It followed me home

[Frosty]

She's 13 now but not getting around so well, eyes aren't so good and her hearing needs a shout to get her attention. The hardest part of loving a dog is coming but it's part of the deal. When it's time to let them go we do and cry afterwards.  No tears on the last day, all happy praise and treats. The last thing they hear is "You're a good dog, I love you,"  and I/we hold them till they cross The Rainbow Bridge.  Ah I'm getting all maudlin and Abby's sleeping right in front of me in her downstairs bed. I don't think it'll be too long and she won't be able to come upstairs and sleep with us. Going downstairs in the morning is getting hard on her old arthritic joints so I walk with her to help. 

Deb and I are getting old enough we may not get another dog after Baxter and Ronnie are gone. I don't know who we'd leave one with if it came to that.

Frosty The Lucky.

This is Abby at a physical therapy after my accident in 2010. She was much in demand at the hospital.

[Shabumi]

She's gorgeous. Your right about that being the hardest part, but I'm glad to hear that you let go, for her sake. I've lost more dogs than I'd care to admit, and it never gets easier. If it does then you should be worried.

I grew up hearing a saying about running a ranch, but I find it fits into all aspects of life. To be successful you need 3 things, the brains to know what to do, the grit to do it, and the heart to feel for it afterwards. I'm glad to see you have the heart

[Frosty]

I don't know how many critters have passed through my life either, many.  Losing a dog always has me swearing off going through the pain again, especially after easing them through the decline. Funny thing though, it's never too long before I feel an overwhelming need to fill the void. 

Abby's the perfect example of how a rescue NEVER forgets. Most of our dogs have been rescues. All my life.

We rescued our Libby from a person with none of those 3 traits. I won't go into the conditions she was living under but they were atrocious, frankly illegal. You  SHOULD know you're a lousy owner if a dog you've raised from a pup literally runs to and jumps through an open window of the car of folks there to rescue her. When Deb and I got in the car Libby was all but hiding in the back seat. A hundred pound Great Pyrenees Mountain Dog doing her best to stay below the window frames and out of sight.  Deb had animal control on the phone before we were clear of the driveway. She got a thank you note from Animal Control and the Pyr rescue group. The rest of his "kennel" was removed, including their house dog and a few cats, treated and rehomed at HIS expense, the fines ran well into the tens of thousands $.

We left their place and went straight to our vet who was expecting us, for a check up. Then to the dog wash for a long luxurious bath. Fortunately the previous keeper had full records for her which streamlined a lot. I think the only thing that made Libby happier was when we introduced her to the isolation pen in the barnyard. She had grassy to run in with a nice grassy mound to watch from, a comfy corner of the barn with a fresh straw bed and pygmy goats on the other side of a ranch panel fence. The look on her face was like she'd died and gone to heaven. 

Good memories, we done good that day! I have no tolerance for the abusive out there  and am not inclined to mercy. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Pickup at the industrial surplus place: a wheeled cart that will become storage for hardies and other tools, a number of 45” long bars of 1-1/4” hex (corner to corner), a funky kind of stand thingy (don't know why the photo rotated on me, sorry), a box of small spring clamps, and half a dozen pairs of metatarsal guards. 

The bars spark like mild, so I don't think I got lucky with any kind of useful alloy. I'll have to think of some kind of cool project for them; perhaps a fire pit?

One thing that I am VERY bummed about is that I had placed an order on a $12 box of random tools that I could see on the website had a nice machinist's vernier caliper, but by the time I picked it up, someone's light fingers had taken it away. At least they let me cancel that item and gave me credit for it, though.

[Chris C]

Like that cart.  You've a lot neater places for rummage through than we have in my area.  I've not seen steel shoe covers in a gazillion years.  Those would be good to keep hot slag from starting a fire in your sneakers!  (no I don't wear sneakers when I forge!)

[JHCC]

Looks like the section of steel decking I was using previously (on an utterly inadequate stand) will fit pretty well. 

Now to figure out how to fill in the rest....

12 minutes ago, Chris C said:

You've a lot neater places for rummage through than we have in my area. 

You should check out the website for this place: just google HGR Industrial Surplus. If you're looking for a gap-bed metal lathe with twenty feet between centers or a lift table or an industrial sewing machine or a used hydraulic unit or an old hand drill or a box of work gloves or or or, it's the place for you!

[Shabumi]

I have no tolerance for people like that either.

We've had a few Pyr with our sheep before, but they weren't strong enough for protection when a pack of multiple neighbors dogs got into the field. Which is why we now have the Anatolian/Akbash's. That and they don't have all that hair, which gets full of foxtails and hich hikers and becomes miserable for the dogs all summer.

The gaurdian breeds are quite smart, they can tell the difference between a threat and a mistake. We have a cultural center right next to our sheep field and I have "saved" a few of the attendees pets who made it through the electric fence and can't get back through. The guardians barely looked up at them except to let out warning bark and kept themselves between the pets and their sheep. But if a predator got in, then nothing could save it. I've found 2 mountain lions and a couple handfuls of coyotes who tried to get a sheep or lamb while they were on duty. The local bears respect the electric fence too much to even try to get to in.

[Chris C]

JHCC, that's a pretty cool site.  I'd like to be able to walk their isles.

[Frosty]

There are a lot better warrior LGDs but Deb raised pygmy goats and we had visitors frequently, she didn't want to take any chances. She was breeding and selling pygmies so families were bringing their children over all the time. One of my real pleasures was Deb talking goats with prospective buyer parents and them suddenly noticing their toddler had toddled off and wasn't to be seen. Panic setting in and we'd say, "Don't worry, Buran has him/er in the barn." Like THAT eased the panic We'd them in and there was Buran usually with a sleeping child in his arms, watching them wearing the sappiest look of adoration you've ever seen.  When it was time for them to leave Buran looked heart broken when they took his latest charge with them. 

A true gentle giant but on those occasions something was a threat he became purely terrifying, like death incarnate. Go or die. 

We had a hobby farm I could see all of it from the front porch. Feral dogs were the only real threat and if they were stupid enough to challenge a pyr the .22 mag rifle handled it nicely. I finally managed to get the two leaders of the local feral pack and dogs stopped being any problem. 

I got the last feral alpha with a pistol at short, under 6', range, I went looking and realize  it was stalking me. It wasn't acting crazy enough to be rabid (I don't think) but it was sure aggressive. I guesstimate about a 90lb. Shepherd mix, white was it's fatal disadvantage.  That and Buran our pyr had it locked on and kept me looking the right direction. Scariest dog encounter I've ever had. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Chris C]

When I moved out here in the woods and set up our Llama breeding operation, I immediately started having problems with coyote and neighborhood dogs.    At the time all I had to protect the Llamas was my Swedish Mauser 6.5x55.  Dang that thing is a tack driver.   Only took about 3 years and no coyote would come near the property and only those dogs that hadn't yet watched the demise of a cohort would dare to come near.  I've been here 20 years now and I've "made my point" with all the 4-legged predators that this is a farm to bypass by a wide margin. 

[bluerooster]

A book that I've used many times in years past, but has finally come into my possession.  It's been well used, and is still worth it's weight in gold. 

There were two copies in the drawer, I gave one (the older copy) to the grandson of my friend who owned them.

[HojPoj]

On 4/10/2020 at 6:45 PM, JHCC said:

The bars spark like mild, so I don't think I got lucky with any kind of useful alloy. I'll have to think of some kind of cool project for them; perhaps a fire pit?

Not sure if it was cautioned before, but they might be 12L14.  I know you'd mentioned they had some end drilling/machining done before, but in fairly low stress applications it tends to be favored for the ease of machining (or deep hole drilling).  I know most of the bars of it I have are either square or hex.  Guess you'll find out when you start to forge it.

[JHCC]

Here’s the transverse hole at the end:

Is the lead content (the “L”) likely to be a problem, if this is 12L14?

[John McPherson]

Leaded or resulphurized steels are easy on tooling when machined, but do not weld or forge well. The welds tear out in the HAZ, and it cracks and crumbles when forged too hot or too cold, particularly prone to cracking when quenched in water. You will need to do a quench test on a small forged section to see what you have.

That being said, those hex bars would still make great monkey tools, and flintlock barrels.

[JHCC]

Let’s see what happens when I get to forging one, then. Thanks. 

[HojPoj]

What John said, mostly a concern that they might not like being forged if they are, in fact, a leaded steel.  Only one good way to find out!  I hope you're lucky and they're something way more useful :-)

[JHCC]

The current plan is to cut a bit off one end and see how it likes to be forged and hardened. (If my favorite scrapyard hadn't been sold and (ironically) scrapped, I'd go by there and have them test it with the XRF gun -- at least I would if we weren't under quarantine.) Worst case scenario, I'll turn one rod into a set of monkey tools and see if I can sell the rest at Quad-State. Or design something that I can use them in without having to forge them, such as cutting them into shorter lengths and riveting them onto a forged circular frame, to make a fire pit.

[ThomasPowers]

Wasn't the 13th edition of Machinery's Handbook the last one will all the blacksmithing info in it? (Details on tools).   I have a copy of the 23rd edition my wife got for me at the Library store for US$5.  Nobody checked it out so they "scrapped it". She was a volunteer that worked at the store---an expensive job indeed!  The books were cheap but the bookcases cost!

[JHCC]

Not "Followed me home", but "Already home": in cleaning up the shop, I discovered a box of half a dozen unused 120 grit zirconia belts for the 2x90 grinder. I feel like I won the lottery.

[bluerooster]

4 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Wasn't the 13th edition of Machinery's Handbook the last one will all the blacksmithing info in it? (Details on tools).

This one is the 15th edition. And it's chock full of blacksmithing info, and tooling, complete with dimensions, and drawings, for various tongs, and hardy tools.  Does your 23rd edition have anything pertaining to blacksmithing?

[HojPoj]

Well, I can say the 28th edition doesn't have anything in the index for Blacksmithing, Forging, Forming, or Tongs.

[Glenn Lyford]

Another way to check for leaded steel is to try and drill it.  If it drills like butter...  Also, I think the color might be slightly darker than mild...?

[JHCC]

Stopped by my local Harbison Walker distributor, and a sack of Kastolite-30 jumped into my car. 

[Latticino]

Got lucky with a random trip to the local steel discounter Klien Direct.  Usually they only have mild steel, stainless and aluminum structural cutoffs and bar stock remnants (though you can order full lengths of bar stock and structural shapes at full price.  The nice thing is they sell to the public at around 0.8 $/# for reasonable amounts of stock.

Today, however, as I was leaving with a  little bar stock I just happened to search a last box.  Lots of 4140, S7, 4340, and 1045 in sizes up to 4" diameter!  Now I just have to figure out how to cut it down to size.  My baby Anjang 33 isn't going to be able to reduce it much.  I may have to go into the shop at Arc and Flame and use the big bandsaw and power hammer.

[ThomasPowers]

For someone who needs to make some powerhammer dies that is just cruel!