ThomasPowers

There is a cheaper version that just looks like a fishing vest with pockets all over to hold freezer gel packs. Had a friend with a conditioned worsened by heat; I told him about the cheap version and he was able to go to Pennsic again!

Some of us are even boosted! (Others are going on toothless.)

Swamp Coolers don't do a great job when relative humidity is over 33% in my opinion; but they do move a lot of air and that helps all the time. When we are in single digit humidity the swamp cooler will give you a brain freeze standing under it, (and increase the humidity a bit.) I've visited Louisiana in the summer before and felt drier when completely under water down there.

Worked on designing a motor mount for my 25# LG as the ones I have on hand won't fit it correctly.

A quote from Practical Blacksmithing; a 130 year old collection of articles from a blacksmithing journal: "Practical Blacksmithing";Volume 1, published in 1889; page 110: "For my own part I am satisfied not only that the sharp edges are useless, but that they are also destructive of good work. I cannot account for their existence except as a relic of a time when the principles of forging were but little understood. I want both edges of my anvil rounded, not simply for a part of their length, but for their whole length." If you need a sharp edge; make a block for the hardy hole that has 1 (or 4 for that matter)! This is how anvils get damaged by being "repaired", new people think the edges should be sharp not realizing that sharp edges will leave stress risers in the workpiece---especially bad for blades!

Hey I have a block or two of Polaris missile sub steel around, came from a University with a welding research group. But yup; not a good blade steel. An excellent steel alloy but not for blades. People seem to think that high quality alloys should make good knives; unfortunately "high quality alloy" means designed for a specific purpose and so excellent for that purpose; but most of those purposes are not blades!

If you are not using an induction forge, AC may kill you. Coal, charcoal and gas forges need large amounts of ventilation to get rid of CO. Folks out here may use a swamp cooler with all the doors and windows open and just stand in the blast while working. Currently I use a squirrel cage fan the same way.

When I was selling my 248# Peter Wright last year for US$4 a pound; a lot of folks would call and ask if that was a firm price. I'd tell them "No; I'd be happy to go to US$5 a pound on it!" (more the going rate around here) Had no problem passing it on at my price; after all who needs an intermediate sized anvil in the shop when they have the Larger and smaller ones already.

Try to visit during the Taos Sheep and Wool Festival and we probably not see our Spouses for days!

I only find the stuff because I visit often, Cheaper than the Bar, safer than wrestling Grizzlies!

My favorite was to make baked apples in the camp fire. We'd go picking at an orchard near our house in Columbus OH and I;d core them and add butter and cinnamon and brown sugar and wrap them in foil, pop them in the ashes around the fire at the camp and let them sit. I remember on year a friend came in late---he was a college student and had a late lab before he could head out to Quad-State. Well he had missed dinner and ate an unbelievable number of those apples when he showed up.

Liquid sodium diet! If it's good enough for a nuclear reactor; its good enough for me!

Antique and Vintage! Reminds me of when I was at the flea market in Las Cruces NM and a dealer wanted way too much for an old ball peen and was arguing that "You can't find them cheaper!" I bought a very similar one for 1/5 his asking price at the dealer across the aisle from him...I held it up and waved it at him and indicated the price. He was not amused. Only 36 pounds out this morning including some rod stock, sucker rod, small galvanized trashcan for the shop, galvanized steel watering can for the wife, pair of tinsnips, short craftsman screwdriver, misc other stuff. (Forgot the hay rake tine!) Supposed to rain this afternoon so I might get to fire up the gasser and forge!

It's the part where you forgot to cauterize the wound with a red hot bar of steel that caused doubts!

Trying to avoid a last minute rush by getting stuff staged for quad-state: Got my "business cards" re-ordered, should be here tomorrow. Trying to get my insulin pump supplies changed over to Medicare---should have started that in January! Located all the fittings for our conduit tarp structure. Discussing nonperishable foods with my CFO Found all the tent stakes for my scale model Sibley tent, I hope to set it up and check condition next week. Found my propane cooker and grill for it---need to make sure I have a full BBQ tank still! Getting my tailgating items ready to go---if we have room in the truck. Still need to choose an Aloha shirt and check if I fit in my lederhosen!

There's always making an arrangement to transfer funds at a "known safe spot". Last time we bought a vehicle, used, we did the cash transfer at a bank, although we did not use any of their services.

Many rail alloys are work hardening and so you may notice a difference over time; (besides getting better at hammer control so you don't miss the workpiece as much!)

We're still here.

Too hot? Did it "cottage cheese" on you or burn? Stop by tomorrow after lunch and we can go over what you are doing and what can be improved. Your set up looks quite inefficient to me with that long a forge---about twice as long as a good swordmaker's forge! (Unless you have a power hammer, heating more steel than you can work before it cools results in carbon loss, scale loss and grain growth.) The anvil stand has crisscrossed cribbing instead of vertical supports. (Each interface looses some energy so vertical supports has 2: anvil to stand, stand to ground; that one has 10!) Spending a bit of time at other smiths' forges can really speed up getting started right. Here in the USA we advise folks to visit a local ABANA affiliate, (NMABA has their next meeting Aug 6 in Albuquerque NM) The allen wrench might be a high carbon steel. HC steel forges differently than low carbon steel does; why railroad spikes are not good practice for forging knives, even the HC spikes are right at the low/mid carbon steel boundary.

Yes they were most found in places that did watches, clocks jewelry and cutlery in the 19th century. Now I do know of a larger screw press that came from the Packard Factory in Detroit and a large bed press that was used to make pressed tin ceiling tiles. The one I got was used for pressing bearings in a factory tool room in central Ohio.

Once when the software that runs this site was upgraded; a lot of the earlier pictures were lost.

Welcome to the Dark Side; the Emperor will be pleased! What Frosty said, flatten some rebar and make your cross braces, If you will want to get fancy twist them together in the middle and then open them up into the X. Twisting the rebar will give the exterior ridges more of a custom pattern too.

I get a lot of scam mails that my account(s) have been compromised and I need to immediately reset my passwords. Funny thing; I don't have accounts for the social media, banks, online this and that and the emails are faked with the links going to foreign countries. We were talking with the President of our local bank yesterday and he was telling us how the US financial systems are under continuous attack from various groups in other countries and causing issues for legitimate users. He was telling us that the bank's card was good for US$100 even if the clearinghouse was shut down due to attack. We have two disparate credit cards so if one is compromised we can kill it immediately and still use the other. My wife uses one and I the other to keep them "active".

Forge weld or slit and open up? Forge weld with steel round stock would be easier.

The Old House Journal called that the "mushroom effect" you start with a small simple job to do and end up with needing to replace the plumbing, foundation, roof, electrical, etc. During your busy season! I guess we shouldn't expect you at quad-state this year and I'll plan to stop by on our way back. Do you have an electric dryer plug you could hook the big fan to to blow dry the crawl space?