What did you do in the shop today?

[ThomasPowers]

Had my minions stop by to help load for the blacksmithing class at New Mexico School of Mining and Technology tomorrow morning; blight and surly!

[Frosty]

Even with the extra hour of sleep?

Frosty The Lucky.

[BillyBones]

Had quite the windy day yesterday even by mid-Ohio standards. The wind was strong enough that with my shop windows open it was blowing smoke out of my fire and all over the shop. So i figured close the windows. My windows have been open all spring and summer. They are on 2 hinges that swing up and  outward and held up by hooks from the eve. So i let one down, on the windy side, the wooden frame is a bit warped from hanging. One pane falls out that cuased a domino effect. Out of 12 panes of glass 2 are left in the window. And of course they fell onto concrete so i had a mess of broken glass as well. 

[Shainarue]

[JHCC]

I discovered that by parking a couple of bicycles in front of my garage door, I created an effective ground-level windbreak that trapped most of yesterday’s leaves (it was windy in northern Ohio as well).

[gewoon ik]

53 minutes ago, BillyBones said:

Had quite the windy day yesterday even by mid-Ohio standards. The wind was strong enough that with my shop windows open it was blowing smoke out of my fire and all over the shop. So i figured close the windows. My windows have been open all spring and summer. They are on 2 hinges that swing up and  outward and held up by hooks from the eve. So i let one down, on the windy side, the wooden frame is a bit warped from hanging. One pane falls out that cuased a domino effect. Out of 12 panes of glass 2 are left in the window. And of course they fell onto concrete so i had a mess of broken glass as well. 

The moments you think, if i stayed in bed this morning, i had a more constructive day.

[Glenn]

Adjusted the sundial to the correct time this morning. 

Should be good until spring.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Leaving it 6 feet away from the Wood stove might not hav been the best idea! Bahaha

well imma let it finish drying out and fill in the cracks and try it out anyways,

ive got plenty leftover so I’ll re do it later, 

I think when I redo it I’m not gonna make it so thick,

an I’ll set it in a side room in the shop with a bag over it to help it dry more slowly,

[George N. M.]

Billy B., I am going to bet that whoever put the glass into the frames did not use glaziers' points (the little sharp metal things that you press into the wooden frame) and just used putty to hold the glass in place.  Once the putty dried out and fell away you got the glass avalanche.

When you repair it make sure you use something besides the putty or caulk to hold the glass in place.

It's not as bad a sin if the window doesn't move or just opens up or down but one that swings like yours with the hinges on top is a recipie for disaster.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[JHCC]

Well, Lisa wasn’t feeling well today, so my shop time today was manning the yarn shop!

[Simian]

Finally got my flypress mounted!

 

 

[Chimaera]

Had a couple days recently. Some triumphs and some failures. As for triumphs: made a new coal rake, a pair of offset v bits, a little herb chopper and a work in progress full tang kiritsuke. As for failures- my first three attempts at a hidden tang knife. They failed (in order) by: melting in the coal forge, almost immediately cracking (think the steel was bad) and snapping while trying to fit up the guard. Im about ready to lose my mind. Would it be possible to weld this final one back together? Even if not for use but just for decoration? Since it’s not in the blade I think it would work, but I’m not a welder

8 hours ago, BillyBones said:

Out of 12 panes of glass 2 are left in the window. And of course they fell onto

Sorry to hear that billy. In Cincinnati it was pretty bad too. Had a fun time this morning trying to put the grill back on the deck. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

A couple of weeks ago we had a strong series of storms roll through. They left some tree tops down on our north front drive way. I drug out the old Poulan chainsaw and it fired right up after sitting for a year or so. I was bragging on it as it's 21 years old and the only thing I had to do in all those years was replace the spark plug and air filter and somewhere along the way the main fuel line & filter.

A couple of days ago another strong storm rolled through and this time it left a large tree top in the south portion of the driveway that goes back to the county road at the top of the hill. Today I got old Wild Thing out again and walked the hundred yards or so to the tree top and tried to fire it up. It would start and run for a couple of seconds and shut off...hmmm. It was like it was running out of gas. I didn't think to gas it up so I ran back to the shop and got the gas can. Actually I walked because I don't run any longer. I filled the tank and the same thing happened. Carried the saw and gas can back to the shop grumbling all the way. Here is where, What did you do in the shop today, comes in.

I pulled the top spark plug/carburetor cover off and checked the spark plug. Plenty of spark and the compression was good. Got to looking and noticed the primer bulb was not filling with gas all the way. OK took the air filter and housing off and discovered that the fuel lines to the primer bulb and carburetor were missing (disintegrated). I figure because they were the original lines and brittle, when I used it the last time vibration just shook them apart. I cleaned it all up inside and figured on going into town tomorrow to see if I could find new lines at NAPA. Being the impatient type, I got on the internet to see if I could find out the sizes I need, so I wouldn't have to buy a bunch to cover the possible sizes. Lo and behold the first thing that popped up on Google was Amazon, with a complete tune up kit for the Poulan Wild Thing same model number. The kit consists of both sizes of fuel line, 2 fuel filters, new primer bulb, air filter and spark plug all for seven dollars and change with free shipping. Needless to say, I won't have to go into town tomorrow and the kit will be here on Friday. Yea... Oh, I was able to woolley the tree top around enough to get by it without scratching the vehicles up.

Too bad I don't live closer to TWISTEDWILLOW or I would have just given it to him to fix.

1 hour ago, Chimaera said:

I’m not a welder

I have welded several tangs back on like yours and they have held just fine. I'm a so-so welder using a MIG Hobart Handler wire feed welder. What I did was normalize the steel, weld it back together then quench and temper the blade again. Of course for liability reasons, I keep the knives using them myself and don't abuse them much.

[Shainarue]

Today I finished the set of slot jaw tong blanks I got from Ken's Custom Iron and then rearranged the shed to try out the planned indoor/outdoor forging configuration. Didn't have time tonight once everything was back in its place. Hopefully sometime this week though. 

[Chimaera]

40 minutes ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

I have welded several tangs back on like yours and they have held just fine.

Great, I’m glad there’s hope. I already have a friend doing a welding project for me so I’ll see if he can do that too

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

10 hours ago, Shainarue said:

then rearranged the shed

That smithy is looking better a between all the time!

[Melancholy Rivet]

Hey Chimaera, it took me a minute to realize that was your full-tang knife still held in tongs. My brain interpreted it as a whimsically anthropomorphized knife, with a blade for a head and their hands on their hips! 

[Goods]

I don’t think I can in-see that now… I’m glad is not a negative image.

[Michael]

1 hour ago, Melancholy Rivet said:

Hey Chimaera, it took me a minute to realize that was your full-tang knife still held in tongs. My brain interpreted it as a whimsically anthropomorphized knife, with a blade for a head and their hands on their hips! 

I saw the same thing!

[ThomasPowers]

Ditto.  Taught the "intro to smithing" class at the University yesterday.  With the money from the Gun Show  I can pay off my debt to the New Little Giant company and start rebuilding my 25#'r without feeling guilty about installing new parts that haven't been paid for yet...   Wife is very happy.

Got a cord of wood delivered and stacked this morning, cedar, US$250 for a full cord+.

[Frosty]

That's exactly my impression when I saw your blade/tong pic. Might consider a piece of theme art. 

I could work there Shaina, if I needed more room for something I could move it or myself out the door. I STRONGLY suggest you cover your coal bunker (tote) with a sheet of plywood, especially if you have charcoal in it. Bits of HOT steel sometimes take wing and will melt right through the tote's lid in an out of sight corner. If it falls in fuel, charcoal especially, THE B A D thing can happen.

You will not smell charcoal smoldering and it needs so little air it can be burning anywhere from top to bottom. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[BillyBones]

George, actually they did use them. my shop is an old 1 car garage that was built in 1940. They are old and weathered. When i replace them i will replace frame and all. There are a couple of those places near me that sell stuff from houses that are remodeled or tore down pretty cheap. 

Glad i was not the only one who thought the tongs were part of the knife. 

Speaking of which finished this chefs knife for a guy i work with. 1090 blade, handle is made from padauk and wenge. 

[M.J.Lampert]

we have nasty wind in bc as well -16*C outside but windchill drops it to -25 about 3 or 4 inches of white fluff on the ground starting last Thursday got some designing done for the Christmas project and got some logs stacked to cut into firewood

[Les L]

Chimaera, I would grind a bevel 1/2way through one side, weld that side turn it over and grind the crack to clean metal weld, normalize then re heat treat and temper. 
Shaina, your slot jaw tongs look a lot better than the set I did 

Billy, that’s a good looking knife 

[Frosty]

Very attractive knife Billy.

We dodged the winds Saturday, 40-60mph with gusts of 75 was predicted but at our place it hardly broke 10mph. Neither is a good thought when temps are in the single digits. Today it's blowing maybe 10-15mph and the temp is starting to come up from 5f. but that's because clouds are blowing over. another 4-6" of snow is predicted but with the wind nobody really know how much is going to be blown into our valley. 

Old timers tend to be better at predicting weather, even patterns than super computer crunched satellite data, models. Though the models are getting reasonably not too bad.

Climate change folk tend to be new comers or reading news off the wire. Folks who've been here a while tend to believe anybody who can't tell you what's going to happen next week or knows the difference between "weather" and "climate" . . .  Nevermind.

Frosty The Lucky.