Fredly's Journal
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
This is just a quick update to talk about Chuck Devore and his run for US Senate against Barbara Boxer next year. I have listended to Chuck speak at a couple of local events and have poured over his web site. I am convinced that he can win against Barbara Boxer next November. I would like to encourage anyone who visits this site to please take a minute to go look at Chuck's site and even more importantly make a contribution. As we all know, politics runs on money and Chuck is not a rich guy, just a good guy. Please, let's help get him into a position where he can do some real good for this country. Join me in supporting a true patriot.
Sunday, January 4th, 2009
Well, it has obviously been a ridiculous amount of time since my last update. Life has been very busy as I returned to school to finish my BA finally. This is my 3rd start at it, but this time I will finally finish. I only have 2 classes left after the one I am in now finishes. My expected graduation date is April 6th. I am really looking forward to it. I plan to continue straight into the masters program at the same school where I am getting the BA. It is Ashford University and I really like how their online program works. It is very fast and very intense. Once you start, there are no breaks except 2 weeks at Christmas. They are 5 week classes that start on a Tuesday, and when you finish one on Monday, the next one starts the next day. It helps me to just stay in that school mode and not have breaks.
As for my blacksmithing, I haven't done much lately because of school. I did get out in the shop for a bit over the holiday break, but didn't do any real blacksmithing. I was just welding up some broken target stands for the local range I shoot at. I have finally gotten back into competitive shooting after a 15 year break. It was a lot of fun and I plan to make at least one match a month this year. Not like my heyday when I shot 4 to 6 matches a month, but hey, it's a start.
I guess that is it for now. I'll try to stay on the journal a little more this year. Thanks for reading.
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
I haven't talked much about it here on this web site, but my other hobby is target shooting. I don't shoot nearly as much as I used to since taking up blacksmithing, as I can only afford one expensive hobby at a time, but I still shoot enough to maintain my efficiency in case I need to defend myself, and I am still a big defender of our 2nd Amendment rights. I firmly believe that we have an absolute right to keep and bear arms, and an absolute right to defend ourselves by whatever means necessary.
Last week there was a landmark decision handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States that affirmed our 2nd Amendment right to own a gun and keep it in our house for self defense. Unfortunately it also affirmed the right of the government to compel registration of those guns. It is an important first step, and now that it has been handed down several groups have filed follow up suits to challenge onerous firearm bans in several locals. If you are interested in reading it you can find it here.
The decision that came down was a 5-4 ruling, and more than ever it highlighted the importance of who is president. If Kerry or Gore were president and had made the last two appointments then we would not have this wonderful ruling to be celebrating right now. We would be crying the blues at the beginning of the end of our constitution. The reason I bring this up is to underscore the importance of the upcoming election to those who believe in the constitution and bill of rights as written. Not in the crazy revisionist version many liberals want. It is more important than ever to elect someone who will appoint judges to the Supreme Court who will read the constitution as it was written and not listen to the hand wringers. Gun control has been an abject failure in every place it has been tried. Yet the liberals cry that if if we want gun violence to end we need to ban them. That's like banning cars to stop drunk driving. If you care about the constitution you have to vote for John Mc Cain and do all you can to stop Obama from getting elected. For me, this is the most important issue of the election.
OK, I'll get off my soap box now. See, that's why I don't talk about these things here on my blacksmithing page. :) I think I'll go shooting next weekend to celebrate though.
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
Well, I've been slacking again on keeping up with my journal. Life has been a little crazy. I decided again to return to school and finish up my B.A. in Organizational Management. I'm attending Ashford University online. I am in my second class now and should be done next June. I only have about eight classes left. Then I plan to go right into a masters program. There are some opportunities coming up at work if I can get my degrees finished.
What that really all means is that I am not doing much in the way of smithing lately. I try to get a little in here and there, but I really spend most of my free time doing homework. I guess it's not really free time after all is it? never the less, for the next couple of years I will be focusing on school instead of smithing.
Saturday, April 5th, 2008
Well, my power hammer is gone now. Doug came by and picked it up today. It is on its way to Oregon where it will be getting used on a regular basis. I'm kind of sad that it is gone, and I'm sure I will miss it, but I am also glad it will be getting used regularly instead of sitting like it was here for the last year. Now I can make some changes to the way my yard is done and start moving my stuff around. Hopefully, I can get things organized a bit.
I'm having fun making tooling for the fly press. Now I need to start really doing some stuff with it. I have some pieces of aluminum I am going to try to do some bowls out of soon.
Friday, February 29th, 2008
I started fixing up a new table for the fly press tonight. Check out the fly press page for the latest on it.
We had the local city code enforcement stop by yesterday. It actually went better than I thought it might. He just wants us to do a solid fence so you can't see all the stuff in the back yard from the street, and also cut the tall grass that has shot up from all the rain. Me and Thomas are going to do a wood fence this weekend to replace the chain link that is out front. Some day I will do a nice steel fence, but it is gonna be a few years before I ge to it.
Monday, February 25th, 2008
Yeah, I know, it's been way too long since I did an update. I got a ton of excuses, but mostly it's just laziness. So, let me catch you up on things.
First, the new building. It isn't going to happen. My plan totally went to hell when I tried to pull permits. I hired a designer to help me do the drawings. We did a fine set of drawings based on my plans. He gave me a great deal and we submitted it to the city. They wanted the plans signed off by an architect or engineer. So, I sent them to an engineer. The changes he came back with almost tripled the cost of the building from what I had planned. So, new building out, revised temporary building in. While getting ready to start building the new building, I had to take down my temporary shop. I put up a new temp shop built around my large shed. I am now going to make some improvements to it so that it is close to permanent. I have poured some footings for posts and will put up some actual posts and beams for a real roof. I am very tired of plastic tarps. Eventually I will add in a few framed in walls. I'll play it by ear and see how it goes. Who knows, the city may notice it and make me tear it all down.The latest big news is that I have sold my power hammer. I am actually pretty excited about it. I think the guy it is going to will use it much more than I did. I am glad it is going to a good home. I have used the money from the power hammer to buy a fly press. I am very excited about it. I will be starting a new page showing all the tooling and projects I end up doing with it. I think that I will use it much more than I did the power hammer, and I am excited that Deb wants to use it as well. I think she has some real creative juices in her waiting to bust out. Hopefully this will give the chance.
Come back soon. I will be doing regular updates now that I will have something to write about again.
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007
I've finally broken down and decided to build a real shop. I am so tired of plastic tarps I can't even explain it. I'm still doing my drawings, but so far the city building dept has been pretty cool to work with. I took what I had down there just to make sure I was on the right track, and they said it all looked fine. We still have to work out how I am going to do the waste line though. I want to hook up to the existing septic, but they want a new one. We'll see, I am trying to talk them out of it. I had to talk to another guy who was out of the office Friday.
Mac suggested i take some time laps photos of the building process. I think what I will do is start taking one picture out the back door every morning until the building is done. Mac will put them all together into a video of the shop being built. I expect to break ground around the beginning of June, and that construction will take up to a year to fully complete. I'll be doing a lot of the work myself at night and on weekends, so that is why it will take so long.
Sunday, March 25th, 2007
This is really getting out of hand. I hadn't realized that it had been months since my last update. Things have been busy, and I also put in a new hard drive. I had to do some fooling around to get things all back working the way they used to. I know, it's a lame excuse, but it's all I got.
The one really cool thing to come out of wesmashshit is some good video of my shop and me working the power hammer. I posted up a two part video linked off the front page where I show some stuff I have made, and also the whole process of making a railroad spike knife. Here is a link.
Saturday, December 23rd, 2006
Wow, another year almost over with. It seems like the older I get the faster they go. I remember as a kid when a year took forever to go by. Christmas this year has been another busy one. The one really good thing about Christmas for me is that it forces me to get into the shop and create as I try to make gifts for many of our friends and family. Throughout the year, I seem to spend more time working on the shop, or the equipment, or building jigs etc, so I don't really just get busy making stuff. All that goes out the window the last two weeks of December as I furiously work on all the things I am giving away. Check out the Current Projects page to see some of the new stuff I made for folks this year. I am really proud of it this year as I did several totally new things, and they all seem to be working out good so far.
I guess that's it for my Christmas update this year. Before I sign off, let me say Merry Christmas to all of you who come to the site. I truly appreciate your kind words about my smithing. I hope some of what I have posted on these pages helps you move forward in your own smithing.
Sunday, December 10th, 2006
Obviously it has been way too log since my last update. Things have been very busy. I started doing some wood working besides the blacksmithing, because my life wasn't quite crazy enough already.
I have been letting a new shop rattle around in my head for the last couple of years. Now I am actually drawing plans, and plan to pull a permit over the holiday break from work. I will then break ground and see what I can do with it. I think it will take me about 6 months to get it done to the point I can work out of it, and quite some time after that before it is complete.
Until then, I am busy making christmas presents for friends & family. I just did a menorah for a co-worker. It's the first one I have ever done, and I think it turned out ok. I hope he likes it.
Saturday, October 21st, 2006
Wow, it has been a long time since my last update. I have been very busy working on web sites for two other friends and doing stuff around the shop. I haven't been doing a whole lot of blacksmithing, but I have started doing some wood working. Nothing major so far, but I bought a Shopsmith, because I have always wanted one. With my cheap nature, of course I bought a used one, so now I am working on getting it back up to snuff. It is missing many minor parts. The main thing I have been doing is using it as a lathe. Me and a friend have been making belaying pins to sell at the local Renaissance faires and online to other vendors and folks around the country.
I'm in the planning stages now on my permanent shop. I have gotten tired of working under plastic tarps. Every couple months I am having to replace them, and I have decided to break down and build the permanent shop. I'll post up much more often as I get underway with it.
Tuesday, August 1st, 2006
The heat has been a really killer lately. I fired up the forge for the first time in weeks last weekend. It was good to do some actual work. A friend from my ren faire life came over and spent the weekend. We got in about 2 hours of good forging before I ran out propane. I think I have another convert though. Dave had a great time and went home with a nice penanular for his kilt, and a desire to make some other cool stuff.
I've finally started in earnest to plan for the permanent shop. I am tired of the plastic tarp hell I am confined to now. I'm not sure how I will do it, but I am pulling the permit next week, and I will just build it a little at a time. I figure if I don't start, then it will never happen. If I wait to get all the money needed together it will never happen. I'm just going to start on it and make it work. I talked a little more about my plans on the shop page if you're interested in some details.
Wednesday, July 5th, 2006
It's been a while since my last update. I haven't been doing much really. It has been too hot outside to do a lot when I get home from work. Once I sit down to wait for it to cool down enough to go out, it ends up being too late, or I am just too lazy to go out. I have several projects still in the works, and hope to get some stuff done this weekend.
I did have one major life change since my last update though. On June 24th, my second granddaughter was born. Alyssa Jane and mom are both doing great. Here she is with me one at day old.
Wednesday, June 21st, 2006
I did some more work on the grinder tonight. It is about 90% finished now. I need to forge another handle and mount that, then do some final painting. It should be totally complete by the weekend.
Speaking of the weekend. I am planning to attend a blacksmithing class at Wayne Perris' shop on Saturday, and I'm very excited about it. He has a nice shop only about 20 minutes from me. SHould be a good time learning and jawing.
Saturday, June 17th, 2006
I'm a grandpa for the second time today. My daughter had a beautiful little girl named Alyssa Jane about 10:30 this morning. Both mom and baby are doing well.
I spent much of the afternoon and evening working on the grinder. It is actually back together and working for the first time since taking it apart to paint it. Check out the progress on the grinder page.
I'll be doing some more work on the grinder tomorrow then going over to my daughters to see her and the baby.
Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
I spent another 3 hours in the shop tonight working on the grinder. It's really coming along nicely. I should be done with the paint and have it back up and running in a another day or so.
Tuesday, June 13th, 2006
I've been pretty busy in the shop lately trying to organize things, and finish the grinder. I have been using it for a month now, but it wasn't actually done. I will post some pictures up once I am finished painting it. I have several knives in various stages going, and I need the grinder to finish them.
Once I have the grinder done I am planning to do some major cleaning and organizing of the shop and yard. I have let things get way out of control. Hopefully I will end up with more usable room once that is done. I am also planning to do some layout work for the new shop while I'm working on the yard. I want to make sure my plans aren't too large for the area I have.
Monday, May 29th, 2006
I've recently finished a few art projects and posted some pictures of them on the projects page, and the art page. Just when I thought I could take a little breather, I received several orders for ceramic stands and penanulars that need to be ready by next weekend, so now I will be spending all week working on them in the evening.
Other than that, there has not been much going on. I spent today at my daughters hanging some doors for her and playing with my granddaughter. She is getting very big now, and is so much fun to hang around with. April is due the end of June with her second, and I am excited about that was well.
Saturday, May 13th, 2006
All my spare time has revolved around the art projects I have going lately. I'm trying to do some pretty fancy stuff for Rich's ceramics, and I also got my first commission. It is a stand for a piece that will be out front at the Malki Museum on the Morongo Indian Reservation in Banning CA. It's really plain and simple, because it is about the art being displayed, not my blacksmithing, but I am still pretty proud of it. The piece will be unveiled at their festival on May 28th.
Saturday, May 6th, 2006
Things have been coming along well in the shop. I have nearly finished the grinder. I ordered the final parts I need last Thursday, and I'm just waiting for them to arrive so I can finish the fabrication and have a totally unique double grinder.
The ceramic stands I have been doing for Rich have really started to take off. Besides the simple ones we started with, I am now doing a few that are pretty fancy. I've posted a couple of them up on the art page. I am in the process now of making 3 totally unique stands. I've posted pics of the first one, and I'll post some in a few days of the next one. I'm very proud of these, and think they will compliment Rich's beautiful art well.
I also just got my first commission for something out of the ordinary for me. Rich was at the Malkie Museum on the Morongo Indian Reservation talking to the folks there about his ceramics and an upcoming event, when they mentioned they needed a steel stand built to display a large piece of art in front of the museum. It's a piece of sandstone about 1 1/2" thick and 4 ft tall by 2 1/2ft wide. There is a cool looking spider painted on it by a famous artist, whose name escapes me at the moment. I am building a custom stand that will be set in the ground and hold the piece upright. I'm pretty excited about it. I can't get all crazy with it though, because it is about his art, not mine. I am just building the display, but it is a first step. This will be my first piece of anything that is on public display.
Saturday, April 29th, 2006
Things are coming along well with my various projects. The stands I am doing for Rich are really starting to take off. Mostly because his pottery is really taking off. Because of that, he now wants me to do some fancy stuff for him. We are collaborating more on the pieces and it is really exciting for me to just let the creative juices flow. Check out the art page to see the latest holder. The bowl it is holding is huge, about 23" across, and about 8 inches deep. I'm going to be working on another one tomorrow and doing some fancy twists I have never done before to adorn it. I am really hoping it comes out well.
Wednesday, April 18th, 2006
Ha Ha, fooled you. I did another update this month. I got the belt grinder going tonight. It has come along pretty easily actually. The hardest part was gathering all the parts and paying for them. I still have a lot of work to do on it before I consider it done, but it is up and running.
I've got several projects in the works right now, so I need to finish up on the grinder so I can use it to finish up the others. Rich is going to Taos New Mexico to be a featured artist at some fancy gallery. I have to do several holders for him before he leaves. I'm also making a belt buckle for one of my student workers. She had a strip of M60 bullets linked together that had been plated. I am making a belt buckle backing for it. It's looking like it is going to be pretty cool when I am done.
Tuesday, April 11th, 2006
Well it's starting to look like once a month is about all I am going to be able to keep up on this journal. So, here is this months update. I've been doing a lot more work in the shop lately. I have 3 knives in various stages right now. So, in order to make it easier to actually finish them to the quality I want I have started building a 2" by 72" belt grinder. I've created a new page where I will detail the building of the grinder the way I have done my forges. You can check it out here.
I tried speeding up the power hammer by changing the belt to the next higher step on the pulley last week and found out I had blown it when I built the tensioner. It only lined up with the belt set at the lowest setting. Doh! I modified it on Monday, and can't believe how big a difference it makes. I ended up putting it back for now. I don't think I am quite ready for how fast the hammer was running. Check out the end of the power hammer page 2 to see an update and some pictures of my modifications.
Tuesday, March 14th, 2006
Wow, I can't believe I went a whole month without an update. What a slacker I have become. It's been a busy month. I bought a 10' by 14' steel shed and put it up in the back yard to get more storage space. We had been paying for a storage unit since we moved here, and it was time to end that craziness.
I have gotten the shop going pretty well since enlarging it last month. I added 6 ft to it, and I can't believe the difference it has made. I have some real moving around room. Now, I just have to finish organizing things and I'll be happy for a while.
I've started on some pattern welded knives. You can see my progress on the projects page. I'll try to keep up with things as I go along more.
The site has been getting a lot of hits lately. I'm real proud of the fact that I am the top results of a google search for propane forge construction. I never planned for that to happen, but I guess having all the pictures and step by step way I put the site together has helped a lot of guys. I'm actually planning to put up some pics later of other guys forges that have built them based partly on what they found here.
Tuesday, January 17th, 2006
I'm finally getting the shop set up the way I like. I have gotten it cleaned out and can really do some work now. A couple weeks ago my welding supplier gave me an old wire feed welder for free because it didn't work. I was able to get it going, and it works pretty well. Check out the shop page to see how things are looking now.
Sunday, January 8th, 2006
I've been doing a lot more forging lately. I did several Christmas gifts, and they went over very well. I think I am going to plan on doing that every year. Check out the current projects page to see a couple of the gifts I made.
I also decided to create some more storage space. We bought a 10 by 14 storage shed and set it up near the wooden shed I built when we moved here. I also plan to add a little extension onto the wood shed to fill in the space between. All together it should allow me to clean up the yard some and get things out of the weather.
I have continued to tweak on the power hammer, and finally got it really running right. It had a small problem with the head binding just enough to make it not run smooth. I took a piece of welding rod and put it behind each side guide and now it runs smooth as silk. I need to get some new dies made, then it will be a real worker I think.
Saturday, December 17th, 2005
I finally spent a good portion of the day in the shop today. I have been sick with some kind of sinus thing since before Thanksgiving. I'm a total baby when I'm sick, so I haven't been in the shop at all. I spent a couple hours last Saturday, then 4 hours last night, and most of today. It is nice to finally get back out there. I am working on some Christmas presents for friends and family, so I am really behind. Check out the projects page to see the cool poker that is part of a fire place set I am making for my sister, and a very nice candle holder that I am making for some friends. The forge weld on the tip of the poker was done with my power hammer. It is really working well now. I think I have finally got it where I want it.
Saturday, November 11th, 2005
Wow, I can't believe I waited so long to do an update. Things have been pretty crazy around here the last couple of months. Since starting back to college in August my life has been a blur. The classes are 5 weeks long with a 1 week break between. When class is in session I only really get out to the shop on weekends. I spend all my weeknights do research and writing.
I spent most of my free time in October working on a claw for my friend Mac's costume. He wanted to go as Freddy Krugger, but didn't want the stupid plastic claws they make for kids. We did some research, and I made him a pretty close copy. They looked pretty ferocious, even though they weren't sharp. He ended up winning best costume at the party we went to, so I am pretty proud of my creation. Check out some pics here.
Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
Well the shop has finally come around to the point I feel like I can get some work done in it. The last month has flown by. I've started making stands for a friend who makes beautiful ceramic platters & stuff. He has his work in some local galleries, and now they want some of my stands as well. It's looking like this might really turn into something.
The compressor is up and running now. I still need to buy and install siding on the cover, but at least most of the rain is off of it. I also did some more work on the power hammer last weekend. I was having a problem with the belt on the jack shaft slipping, so I built a tensioner for it. It's working much better now. I am actually thinking of changing over to chain drive instead of the v-belt. I think it will transfer a lot more power with no slippage possible. I'll probably wait for some time before doing that though.
Wednesday, August 17th, 2005
Things continue slowly on the shop. School is taking up more of my time than I thought it would. Now every time I go outside to work on the shop I feel guilty because I have homework to do. I'll be glad when it is over.
I poured a small slab for the compressor to sit on last weekend, then put a covering over it. I still need to buy a couple sheets of siding to make it match the shed. I got all the electrical done, so at least the compressor works.
I also got the shade cover over the power hammer set up, and then set up the coal forge so I could play with the hammer a little. It was during that session that I remembered why I seldom use the coal forge any more since building the propane one. I need to dig the propane fore out of the shed this weekend and move it over to the hammer so I can use it instead. I ended up burning a piece in half with the coal.
Tomorrow night I start back at the college I work at with the bronze casting class. Deb and I are taking it again. This time I think I am going to try to do straight art projects. I want to see if I can be creative when it's not functional.
Friday, August 5th, 2005
The shop is coming around pretty nicely. Now that the hammer is running I had to start moving the forges over close to it and reset the whole way I do things. Then, last weekend I found 2 nice steel tables and a 5HP upright air compressor. I added the tables into the mix around the hammer and then decided to add some tarps to get some shade and some rain proofing. It's really coming along nicely.
I started back to college last month. I don't know why didn't mention it earlier. I started at University of Phoenix online. I'm trying to finish up my BS in Business & Public Administration. I have about 11 classes to go I think. The first one was pretty nice. We'll see how it goes.
Friday, July 29th, 2005
Things have been pretty crazy this month. We had some crazy thunderstorms that trashed the shop, and got a lot of stuff soaked that I would have rather not gotten soaked. I still don't have everything back in order. Hopefully this weekend it won't be too insanely hot like it has been.
Monday, July 4th, 2005
Happy 4th everyone. Today is our one year anniversary in this house. We just got home from watching a nice display over at the University of Redlands. Our friends house is near by and we just sat in the back yard and could see most of it. Good BBQ & good company along with a nice show makes for a very nice evening.
My computer died a few days after my last post. I've been going a little nuts using my wife's comp to access my email until I could get mine up and running. I've built a whole new system and should be in good shape for a while now.
The power hammer is finally up and running also. I'll be doing a major update to that page soon. I've been taking pictures all month as I worked on it, even though I couldn't post them. I still have a lot of little adjustments to make, mostly along the lines of learning its little idiosyncrasies, but it is working. Now I need to move the forge and other stuff over near the hammer now to be able to really use it. I added some shade this weekend so I won't get cooked while forging on it.
I started back to school to finish by bachelor's degree last Tuesday at University of Phoenix online. I thought it would be a cakewalk, but is actually going to be a lot of work. It will be nice to finally finish that up. It's been one of those nagging little things for the last few years.
Sunday, June 5th, 2005
Woo Hoo, the power hammer motor is running. I got it fired up today. Check out the pics and some video on the power hammer page. Things are moving again now on the hammer. I need to get going on the permanent shop though before I can really use it. I'm planning to begin construction on it this summer. Hopefully by September or October it will be usable.
Part 2. After I did the above update I ended up going out and finishing the hammer too. Check out the hammer page for video of it running under one son power.
Thursday, June 3rd, 2005
Things are progressing again on the power hammer. I hadn't done much work on it the last month or so, but this past weekend I got the motor stand welded up and painted it on Tuesday evening. Check out the power hammer page to see the progress.
I posted up a whole bunch of pics last night on the bronze casting page. They are of the final exam party and of the teachers work. Lots of cool bronze sculpture.
I guess that's it for now. School is out till next week so this week has been pretty slow at work. Next week will pick up a little when the summer session starts, but not too much until the Fall session begins in late August.
Saturday, May 21st, 2005
I just got around to putting up a new guest book today. I was using one of those free guest books and all my entries disappeared last week. I emailed the company and got no response at all. Guess it goes back to that old you get what you pay for caveats. Now I'm using a guest book provided by my host. It seems to work fine, and I know they won't disappear overnight on me.
I'll be posting up some pics soon on the art page of my chandelier. I sold it to one of the other ren groups and then modified it so they can use it in their encampment. There are no open flames allowed, so they took have created some glass candle cups for it. I haven't seen it yet, but I heard it was very nicely done. I plan to go out to Corona faire tonight to see it and I will take some pics of it in action.
It looks like summer is definitely getting here. It has been in the 90's all week. I'm definitely planning to do some more shade outside. It's hard to do any work other than early mornings, which don't work for my lazy ass, or late afternoon & evenings.
Sunday, May 15th, 2005
The blacksmithing community has lost a great smith this weekend. Paw Paw from Anvilfire.com has passed away. I never met him in person, but I considered him a friend through our emails and postings on Anvilfire. Fortunately I had a very busy weekend that kept my mind occupied so I didn't dwell on his passing to much, but now as the weekend is winding down I keep thinking about all the things Jim still planned to do and won't be able to. I can't help but feel tremendous sadness for his wife sheri. They had just bought a new place and were still moving in. Such a shame. Goodbye my friend.
Thursday, May 12th, 2005
Today was a great day. We poured Deb's wizard and eagle and my house numbers in class. They all turned out great. I also took video of the whole process. Check it out on the bronze casting page.
It looks like we won't be swapping Tom's engine this weekend. We will end up replacing the fiber donut in the steering column though. Still a lot better than an engine swap.
I plan to do some actual forging this weekend. I have been realizing that I haven't done much lately and I miss it.
Sunday, May 8th, 2005
I'm getting to where I really hate working on cars. I've spent this entire weekend under my friend Mac's Volvo repairing his exhaust system and putting in a new catalytic converter. Of course nothing is really going as planned.
I did spend a little time today working on cleaning up a bronze casting I had done for a second brake pad for the power hammer. It turned out pretty nice actually. I was afraid it might need to be re-cast, but it won't.
Thursday, May 5, 2005
I can't believe I didn't do an update the entire month of April. I'm really slipping I guess. It was a pretty crazy month. It started with the Escondido Ren Faire that went for 2 weekends. This is the first time I've ever done 2 weekends in a row at faire, and it screwed me up financially for the whole month. The newspaper interview went great. I'll post up the article later. They even brought a video camera and took a bunch of footage. I figured it would get chopped to pieces, but they ended up using most of it for a promo for the faire on the local cable news show. It was pretty cool. I'm gonna try to post up that as well, but I have to convert it at work to an mpeg from the VHS tape.
The last weekend of the month I helped my best friend Thomas put a clutch in his old 1970 F350. This was the first heavy mechanic work I had done in years. I hate working on cars any more, but there was no way he could do it without my tools and place to work. It took me all week to recover from a whole day under the truck. Then, like a dumb ass I volunteered to help him swap engines next weekend. I really have lost my mind I think. He is supposed to be bringing some other guys to help out though, so hopefully I won't get whipped out again.
Things have been going well in our Bronze casting class. Deb finally finished her second wax piece today so we were able to spru it and start on the dipping process to make the mold. I'll do the rest of the dips during the week so that it will be ready to pour next week. They look really nice. One is a wizard, and the other is an eagle face. They are both flat backed so they can go on a book cover.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Woo hoo, I got a new anvil. Well, it's about 150 years old, but it's new to me. Today I received a Peter Wright 130Lb anvil that I bought off ebay a couple weeks ago. It took them 2 weeks to get it here, but at least it finally made it. It's not in nearly as good shape as I had hoped. They certainly knew how to take poor pictures, but I think it will clean up all right. Check out the pics on the shop page.
I'm all set for the first faire of the season now. I have my new anvil and post vice all set to go now. I am going to start making some stock soon so I'll have a few things to put on the table.
I just found out today that I will be getting interviewed for a newspaper article in the local paper. The columnist works at the college and her daughter is my student worker. I asked her to do an article about the upcoming faire to help promote it, and she is planning to do it on me as the local angle. Should be interesting. I didn't know it, but it turns out that she also does a local TV show and wants to bring a camera crew out to the faire also. It should be fun.
Saturday, March 19th, 2005
Things have been coming along on the shop and the power hammer. I was able to cast my piece Thursday night, and will go out and work on finishing it when I am done with this update. Check it out on the bronze casting page.
We have been getting ready to do the Escondido Ren Faire for the last few weekends. We are building a new pavilion that is much larger than before. We are going from an 8' x 8' to a 14' x 14' that will be divided into 2 sections. Our private sleeping area in back and an open period area in front. I have the corners and wood done, and the top cut out. I hope Deb is able to get it sewn together in time. The pour thing has been pretty wiped out from work lately.
Sunday, March 6th, 2005
Pete & Thomas came over today and we worked on a couple of projects for them. Pete brought me a nice motor for the power hammer. We did some work on the post vice I am restoring. It has gone well right up to the point where I broke my weld while testing the thing out though. I'll give it another shot tomorrow night.
I bought a 3,5 cu ft cement mixer on sale at Harbor Freight on Saturday. I am hoping to break ground on the new shop addition next month. I'll use the mixer to pour the footings for the posts. Deb also has some projects in mind, so I know it will be used.
Tuesday, March 1st, 2005
I'm pretty much on hold now on the hammer. I'm working on making a new bronze brake pad in a bronze casting class that Deb and I are taking. I'm also trying to figure out how I am going to repair the broken die.
I did start on a new little project to keep me occupied. I bought another post vice off ebay and am restoring it for use with my traveling ren faire outfit. It's much smaller than my other vice. This way I won't have to drag the 100 lb monster out there with me.
I've been working on building some parts for a new pavilion for faire season. Our fist faire is less than a month away. We will be doing the Escondido Ren Faire at Felicita County Park April 2nd & 3rd and 8th & 9th. This is the first year it is 2 weekends. I'm not really excited about that. It's kind of tough taking the days off from work that I do. I'll find out tomorrow what my boss thinks of the idea.
Sunday, February 20th, 2005
It's been another hectic month. most of my spare time has gone to the hammer. Deb and I are taking a bronze casting class so I could make a new brake pad. We are also working on a couple of other things. I am thinking this will become a regular thing. I have a lot of ideas for projects that combine my blacksmithing with the bronze to get a unique look.
The only thing that's been slowing down progress on the hammer & the shop is all this damned rain. It seems like every weekend it's back. I will be very glad when spring comes and it starts to dry out. I have most of my stuff crammed up under a couple of shelters to keep it dry. I'm in the process of designing a new shop and I home to break ground in April. We should get an actual tax return for the first time since we were married, so that will be a good start towards building the shop.
Monday, January 31st, 2005
I'm a grandpa now. Last night my daughter gave birth to a 7lb1oz beautiful baby girl named Caitlin Rose French. I'm excited about this, but at the same time I'm a little depressed, I'm kind of officially old now. I can act as cool as I want, but I'm still a grandpa. I think this will take some time to settle in.
On the power hammer front it was a great weekend. We started assembly for real, and have a few items put back on now. Check it out on the power hammer page.
Deb and I started taking a bronze casting class at the community college I work at. It's a Thursday night thing, and I can see us doing a lot with it in the future. Some day I will end up building a forge that will work for casting. I think I may already have some suitable parts sitting in the back yard. Time will tell.
Monday, January 24th, 2005
I started on reassembling the power hammer tonight. You can read about it on the power hammer page. I'm pretty excited to see it finally coming together.
This weekend our great weather continued, and we got more done on the back yard. It's about 3/4 done now. Hopefully next weekend will see it finished if the weather holds.
I'm still mulling over the shop design in my head. I'll start getting it on paper soon so I can start figuring out where to start. Once the power hammer is done I will have to get it right where I want it because I have to pour a large cement foundation in order for it to work. I want to make sure I get it in the right spot or I may be inventing some new curse words. :)
Monday, January 17th, 2005
Wow, the last month has been nuts. Starting December 28th we had the 3rd wettest 2 weeks in CA history. During that time I re-confirmed the fact that I HATE the rain. I didn't get anything done, and the yard was a mess. This weekend we returned to our normal beautiful CA weather. 70's & sunny. I spent Saturday cleaning and mowing the front yard. We had grass in some areas 2' tall. Finally got back to work on the power hammer. I was able to unwrap it and actually get some paint on one side.
I've started working on a design for a shop building in my head. I had drawn out a fancy building that took up almost the whole width of the back yard, but reality set in, and I know I will never be able to build it. I am going to do a free standing lean too that will go right next to my shed. I figure that will be the easiest and cheapest way to get a working shop going.
Thursday, December 23rd, 2004
Things have been coming along well on the shed. I've got most of the electric that I want to do done. I just need to get my 220volt plug hooked up on the house, so I can do some welding. I will probably run cable to the shed so I can have permanent power out there in a month or so. Not looking forward to digging that trench or paying someone to do it.
We're pretty much ready for the holidays. We are having several friends over on Christmas day. They are al the orphans who either don't have family, or don't like to be around the family they do have. We are planning to go to the movies and dinner. Should be a fun day.
Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope you have a great time. Be careful traveling, particularly those of you back east with all this crazy weather.
Thursday, December 16th, 2004
WIND is the word of the day. Today has been a little crazy. The winds have been steady around 40 to 50 mph, and gusting to over 60 mph. We've had a little bit of damage, but not as bad as it could have been. Our neighbors tree branch came down and hit the top of the house about 3 AM and scared the bejezes out of me. It hit right over our bedroom. luckily it only damaged 2 shingles. Then, the other neighbors whole top half of the tree came down and took out the fence on the other side of the lot. I also had my large A frame fall over and take out the shelter that was under it. That's a real bummer since we just got it a couple months ago and paid almost $200 for it. One of our other shelters is hanging on by a thread. I think I'm gonna have a busy weekend cleaning up all the mess.
Monday, November 29th, 2004
Wow, it's been too long since my last update. I was down sick for about 2 weeks. I didn't do much of anything. It's only been the last week or so that I am feeling ok. Unfortunately, we are having a cold spell in CA right now, so I don't feel much like working out in the shop when I get home. I did get quite a bit done this holiday weekend though during the days off.
I finally made a sheath for Debs RR spike knife. I'll post up a pic of it soon. I left the camera out in the shop, and I'm too lazy to go get it this late. :)
I also pretty much finished up the inside of the shed this last week. I added some more shelf's, a bench, and some peg board. I also started installing a sub panel for the electrical. I'm hoping to get it finished up in the next couple of weeks.
Friday, November 5th, 2004
I decided it was time for another update, even though I really don't have much going on. I've been slowly working on cleaning and painting the power hammer. I may actually start painting on the main body this weekend. So far it has just been the loose parts. I set up an electrolyses system last weekend to help me clean parts. It worked pretty good for my first time. Now I got mostly big parts left that won't really fit in the tub well.
I've been doing a lot of work on the inside of the shed the past couple of weeks. I built shelves, now benches, and have it about half wired. I plan to finish the wiring this weekend. I'll post up a few pics later.
Saturday, October 23rd, 2004
I tried out a new process on the hammer today and it worked out real well. It's called electrolysis, and it entails hooking up a couple of battery chargers to metal rods and putting them in a tub of water with dirty rusty parts. It sounds pretty crazy, but it works. For the details you can go to this site.
I got several more items cleaned and painted today. Pretty soon I will start painting on the main body. Tomorrow I probably won't work on the hammer much because I have to drag out all of our faire stuff and make sure we are ready for Escondido next weekend. I just found out a few minutes ago that Deb doesn't have the days off right now even though she put in for them months ago. She left a note for her boss, so hopefully he will fix the schedule.
Thursday, October 21st, 2004
Its been a pretty hectic month since my last update. I spent all my spare time finishing up the storage shed because the container I had was due to be picked up by the 12th. I finished the shed on the 9th, and we spent the next 3 days emptying it out. They picked it up on the 14th. I am very pleased with the shed so far. I immediately started building shelves in it, and now have the whole back wall set up with 3 large shelves that go nearly to the ceiling. It is very handy, and makes the space much more usable. I also added some electrical to it. I will keep working on that as time goes by. You can see it here.
I started back on the rebuilding of the power hammer now. I have actually started painting on some of the pieces. As part of the shelves in the shed I built a bench and have added a vice and grinder so I can work in there in the evenings. I have been cleaning up the small parts of the hammer and painting them. It is going to look great when I am done. Check it out.
Monday, Sept 27th, 2004
Things are coming along well on the hammer. I have spent the last week cleaning it all up and am about 80% done with it. I plan to do some painting this weekend. Last Friday my daughter and her fiance came over and helped out with the shed. Jimmy is great to work with. I wish he could come around all the time. Unfortunately, we ran out of siding, so we didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but we are well on our way to having it all done next weekend. I plan to pick up more siding on Friday night as well as a few other things to make sure we have it all ready to go. He is going to bring a friend over next weekend and we should get the whole roof done, along with all the sides. Then I'll just have to move everything over from the container. I'll have about 10 days to do that before the container is scheduled to be picked up.
Thursday, Sept 16th, 2004
Wow, journal updates 2 days in a row. This is a first. I got the power hammer all stripped down tonight, so now the real cleanup begins. I had planned to attend the Hammer-In at Bob Nett's ranch this weekend, but decided at the last minute to stay home, save my money, and get some work done on the shed and maybe the hammer.
Wednesday, Sept 15th, 2004
The rebuild of the power hammer is coming along well. Here is a link to the page detailing what I am doing on it. We are also busy trying to finish the shed we have been building in the back yard. It's 12' by 24' and 10' tall. It should be done in another couple of weeks.
Tuesday, Sept 7th, 2004
Well it's been a crazy month. I don't even know where to begin. My hard drive started to take a dump on me, so I put in a new one, and it has taken a while to get everything re-installed so I can update the site. The big news is that I bought a power hammer off ebay in August. I had to drive up to Sacramento to pick it up. For those out of the area it was 475 miles each way. Once we got it here we had to build a frame capable of lifting it. I'm going to be adding another page to the site documenting my rebuild of the hammer. I'll probably have it up tomorrow or the next day.
Sunday, August 1st, 2004
Wow, time sure flies when you are having fun. We finally closed the deal. Things really got crazy there for a while. The end of June and beginning of July were a blur. After my last post things got really crazy. The seller on our new house was about to pull the deal and put it back on the market. Luckily, our real estate agent on the sale of our house found an investor who was willing to lend us the money for a down payment on this place and also sign a one year lease with an option to buy on our old one. This satisfied the lender, and we moved into the new house over the 4th of July weekend. Of course, all our friends had plans already for that weekend, so we ended up doing the move with just myself and my son in law. Thank goodness for him or I am sure I would have killed myself. Here are a few pictures of the new house.
It was a little scary at this point though. We owned 2 houses. If something happened on the sale of the old house we were screwed. Fortunately, it all went through and by the middle of July it had closed and all was fine.
We did well on the sale of our old house, and I was looking forward to building a nice big shop out back here, but it was not to be. By the time we paid off all our old bills, and bought a few new things we don't have enough to buy the steel building I want. I have all the plans though, and will do it as soon as I save up the rest. In the mean time I am building a 12x24 shed just to hold our stuff, and will probably build another shed to act as my shop soon as well.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Can you believe it, we still haven't moved? This has turned into some kind of sick nightmare. It's been almost a month since my last post where I thought we were about to close. Since that time we found out that our buyer lied about his income and faked his pay stubs. Too bad he was so freaking stupid that the hours and wages he put on them didn't add up. At the very last minute the lender figured it out and pulled his loan. We canceled the deal and are going to be getting 3% of the purchase price from him. That's actually small consolation for all the sleepless nights, and how much we have dragged this out for our seller on the new place.
The good news is that we now have a new offer that is $3500 more than the previous one, and it looks like it will really close. We'll see.
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Have you ever just wanted to reach out and bitch smack someone? Damn I hate my buyers lender. The SOB won't return a phone call for anything. We are hanging here in limbo waiting for him to finish the loan. It's been pushed back another week now, but Deb and I have both already taken this Friday off work, and have Monday off because of memorial day. So, we will end up moving our stuff into a storage unit this weekend I suppose. I am going to try to talk the seller of our new house into letting us place our heavy furniture into the house. I don't think he will go for it, but I'm going to try.
Saturday, May 22, 2004
Man, moving sux. The sale which was going smooth has roughened up a bit. Hopefully it should be final by next Friday. We have been moving things to the new house and putting them in storage in a 20' sea container in the back yard. I dismantled most of the shop today and got it over there in 2 truck & trailer loads. We will probably take another load tomorrow.
Monday, May 3, 2004
Things are coming along with the sale of our current house, and the purchase of our new one. I have been researching steel buildings, and I'm a little worried that I won't be able to build as large a shop as I would like. We'll just have to see how much we end up with after the final disbursement comes in.
In the mean time, getting ready to move is looking like a daunting task. I never realized just how much crap we have until I started looking at having to load it all up & move it.
Monday, April 19, 2004
Things have been pretty crazy the last couple of months. Obviously I haven't been keeping up with the site, but I have a good excuse. I am buying a new house. Deb and I decided to move from San Bernardino out to San Jacinto, where I work. I've been making the 39 mile commute every day for the last 2 years, but I am really starting to get tired of it. WIth the cost of gas going up so much it is now worth it to just move out there. Besides, I have been having trouble with dozing off while driving home, and I've had a couple of close calls. So, the last 2 months have been nuts while we get the house ready for sale and plan out the move.
The good news about the move is that the house we found has no garage at all. I know that many of you who come to this page might see that as unacceptable, but I am looking at it as a great opportunity. I will have enough money from the sale of our current house to build a very nice shop building, and the new place has lots of room for one. Currently I am looking at doing a 40 by 60 building. I'm also going to end up building a 20 by 20 shed to store everything that doesn't belong in the shop. I'm really looking forward to designing and building this shop. I'll end up contracting out the main foundation, shell, and roof work, but I will finish the inside myself. I'll post some pics and do more updates as it comes along.
The bad news about the move is that my blacksmithing will be seriously curtailed. That's one of the reasons for the shed. It will start off as my workshop while the main building is under construction.
Oops, I almost forgot. My wife and I went to the CBA conference the beginning of this month. Wow, what a great time. Alfred Haberman was great. As were all the other demonstrators. I learned more in that one weekend than I have in most of the last year. No matter where you are. If your state association does any kind of conference then do whatever it takes to go. It will be worth it. I'll post up a few pics soon.
Monday, Feb. 23, 2004
Things are starting to go pretty well with my ebay sales. I think I'm going to start putting up more items. I sold 2 penanulars this week. I also need to start cranking things out so I will have some stock for faire season. I have plans for several projects. I just need to get them going.
The forge isn't really much farther along than it was for my last update. Our friends Val and Oscar had a hand-fasting in our backyard yesterday, and I spend all Saturday and Sunday cleaning the house and shop so people could move around. It was raining all weekend, so nothing really got done. I plan to get back on it this week in the evenings, so it will be ready to roll next weekend.
Sunday, Feb. 15, 2004
Well, the new freon tank propane forge is well on its way to completion. Check out the construction page here. I am hoping to have it up and running in the next couple of days so I can finished some orders.
I made motel reservations yesterday for the CBA Spring Conference. It's going on about an hour and a half from my place in beautiful Vista CA. If your a smith on the west coast I highly recommend it. Particularly if you are new. There will be lots of classes and demonstrations as well as a lot of tailgate selling. I am planning to bring my large propane forge down and sell it, as well as my coal brake drum forge. My plan is to buy an anvil with the proceeds. Deb thinks I'm nuts for selling my forges, but I really don't want to spend that much out of pocket for a good anvil, so something's got to go. I figure I can rebuild the forges easily later.
I guess that's it for now.
Sunday, Feb. 8, 2004
OK, now this is getting stupid. I just realized I haven't done a journal update in 2 months. Obviously I need to pay closer attention to this page or just remove it. Things have been a little slow for me lately. I haven't been working as much as I was during the summer and fall. It's pitch dark and cold when I get home from work, and I just seem to find things to do in the house rather than bundle up and get outside to work on my projects.
I'm getting ready to start building another forge. This one will be made out of a freon tank and based on the designs of Ron Reil. I plan to still run 2 burners into it. I am pretty sure it will be very hot. My plan is to have it up and running for an event I plan to attend on March 20th.
I guess it's time to talk about my work a little. I work at a California community college as an adaptive technology specialist. What that means in english is that I train disabled students in the use of special computer equipment and programs so that they can work around their disability and succeed in school. There is a club on campus that I kind of co-advise called the Challenge Club which is primarily students from our department. They are doing a large fundraising event on campus, and it has really turned into a big deal. The college where I work, Mt San Jacinto College, will be hosting the event called Walk & Roll for a Cure to benefit the Inland AIDS project. I told the club that I will bring out my forge and make stuff on the spot and sell it with all the proceeds to go to the event. My renaissance group has also decided to come out and do some of their gig to help out. It should be a fun day. I'll probably talk more about this later.
Sunday, December 14, 2003
Wow, I just realized how long its been since I did any kind of update. I guess I need to get back on it. We had a christmas party in the shop and back yard tonight. It really went well. I was worried because it was raining for a couple of hours just before the party was to start, but with the help of our friends we were able to make the necessary adjustments and get it all going. I posted a few pictures here.
Monday, October 6th, 2003
The shell is done, and I am now just waiting for the plumbing parts to arrive so I can actually fire the forge and get to work on all the orders I took in Ojai. One of the things holding me back is that I ordered a bunch of the brass fittings, and all of the valves from a local place. They won't be in until Thursday, and I probably won't be able to pick them up until Saturday unless I can get my wife to pick them up Friday morning before work. I am a little pissed off at the guy who took the order. We spent an hour going through catalogues looks for stuff and then paying for it etc. Then, when the whole deal is done and I am about to walk out he tells me the order won't be in until next Thursday. This was on Monday the 29th. Two whole weeks to get this stuff in. I could have ordered it on line and had it delivered by ground shipping and still gotten it here already. I should have cancelled it right there, but I am too nice a guy sometimes. Now, the burners should be here any day from Georgia, and I am still waiting for the damn brass fittings from down the street.
Sunday, October 5th, 2003
The new forge is coming along well. I have the doors on and the burner holders in. I can't wait for the new burners to arrive next week. Go here to check it out.
My best friend Thomas called today to talk about some kind of faire/retreat that may be happening next April for some Girl Scout leaders. It sounds like it might be fun.
Wednesday, October 1st, 2003
I actually started construction today on the new forge. I took a couple of pictures, and plan to document the process as I go along. There will be a new page added to the site with the whole process documented as it progresses. Go here to check it out.
Monday, September 29, 2003
Well, this is my first journal entry. I probably should have started this journal when I first started building the coal forge back in January or February, but that would have taken some actual forethought on my part, and most of the stuff I do is pretty much off the top of my head. So, here you go. A journal page that starts after I have just sold the second forge I ever built, and my first propane forge just 2 weeks after I finished it.
I went to the Ojai Pirate Faire this weekend at the urging of my friend Randall, who owns Fire Blood Arms. If you are looking for some great tournament swords at reasonable prices this is the place to go. I highly recommend any of their practical weapons if you do any kind of live steel fighting. I use their practical hand & a half for heavy steel and their practical rapier. I love them both.
Anyway's, I didn't even want to go to this faire, but Randall said he would cover all my expenses etc, so I figured what the heck. Oh my god. What a great faire. It's held at Lake Casitas just outside Ojai. It truly is beautiful there. Check out this shot from right behind my pavilion. This was only the second time I had taken a forge to a faire, and I am so very glad I did. I had a nice little area set up, and I sold more stuff than I thought I ever could. I also took hundreds of dollars in orders, and I also sold my forge. I know, that's pretty crazy, but I got enough to cover the cost to build another one, and buy a small swage block I have been wanting for a while. Besides, I was thinking about building a second forge with a few changes from the first one anyway's. Now, I just don't have to front the cash myself.
I plan to document the construction of the next one a little better than I did the first. I took lots of pictures of the first one, but I didn't do any kind of narrative of what I was doing. Once it was done, I just never took the time to put it all in. I plan to do it as I go along now.
That's it for now I guess. Oh yeah, thanks for coming to my site. I hope you enjoyed it.