What did you do in the shop today?

[JHCC]

9 hours ago, George N. M. said:

You might try getting funding from DARPA.

I'm always confusing DARPA with LARPing, AOPA, and Naropa.

[BillyBones]

Ok, what the heck is this LARP thing i keep hearing about? 

[JHCC]

"Live Action Role Play". Basically the same thing as games like "Dungeons & Dragons", but acted out in the real world rather than on paper.

 

[Jealdi]

Depending on the system there are different ways to resolve challenges. Some still use dice just like D&D does for challenge resolution. Others do things like cards or Roshambo. They also have several different worlds they are set in that are different than D&D. Some of the biggest LARP organizations out there play White Wolf's World of Darkness.

Oh... and let's not forget the ones like Amptgard and Dystopia Rising that are what are usually referred to as "Boffer Larp" where you really do act things out. You make your own weapons and armor out of foam/pvc piping/etc and actually hit each other.

[JHCC]

Sometimes "LARPing" is used disparagingly of those who affect an external appearance without the corresponding underlying reality, like a person who wears plaid shirts, jeans, and high-laced work boots like a lumberjack but has barely ever been in the woods, let alone picked up an axe or cut down a tree. Another good example is "stolen valor", when a person wears military uniforms and awards that they have not earned, in an attempt to claim unwarranted authority and respect.

[ThomasPowers]

re antimatter inducer: I find that if you take a proper matter induction unit and put it through an N-axial Inversion Unit with the proper settings it will work fine with antimatter; just be careful with the particle excerptor!

[BillyBones]

When i was a teenager we would soak tennis balls in gas, light them on fire and throw them at each other while yelling "Fireball!". Our backyard sword fighting became interesting when we found a cheap source of machetes also. PVC and cardboard...maybe we should have thought of that instead. Amazingly none of us had a trip to the ER though, guess our luck roll was successful.

Instead of building some fancy shmancy anti-matter forge, i would get Scotty to build me a transporter. Not only would it make the commute to work much easier, but i could transport the metal into the sun and back. That should get to welding heat rather quickly. 

[Chimaera]

Hoping to make a squirrel tail knife one of these days... please excuse my poor spline control. So many projects I want to make! So little good weather!

Why not take the whole enterprise? The name's got a good history...

[ThomasPowers]

Nice looking for a display piece; but I have found extremely long points to be fragile and not very useful. The large unbeveled section is a nice place for engraving or etching but adds useless weight for a using knife. (Not C.o.P. forward for chopping or backwards to balance at the front of the grip for point control.)

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I have made a few "fantasy" knives, didn't start out to make them, but that is what I wound up with never the less.

[ThomasPowers]

Unfortunately most Cons don't allow live steel anymore.

[Chimaera]

I was going for an upswept skinner, which is where the point is nice. I was hoping to do an engraving or etching. It's also just a CAD model and once I start on steel, this is all going to fall apart, guaranteed.

I really struggled with this CAD. Not sure why. It didn't end up with any of the grace I'd like to have in the finished product. 

[Frosty]

In my youth we played Army so seeing kids wandering around with pellet rifles wasn't unusual or comment worthy. We'd put on a couple pair of pants and wear motorcycle helmets with face shields and heavy jackets. Benjamin and Crossman pellet rifles had a 5 pump rule my Sheridan had a 2 pump rule and NO BBs! The pump limit was to prevent puncture wounds, welts and bruising were bragging rights. BBs would punch right through 2 pair of Levis so were out.

Of course there were kids who'd put a few extra pumps on their rifles and got banned if it was a habit. Seridans have larger pump cylinders with longer strokes so 2 pumps on mine is roughly equivalent to 4 on the other name brands. Gave me a higher rate or fire though and woe betide someone who hit me with an over pumped shot a second time, 8 pumps on my 5mm. Sheridan was easily equivalent to a .22 short.

Adults, any adults would put a quick stop to pretend sword play! That was dangerous.  

Good times the 60s. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Yup we played a lot of dangerous games and expected some damage from time to time. OTOH any adult in the neighborhood was allowed/expected to discipline any kid in the neighborhood if they though they were getting too rough...

I still remember being allowed to play outside till the streetlights came on and watching the lights glitter on the snow as I trudged home from sledding half a mile away from our house.  (Watches that could withstand kids at play were not easily or cheaply found in those days.)

[pnut]

The four wheeler dealership up the road from my house gives me  pallets that the four wheelers are shipped on whenever I want to make a batch of charcoal. They're surprisingly clean. They also are shipped with some angle and square tubing. 

 You are correct though. The HT only means they were pest and contaminant free when they left the oven. 

Pnut

[Chimaera]

Just make sure they don't have arsenic...

[gmbobnick]

At first blush it wouldn’t seem to have much to do with blacksmithing, but I finally received my sawmill, got it assembled, and it is now in production!  A happy day…and the new ability to make unique lumber for wooden objects upon which I can mount various forged handles, hinges, hasps, brackets etc.

[George N. M.]

Cool.  Unfortunately, we in WY don't have the variety of native hardwoods available that our comrades further east have.  About all we have in abundance is pine and aspen.  However, I recall some Russian Olive growing in the Ocean Lake area that might produce some interesting lumber.  I have used slabs from branches of Russian Olive which came down last year in a June snow storm for knife handles and it worked quite well.

"By hammer an hand all arts do stand." 

[BillyBones]

When i was but a wee lad in grade school we used to go out at recess and "play fight". Really not much playing to it as we would all come back in with bumps and bruises and bloody noses. But we did all that with the teachers looking on. No big deal, boys being boys. 

Really hate to see the size of the fire poker you need a saw mill to make the handle for. 

I would think that WV would have about the same trees as Ohio and we have quite a few nice hardwoods. Lots of maples but i think that is becuase back in the 50's a lot of new housing developments had maple trees planted in them. So many that the town i live in really frowns on you planting a maple tree. At one time  there was an ordinance against planting swamp maples specifically.    

[gmbobnick]

I am at peace with the fact that my area has little in the way of hardwood for furniture.  We have various conifers (softwood) in the mountains that provide gorgeous wood, have great machining properties, stain and finish wonderfully, and are entirely useful for furniture.  Plus, I love the excuse to go up in the mountains and cut logs.

 

[BillyBones]

George, my bad, not enough coffee yet and i saw WY as WV. Just a bit of a difference in West Virginia and Wyoming.

[Chimaera]

Glad you figured it out. Both gorgeous. I went to WY when I was ten, one of the best trips of my life. Not too much hardwood, though.

[George N. M.]

If you can ever find mountain mahogany large enough it is a really pretty wood.  Around here it is seldom more than knee to waist high but in UT and NV it gets up to 25' or so tall with a decent sized trunk.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Frosty]

21 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

any adult in the neighborhood was allowed/expected to discipline any kid in the neighborhood

Wasn't limited to getting too rough, any activity that was dangerous, mean, destructive, illegal, etc. was expected to be punished by adults. Believe me when your parents are meeting the new neighbor and they tell them if I acted up paddle my butt, tended to make me careful about how I acted up.

Rock fights got everybody paddled but dirt clod fights were okay. I REALLY liked grass fights, for a week or two after a good rain you could pull a handfull of grass and the roots would have a good lump of dirt attached. You could throw a grass: bomb, grenade, etc. (depending on the war) a lot farther than a dirt clod. 

I remember getting lost wandering around and asking strangers or knocking on doors to ask directions. Even got a ride a couple times though that wasn't my preference, those always resulted in a talking too. 

Good times.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

8 hours ago, pnut said:

The four wheeler dealership up the road from my house gives me  pallets

Back in the late '80s early '90s the Polaris dealership would get them mounted to steel frames. Lots of good angle iron in them. I was able to get a lot of the frames, to cut up for forging/fabrication. Still have some out in the resource pile.