4 hours ago, teenylittlemetalguy said:

as per Frosty's comment.

You were wit me the last time I fused some quarters Tristan. I was wracking my brain to remember how.

Frosty The Lucky.

Was used a lot a couple of censuses ago.  I remember clearly discussing the term with Publius Sulpicius Quirinius.

To my knowledge the term POSSLQ was first used in the 1980 US census forms.  IIRC Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes composed a romantic poem of "Won't you be my POSSLQ?"  I have always heard it pronounced "possel-queue."

These days, to be accurate, you'd probably have to have variants such as PSSSLQ or PQSSLQ.  I won't try for pronunciation of those.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I’ll take number six.

I not only knew it, but I remember when the Census Bureau introduced it. 

Got to hit the forge on Monday. Made a little knife out of ancient rusty threaded rod found in the woods at my mother's house. The other thing was a broken file. It was a small piece so it's now a large arrowhead or a small spearhead. I mounted it to a broken arrow I have and it looks mean. Shot it a couple times. Kinda fun. The knife will be a work knife since it got nice and hard and is just right size for using. 

I'll be number seven.

It failed to rain yesterday and the wind died down for the day so I got out there and made another leaf. It didn't come out as well as I would have liked, but hey, it's all practice.

I also figured out what I did wrong with my tongs and got one side adjusted before I lost the light.

I worked on a couple more knives and several s hooks.  I'm getting a much more even hook, better at squaring up the round stock and the amazing revelation that I should dip the ends in my slack water pot to keep the twists where I want them.  Not sure why I didn't think of that before

I just place it in the vise where I want the twist to stop and grab it with the twisting wrench where I want the twist to start and twist!    Water is handy when you want to do odd ball twists with reverses, untwisted areas etc. Just be careful as sometimes A-36  will harden and break on you!

There used to be a great video online (now taken down, alas) that showed an old German chainmaker at work in his forge. One of the chains he demonstrated had decorative twists in the long sides of each link. To make the links absolutely consistent, he would heat the stock, clamp it in the vise at the start of the twist (as ThomasPowers describes), slip over it a piece of pipe the same length as the desired twist, grab it with the twisting wrench at the top of the pipe, and give it the requisite number of turns. Perfectly sized twists every time.

19 hours ago, Frosty said:

You were wit me the last time I fused some quarters Tristan. I was wracking my brain to remember how.

how too do what? I am not following. I was mentioning your tightening the bolts as a way to help weld is all. 

Anyone else have trouble keeping Frosty and Thomas straight in your brain as to which of them is which and which of them said what?

Just me?  

He's the one with the beard.

I have no problem!   Sometimes he goes away; but I'm always right here!

I made a touch mark! Not the design I wanted, but one I like. A2 tool steel. Need to heat treat and polish.

First tests in lead are promising.

Tool steel is pretty hard untreated.  No need to heat treat it.  After several strikes on hot steel pieces or double-strikes 'cause the first one wasn't deep enough, the temper probably will be gone.  My touchmarks are just coil spring with the design, no heat treatment, and they have been working for me for years.

Alright. I’ll just polish up the face a bit (it’s really rough) and call it good.

Looks good to me.

Ordered an epoxy table. I decided to start training on the clock. 

Looks great! What wood are you using? I love the different colors between the sapwood and heartwood.

Be careful with A2 for a struck tool. If I remember correctly, it’s an air hardening tools steel. Personally, I’ve wondered what the best way to deal with air hardening tool steels in this type or application. Hopefully, someone here with more experience with give some direction...

David

It is air hardening. It is by no means soft, but I don't believe it will shatter when hit. I've made a few chisels and punches from it with no issues. The only reason I have it is that it was dirt cheap, and I thought it might work for chisels and kiridashis.

Started restoration of my hewing axe. Derusted and cleaned it up a bit. Then I sharpened it, first on the sandstone grinder, then arkansas stones and finally a leather strop. Will shave hair now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One can see a color difference near the bit of the axe, it's a v-shape that goes into the axe. Think this is a clear sign it's a forgewelded bit with an iron body. And a makers mark appeared after de-rusting, it's a Billnäs. Weight is 2.3kg or 5 lbs.

I wasn't taking issue Tristan, I just tossed that into the conversation.

As to who's who, Thomas is the guy with a formal education in many subjects and I'm a likable story teller who likes to play with fire and hit things with hammers.

What's to confuse?

Frosty The Lucky.