ThomasPowers

The one we cooked lunch in today is an Erie with a 5 line star, #9. and so around 115 years old. Picked it up at a flea market in El Paso for US$5, didn't even haggle!

Yes, I've got a number up on the shop wall as I keep finding more than we use in the kitchen. We tend to use the 100 year old cast iron as they are lighter than the modern ones. This Lodge one will probably end up going with a chuckwagon cook set later this year unless someone talks me out of it at Quad-State Sunday after breakfast... The cast iron bean pots and dutch ovens are on the shelves but the wall currently has 12 pieces, not counting the latest. The latest I spotted today in a scrapped washing machine---I like to go through stuff folks have scrapped to see what goodies are hidden away,

Scrapyard run today with a couple of other smiths, total out was a bit over 200#. My share was 56#; including: an implement wheel (other one was snagged by my buddy for a tong rack), old thick rasp, piece of angle iron to make my 25# LG motor mount from, Al tray to soak hammer heads in BLO, some dome headed bolts for dishing with, small bearing race---52100, homemade dent puller---heavy wall pipe for a bending jig, and lastly a 12" Lodge cast iron skillet in excellent condition; now to get it cleaned and re-seasoned before Quad-State, it will fit on the propane stove perfectly and I expect a bit of bacon and a mess of eggs, not to mention pancakes will get cooked with it! Cost of my share was US$11

As mentioned elsewhere on IFI, my Grandfather has passed, Aug 2 2022, and is probably out fishing in the Milky Way.

All y'all do know that there used to be an inland sea in the center of the USA; I don't want to haul so much stuff west of the Mississippi that Isostasy causes it to reappear! (Of course at 4600+ feet I probably wouldn't have beach front property anyway; but the surf would be *nothing*.) I'd also prefer if he did his trailer learning when I wasn't in hock for his mistakes. I hope to see them at the NMABA meeting this weekend so we will see what they say.

Actually that's called "Blacksmith's Mail"; over a decade ago I loaded a large box of high bay lights into our van at Quad-State and took them to NM where another smith picked them up and took them to AZ for a third smith. May take a bit longer but *cheap*! The main problem is I am not in a situation to front money and I hate trying to evaluate equipment for other people as what I consider important may not be what they do. The truck owner has NO experience with trailers, his previous vehicle was a PT Cruiser.

I remember the progression: My first "real job" interview: Clean shaven, suit and tie. 15 years later: Mustache, Sports coat and tie. 9 years later: Mustache and trimmed beard, sports coat and tie. 6 years later: Mustache, beard, no tie. Of course working in IT, *not* following the business dress code could get you the job as folks tended to assume that you were so good you didn't have to "conform". (I remember back in the 1970's my Father had one IT worker that came to work BAREFOOT; but they were so good management never noticed...) Out here in NM worn jeans and old cowboy boots can be found on pretty much everyone from the homeless to multi millionaires. Of course if you are wearing a lot of Old Pawn Silver; folks will assume you are on the high end of the spectrum!

I have one and a Cole drill as well. I've used the drill a lot more than the vise.

You never stop being a parent!

I don't expect we will have room or weight allowance just for the stuff the 4 of us in one pickup will want to bring home; not to mention I won't be flush with "extra" cash. Seems odd but those 4 door "full sized" pickups have a bed no bigger than my little 4banger...I just hope I can sell all the hammer heads I hope to bring so I can buy a tool or too to bring home.

There is no such thing as a "Suitable ASO" an ASO is a cast iron object that may look like an anvil; but is NOT suitable to use as an anvil! I know that folks on YouTube are mis-using the term lately; so PLEASE don't help spread the abuse of the term! Like "smelting" (making metal from ore) when they mean "melting" (melting metal for casting). I think what you mean is an "Improvised Anvil" and there is an entire thread about them here on IFI Stop by tomorrow morning around 9 am and several of us are going to the local scrapyard where they often have "improvised anvils" for 20 USCents a pound. (I've started lugging an improvised anvil to demos just to show folks that you DON'T need a London Pattern anvil to smith with; shoot the "cube" anvil has been use 10 times longer than the London Pattern anvil and all over the world...

Ringing the anvil 97 times; my Grandfather the Iwo Jima survivor just passed away.

Have you contacted the British Artist Blacksmith Association, AKA BABA?

Side Draft, drying your charcoal before adding it to the pot and lower blast helps with the sparking. (And also don't use partially charred charcoal, we see a lot of that in Mesquite as they don't want to lose the "flavor" and so the resin inclusions make a LOT of sparks---but you can buy it cheap in 40# sacks from Mexico...)

Also helps new blade smiths to get the edges thinner. I know some smiths use a tight ring to draw temper further on hammer edges; what did the maker say?

At least it's not too far to go buy water! Will the showers still be available?

Looks like a Cole Vise, not a real post vise; but a pipe and the swivel function can be handy for certain tasks.

Now, Now; just because your turnip twaddler's instructions were in early high middle low Martian; doesn't mean you should give up! Did you try using the other side that had the version written in old Japanese using Egyptian Hieroglyphics? BTW; how's your Turbo Encabulator doing?

Your location would of course have a bearing on your outside forging possibilities, are you on McMurdo Sound?

My local scrapyard has several semi cabs, I suggested to my wife that she buy one and make it into a guest "house" for our place... Good luck on your "Reefer Madness"!

For any process evenness of heat helps a lot.

I'm collecting the overflow from my wife's 600 gallon rain water tank to do a preliminary hand washing before I go to the house.

Well I sometimes have prior warning from the instructor that sponsors my intro to blacksmithing class. I also watch them as they select their hammer to use and make some swaps at that point. As the first thing they do is taper a sq bar it's hard to totally trash things at that point and I get to see them at work before we go to more skilled processes.

So tell us a Yarn, John! Will you be stocking all those "Yarn Shop" murder mysteries?

Shop Shower!