"Ignorance, stupidity, stubbornness and frustration are the only employees I have." -Matt Marti

                                                                                                                            Littleblacksmith

If all you see if negatives, they cancel out any positive that you can use to get ahead. In my opinion he needs to send them at least two zip codes down the road.

On 7/3/2017 at 4:13 PM, littleblacksmith said:

did he mean to have an "L" before "earn" to make it "learn" or does he mean "earn"? I just think learn would make more sense.

                                                                                                                              Littleblacksmith

Not a typo Mark, you pay in: time, effort, burns, blood, sweat and tears to earn the blacksmith's craft. You have to earn any craft you aren't born knowing how to do.

Frosty The Lucky.

Who thinks stubbornness is a negative?  It's kept me married for going on 33 years next month especially when my stepdaughter did her best to break us up right before the marriage!

3 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Who thinks stubbornness is a negative?  It's kept me married for going on 33 years next month especially when my stepdaughter did her best to break us up right before the marriage!

Good thing you married a stubborn woman eh Thomas? Bless em all.

Frosty The Lucky.

No I was the stubborn one; she was willing to allow me go after the stuff he daughter did.  Me, I growled and dug in my feet and soldiered through all "our" daughter could do.  I still remember years later our daughter telling her mother that she was looking for a husband that would treat her like I treated her mother.  Besides which we got our revenge!  Our daughter had *twins*!

Funny things about smiths; I know a *LOT* of them that I would cheerfully hand my wallet to them with no problem, but WOULD NOT TURN MY BACK ON THEM IF THEY WE HOLDING A (WATER) HOSE!  Thomas Powers

My doctor told me years ago I had to give up wine women and song...

So far I've quit singing.

Irondragon Forge and Clay

"What I've learned so far in my less than two years of blacksmithing:  The blacksmith tool that SHOULD consume every aspiring blacksmith is the lowly tong.  We all spend so much thought and effort on anvils and forges.  I've learned that these really don't matter.  Having the right tongs (or not having them) has turned out to be the single most important factor in my learning.  The new people naturally focus on forges and anvils.  The experienced smiths do so as well because they already have the tongs.  I feel that we don't celebrate the lowly tong enough!"

-- @Lou L

You do not need a book to "date" the anvil. (reference to Anvils in America)

Just hug it gently, maybe a little wire brush massage, and caress it's face with hot metal. Maybe a rub down with light oil when you finish. Do not be concerned if the anvil is a bit older than you are, it should still provide a lifetime of service. Glenn

Treat it lovingly and listen very carefully, it will pass on to you the secrets of working metal. Irondragon

It is not a *date* but a working relationship.

Some time in the early morning hours we passed 686 posts and 60,002 views in this topic.

Thank You to all that have keep this thread interesting.

Here is another aphorism for the collection.

"Life can only be understood looking backward:   but must be lived forward".

(anonymous).

SLAG.

Please see the note below for a correction.

Originally from the Journals of Søren Kierkegaard:

"It is perfectly true, as the philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards."

Note to JHCC,

Did Kierkegaard exist?

SLAG.

Voltaire invented him.

JHCC,

Touche.

Mon ami.

SLAG.

Nietzsche never believed it!   (and never get on an interstate designed by Jean-Paul Sartre!)

I'm kind of partial to Monty Python's take on philosophers in their "Bruces Philosophers Song."

On 2017-07-24 at 5:48 PM, SLAG said:

Note to JHCC,

Did Kierkegaard exist?

SLAG.

Yup but Kant did not exist "an sich"

Herr Gote,

"Yup but Kant did not exist...." Herr Gote.

I must respectfully disagree.

" KANT could! "

Warm regards,

SLAG.

p.s. it is rumored on good authority that Herr Kant once espied his charming face in a mirror, so he must exist per se.

But it's the thought that counts according to Descartes

Yeah, but Descartes was only thinking of himself.

It does introduce contention with philosopher Popeye's famous statement "I yam what I yam & Dats what I yam!"

I believe that's "I yam what I yam and dat's All what I yam." An unpretentious sailer man though he's in to the finish. 

Frosty The Lucky.

yams? i thought his thing was spinache.