Just not very high or hard.
Still got the crud of some kind and having a hell of a time getting over it. Hand is better or was. Used the chainsaw today and it’s been hurting a bit this evening in retaliation I think. Rash is still quite bothersome. Started on a sea salt and epsom salts soak today and 5 hours or so after the first soak it’s a lot less noticeable and not near as itchy as it has been. Still using calimine lotion on all the broken out areas and cortizone cream on the worst. Still thinking it’s some kind of fungus or mold as it gets worse (much worse) after the temp gets up to where I start sweating. More I sweat the worse it gets and itches. Will see how the salts soak does after a few days.
Hoping to do a bit at the forge tomorrow. Will see how I feel when the time comes. Not gonna push too hard after nearly 3 weeks down. The few minutes I spent with the chain saw did me in today but we had to have wood since the temps are a bit on the chilly side. Got it up to low 70’s in here right now. Not sure what the outside is here but it’s 42 in Weaver and 45 at Angel Station so could be 38 to 45 here. Sometimes it’s colder here than either of them as we are about 400 feet from a creek at the bottom of several hills.
Gonna try to get another load of firewood in tomorrow. Then need to start cutting the smaller stuff up to make charcoal with. Want to try to get the 24 inch (I think) blade that Tom brought me mounted on a 3 point hitch frame to drive off the tractor pto to use as a cutoff saw for small stuff. Wonder if I can figure a way to make the frame pivot so I could use it as a brush saw. Or general cut off saw. Guess if I put it on a old bushhog right angle drive or maybe a car rear end and set it up to cut horrizontal or vertical it might work. Gonna have to give it a bit of thought. May need to be 2 seperate machines to be safe. Though what’s safe about either of these things? nothing that I can think of. With a rear end if you drive at the axle then you get the increased ratio from the drive shaft side. and there is the nut on that side also for mounting the blade on. Bit of cutting and welding and it might just work. Use the entire rear end and lock the brake hub on the side away from the pto drive and no cutting or welding would necessary. Make for a larger unit but don’t see that would be a problem with a cut off saw anyway. Or use a front wheel drive transmission and use the gearing for blade speed selection. That also gives the posibility of using the macfersion strut assembly for the blade mount and vertical travel is only limited by the arc of the cv joints. That will be more than enough for a cut off saw.
Rambled on long enough. Will continue this in another post if it looks feasable in the light of day.
San Francisco passes plastic-bag ban – Yahoo! News
About damn time! Hope it spreads and fast. Teh plastic suckith!
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!
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
Hand-forging and Wrought-iron Ornamental Work – Google Book Search
Another blacksmithing book online. Well worth the read, download, and reread.
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.
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.
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.
Atom Smasher’s Error Message Generator
And here is where you can make your own error messages for fun and profit(?). 😉
Enjoy…
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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