Hard not to find something for everyone at a "good" flea market, Aric.  I'd almost trade that axe combo tool for those tongs.  Nice find and contacts are a good thing too.

Finished transferring the second load from our friends into the old beater truck. Now I have to move a bunch of junk to set up a place to organize & sort the new resource pile so stuff is easy to locate.

First truck load.

Last load added to the first.

  Randy, have your friends ever posted any of their artwork on here?  Just curious.

   Y'all have your work cut out for you sorting all that.  It can be fun to do though....

Back about 3 decades ago in Ohio one of the auctioneers used shills.  I noticed that the winning bid went to a fellow working the auction and then it would turn up later in the same auction...After several auctions it was fairly obvious.  Of course not as obvious as the Amish colluding at auctions to drive the price up---or to keep it down depending on if they were selling or buying.  You would think they thought that nobody spoke German but them!

A friend of mine grew up in Switzerland and spoke a dialect of German practically identical to Pennsylvania Dutch. She had a lot of fun at quilt auctions. 

Mel. We don’t see to many like that one over here. I have not seen another one until you posted. Here is a quick pic of my FWK 1935 model 320K. I have been very impressed these last two years. 

I have one of those cheaper laser thermometers I got on Amazon an I don’t think that thing is accurate within several hundred degrees,

I’d be interested to here if yours works better,

Renovations in my building at work yielded some pipe and an empty Freon tank. 

On 6/5/2022 at 4:47 PM, Nodebt said:

Randy, have your friends ever posted any of their artwork on here? 

Don't know how I missed this. But as far as I know they haven't posted any of their work on the internet. Both are technologically declined and Sonny can barely use his phone. Both were instructors at ESSA but retired now.

  Thanks!  Just curious is all.  Saw a lot of potential in that material/scrap you hauled home.  

16 hours ago, JHCC said:

Freon tank. 

Might be a stupid question but are those safe to cut open?

I read somewhere they can give off a really dangerous gas when they get hot, 

I don’t know that to be a fact though

This is discussed in this thread: https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/22809-freon-tank/

And this one: https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/45114-freon-tank-forge-preparation/

I've successfully cut apart propane bottles after pulling out the valve assemblies, washing the insides with soap and water, rinsing with hot water and bleach to remove the last traces of mercaptan, and allowing them to drain and dry. The valve assembly on a freon tank is much smaller and may not be as easily removable, but I'll figure something out.

Yes that phosgene gas was what I was thinking about

Phosgene is worthy of taking serious measures. A reciprocating saw eg Sawzall doesn't generate the kind of heat that generates phosgene though it CAN cause sparks. So, it's unlikely to generate phosgene in dangerous levels but can be a source of ignition cutting flammable gas tanks.

Frosty The Lucky.

I think I may need to (finally) repair my jigsaw, since I guess the cutting torch is out.  

You can purge freon and propane tanks clean enough to cut safely with a torch with the method you describe above. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Sorry to get off topic but has anyone else noticed BIGGUNDOCTOR ain’t been around in over a month now?

hope everything is alright out his way,

Last on Apr 22.  He had posted a thread about dealing with devastating events that many of us chimed in on.  Maybe he is busy dealing with some stuff still.  Likewise, I hope all is well, too.

Thanks I just looked up that thread, I had forgotten about that post,

well I hope he’s doing better now where ever he is,

 I sent him a howdy PM just to check on him,

Helium tanks are *very* inert.   

34# out of the scrapyard today; old large wrench, small adjustable wrench already cleaned, oiled and in the grandkids tool box, pile of horse shoes, small baking tin for BLO'ing hammer heads, bunch of spring clips, 6# sledge head in excellent shape. carpenter's sq to be turned into a hook rule, WI ring that was originally shrunk on a wagon wheel hub, 3 large old hinges for a barn door---thinking of doing some ornamental cutting and forging on them, some misc stuff.

13 minutes ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said:

Thanks I just looked up that thread, I had forgotten about that post,

 I sent him a howdy PM just to check on him,

I just looked at that he may be busy with lawyers and what not

thats a smart idea as most people have email notifications for PMs

People read their emails? My work email account, yes. Non-work, nope. 

  I went to the Friday flea market this morning and found a few sculpture related things and some old tools.  I'm starting to wonder about the economy of spending $10 worth of gas to drive there to spend $5 on junk.  It used to come to me back home....  The sawset helps....  

It's about 90 miles each way to the NMABA meeting tomorrow.  I hope my carpooling forge buddy can make it!  I have a hook rule to donate for Iron In The Hat and a round wall mount tong rack AKA a basket ball hoop...

  Any body interested in carpooling to flea markets Rockingham, NC?    I left all my forge/auction/shop buddies far behind.  And yes, I am working on forging new ones!