It followed me home

[Shabumi]

Das, That's a great deal.

A wood splitter? Yes, it does have 6 holes. Yep, A quick web search came up with the brand. If I had a vehicle that it'd bolt to, I'd be tempted to keep for it's intended purpose. Though with a replaceable high(er) carbon tip and a case hardened body, it sounds like perfect mandrel material. Would grinding the threads smooth effect the case hardening?

[John McPherson]

Case hardening is just what it sounds like: a thin skin heat treatment, usually only a very small fraction of an inch thick. Various compounds are applied to the surface, and placed in an oven to be absorbed into the base metal. Somewhat similar to the coatings found on drill bits.

If you grind off the high spots, only what is now the base of the valleys will be hard. But even that is not going to last long with hot metal if the last step was a quench. 

[Lee188]

Wile at work a couple weeks ago I came across a very generous individual who sent me home with an anvil and stand. Hopefully I can get out and use it today, if I can get my forge rebuilt.

[JHCC]

Be careful around those edges; they look like they’ve been rebuilt. It’s always a question mark how durable a repaired edge will be. 

[Lee188]

I was looking at that earlier and wondered if I should grind down any questionable areas and repair the whole edge

[Steamboat]

15 hours ago, Daswulf said:

It needs a little refining in the divots. No big deal. The price is right. Excited to get it how I want it and test it out.

And a possum..... they sure are cute critters...

Very nice swage block, Das! Should be extremely useful.

We get a few possums (or opossums if you prefer) in our yard too. We don't leave any food outside, or we'd have a veritable invasion of critters, although the bird feeder area seems to attract possums as well as other animals. We're in a wooded area on a large river, which serves as a kind of corridor for all manner of animals. It makes keeping a vegetable garden a real challenge, which we have to approach with several different techniques.

 

18 hours ago, JHCC said:

Update: it works!

Excellent! Looks like you got a good machine at a good price.

Al (Steamboat)

[Daswulf]

I mainly leave food out for a couple stray cats that I feel bad for. The other critters are welcome as long as they dont harass the skunk that rarely comes by.  Our bedroom window with the air conditioner is right there and one night I woke up to the pungent smell of skunk spray so bad my eyes were watering. Nothing I could do but let it air out with time. 

I don't mind the critters as long as they leave my chickens alone.

We have to guard the garden well or the deer and groundhogs will wipe it out. 

 

[Glenn]

The pungent smell of skunk spray:  A country or rural (not city) fragrance or aroma, best appreciated in small quantities and from a distance. A skunks way of using chemical warfare to explain respect to those on the receiving end.

[Steamboat]

Yes, a slight hint of eau de skunk creates a true rural ambience that is not altogether bad, but in higher concentrations it definitely graduates from 'odor' to 'stench.' When we go out in the yard at night, we check where we're walking with a flashlight to avoid surprising a skunk or raccoon, since we have the dubious distinction of having an abundance of both. There are so many skunk and raccoon divots in the lawn (looking for bugs and grubs) that it looks like a Golf 101 class used it for driving practice. It's a good thing that we're not "manicured lawn" fanatics. I'm happy enough if the lawn has a generally greenish tint to it and the weeds aren't too deep to wade through.

Al (Steamboat)

[JHCC]

Quad-State haul: big pair of shears, a couple of books, a couple of T-shirts (including one from njanvilman), a spring from someone’s junk bin that’s just what I needed for the treadle hammer, a handful of auger bits from ThomasPowers, and a couple of bars of 1080. Not shown: approximately 30”  of 3/4” round O-1. 

[JHCC]

Some books arrived:

[Frosty]

Ooooh! Looks to me like you're making a good haul. Sweet.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

The last two books arrived in the mail from a used book seller, by the way; not related to Quad-State. 

[SLAG]

"Entwurfe zeitnaher schmiede arbeirten", 

Roughly translates to complete contemporary smith(ing?)  work.

John what is the copyright date for the book?

How many pages?

It looks like a keeper.

Congrats,

SLAG.

[JHCC]

I don’t read German, but it looks like it was published in Munich in 1959. The pages are in an unusual setup. They are not bound together, but are a collection of single sheets (about 140-150; I haven’t counted) held together by a spring-loaded binding. Most of the sheets have drawings of some kind of ironwork (mostly architectural), and there is a small section at the back of photographs. Here’s a sampling:

Apart from a little browning of the paper, everything is crisp and sharp, and there don’t appear to be any missing pages. I don’t know if any had ever been taken out before I did just now. 

Not bad for $3.49. 

[SLAG]

JHCC,

Sayeth, (supra),

"Not bad for  $3.49".

Methinks you just confessed to petty larceny. To me,  it surely  sounds like a steal.

Verlegen is the German word for "published". There are some synonyms.

I have discovered that,  in the States,  books published in foreign languages frequently go for a song.  (Which I have taken advantage of).

Did you sing on key?

Congratulations,  and regards,

SLAG.

 

[JHCC]

Lisa was just marveling this morning how she — a professional musician with degrees from two world-famous conservatories — “could have married a man with such an unusual sense of pitch.”

One nice thing about the removable pages is that I’ll be able to take them out and make photocopies for shop use. 

[SLAG]

JHCC,

Yes indeed, indubitably.

Give Yourself, Ms. Lisa and your Son my regards.

SLAG.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

That book has some outstanding illustrations, could keep a person busy for a lifetime.

[Gergely]

Well, John, you just gave me some search and buy job to do...  That's an awesome looking book, a bit more expensive than 3,49 but whatever. 

Thank you for posting pictures! 

Bests:

Gergely

[JHCC]

I was visiting a donor in her home (I'm professional fundraiser in higher education, for those who didn't already know) and noticed this spoon hanging by her kitchen sink. When I remarked on it, she took it down and gave it to me as a thank-you for helping her with her philanthropy (she has, among other things, been a major supporter of our first-generation students). 

It’s an interesting piece. No maker’s marks, and she can’t remember where she got it.

[Daswulf]

Very cool John. Inspiration to recreate it?

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Looks like an Oriental wok spoon. Old and very well made.

[JHCC]

Interesting thought. I could see that.

As a former decorative objects conservator, I’m torn on how much I want to clean it up. There are some flecks of old paint that are not original, but I don’t want to risk messing up the patina by removing it. I’ll have to give it some thought. 

[Ranchmanben]

Personally, I’d clean it up. I’d soak it in something first then try a wire brush or brass wire wheel to knock off any loose flaky rust. Then reassess.