What did you do in the shop today?

[Steven NY]

Alexandr,

Great looking canopy! What is the clear material used to cover it? I would like to build something similar for my Mother.

Have a good one,

W

[Chad J.]

I'm gonna have to build a bigger heat treatment oven.   My little forge took forever to get my shirt sword up to critical.   Gonna have to roll up my sleeves and start researching ideas. 

[Frosty]

A long forge is easy if you build several short ones for every day use. Short ones won't eat you out of house and fuel and you can line them up to make a long one. 

Of course buying a case or two of Morgan, K-26 IFBs so you can build any size or shape brick pile forge is just too easy to be a proper blacksmith's project don't you think?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Chad J.]

I was looking at doing 2 old propane tanks welded end to end and then I know there are some fuel sipping burners in the forge section.  I was also considering a JABOD using charcoal.   But you're right, a simple Brock like fudge would be quickest. 

[Frosty]

Brock like Fudge? Don't you love spell correct?

I had the dickens of a time loading a sci fi novel to the active section of my Kindle, spell correct changed the name repeatedly. 3 was the charm though, I uncorrected it a number of times before clicking the search button. 

That is a tasty typo though.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Chad J.]

Think I'll leave it.   Rarely do I get entertaining changes. 

[alexandr]

4 hours ago, Steven NY said:

! What is the clear material used to cover it?

Hi! 

It is a monolithic polycarbonate.

7 hours ago, DHarris said:

Is there a Russian equivalent to “Go big or go home!”?

Hi! 

Google translated as ''со щитом или на щите " in Russian it has a different meaning. Probably there is some other phrase.

[Steven NY]

Alex,

Thank you!

W

[M.J.Lampert]

well not in the shop but after watching 2 i got to trim a horse for the first time with my father there to supervise and correct.

M.J.Lampert

[Frazer]

My uncle and I went to town with sledge hammers, pick-axes and shovels and broke up the slab in the soon-to-be new shop. Thankfully, when they poured this slab they skipped any rebar/mesh reinforcement. Removed ~4" of fly ash/rocks they had used for the base (this explains why it heaved) and 1-1.5" of virgin clay. Making way for 4" of crushed stone and a 5-5.5" slab. I, however, will not be skipping out on the mesh. 

    

There is still a lot to do, but progress is progress. Plus, I got a whole bunch of really nice rocks for a rock wall or something, so I'll be saving those.

If anyone ever needs any clay for their JABOD I have a half acre full 

[JHCC]

No thanks. Sitting on the Mahoning-Trumbull-Ellsworth association, I've got all the clay I need. (I'd be happy to come visit anyway, though, once I'm travelling for business again.)

On 4/14/2021 at 12:00 AM, Chad J. said:

Think I'll leave it.   Rarely do I get entertaining changes. 

I do, but they're usually things that would get me banned from IFI.

[DennisCA]

Nice canopies, I wonder if I would be able to do something like that...  Windows let a lot of heat in during summer... no AC

[SinDoc]

My shop currently has everything pushed aside and is full of CPVC pipe as I had to redo the majority of drains in the house due to some...failure...of piping that is probably twice as old as I am. I am an electrical guy not a plumber dang it!

[Paul TIKI]

SinDoc, I feel ya man.  I have no problem at least attempting any of the aspects of home maintenance except Plumbing.  Electrical, drywall, even repaired some of the ancient windows this place has, but Plumbing?  Also, I can do water lines as long as I can cheat with PEX and sharkbite connectors.  The drain lines are something else though.  They scare me.

[SinDoc]

We have a saying in my industry. Everyone's an electrician but everyone is scared of plumbing. One will kill you, and the other will just get you wet.

I don't mind drains, albeit they're a pain to run and plan out. Water feeds is what I worry about. Don't want to flood my crawl space!

[JHCC]

My plumbing experience is limited to replacing all the toilets in our house and the periodic unclogging of the sewer that occasionally backs up in our basement. There was also a rather dramatic backup of the kitchen sink drain when someone tried to get rid of some exceptionally fibrous vegetable scraps through the in-sink garbage disposal. Thank goodness for rubber boots.

[SinDoc]

We had that problem. Our old terracotta pipe collapsed last year and we had to spend quite a bit of money to have it replaced. Hopefully I can finish the drains tonight, then install some PEX for new feed lines tomorrow then forge Sunday 

[Frazer]

I had to replace all of the drain pipe in the basement going from the utility sink to the primary drain going out to the street.. 30' of 1.5" pipe 3/4 of the way full of.. I'm not sure what it was. But if you've done any plumbing, you know what I'm talking about.. hardened drain sludge. Makes a lot of sense why I found a half a dozen partial bottles of draino sitting down there after I closed. I don't think it was doing them much good in the end.

While I was in there I went fishing with a 25' snake down the 4" pipe going to the street. Why don't you ever find anything cool down the drain? Like a ring or something? The only thing I got was a little plastic tab from a bag of bread and drain goo.

Anyway, she drains like a dream now. I do not envy plumbers.

 

[SinDoc]

Only two rules of plumbing that I know.

1. Water doesn't run uphill

2. Don't chew your finger nails.

[Jobtiel1]

Today I tried forging a viking style belt buckle, as well as another fire striker in a different style, unfortunately I burned the fire striker, so that one had to be scrapped. The new belt on my forge works a treat, it's much nicer now that I have a proper belt.

 

Next up is another belt buckle, as this one is way too big too actually use.

~Jobtiel

[Donal Harris]

Finally got around to welding up the wrought iron and an old file for an attempt at a knife. I hope to get two out of it: a small skinner and a coffin handled Bowie. 
 

I cut a triangle shaped piece from one end and heat treated it (non-magnetic, quenched in water.). The sides can be filed. The top of each edge can be filed. The bottom of each edge cannot. I didn’t temper it. 
 

I wanted to see if I could see where the WI was and where the file steel was, so I soaked it in muratic acid overnight. On one side the acid ate away the WI where it met the steel. On the other side it did not. 
 

What is the best way to make the iron and steel appear different?

Just to be clear, prior to the acid, that delamination was not present. 

[Paul TIKI]

After having some painful and damp experiences with plumbing, I fully endorse paying plumbers for what they do.  I have run the feed lines to our second story with Pex and sharkbites and that was successful.  Once upon a time I tried to run a new drain line from the kitchen sink and it was...not.

 

[Chimaera]

9 hours ago, JHCC said:

There was also a rather dramatic backup of the kitchen sink drain when someone tried to get rid of some exceptionally fibrous vegetable scraps through the in-sink garbage disposal

As a child, when I was helping my dad replace the garbage disposal, he told me a horror story. He was staying in a cabin in Boundry Waters Canoe Area with his boy scout troop, fishing. He got a five pound channel catfish, which he decided to eat, much to the guide's horror (he thought only crappie, trout and walleye should be consumed). After a few minutes of imploring (children are quite convincing at times), my father was able to convince him to fillet the fish. Those of you who have filleted catfish will know that it's an awful business. They have copious amounts of blood and entrails, practically bulletproof skulls, and skins like leather. Well, after filleting it, the guide put the entire carcass in the garbage disposal. I just can not imagine the power this thing must have taken to grind that up. Nor can I think of what drove the guide to think that that was a good course of action.

[JHCC]

Now I'm REALLY glad I didn't have fish for dinner!

[Frosty]

Ah, there's a trick to catfish, you need a hook to hang it from, a slit and you peal the hid off inside out. Then they're easy to fillet. I've never done it but I watched when I was a teen ager. 

Deb and I had halibut olympia two nights ago. Mmmmmm. Maybe I'll pick up some catfish if any looks good. Dust them in Cajun seasoning and bread them with food processor crushed potato chips and a couple tbsp of flour to hold it together. It doesn't pick up oil from frying like flour or corn meal breading does, potato chips are already pretty full of oil so they don't absorb much. It makes a good breading baked too.

Yeah, cajun catfish and chips. Deb bought me an Instant pot pressure cooker and the air fryer lid for it, the thing makes perfect French fries and onion rings. Steak fries tomorrow, same same. 

I'm glad you brought up fish, sometimes I have trouble deciding what to make for dinner and a little bump helps. 

Frosty The Lucky.