. I figured there was a thread but you saved me the time. I appreciate you so much 

6 hours ago, JHCC said:

 It would be quite a feat, though, to hammer that bar stock out to 18 gauge, especially since I don't have a power hammer!

This is you after forging a flamingo:

Lol yeah man that's right!

CGL, IIRC didnt you have a really nice anvil stand your husband built? 

If you have that many trees that can come down i would definitely build a retort. That is free fuel. Well, almost free. 

 

Billy, yes I still have that anvil stand. I'm just not sure how effective it would be on the ground. When I used it before, we had it on concrete and he put metal feet on it. So you think it would work or would I have to put something underneath it? I wonder if it would change the height too much? Opinions welcome from all

Seeing if the picture will load.  It, nor the anvil is that pretty anymore 

That will work just fine on compacted soil. It's a beautiful anvil stand though a little narrow foot print for my taste. Drill a hole or two in each foot pad and drive a 22 penny spike into the ground at an angle and it won't go anywhere. 

I made my living for about 20 years working for the foundations drill crew for Alaska DOT and investigating soils for foundations was what we did. I'll be honored to help you with stabilizing the soil under your shop, anvil, whatever so it's up to the job and then some.

Okay? 

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty, you were probably the main contributor in helping Tommie build that stand so you can take some credit. I really love that thing 

Thank you for your advice about mounting the stand and that would be easy to do. I'll have to get a picture and show you what I mean about the loafing shed. What we'd really like to do is move the shed to the pasture and build a shop in it's place.  The previous owner had it there for storage and that's what we've used it for. All my smithing stuff went into it. And I gained a lot of scrap metal and some other goodies from it.

Thank you for sharing your time and knowledge and to all others here that have helped me through the years. I could never repay the kindness

 

I had to look up what a loafing shed is. We call them run-ins. I have not however seen one with a wooden floor that i can recall. 

Aw pshaw Chellie, it's easy to pay me back. Just pass it along to others.

I share my knowledge and experience so folk can add to it and share it along. I only figured a little bit out myself, most I learned or adapted from other folks shared knowledge and experience.

That's the main reason I hang out here.

Frosty The Lucky.

Billy, I think the man had put it up on some kind of skid or trailer type thing. I have to step up into it from a cinder block.

Frosty, I definitely pay it forward when I can as well. We are blessed to benefit from your life experiences. I'm sure you've touched more lives than you will ever know

Now you're trying to make me blush. <shuffle shuffle scuff>

Frosty The Lucky.

I mean it from my heart Frosty. The forum has seemed to have slowed down and I'm not sure why. There's so much here to learn and you guys share freely what used to be closely guarded secrets. I miss Thomas and Glenn but I remember so many things from them that I still use today. Thank you to you, Jennifer, George N.M., JHCC, Irondragon, anvil, Olfart, Mikey, Charles R. Stevens, BillyBones, Steve, Swedefiddle, Daswulf, Biggundoctor, Slag, arkie, and so many others. I only cut that list short because this post is getting so long and I don't want to violate any posting rules. Cheers to the whole IFI gang. Y'all are the best of the best

Alexandr, you're a beast! Nice work!

Whenever I see these natural lawns, they always look so bucolic, pastoral, and relaxing.  It makes me resent my American lawn programming.  Even now I'm plotting an chemical attack on some carpet grass, chamberbitters, and kyllinga weeds that are invading my zoysia lawn.  I'm just waiting for a day that is 85F (29C) or below to launch my counterattack. It is now D-Day minus 90.

If you look closely at some of these weeds that we suburbanites hate, they are actually pretty.  Some have beautiful little purple or white flowers.  I'm trying to appreciate more and hate less as I get older and lawn maintenance becomes drudgery.

Now, I've got to go wipe out a couple of ant beds. 

Nate

Been about 5 days since i fired up the forge, my curve ball is not breaking like it should so a little practice time. Made this here shepherds hook for a possible new customer. The guy runs a farm stand selling veggies of course but also he is a beekeeper. He also sells some Amish made wood items. Anyway nothing special but i will take this along with a few other items to test the waters. 

While taking the pic i took a look at my filberts, or hazelnuts, lookin like a bumper crop if the squirrels dont beat me to them. 

3 hours ago, MeltedSocks said:

weeds that we suburbanites hate

What many call "weeds" are quite useful and healthy plants is what puzzles me at times. Dandelion, purslane, comfrey, poke, wood sorrel, fairy potato, chicory, etc. Yet people will go out of their way and spray harmful chemicals to try and eradicate these plants. Yet they want lush green grass for lawns that is almost useless to humans other than a comfortable place to lay in the shade.  

I was 3 pages behind so I'm sure I'll forget some things but thought I'd check in nonetheless. 

CGL - great to see you back! I agree with Frosty though, the timing in regards to weather temps could have been better, lol. I dunno what Texas has been like but the NW Missouri has been downright miserable lately. Yesterday was the first time in over a week that I've had any desire to get outside and forge. The humidity combined with the heat is like breathing in the steam over a pot of boiling water - while standing next to a radiator. It was only 85F when I got off work yesterday with a heat index of 95F. It was an enjoyable few hours of forging.

I also use & love charcoal. Propane and coal still have their place, and I switch around depending on what I'm working on. Propane is nice for evenly heating a large mass at once - like a thick plate or a large area that will get curved around a jig. I prefer coal for forge welding - not because it's any easier but because I don't burn through as much. Coal just stretches further. I will stick with charcoal when forge welding small stuff but I'll bust out the coal for bigger things. I'm currently using coal & propane just because I ran out of charcoal and haven't made another batch yet. It's too hot to be out there splitting logs!

BillyO - thank you for that seahorse walkthrough! I've saved a 'share' link to that post for future reference. 

Alexandr - beautiful work, as always. Do you ever have crappy results that you just don't share with us? 

Melted & Billy - regarding 'natural' lawns: "Weeds" are simply a plant which is not desired in the location it is growing - and usually in competition with the desirable plants. I do my best to maintain a treatment-free lawn and introduce as much native plants as possible to combat the non-natives from taking over. I love the look of clover, so it is the one non-native ground cover that I intentionally maintain. There are lots of native ground covers that can replace a lawn though - and some of them don't get any higher than a well maintained lawn which means no mowing but still looks nice! I haven't made that leap yet though. Native plants will encourage more wildlife of all forms to your yard. I plant intentionally for the deer in the back part of our property - as a way to 'feed' the deer without actually putting out feed, lol! For the most part, it keeps them away from the plants out front that I don't want them to munch on  

1 hour ago, BillyBones said:

Dandelion, purslane, comfrey, poke, wood sorrel, fairy potato, chicory, etc. Yet people will go out of their way and spray harmful chemicals to try and eradicate these plants. Yet they want lush green grass for lawns that is almost useless to humans other than a comfortable place to lay in the shade.  

I feed my dandelions, chickweed, and purslane to my chickens.  They like it a lot.  I try not to overuse the chemicals, but when the bitterchamber and kyllinga start taking over, I pull out the Celcius WD and the Sedgehammer and spot treat.  I'm not quite ready to go native yet.  One day I'll stop caring:  when I'm pushing up dandelions. 

29 minutes ago, Shainarue said:

There are lots of native ground covers that can replace a lawn though - and some of them don't get any higher than a well maintained lawn which means no mowing but still looks nice!

When my wife and I went to Jamaica for our 20th, I noticed that this weed called "carpet grass" was used as desirable lawn coverings at the resorts.  It looked nice.  Here at home, it grows well in the shade of the big magnolia tree in my backyard.  I'm allowing it to take over there because carpet grass is better than bare dirt.

Shainarue, thanks. Life circumstances have kept me mentally from blacksmithing for a few years now. I don't get on here much when I'm not because I don't feel I have much to contribute. Frosty says I should anyway and he's right. I let lack of a forge, which I decided was stupid, get in my way. And I ain't gettin' any younger lol. So JABOD it was. It's °104 today, but that's not going stop me doing a little forging this evening after all the other chores are done. 

Billy, that's a nice looking shepherds hook. Your work is clean and professional looking. I'm envious of your hazelnut tree. Out of all the trees on our land, I have only one pecan and we have a few hickory nut trees. Pecan trees are prevalent here in Texas. Go figure we we buy 12 acres and I have one pecan on the whole property 

Too much going on here,  everyone is doing amazing work.   I've been trying to survive the heat.   Maybe I should move north. 

Anyway I've been working on some minor stuff,  trying to learn how to make sockets better and one of the dirks I forged,  11 layer of 1095 and 15N20.  I'm nearly done with the grinding.  I learned of an exotic wood dealer 40 minutes north of me and that got expensive.   3 pieces of bloodwood and one big old hickory board to make the pole for a pole ax.

As for the grass and yard talk,  my while goal is to eliminate the grass from my yard for the most part and turn it all to garden.   

Chad J., nice dirk. Makes me wanna be a knife maker  Love your gardening venture. We are just the opposite in our pastures. We are working on silvopasture for MORE grass growing. I woudnt mind if my yards looked like yours though

 

In rough terms a "lawn" is tended grass or similar ground cover plants. Tended as in mowed, watered, weeded, cared for. Not always but it's a general definition.

As a little FYI, the lawn at Buckingham Palace is the largest living plant of Earth. It is one plant that has choked everything else out, "weeds" are rare and usually die quickly. 

Until the development of a useful mowing machine lawns were tended by sheep and herders. The Whitehouse's resident herd was IIRC around 30 sheep, 2 dogs and a shepherd. His residence was a house, barn, fenced pasture, supplied feed, on call vet, etc. I don't recall but I think the Capitol building had a smaller herd or perhaps it traveled between GVT. buildings. Been a long time.

Sheep crop grass to a pretty uniform 3/4" and because they flick their tails when they poop they spread high quality fertilizer that isn't hot enough to burn grass. 

The myth about sheep eating grass to the roots is mostly cattleman propaganda, the only time sheep pull the grass is if they're starving. 

Shepherds and their flocks tended lawns of homes nice enough to have a lawn. Small towns even though the shepherd tended to be a youngster making a little bit for the cookie jar.

Were you going to keep sheep Shaina? Hmmmm?

Frosty The Lucky.

I have 17 goats and 3 cows. Their pasture looks more well maintained than if I mowed and weed eater-d (lol) it. We have to bring in hay now though. Heat and high wind has made the grass sparse. We'll have more next year as we keep up our agroforestry practices

It was the plan! Unfortunately, the city we moved to does not allow non-pet animals (which they clearly spell out to be dog, cat, caged fowl, and oddly enough, pot bellied pigs) and chicken coop with up to 12 (I think?) fowl. So alas, no sheep for us.

I've got a lot of gardening space.  This was my last successful growing season.  Spring 2023.  I amended my soil with what the county calls "bloom compost."  It's yard waste and biosolids composted and sold to the public.  It ruined my soil, but hopefully not permanently.  A cubic yard is only about $35, which is really cheap.  It's contaminated, I suspect, with persistent herbicides like aminopyralids.

I'm probably going to have to abandon all the existing raised beds and let my chickens do limited free ranging in that area, then install a bunch of new raised beds in place of my traditional row garden and where all my dead citrus trees used to be.

To be deprived of a 'mater sammich (Bunny Bread, Duke's mayonnaise, vine ripened slicing tomato, salt, and pepper) for two years really hurts.  Oh, to be standing over the kitchen sink with juice running off my elbow.  I miss that.

My little Avett is sniffing one of my cucumbers.  The other veg is a zucchino rampicante.

Be careful with store bought composted cow manure.  That aminopyralid herbicide is sprayed on the hay that horses eat (and maybe cows).  It doesn't break down during digestion or composting.