Business Cards

Things change, including opinions.  When I started my blacksmithing I started thinking about marketing strategies.  One of the first things I did was design a business card on my computer and print a few to carry in my wallet.  I thought this gave me just one step up in credibility above the smiths who didn't have a business card.

A bit later I decided to get some professionally printed cards on better paper to give me just a step up in credibility above the smiths who printed their business cards on their computers.

Over the next 18 years I handed out a couple of thousand cards and I'm not sure if any one of them ever brought me any business.

A couple of years ago we decided to drop our landline phone and all advertising.  I went through the remaining supply of business cards and lined out all his old phone numbers and handprinted the new cell phone number.  That took me a while and as I work on the project I pondered how I once thought that the practice seemed somewhat tacky.  

However I was now operating on the basis of actual experience and I was not interested in spending any more money on business cards that didn't actually yield business.  My opinion now is that the hand-edited card sets me one step above the smith who just jots down a phone number or scrap of paper.  Eventually I may work my way back around again to using that method.

If I were going to get new cards printed, this would be the design.  It has the correct cell phone number.

The Replacement Forge Flue

The current coal forge flue and accelerator sections have been used since January 1999 - over 14 years.  It is deteriorating and may fail soon. From time to time sheets of rust fall off the inside surfaces onto the ash pile in the smoke collector.

I made the original flue from 18 or 20 gauge sheet and MIG welded all the seams.  I don’t have the time to do that again so I’m asking Kan FAB to cut and bend 16 gauge panels which will bolt together to form the flue.

This will be an experimental design. The smoke chamber was replaced several years ago with bolt-together 10 gauge panels and angle. That design has worked very well. http://persimmonforge.blogspot.com/2012/05/my-side-draft-forge.html

I designed the new flue panels so they can be assembled from the bottom, where they attach to the smoke collector, upward to terminate in a Vacu-Stack chimney topper. There will be five sections; the smoke accelerator, three rectangular duct sections and the adaptor section to mount the Vacu-Stack topper.  Angle tabs will be welded to provide linkage between the sections.  I plan to seal any gaps with silicone caulk

I haven’t decided whether to make the flue sections with four separate sides or with two-side units which would require just half the seam sealing but double the weight of the panels.  Another alternative  would be to form the back and sides as one piece and just bolt on the front.

Also, I haven't made a final decision about incorporating a damper.  With the ability to remove individual panels that could be added later.

The way this year is working out I will not get this job done until it is cooler and drier in the fall.  I plan to borrow a scaffold  from a chimney sweep friend and set it up outside the shop.

10 gauge and angle smoke collector.

Five-section replacement flue.

Vertical flange and angle-tap joinery.

Smoke accelerator

Vacu-Stack mounting section

The Filing Vise

There is a drawing of a filing vise in the Blacksmith’s Journal on page 822, Volume 06, Feb 1996.  It is a contribution from Francis Whitaker.  I took a picture of it when I was at his shop in 1999.  I had recently acquired one for my shop.  I have never used the tool for an aid in filing.  I use it mostly for clamping things when I’m doing torch work.

I never really thought about it being an unusual tool until I did a web search and couldn’t find an image of another like it.  There are many images of other types especially for holding saw blades.

The hinge pin broke recently so I replaced it with another I made from a 60d nail.

Whitaker shop filing vise.

My filing vise with new hinge pin.

A Serbian Blacksmith

In March of this year I received an email from Nebojsa Ilijevic.  He is a blacksmith in Belgrade, Serbia and he was seeking some technical information about my tumbler.  He had seen it on the web and was thinking about building one for his shop.

I answered his questions and thought that I would inquire later to see how his project turned out.  However, I got busy and forgot about that until just a few days ago.  I wrote to him and he kindly replied with some images of the machine he built.

His tumbler is longer than mine and uses an interesting triple belt system to drive the rotation.  I looks like it will take some time to remove the rust from the interior.  Nebojsa was quick to point out how much loud noise the operation produces.

Check out his website - the wrought iron button leads to a nice gallery of work.

http://www.nit-art.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=16&Itemid=126&lang=en

Worked Slick

I’ve been busy with work on some client projects in addition to home and yard work so there has not been time to write.  The phrase, “I’ve been worked slick” came to mind.  I heard it years ago and assumed it alluded to how a well-used wood handle tool like a rake gets polished slick from hand rubbing.  I always assumed it was in common use but I couldn’t remember a single instance of hearing it since that original experience.  I searched for it on the web and didn’t come up with anything.

As I pondered other references about work which I had tucked away in my memory a few came back to me.  From childhood there was “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”  About twenty years ago I first heard “Woah there, a man can easily over do.”  A friend used this as a joke whenever he heard some type of work proposed.

Another favorite was used by my paternal grandfather.  As a teenager I was eager to get things done and when I got impatient with the pace of our work I occasionally did something which evoked “Slow down there.  We’re not at a rat killing.”

Today I’ll be working again on finishing an unusual railing project.  I am making what I call a twining vine motif rail.  The rail is inspired by the concept of a vine such as bittersweet twining around the trunk or vine of another plant and seeming to sink into it as the encircled plant grows in diameter.  I have been told that some cane makers will coppice a sassafras  grove so that there are a lot of young sprouts which will quickly grow to cane-size.  Some of these will be encircled by twining vines and the resulting deformation makes especially sought after cane stock.

My clients home is in a rural setting so the work I am doing will reflect some of the native flora such as river grape vine.  The rail is mounted with grape leaf - fruit cluster - tendril brackets.  I’ll start posting some information about how the project was done as soon as I can get the time.

Scroll down to the twining vine image:

http://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/tree-shrub/american-bittersweet

More quotes about work:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_work.html

Moles and Ground Vibration

I’m told the Eastern mole is the only variety found in Kansas.  Moles like loose loamy soils containing lots of insects which nicely describes my location in the Neosho River flood plain.  The are classified as insectivores and consume lots of earthworms, cutworms, beetle grubs and millipedes and more.  Apparently in captivity they are more omnivorous.

Before I built my studio the lawn would be heaved up from time to time with mole hills and feeding runs.  It wasn’t a big deal here but when I was a kid in Missouri our yard was regularly and plentifully marked by mole hills and feeding runs which were unsightly and made mowing difficult.

I have heard they don’t like ground vibration but most of the articles I read recently say that ground vibration devices are not effective or perhaps only effective over a very short distance.  I recall seeing mole activity around the shop until I installed a fifty pound Little Giant power hammer.  When it went into regular use there were no more visible mole runs near the shop.  I still see some runs near the creek which is a couple of hundred feet away.

So, I may be going out on a limb here, but, if you have moles and want to run them off, try installing a power hammer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_mole

http://kufs.ku.edu/libres/mammals_of_kansas/mole.html

http://www.gopherandmolecontrolhq.com/mole-trapping-101-how-to-get-rid-of-moles-step-by-step/

Home Chores Trump Forging

It is a lot of trouble for me to adjust from Winter to Spring.  I have to bring up the hoses from the basement - didn’t I just drain and coil them a couple of weeks ago?  The we did some lawn fertilizing, worked on the mower, fixed some screens, sharpened pruning tools and did pruning.  On and on it goes and the shop isn’t seeing much activity.

Betty did some planting in the garden.  Mostly our neighbors use that space and give us part of the crop but we have to do some watering and we built a pea trellis.  She has been busy picking asparagus and putting house plants out for the summer and planting summer annuals which we brought home from several local nurseries.

I sprayed the poison ivy and greenbriar and keep the grape jelly feeder filled for the orioles.   Now I’m going to have to spend some time battling wood bees which are tunneling in the wood trim around the house.  That has been and ongoing battle for twenty years.  I’m going to leave the black carpenter ant colony in the silver maple tree alone.  I have been told that they just eat out the center rotting dead wood and the living tube around that is still strong.

Even though there is a lot of work to do there is the pleasure of being out of doors and observing what nature is showing off.  I sometimes remember to carry my pocket camera and take a few images.  I don’t really go out of my way and miss documenting most of the flower bloom and wildlife activity.  We live in a riparian forest habitat so there is a lot of it.  Each night I sit outside until I see the bats and record the time they begin to fly.

Trellis rose west of the shop.

1" long pawpaw.

Serviceberries west of shop.

Wild strawberry patch north of shop.

I wrote about how I modified the sprinklers so they wouldn’t tip over last October - http://persimmonforge.blogspot.com/2013/10/sprinkler-spike-base.html Now, I’ve made another sprinkler modification.  I mounted a impulse sprinkler on a 48” pipe and welded a spike on the bottom with a foot plate so I could push it into the ground.  This puts the sprinkler at a handy working height so I can easily adjust the spray arc restrictors.  

Tall sprinkler rainbow at SW corner of shop.

I’m about caught up now so I think I can get in a good lick of work in the shop next week.