Never know Thomas, you might be smithing in 39-3/4 years from now! 

you would be kicking yourself for passing up that free truck load of heavy walled Ibeam! 

Also you'd only be a little over a hundred by then!

If I’m around in forty years I promise I’ll come visit!….. just to bug you how to do something!  

 

I hope that this is all gone by next January, then I can buy some more!

Went to lowes today to get a new storm door closer shock. Thought while I was there I would look for a switch plate for a light switch as they were out of the matching one last time I looked. Low and behold they moved the duct pipe into that isle. And they had 10"x5' sections of round. So I went and grabbed a shopping cart and got the 3 sections that I thought I needed. I looked and they had a joining section, but I fugured mine was ok on the barrel so I passed on that. 

 

At home I clipped the two together and went up on the roof, pulled the old floppy one out not even paying attention and installed the two sections in. Turns out my joining piece on top of the barrel hood is a bit rotted. Good enough to function for a bit tho. Then i clipped together the third piece of 10" and took it up on the roof. I was trying to install it when it hit me that the stack was way taller than it needed to be. 

Guess at $19. each, I'll be returning one since I only had 10' of pipe before and that is sufficient.

They were still out of the matching light switch plate. 

And new forge chimney stack is done.  

You know that you can forge a switch plate.  Just a piece of flat stock (think car body panel steel) with a rectangular hole in the center, two screw holes, and slightly curved edges.  Borrow a switch plate from another switch as a pattern.  Just be sure to put it back when your finished.

Glenn, you know when the lady of the house wants a certain thing, nothing else will do. I don't Need a switch plate, she Wants a matching Allen Roth satin nickel switch plate. Lol. 

I Could make something similar. We even Have other switch plates and are using an existing switch plate on that switch. It is just about them matching. And being the last one she wants and that we need in the whole house, Ill just find it for $6.98 or close to whatever it costs.

On a side note I fired up the forge and the new stack draws great. 

 

Ahh she used the ole Allen Roth satin nickel switch plate trump card. She wins.  Game over. LOL

Lol. Yup. Pretty much. No beating that. 

She likes all kinds of the things I make. They can all be different and not perfect. But that is one thing she wants to all match and be the same. Already had to change out the perfectly fine two prong outlets to three prong. I was only worried about the main floor but she wanted the upstairs done too. I mean really, who needs a ground? 

Das, i do not know how long your chimney lasted but you may want to stash that extra pipe away somewhere for future use. 

She went with the satin nickel aye? Mine went with the antique bronze stuff. 

 

They have the style in antique bronze. Lol. 

My last stack lasted 7 years. This one may last a little longer. Hey, couldn't hurt really with inflation and all. But I Am going to be more on the lookout for something in stainless steel for when the next time comes. 7 years ain't half bad for some cheap box store tin. 

Set up a work station in my basement Monday night and started finishing knives and the sword.  Much warmer inside than the shop right now. 

Just realized I forgot to post a picture of my key ring. Here it is! 

Hey Nathan, glad you are getting back at it. 

If you have some coil spring or something to make a veining chisel out of it will really make your leaves stand out. 

Hey guys, I haven’t posted in a looong time. Figured I’d share some projects I’m pretty proud of. The first one is made from an old lawnmower blade with a walnut handle. The second one is made from some 1095 steel from Amazon, I finished these a while ago but never posted them. Yes I made the sheaths as well. 

Welcome back! Knives look good; glad to see you're still at it.

This may be something super simple I just don’t realize, but how did you get the design on the leather of those sheathes? Beautiful knives by the way! 

Finished a wall plate . Couldn't find one in the store so it just made sense..

Hammers and chisels.

Now TB, That is a great job! I've never seen a switch plate in that configuration. That is the perfect application of skill and design. Very aesthetically pleasing too.  Well done. 

6 hours ago, Nathan Kraft said:

This may be something super simple I just don’t realize, but how did you get the design on the leather of those sheathes? Beautiful knives by the way! 

I have a laser engraver that I use for the sheaths, it works pretty well.

X2 on the plate! It looks pretty good to me!

 

 

I finished the forging and hardening and tempering of my first hammer today! A 1kg straight peen. Mystery steel from a hammer blank from a thrift shop, it even had the eye punched and drifted already!

Now to wire brush it and grind the face and peen a bit more. Then stick a handle on it!

I've been busy with a whole lot of other things, including finishing the inside smithy, only the chimney hood left now! I also got a wood lathe and I've been practicing with that a bit. The chisels the guy gave with them are made of poor steel, so soon I'm going to have to forge my own ones.

~Jobtiel

After i finally got a drop tong weld and some belly fillin made me a rivet bottom tool. made from the piece of sway bar next to it. Was going good and then i noticed the crack... probably still work but after working down that much material kind of a bummer.

Probably be fine Billy. 

Any contact chilling?   Winter can be a hard time to keep HC stuff from accidentally getting quenched in various ways.

Spent time setting up the shop for our hammer-in tomorrow. I think I’m ready?!

Keep it fun,

David

Wow David, good job and what a great space. You are ready if you have fuel for the fire. The rest can be figured out on the fly.