5.12.6

Let's Begin...

This is, obviously, the first post in the Alchemy Forge blog. I’m making myself as available as possible in an effort to get the word out about my metalwork. As I said on the home page, it’s starting to get cluttered up there and this is a more logical outlet for regular updates.

So I’d like to lay some groudrules…. there are none. If you’re being patently offensive, I might have to edit your post, or delete it all together. Please don’t post pictures- you can like to them offsite (don’t waste my bandwidth, thanks ). “Family friendly” discussion areas bother me because they generally unnecessarily prohibitive. My proposition for those sites is to not let children read them first, or unattended. Besides, kids have always known about sex and always will. Whether parents want to believe it or not, sex is encoded into our genetic makeup and traits and curiosity develop early. I also believe that a healthy attitude toward sex (among consenting adults), not running away from it or trying to hide it, will benefit everyone; kids want to explore something that’s “naughty”. Stop being a pansy and explain it to your kid!

That said, what’s new?

I’ve signed up for the SITH (Seax in the Hat) at http://forums.dfoggknives.com It ends July 29 and I’m pretty excited to see the other interpretations of this ancient style.

I just finished installing the vapor valve on my new propane tank- a 10 gal forklift tank. Big thanks to Tim “the Crazy Canadian” Lonnee and my neighbor, Mike the Plumber. I turned it up full blast (welding heat) and I use about 0.5gal per hour and there’s no freezing (yay!)

I purchased a 1976 Ford F250 pickup a couple weeks ago. It’s hard to complain about a $350.00 truck, but there sure are lots of things you’d want to fix Right now it’s a toss-up between the master cylinder and the steering coupler. Both work, but not as well as I’d like. It definitely needs a tune up and everything under the hood is rusty because no one replaced the hood gasket that keeps rain from entering the engine compartment from the top. Paint is necessary- primer grey is only cool for so long It runs good (needs tuneup) ad the cab does seal (no mildew or moss- thank goodness!)

New anvil stand!! The pine box started to fall apart. Now is 4×4 pressure treated cedar, 12×16″ for the face. It’s a little taller than before at the advice of Doug Wilson, of Maine ( http://www.morrowwilsonstudios.com ) It’s now at the height of the knuckle on my thumb that meets my hand (so it’s up about 2″ from before). It didn’t take much to get used to a level anvil that’s a little easier to hit.

That’s all for now… as jobs come up, I’ll post about them (customer permitting) and I’ll definitely add as many pics as possible.

Thanks! Kris