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By Dave, March 28, 2007 9:56 pm

San Francisco passes plastic-bag ban – Yahoo! News

About damn time! Hope it spreads and fast. Teh plastic suckith!

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By Dave, March 28, 2007 3:34 pm

YouTube – “Creation Science 101” by Roy Zimmerman

Love it! Go, watch, but don’t eat/drink while doing it or the keyboard/computer may need cleaning/replacing… 😉

Thanks to Steve for the link!

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By Dave, March 25, 2007 2:40 pm

“Breakfast of the Gods Book One: The Last Good Morning” By Brendan Douglas Jones

Weird stuff. Thanks to Steve for the link.

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By Dave, March 25, 2007 1:55 pm

iTWire – Vista users threatened by Windows Mail exploit

The new improved hackers OS by Microsloth. Tis interesting that even with the new completely rewritten Vista the old standard mail exploit of “click here” still works. Admittedly working a bit differently but still, you’d have thought they would have thought this bit through a little better.

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By Dave, March 25, 2007 1:13 pm

It Boils Down to This: Cheap Wine Works Fine – New York Times

Interesting article on cooking with wines.

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By Dave, March 25, 2007 12:59 pm

Golden Arches Wants ‘McJob’ Removed: McDonald’s Targets the English McLanguage – International – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News

Tis their own fault. I hope they spend major amounts of McMoney and owe even larger sums to their McLawyers in the pursuit of the elimination of the term McJob. Their food still McSucks…

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By Dave, March 25, 2007 12:43 pm

Got some type of bug. Started friday night and had me down all day saturday. Today isn’t much better but am tired of lying down so until meds take effect am upright or some imitation of it.

Still using SamLinux on liveCD. Steve, you asked for more info on it, but best way to get that is to download the iso from http://www.sam-linux.org/ and try it. There are some things that don’t seem to work but I figure it’s mainly just me not being able to think too clearly right now. Planning to install it to a hard drive and see how it does from there. But not today…

Took the bandage off my hand just before lunch. Swelling is gone down and most of the pain is gone. Can poke and prod the area with out wanting to scream now anyway. Not totally healed but well on the way. Would be at the forge if not for this bug.

More when I feel up to it.

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By Dave, March 23, 2007 10:08 pm

Still among the living. Hand much better. Seasonal heat depression starting early with increased early heat. Still out doing things instead of hiding in ac.

Buffett on the speakers. Different os runing via liveCD at the present. Trying the SamOS which is a pclos flavor without gnome or kde but XFce4 and runs on slower equipment with lower ram requirements. So far other than a few learning pains I like. Actually closer to the mac than linux in some ways. Nice.

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By Dave, March 23, 2007 3:04 pm

Linux.com | ChangeLog: Run Linux, lose warranty

Way to go Compaq… NOT!

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By Dave, March 17, 2007 7:34 pm

60 million containers of pet food recalled – Pet Health – MSNBC.com

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By Dave, March 17, 2007 12:41 pm

Gonna be interesting typing this with one hand, but as the other one is the reason for this post, don’t have any choice.

Had just finished forging out a stainless steel hook and went in to buff it out on the wire wheel. Got the outside done and was thinking about a safety article I had read a few weeks age about not using uncovered wheels and what they could do to the body when I got the tip of one side taken out of my hand and then imbeded in the meat at the base of my thumb about an inch deep. Not stopping to think, I pulled it out, cut the grinder off and then looked to see how bad it was. Not good is putting it mildly. Put pressure on it and came to the house, which as Cat is out with her mom, was locked up. Took pressure off it for the time to find the keys and try to find the proper key showed the bleeding to be rather rapid. As I couldn’t find the key for that door, went to other door and bled all over the stoop while opening it. Washed the wound out with tap water ane used a towel to apply pressure while locating bandages and antiseptic. taped the hole up till the bleeding slowed then put the antiseptic on it and put a couple of bandaids across it. Wrapped the towel over the whole thing and went back down and put water on the fire in the forge. Then walked around a while trying to get a handle on the pain. Back in and wrapped the hand with an ace bandage as the shock was wearing off and the muscles around the entry point were now screaming really loud. Made a couple of phone calls trying to get in touch with a friend who is a nurse and trained as a emt but no joy. Left a message for him and tried laying down but that just made it hurt more. So back down the stairs and added a strap to support the arm at waist height and then sat down to type this. Pain is still quite intense, but abating some. Not feeling like passing out now anyway.

No more wire wheel brushing on this stuff without guards in place for me!

Gonna go and see about some lunch so I can take something for pain.

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By Dave, March 16, 2007 10:32 am

Hand-forging and Wrought-iron Ornamental Work – Google Book Search

Another blacksmithing book online. Well worth the read, download, and reread.

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By Dave, March 16, 2007 10:20 am

Modern Blacksmithing: Rational Horse Shoeing and Wagon Making 1901

Another blacksmithing book at the same site. Haven’t looked at this one but considering the time of publication I suspect it will be worth the time to read also.

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By Dave, March 16, 2007 10:17 am

Farm Blacksmithing

Good basic info on blacksmithing. Seems that some of the illustrations are missing but could just be I missed them. Worth bookmarking if you are into working metal.

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By Dave, March 15, 2007 9:53 pm

Worked at the forge most of the day. Finished a candle holder I made last week and made a hook. Other things got done too but that for another post if I have the energy.

Made from an old 1/4 inch round electric fence post and a 2 inch disk of steel 1/8 of an inch thick. Round rod beat square, shaped, tapered, flattened and bent. Disk flattened, beat into a bowl shape, punched in the center. Frame heated to just red and let cool to black then dipped into beeswax and when cool enough rubbed with a rag to remove the excess. Candle cup was heated to just red and brushed with small brass brush. Inside was brushed then the cup reheated, bottom brushed then top brushed again. Dipped into beeswax and wiped when cool enough to handle. Cup put onto cancle spike, seated and set with monkey tool.

Bottom view showing lighter brass color on cup.

Hook is made from an old paint roller handle that was found in the old burn pile. Coated with rust but when beat somewhat clean of rust and heated in the forge there was enough metal left to make a square rod 3/16 inch square and over 2 feet long. Have used over half of it making hardie holders and the rest went to a pipe lighter which is still down at the forge. Since it is still raining will stay there till tomorrow too. Last bit went into this hook. Heated and tapered one end and did the loop on the smaller end. Another heat and did the smaller hook. Heated the middle and into the vice and with the monkey wrench did a couple of turns to get the twist. Another heat and tapered the other end. One more heat and the loop is done. One more and the large hook is done. Bit of straightening and adjusting and into the beeswax. Bit of a wipe off and tis ready to hang whatever.

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By Dave, March 13, 2007 9:32 am

Atom Smasher’s Error Message Generator

And here is where you can make your own error messages for fun and profit(?). 😉

Enjoy…

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By Dave, March 11, 2007 2:02 pm

Nuff said…

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By Dave, March 9, 2007 9:27 am

Didn’t feel like doing much yesterday (thursday) due to allergys flaring up, so fired up the forge and piddled all day and into the night.

Started off with making hooks to hang a temporary shovel and rake for the forge. Took 1/4 inch rod (old electric fence post) and split it a couple of inches on one end, formed a T out of it, then rounded each half of the T crossbar and hammered them to a point then curled them and bent to catch the handle of the tools. Flattened the other end and bent over to hang in the holes of the forge legs. Then ate lunch and went back to repeat for the second hanger.

Been needing some hammer holders so made 4 large staples and pounded them into the anvil stump and hung hammers.

Had started another pair of tongs several days ago but not finished them so as some of the dizzys had abated at this point decided to try to get them done. A couple of hours and lots of beating, heating, cussing, twisting, bending, and more beating they were done. Or as done as that pair will be. They work and that’s the main thing. Not real pretty (though with opposing twists in the handles) but serviceable.

Supper was eaten right before finishing them so after they were done started on a candle holder just to try them out. Started out with the rest of the electric fence 1/4 inch rod which was about a foot long. Heated one half and hammered to a square. Reversed, heated the other half and hammered it to square. By this time the rod was too small for the new tongs so switched to the old ones and continued to heat and beat till I got a square rod about 16 inches long and about 3/16 in cross section. Then pointed one end and started bending. Got the bends about like I wanted them (at last) and rather than start with the drip dish called it a night. Will try to finish it later today. Still gonna heat and distress the metal a bit more as the square rod turned out too nice and factory looking finish wise. Pinged the edges a bit but needs more roughness. Gotta watch making stuff look too good.

Will try for pix of some of the stuff later today or tomorrow. Airsoft game tomorrow but I ain’t cooking so will see what the weekend brings. First cuppa tea is finished and numb hands/forearms are getting the better of me while trying to type so will close for now.

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By Dave, March 8, 2007 11:17 am

Decided it was time to move the shed that I built nearly a year (or more) ago to where I had planned to put it at the time. Figured on little or no help so got out my trusty MF135, a couple of 12 foot long 2x10s and some rope. Moved the stuff the airsoft crew had left in it and drove the tractor into position and put the boards in place front and back. Front was on the front bumper and back was on the scrape blade.

Tied everything down.

And away we go.

Worst part is over as I get it turned and make it under the power line without snagging anything.

Half way there. No hands style… 😉

Almost home.

Now to back and fill a few times to get the tractor out.

Bill, Cat and I each take a leg and after a pivot dance get it into place. New home sweet home.

Since this was the Combat Ranch registration stand I had to put up another one. So I did…

Spent yesterday running wiring and getting lights and power put in. Got to put in a hood and then hope to fire the forge later today. Guess it’s time to get it in gear and do it. That’s all for now…

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By Dave, March 4, 2007 8:59 pm

Made a new knife today. 1/2 inch coil spring steel. The new forge makes heating stuff a LOT easier. And it’s a controlable heat.

One side

The other side.

Does a nice job on the chopping board in the kitchen. Cut up chicken for supper with it and it just cuts. Tis rough except for the edges. Used a camshaft/crankshaft belt sander to polish the edge to a mirro finish. May wap the handle with leather. Not sure yet.