First Grad School app is on the wing...

I'm actually a week late with this.  Last Monday I sent my first grad school application to the College of William and Mary, via certified mail. It really feels like it was weeks ago.  I almost forgot to send my transcripts but got those ordered and they should be there by now.  I know I won't hear until April (at least) but I'm already nervous... that's great.  My application to Washington State University is next and I think I'll be removing those blog entries (saving them for another time) just in case some intrepid application reviewer decides to look for me in the interwebtubes.   In related news, I'm almost done with this semester- one assignment and a final, then I'm done.  Next semester has me working on my internship, one philosophy class (a capstone, and I'm hopeful it's not as "busy for the sake of being busy" as the capstone I dropped this semester was) and a 1-credit seminar about food choices (based on the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma").  I'll go through commencement in May and finish my degree over the summer with more internship... maybe a "real" class if there's something that I just can't resist.   So, I'm going to have to spend some time in the shop over the next month to get some projects out. That should be fun, although it was 23 degrees this morning. I better make sure that heater works.

Thoughts on banner ads...

This http://blog.pelland.com/?tag=banner-ads got me thinking.  You guys really were doing a good job.  According to that article, the average click through rate is about 0.2%.  One of my blogs had about 500% click through a couple of times and each had about 100% click through- so I can see why AdSense thought something was fishy.   The article also confirmed my gut reaction- people don't really like banner ads.  According to the article, 94% of people dislike banners, just 1% less than the number of people who hate pop-up ads.  Wow.    So even if AdSense reactivates my account, I probably won't reactivate the ads.  I have a hard enough time keeping any semblance of respectabiltiy, I don't need to shoot myself in the foot on top of it.

Ads...

I've had a few emails this morning asking me what happened to my ads. My AdSense account has been disabled, but Google won't say why (it's a "trade secret").  I did submit a help request last week asking why I wasn't getting page impressions but I was seeing ad clicks- no response (surprise). I appealed the disabling of the account and we'll just have to see what happens.  I guess you folks were just -too- curious about the advertisers.   I may have to reinstate the paypal buttons.

Almost out there...

I'm almost done with this semester- then next semester will be one class, a seminar and an internship, then an internship over the summer and I'm done with my distance degree. After this, I'm hoping to be accepted to graduate school where I can study blacksmithing in either the colonial or fur trade era.
In the mean time, I'm thinking about working on projects from Sonn's book or carving knives out of smaller, thin stock. Those would be quick, and useful tools are always satisfying. Mostly just bored, not really tired and wanting to blog about something.

Hammer-in report

Alright, I'mma be honest.  The hammer-in left me a little bummed, and I think it's because I really want to be out in the shop making things, but haven't had much of an opportunity. However, here I am on Monday, sitting at work while our main system is down, and I'm pretty excited about a question that was posed.  Why not make a blade out of just 15N20?  For those not in the know, 15N20 is a steel that is usually added to a stack of other steels in pattern welded billets because the nickel resists most etching solutions- this gives very bright areas to contrast the darker carbon areas.  I don't see why it wouldn't work.  Most 15N20 has about 0.75% carbon (which is a mid range carbon content) plus the nickel adds abrasion resistance.  I think it would be cool to try.  I can't look at many suppliers through the company firewall, but Admiral steel has 0.065x8x36" sheets for about $32. (that's just over 1/16 inch, so probably a 14 gage? sheet).  Maybe a little thin, but that's another thing Geoff was talking about- how thin can you make a blade that still performs most of the duties you want it to? It would be very difficult to forge a blade that starts at 1/16" (most will be forged to approximate shape, then thinned to about that thickness) but certainly many blades end up at 1/16".  Maybe I'll give it a try. As for his press, it's pretty awesome.  It squished a 2x2x6" billet without any fuss and the resulting pattern was tightly welded, even at the ends where these things tend to split or not weld properly.  Next time I'll show up the night before to help him set up, and I'll make sure someone drives into town to refill at least one of the propane tanks.

Hammer-in tryout

A good friend has built a hydraulic press and he's unveiling it this weekend. I don't have a lot of specifics, aside from knowing that he did a lot of additional wiring to 3 phase, had to find some specialized parts and I have no doubt it's bad ass.
He's a journeyman bladesmith and will likely spend most of his time using it for pattern welded (damascus) steel. I can't wait to see it in action, and to see what he does with it. He's having a bit of a BBQ/BYOB- it will be very nice to get out of the house and away from the books for the better part of the day.

Back again

I'm still in school, still plugging away. I dropped a class this semester to preserve my GPA- no detailed, long winded complaining. I just thought this guy was taking off points for really weak reasons and he was bragging in emails that the average for his classes is 78%. I'll just say that that would kill my GPA. Plus we had group projects which aren't any fun in real life, but they're downright painful in cyberspace.

The above means that I had some free time over the weekend, so I cleaned up the shop area. It took almost three hours to break down the boxes that had accumulated, sweep up and throw away all of the garbage that built up over the past few months. When I feel like I have some free time, I can head on out and do whatever. I just need to feel like I can put the books down (to be fair, I goofed off nearly all weekend, just to unwind from school stress).
I don't have any immediate plans, though I'd like to start working on reproducing items from Albert Sonn's "Early American Iron Work." On Nov 7 I'll be heading over to a friend's house for what should be a rededication of his shop and he'll show off his home-built hydraulic press. Sounds like good times to me.

Don't touch the metal...

I DVR "The Woodwright's Shop" on PBS.  It's a show that holds particular sentiment for me, which I'll dicuss later.  I'm sure much of the appeal, though, is that I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to working with wood and Mr Underhill does some fantastic work in those 26 minutes.  Anyway, this last episode had Master Blacksmith Peter Ross from Colonial Williamsburg demonstrating filing techniques.  The premise being that modern smithing usually leaves a rough finish to indicate that the metal was worked by hand, up until fairly recently, the metal was smoothed, polished and otherwise had a high degree of finish work.  During the episode, Mr Underhill touched the corner of a piece that had been filed on two of the four flats and Mr Ross said that blacksmiths are taught to not touch the metal.  He stated that the oils from the fingers were enough to make the file slip on the metal.   I have a better reason- that metal is going to get hot!  There's a lot of friction between a file and a piece of steel.  I learned this the hard way and I don't touch any metal with bare hands until I'm finished.  Smithy Rule #1- if it's metal, assume it will burn you and don't touch with bare hands.

Editing for clarity...

I received an email from one of the folks at DDP and he wants to "interview" me.  Sounds good to me.  He says he'll link to the site, but the blog not so much, especially in light of my missives concerning issues from a few months back.  I assume that a little press will drive some folks to the site and by extension, the blog.  In the interest of making it look like I've learned a few things about writing, I'm going to put some polish on most (all) of the blog entries to date.  I assure you I will NOT be modifying content, message or censoring language- I'm only going to try to improve clarity.

Back at it

I've been wanting to light the fires again for a while. I can't remember the last time I was in the shop to pound metal. June, maybe, during the three days between semesters, I think. I took some time today to tidy up and read the Northwest Blacksmith Assn's newsletter "Hot Iron News" while the forge came up to temp.
I needed a project that wasn't too intensive, but wasn't something that felt like production work, either (something besides sets of hooks or leaves). I found a plan for some acorn and oak leaf napkin rings. The hard part is forging 1/2" down to 1/8" round- well, it's time consuming if not hard. But it was good to be out there swinging the 2, 3 and 4 pound hammers. Most of it was with the 2# because I need to work on my control and it's too easy to squash rounds that thin. I might have the first one done tonight, maybe. I'm not in a rush and again I'm trying to avoid feeling like I "have" to be out there or that I'm doing production.
I think I need to be out there as a way to refocus my mind. I'm finding it's too easy to waste a bunch of time goofing off on the internet (and I'm not even going to smithing sites) instead of answering the question sets for history or taking the time to write quality responses to message board posts for my English class. Now I need to balance working in the shop with homework and eliminate 90% of that aimless internetting. Only 10 more months and I'm done with the BA. Then I will likely move on to a master's program for a public history degree... but that's still up in the air.

EFC 7/21

"Engineer" hardest job in America to fill

From http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/107149/the-hardest-jobs-to-fill-in-america?mod=career-leadership

“Why are engineers so hard to find? 'We have whole generations of people loving liberal arts, not going into science and math,' says Larry Jacobson, executive director of the National Society of Professional Engineers. "

Bullpuckey, Mr Jacobson. We are not "not going into science and math" we're being pushed out of them. If I had ONE math teacher above the high school level who gave the appearance of giving a damn, I might actually have completed my engineering degree. Not that it would have mattered in terms of this discussion, because he's talking about professional engineers and engineering school is a lot like medical school. You go for four years, get your diploma and then you do your internship (or in engineering it's called "Engineer In Training" or EIT). My understanding is that of those who finish their degree about 60% actually become professional engineers because, well, so many engineers are exceptionally hard to deal with. Your knowitall neighbor who tells you you’re doing “it” wrong, regardless of what “it” is, kinda sums up my experience with engineers. On top of that, there's the disenchantment that you've been told you’re an engineer, not a tech- you want to be working on design and checking loads and all that good stuff. You don't want to be getting a "real" engineer's coffee.

On top of that, most engineering schools are designed to get rid of students- or at least that's what I was told by every engineering and upper division math instructor I had. The worst? At UW there was a class that was a three quarter series. In order to go to the next class (i.e. to go from 01 to 02) you have to have an "A" in the class you're in. The class was an hour a day of lecture plus a weekly lab. Here's the kicker, at the end of the third semester, if you have an "A" in the 03 class, you get ONE CREDIT for the whole series but you're paying for each class as though it was a five credit class.

So no, Mr Jacobson, I didn't initially choose Humanities with a double minor in history and professional writing. I spent the better part of a decade feeling like a failure because higher education told me that it didn't want me to be an engineer. I chose this path because history is basically stories and my transcripts reminded me that I was taking Humanities classes to keep my GPA afloat so I could afford to take more engineering classes. Blacksmithing is pretty close to engineering (I get to make and design stuff) but it's more fun to do it with fire than AutoCAD. So nyaah.

It's your bed, National Society of Professional Engineers, you lie in it.

EFC 7/21

Summer Semester

So summer semester is in full swing. I decided that since I did soooo much complaining about my history class I'd talk about classes I'm enjoying. I'm taking history of the Pacific Northwest and a class that I can never remember what it's called but it's about multimedia and communication. The PNW class has just about restored my faith in the history department at WSU. The instructor has been very responsive and respectful about the few issues we've had (mostly technical). WSU changed to a new interface and the bugs aren't 100% worked out plus summer semesters are shorter than spring and fall so they have to rearrange the schedules which is making things interesting, but manageable.
I managed to not take Washington State history in high school. Apparently some social studies class I took in 8th grade had sufficient content that I could skip it. I don't regret that at all as I think back to my classmates from 8th grade who sweated and bitched their way through it. I've already learned a lot and I think the only advantage I might have over a transplanted student is that I have over 30 years of perspective and association with the places and events were talking about.

Here's hoping for good times

EFC 7/21

Straight razor shaving

Well, I bought a derby single edged razor holder to try straight razor shaving. It's a good thing I don't shave very often and when I do it's just my cheeks. It's also good that I'm not freaked out by the sight of blood...
Very interesting experience and I'll definitely give it another shot, it's just going to be a few days.

Edit to add: Boring? Someone thinks shaving with a straight razor is boring. Whoever that is needs to leave a comment explaining himself.

Actual Smithing Content

I know, surprise, right? :) Since I have this week off from school I want to make as much use of it as I can. I started a pattern welded billet sometime in January... I think. I honestly can't remember when I started it. But I did write down what it's made from. 15 layers of bandsaw blade (1/2" x0.20") and two layers (outside) of 1/4 x 1/2" mild. I've folded it twice and I'm ready to do the third fold tomorrow. That'll be 164 layers and should give a decent pattern, I guess. I've stretched lengthwise and folded it back on itself each time. I knew I had limited time and wanted to keep my chances of success as high as possible so nothing fancy. I did have a little end delamination when I twisted it back to straight, but that's a section that I know will need to be cut off.

I think the most surprising thing is how much volume I'm losing with each fold. One more and it will be about 1/4 x 5/8 x 8. I'm hoping for a raven's beak seax that's 6" of blade about 1" wide and 1/8" thick. I hope to use it as my primary hunting knife- we'll see.

Wootz!

I'm very excited to be finished with this semester. 8 days before the next round starts... I tidied the shop tonight and I'm hoping to spend some time out there pounding on metal.

My final project for technical writing was a research paper about the traditional smelting of wootz. That can be found over at brainbottle.net and I'll post the link at Don Fogg's knife forums.

GenderAnalyzer.com

Apparently, I'm a mangina. According to GenderAnalyzer.com this blog is "very gender neutral" but is probably written by a woman. God. Damnit. So I guess I'm gonna have to butch it up around here. Ironically I started this thing by saying I wouldn't try to be offensive and in the process have pussified to the extent that I have had a virtual sex change.

I guess it doesn't really matter... I mean, the three people aside from myself who read this thing haven't complained about my gender neutrality or lack thereof. I don't think I'm going to start discussing anatomy or technique to make myself feel better about the results of one probably fatally flawed website... I'm off to finish my Civil War exam, eat a steak, drink some beers, smoke my pipe and then find some sports on TV after "Dollhouse"... I assure you that was for your edification and had nothing to do with genderanalyzer... really. I swear.

Edit to add: that increased my manliness by 6%. Booyah!

School AND smithing related

How can you beat that? My Civil War term paper, essay exam and English papers are all due on Sunday. Two of them are in the "needs polishing" stage so they're just about ready to go. I haven't even thought about the exam paper yet.

But the good news that's smithing related. When I get done with these, I'll have time to get back to my wootz paper. I posted the survey to Don Fogg's forum last night and had an email with some awesome crucible pics in my inbox this morning. I'm not sure if I'll go the journal publishing or completion paper route, maybe both? I don't know who I'd send the paper to, but I'll have to figure that out in the next month before the paper is due. I think I'm babbling but it's late and I should have been in bed a half hour ago. 5:30 comes awfully early.

Tired

It's just after midnight and I spent about 10 minutes checking in at Don Fogg's site. Man, there's lots of absolutely amazing stuff going on over there. It made me miss working in the shop.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not forgetting the recent lessons: the economy sucks and smithing items are Luxury goods (yes, with a capital "L" because there's really no other way to look at it). I'm basically stuck where I am, career wise, unless I either get a miracle or a degree and I have some control over the degree. And, if I'm honest with myself, I really didn't spend as much time in the shop as I thought I might. It's been cold, I got an XBOX for Christmas (early, even) there was all the family stuff to do, the homework and exams for classes, the hunting trips, etc. I didn't make the mental shift to thinking of shop time like a "job." That said, if I had my druthers, I would be in a place where I could work at night because I really feel more creative and inspired to do metal work.

But, this is the path I chose and then abandoned only to be brought back to it. I must follow it or it will eat me from the inside. Only 17 months to go and then I get pressured to apply to grad school ;)

Etsy...

Yahoo! had an article Friday about making money without really working. They suggested some fairly obvious items, collect spare change was one. They recommended two kinds of sales, though. The first was the sale of books and media through half.com, which isn't a bad idea as the wife and I have been talking about revamping the library/computer room/sewing room/cat bathroom.

The other idea was to sell stuff you're already making through Etsy.com. I think it's a fairly clever play on "etc." The issue is that they're pansies and have a "no weapons" policy. I tell you what, if they want to make some real money, handmade knives, tools and firearms is the way to go. I didn't look very hard (except to find their sales rules which I sort of knew in advance would be based on an Ebay/Paypal wussified system) but a lot of people seem to be very proud of their knitting.

Back to the grind

Well, I did my interview last Monday. My former supervisor basically gave me every possible indication that the next time I heard from her would be to tell me that they found someone else... she stopped just short of saying "well, I had to bring you in here as part of our internal rules."

I just about had a heart attack on Friday. She called to offer me my old job back (basically- it's a different work list, but it's the same work). So I go back to work tomorrow, torn. On the one hand the economy hasn't improved dramatically in the last week and a steady paycheck will be welcomed. Indeed, the wife just received an email at her law firm that they're cutting back on extras and will be laying off in the next 60 days. We doubt that her position is in jeopardy and if it is, she's been there for 14 years and has worked in three departments, we're sure she'll continue to have a job. But it's disconcerting.
On the other hand, the work wasn't exactly fulfilling- in any definition of the word.

In the meantime, I've completed a custom fireplace grate for a guy. He said he wanted the wood to be able to fall into the middle. I tried to tell him that it wasn't the best idea, but who am I to argue? So there's one of the whole thing and another of one of the front corners. I tried to forge square corners but it's not a technique that I've ever been very good at (haven't had a lot of need for it). I may get into some art deco pieces in my free time (Bioshock has sort of inspired me) so square corners will become the norm.

I'm hoping to have some production knives posted within the week, too. I do need to take the time to actually do my homework. I can't goof off at all.

Tongs!!

This super awesome tongs video was posted to Don Fogg's bladesmith forums last week. It does a really good job of showing all the steps and none of the processes are particularly difficult. When I made my first pair we were shown how to make "Poz" tongs. To make each jaw we slit the mouths of the jaws to take the bar stock we were using and used a piece of the stock to make the jaws fit. I think I much prefer to twist and use the square stock to make the impression. We also punched the hole for the rivet. I think I prefer that because it will leave most of the material that's there to start with. Plus the bulge from punching looks good :)

Full time.... so close, so far

Last week the wife and I were driving around and I was lamenting my inability to find employment to my liking. Surprise. What did surprise me was when she told me that she'd be completely supportive of my metal work as long as I worked at it full time. Awesome.
So the weekend came and went and on Monday I spent about 6.5 hours in the shop working on a commission piece. Then a conversation I'd been working on came back to me. My former supervisor emailed me and told me what I would need to do in order to reapply for my previous job. Well, it appears that full time smithing is going back on hold. I suppose I'm not completely disappointed. The economy is basically in the dumpster and I'd say 90% of smithing work is easily considered "luxury." Even Geoff at 5 Elements Forge has been blanked at a couple of shows lately (ok, he said he'd had a bad show in October but I don't imagine he's done a lot more shows since then)... anyway his account was that guys who normally do several thousand dollars in sales barely walked away with their vendor fees.

So we'll see what happens. I don't have the job yet and I still need to actually do the application. My motherin-law passed away Tuesday night and we're in OK to take care of the funeral services. If the office is open on Monday (MLK Jr Day) I'm going in to take care of that.