What did you do in the shop today?

[BillyBones]

There were a couple posts made i did not catch and it was brought up that the tanks were only 15# rather than 17# in the suit. 

That advantage is one of the reasons i mentioned it earlier to find a place that fills by the gallon. When i was getting them filled by the bottle, before i found TSC doing by the gallon, i always felt i had to run it dry or i was cheating myself. That led to having to shut down halfway through something becuase it would happen late or something. By putting it on a schedule i always had fuel and getting it by the gallon i did not feel the need to run it out and waste money if i didnt. 

[JHCC]

I was making bowls last Saturday, and not only did my saber saw's blade holder break when I was 1-1/2" from finishing cutting out the last blank, but my torch ran out of oxygen just as I was forging the last bowl. Running out of stuff on the weekend is annoying as all get-out.

[Anachronist58]

Grrr.  One of the reasons I opted for two oxy tanks. Sabre saw - I have no spare for that, just alternate means of severance...

Robert Taylor

[SinDoc]

I typically use either Ace or TSC for my refills. TSC does by the gallon and Ace does it by weight. Both of them let you stand there and watch/chat while they fill it up. My last refill ran me just shy of $40 if I remember correctly.

[ThomasPowers]

One reason I opted for a place just 5 miles from town instead of 50 miles from town.  Of course any big box store purchase is still 50+ miles up the interstate.

(This is also why I like to have backups for *everything*---including anvils over 400#...)

[JHCC]

Yeah, those can be really hard to replace over the weekend.

41 minutes ago, Anachronist58 said:

alternate means of severance

Cold chisel under the treadle hammer did the trick nicely.

[ThomasPowers]

Have you made a curved cold chisel for use under the treadle hammer?

[Anachronist58]

Yum! Cold Cuts!

[ThomasPowers]

Mayonnaise as a cutting lube?

[JHCC]

Reminds me of the time when my dad and I were running a cabinetmaking shop in the Vermont woods, and one of our neighbors stopped by when we were out to cut up some frozen pork chops on the bandsaw. Which was fine, until the "sawdust" thawed out....

3 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Have you made a curved cold chisel for use under the treadle hammer?

I have one with a 1/2" radius that I made for split rein tongs, to cut both the end of the rein on one tong and the transition from boss to rein on the other at one go. Didn't work great, but I think I still have it around somewhere. For this particular job, I was cutting 8" diameter circles, so a 1" straight chisel did fine.

[Frosty]

Billy: That's a "Rod Dog." The prevents drill rod from falling down the hole when you make or break a joint. It's right side up in the picture and either rests on the casing, hangs from a chain or is connected to an arm hinging from the drill rig. 

Rod will lift through it easily but if you let it go down the curved half with teeth cams against the rod and is backed by the V section and stops cold. To allow rod to go down the hole you hold up on the cam jaw. 

That dog is for small pipe, probably for installing the pump. Drill rod is rarely less than 1 1/2" dia. We ran N rod at IIRC 2 1/4" OD of course. I might have the dia. wrong but I'm not looking it up. 

It's a cool find and even useful if need arises. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Cool!

[ThomasPowers]

Frosty, no 9" pipe with drill collars?  Even my tiny "show and tell" 3 cone bit is 4-6" in diameter!

[Frosty]

Not us, we were soils investigation for bridges and foundations, we rarely drilled more than 140' and only once deeper than 200'. We drove HW casing with a 4.5" ID. Cleaned to the drive shoe with a tri cone and typically drove a BW split spoon because the engineers had the end bearing data in their books and didn't have to convert from N split spoons. 

We counted blows per foot whatever we were hammering into the ground: casing, sampler, penetrometer, everything. The samples were a small part of the data used to design bridge foundations. End bearing and skin friction are the important factors.

When we replaced the old Mobile B-60 with a CME-75 we stopped using log dogs almost entirely though we carried a rang in case. The new rig had a breakout arm, it swung over the casing and had a hydraulic clamp to hold the rod AND a hydraulically powered breakout wrench. 

No more backing the bottom of the joint with a 24" pipe wrench and breaking it with a 36" Rigid and 4' cheater! It was like we'd died and gone to heaven!

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

And you complain about us using foreign languages!

[ThomasPowers]

*Real* Drillers throw the chain!   I worked on a 13000' well in OK once.  Hit some hard layers and some days we would make a foot and a half; I was supposed to take samples every 10'....  lots of wall wash on that one.  I used to like tripping (pull the drill string to replace the bit), got paid but didn't have to do anything but be ready when they started making hole again.

[Frosty]

Nice try Thomas! Driller's HELPERS AKA Driller's Pimp, (That is NOT a dirty word moderators, it means "HELPER, use your dictionary before editing please!) throws the chain.

Real drillers: pull levers, watch the action and gauges. Drillers even on 3 man operations like ours didn't break rod, spin pull pins, hang dogs or spin rod.

Not on our drill, the Geo couldn't keep his hands off so he tended to do a LOT more than his job description said he should. 

The helper had to run rod, we could only hang 75' in the tower. 

See why I push for using a single blacksmith jargon John? Were I to step on the deck of an oil or gas rig I'd have to find a corner and learn a new job and jargon, at least until I could move safely at all. 

I don't even know how many roust abouts are on an oil rig deck. I do know what the tower man does in the crow's nest. 

I know the process of making hole but not on that scale, it's a different world. When we hit a gas pocket we all just puled the clutch and stepped up wind till it emptied and went back to work. The geo noted the depth an length of time if stunk things up is all.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Crows Nest: you mean the monkey boards?    All the rigs I worked on would take 3 lengths of pipe so somewhere around 96 feet long.  The 13K' well they had to lay pipe down on a trip.

Jargon has probably changed since my time in the oil patch in the early 1980's.

[Frosty]

I don't know monkey boards. The only oil rigs I got near to, could hang IIRC 6 lengths in the tower. Uh HECK I don't even remember how many sticks in a length. 3 I think?

I was working for AMF Tuboscope inspecting and magna fluxing rod. We stayed as far from the rigs as possible. Having to inspect on a rig usually meant lawsuits and a whole BUNCH of suits making suggestions and rig hands trying to keep them from getting themselves and others killed. 

Our's was a different world.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Chad J.]

The together a stand for the new anvil.   Blessing it with hot steel right now getting to know it. 

[JHCC]

Finished up an order of knitting bowls. 

[George N. M.]

John, what gauge sheet do you start with?  Also, if you don't mind saying, what is your price point if you are selling them?

Also, do you or the knitters find that having the yarn guide oriented as you have it works better than just curling it up in the plane of the edge of the bowl?

Thanks.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Donal Harris]

And what is a knitting bowl used for?

Nothing done at the forge for almost 10 days now. My baby brother came down with COVID. I had to pick him up and take him to the ED. They admitted him. I have been keeping my grandniece since then. 
 

My brother came very close to needing a ventilator. 10 LPM of O2  by nasal cannula could not beep his O2 sat above 90%, so they put him on High Flow Nasal Oxygen. That worked well and kept his sat above 94%. He was in the hospital for just shy of 9 days. He came home Sunday. I am keeping my little niece till he feels up to keeping her, which, God willing will be tomorrow. 
 

She is a great kid, but man she never shuts up. I am work out. 
 

My brother was one of those who refused to get the shots. 

[George N. M.]

A knitting bowl is used to hold a ball of yarn while the end is being knitted.  The ball gradually unwinds as the knitting progresses.

How does your brother feel about vaccinations now?  I'm glad to hear that he is doing better.  I just hope that he doesn't have any lingering side effects.  IMO too many folk are making medical decisions based on things other than medical criteria.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[JHCC]

6 hours ago, George N. M. said:

John, what gauge sheet do you start with?  Also, if you don't mind saying, what is your price point if you are selling them?

Each one starts with an 8” circle of 16 gauge sheet. This is a $250 wholesale order from a local yarn shop, so $50 each. Probably undercharging, but (as noted before) I’m subsidizing a hobby rather than trying to make a living. 

6 hours ago, George N. M. said:

Also, do you or the knitters find that having the yarn guide oriented as you have it works better than just curling it up in the plane of the edge of the bowl?

 Neither better nor worse; it’s just a different look. 

I do make another style of knitting bowl with the curl in plane with the side, but those are one-of and a good bit more pricey. 

6 hours ago, George N. M. said:

“By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Well, maybe not knitting.