Wow; after putting up with Chuck you'd think she wouldn't hardly notice a kidney stone! (May require a strict diet change or may indicate something's out of whack in her system---or both. Tell her we're all well wishing her!)

We had a fellow in our church, early 40's, no known health problems, die of a heart attack yesterday. Rough on a lot of us.

Thomas

HELEN

I have been telling HELEN and others for years how lucky she was. She is the only woman that gets to wash my dirty underwear.Heh Heh! That could get me a knot. Maybe not.Grin.
She has had 47+ years to shoot me and untold numbers of guns to do it with. I guess she just feels sorry for me.
I have not a clue what I would do without her. She has been one to ride the river with.

The book is taking up time. I am going back through it, fine tuning it. What little I know about grammar and the obvious errors and spelling. Whee it looks like some dummy wrote it.Grin.

I did find out it is going to cost about three grand for the first edition if I self-publish.

chuck

Paul Moffet, forward from the IBA

Paul's essence left us last week, but his body died this morning. Wendy and I were with him as were a number of the fine Clarian folks.

Services at Leppert Mortuary

740 East 86th St. Indianapolis IN 46260

317-844-3966

Posted a photo of the veggie choppers.

Jeff,
Nice job on the Veggie Choppers. I got a new idea for Xmass next year. Thanks
JIM

Chuck; even on CD?

Thomas

Veggie Choppers.

Do you think the SS304 will hold an edge well enough for the application?

stainless

JOHN--304 is a food grade stainlees with no carbon.

It will work harden but that is about all you could expect.

chuck

Mexican herbs

THOMAS--JOE-- Do y'all have any place to get an herb called Can(y)atillo in Mexican. It is called Mormons Tea/Brigham's Weed in Latter day Saints speak. It comes in small thwiggy sticks, you boil in water.
I think that is what the Rah Ra Murri indians used for a venereal disease.

A Osteopathic doc. told Helen today that it would help her pass/dissolve/break up the Kidney stones.

chuck

SS304

That is what I thought, so I was surprised to see the chopper made of it. I would expect one, if Stainless, to be made of 440.

John Odom, I made the first one from 304 since that is what Larry Zoeller was so gracious to bring for use to use when he taught us. I made the two on the right from C1095 rasp, and those got harder than woodpecker lips. I have orders for several from the Kentucky museum of Art and Craft and those will be c1095

choppers

JEFF --Did you perhaps make the one in the middle last?? It seems to have more air in the handle and nice litle decor on the handle.
I think, when I steal LARRY'S design. I will make the handle like you have in the middle.

Nice choppers.

chuck

Paul Moffat

Paul was one of the first people I became acquainted with when we had our conferences at Emmert's back in '79. Always a delight to jawbone with, and a true gentleman and supporter of the craft. I shall miss him. God bless him and give his family comfort.

Chopper

I figured as much, Jeff. But I was surprised at Larry's choice. I have access to a LOT of SS304 scrap, but I never considered using it for any kind of cutter. I would be interested in a report after you use it a while.

Choppers

Chuck, can't say which of the two rasp ones I made first. I do tend to get better at things as I go, so after I make another hundred or so I will be pretty decent:)
The texture on the one came from the rasp teeth. It was on the other one as well but I sanded it off since they were pretty sharp on that one.
I am going to see about running a batch today since we are going o have a dry, sunny, high in the 60's day. I also had an idea last evening for another style to try.
One thing I can say for sure, now that I find myself making more stuff that needs sharp kife type edges, my belt sander is not cutting the mustard. It is an oldie I broght home from VOGT, and was designed to run 24 hours a day taking cutoff burrs off screw machine parts in SS, and Monel. It had a 7Hp 3750 3Ph motor that was fried. 7Hp! Turning a 2.5 by 60" belt!
I used a single phase, and a motor pully that slowed it about 75%. It is only moving about 1000fpm right now. I need to either get more Hp to allow more speed, or get another rig.
I have been looking at the Grizzley knife belt sander, thoughts anyone who has one?

Belt grinders

Jeff,

ONe th ing I learned is that you want to use the best belts you can find, like the Norzons, Gators and similar (zirconium) and run them at speeds you wouldn't think safe - like 5000+ sfpm. They last longer and cut better that way. That said, I've used one of the Grizzly machines and it was fine for the entry-level cost. If I was a full-time bladesmith I'd go for the Bader, but the Grizzly would do everything I need done. I have a homemade one you can see in the Forgemagic gallery, I think, that works okay, even though it isn't a precision machine. Someday I need to put real proper wheels on it and then it will be a fine machine instead of just adequate.

If your has the bearings and trued wheels to support it, I'd just get a bigger motor and speed it up to 5000 sfpm and be done with it for now. If you decide to be a maker of lots of sharp things then you can get a Bader or KMG. My motor is a 2hp 3450rpm and it has no problem with me leaning into a piece of 1" square bar to shorten it half an inch on a 36 grit belt - takes about fifteen seconds.

Rich

Rich, one of my thoughts is to indeed use the unit with a bigger moter. That way I can just go for more speed and get that finese that comes only with speed. I have been using Norzon since I brought it home. The machine came with several boxes of the Norzon belts, in 24 grit! Brought it home in 2000, just used the last one. The VOGT method to remove high alloy cut off tits from screw machines was to use a 24 grit at warp 7 and a light touch. The 24 grit at the current speed will take off metal but I don't have the speed or power to hog, and the finish at that speed is pretty rough. I also have some aluminum oxide belts for wood, and the choppers were first roughed with the 24 then worked over some with 100 grit. Not a jewelery finish by far:)

The one drawback to just speeding up my machine is the belts are a little odd, and a little more expensive than 2x72. I trued the contact wheel a little to remove the years of wear in my lathe, and I am thinking of narrowing the same way. The other wheel in the system is a combo idler, tension tracking wheel that is a factory bolt on unit. Came in a package unit. I could remount the contant/drive wheel and the opposite end and get the 72"

I also am considering leaving it at 2.5 x 60 and use it on wood only and go the Grizzley route. So many choices, so little time.

Grinder

JEFF- I will put in my 2 cents. Grinder speed is best handled with the step pulleys on each, the motor and grinder.
You can spend a lot of money or you can do it the old fashioned way. Make it your self. The grinder you have can be made to do a lot of things.

In my shop. I have a 9" disc sander with an swamp cooler motor on it. I put a reversing switch on it. Have a Bader that has the 5/8" wheel on it. I have all the attachments and everything for this machine. It remains sitting there with finger hold roller on it.
The disc sander does most of the blade and handle work for me. It would be the first to go in and the last to come out of any sharp shop I would have.

I do have a slack belt sander for sharpening blades and to fine finish handles.

Darrel might have moved some of RICHS pictures when he moved some of ours. RICHS machine should work real well and be rather simple to make, if you have all the tools to do it.
The belt grinder with the eight inch wheel I have in the gallery is as simple as you can get.PEROID.
The slack grinder should be in there also.

If you want to make knives I can send you some shop/technique tips that are time savers.

chuck

Ihave a 12" disc sander and I agree chuck that it is the first to go in.
I am making tomahawks and some knives and would love whatever tips you can offer.
I currently take longer to grind finish the little choppers that to cut out and forge. Need to improve that a bit.
Jeff

I've always thought the "Metalworking Belt Sander" Grizzly sells for $695 looked like a pretty good deal. But I guess you already *have* a three-phase machine that takes odd-size belts.

I have the Grizzly and love it. I ain't never had no other so I don't know no better.hehehe I have used a Bador and speed was the only differnce I noticed.

Lucian Avery has a Knife Belt Sander/Buffer G1015 and seems to like it.

I got a Bader. It payed for itself on the first two jobs. Vary smart investment if I do say so myself. The belts are everything. I get mine through Bader. Vary nice folk to do business with.

JIM

Grinder

Jeff, I'd say get yourself a good size high speed motor and use the sander you have. Getting belts in pretty much any size should be doable with a good industrial abrasives distributor which I think you have have. (if not check with Doug at Bader or look at McMaster's listings.) I think the key to good finishes is smooth running machinery and good belts. You can find some very low prices on motors (which are unfortunately imported from China though with good quality control) from Automation Direct- their Iron Horse line. I doubt that the Grizzly is going to be quite as smooth as your old Hammond or whatever other industrial unit you have. I've got a variable speed Bader which is wonderful as well as three different 6 by 48s (two with 12" discs) and a 1 by 42 and all of them get used pretty frequently. The Bader is the one that seems to do the most edge tool work these days while the others are used mostly for fab work parts. One of the 6 by 48s is dedicated to wood only so the metalworking belts are never compromised. Steve G

SGensh, Good advice on automation direct, I had forgotten about them. I am not designing/building equipment in my current position and have forgotten about some of the suppliers.
This particular snader is a Henry Vogt Machine Co built unit. It is built onto a cabinet, with shelves under. The contact/drive wheel in a purchased unit as is the tracking/idle/tension unit. Don't know brand.
If these units were still for sale, making belt sanders would be a snap. Both the head and back units came as assemblies with the bearings, and everything ready to bolt to a rigid structure and run a belt to the motor.

After considering the advice given here, I believe I will up motor the Vogt sander. Not back to the original 7 Hp, but perhaps a decent 2Hp.

Spent yesterday morning getting the driveway back in drivable condition. took 20 tons of gravel and 3 hours on a 52Hp tractor with grader box. This was not fixed for the year, but back drivable:) Worst frost heaving and mushing out I have seen in the 25 years we have lived here.

Afternoon, I made veggie choppers, hot cutting them out then forging from hoof rasp. I also annealed a couple of those rasps, and will saw a few today, and see which is faster.

First show of the season is first weekend of April, and I need to get my stock up.

Thanks to all who offered thoughts on the belt sander.

sanders

While we are on this subject. The problem of the platen under these 6"X48" sanders is. They will throw a dip in the steel of your blades when you try to work down a forged blade.

You can lessen this effect by making sure any lapped belt is running so the blade drops off instead of jumping up on the rest of the belt. You can help this a lot more by gluing a fitted piece of skirting leather on top of the platen.
You don't notice such a profound effect with the higher speed Bader and others like it. Leather on the platen face helps these also.

The disc sanders benefit from a plywood/Formica disc added to the front of the disc. The glue is easier to handle on the Formica than the steel and with the wood you don't have the loud sharp metal to metal noise to contend with.
I like the 9" disc because of the price of the paper and the availability. I have it from 36 grit up to 2,000 grit.

On the belts. There are a number of discount belt sources. Some are so because of the long age and bad glue on the belts, others because they do such a volume.
I use belts from 36 grit up to 6 Micron(3000grit).
You can jump from 320 grit to the buffing wheel for a mirror polish. You give up the sharp concise grind lines when you do.
I have been flat filing with sandpaper wrapped bar stock to get the finish I want. It takes a little longer but I like the way it finishes.

Experience is makes our choices.

chuck

proof reading

I am going to have to start sending these damn things to ELLEN, letting her proof them. Or somebody.Grin.

EXPERIENCE IS WHAT MAKES OUR CHOICES.GRIN.

chuck
PS It is sprinkling.

Spent this morning cutting out and forging more veggie choppers. Annealing, and doing most of the cuts on the bandsaw then hot cutting the last bit gets me three per rasp. made 8 all heat treated and just need final finish.
Went on a 10-12 mile ride with The Rock. Hilly and the recumbant bike is great downhill, but heavy uphill:) First ride this year, so legs a little rubbery, but I need to do a ride more often to get in shape.
Once back did a little more grinding:)

If you never seen an Iron Kiss run, no more mystery. The web site wwwdotironkisshammersdotcom now has some video material--how to make a moniature anvil, how to make a handled tool, and our own Steve Parker making one of his faceted jewels.

Iron Kiss running

Good you got around to doing that John. Great you got such great smiths doing it.
Thanks
JIM

Belt Sanders

We just got a Kalamazoo Industries 6" x 48 " belt sander for sample prep at work. Running 120 grit zirconia-alumina belts on it It's 3 HP, 220, 3450 rpm motor. Doesn't dog down like the old worn out 1 HP Deltas. So far nice flat finish on samples for the x-ray and OES spectrometers. Cost - about $2250, but the model we chose has an integral dust collector. The price drops by about $1,000 w/o the integral dust collector.

Made in America, and seems to be a robust design. More than I can afford at home for a hobby shop but good in an industrial setting. Among other belt suppliers, we're using Industrial Abrasives, Inc. - they'll sell to individuals and take credit cards, and have just about any belt size or material you'd want.

industrial belt grinder

Several years ago I saw that kind of belt grinder. You could not really just call it a sander. It was built like a tank on fabbed stand that was adjustable for height and the belt grinder would tilt back or forward by degrees. Don't remember how fast it was. Probably like the one y'all have.

Rusty the owner of the machine shop did not like the machine because of the track sensitivity. I would think if one person ran the machine instead of several different people. The tracking problem would not be noticed. The platen was about 2' with 3" or so rollers would make it close to a 60" belt.

Rusty would not get rid of it. He said I have not used in a couple of years but I may need anytime.Grin.

chuck

Gavainh, In my shed I have a used, upright 4 x 60" Kalamazoo wet belt sander. Has a 3Hp 3ph. It is complete. I have also thought about either converting to run from a VFD to get the 3 phase, or trade for a knife grinder. Took it to Quad State last year, but no bites.
And heck, I thought the kknife guys would love a belt sander that won't burn a blade.

Sandpile; there are several places around these parts selling stuff like that; I just need to remember where I noticed them. (one stops at the local fleamarket at times; there is several in Albq,...

How much you want as a "starter"? Remember if Helen doesn't like it *you* may be drinking it too (and the same if she does like it...).

Had a good day Saturday and got all but the last two sheets of propanel up for the first half of the shop extension roof. Helps that I'm not too concerned about walking on the stuff what with it all being scrounged and the walls being hail damaged panels. All in shades of blue (3)! Wish I had finished off the first half as Sunday we had wind and rain.

Had a student over to clean up the post vise he bought off me and forge a spring for it. We located a rain shadow under the new roof even in the strong winds and no walls so he could clean the crud off outside of the shop. The jaws of the post vise are a bit offset vertically and I suggested he just make jaw covers from different thickness angle iron than grind down the high jaw.

I've been springing for propane to have someone out at the shop as my wife wants me to have someone around when I'm working on the roof---helps to have someone else who can do some lifting too.

I have to come up with a demo for our local group for April's meeting that uses the tools I can drag out of the over stuffed shop and under the new roof...

Thomas

weed

THOMAS--I have no clue what would do to start with. My HELEN can make the god-awfullest face at some thing that taste good to me.
If Canatillo taste bad it might take all of us to get the first dose down her. She would be hard to find for a month or so after that. One dose may be all I need.grin-------------What ever you think. I could not find any in Amarillo-- Even went by a Panaderia.grin

My Mom give me a dose of Castor oil for being draggy one spring. I was about 5 or 6 years old. I was never draggy around her again, for as long as she lived.

chuck

Worked didn't it!

Rio Grande Herb Company in Albuquerque has Mormons Tea on their web Page
https://www.riograndeherbs.com/shop/cart.php?m=search_results&search=Mormon&x=13&y=6

I'd offer to check for a store in Palomas; but I'd prefer not having to wait as a guest of our government while they figure out that it's ok...

I'll check around town and in Las Cruces on Wed. If it's any good my daughter needs to start drinking it too!

Thomas

My web guy told me that he just fixed a bug on the video page of my web site. Sorry if it didn't work for you. Please try again.

video

The video plays much better but you still can't make it full screen.

weed

THOMAS P--Thanks we can handle it from here. I will order it on line. Appreciate it.

Thanks
chuck

video and such

I went direct to youtube. From there you can see it full size.

Shipped a table to NYC today it was supposed to go yesterday. Guess Fed Ex needed a nap. 0-:

AT&T got 2 hours of my time fixing their bill to me. Seems they are now trying to charge for calls I'm not making. Also are trying to charge me for texting me advertising all the crap they have. I tried to charge them my shop rate for doing their job.......... did not work.

Bank is now postdating my deposits. Decided to put the stop to that nonsense. Asked who I should send the bill to for my time dealing with this issue. Of course I was told they would not oner nor pay the bill. I said when the checks start bouncing because of this post dating deal I will not oner nor pay the $75 FEE PER CHECK THAT YOU CHARGE. I think we are at an impasse.

I'm getting mad. )-:

Okay I'm done whining.
JIM

Banks

Find another bank or a credit union. Small banks treat customers better than big ones, and a small bussinessman doesn't need the resources of a big ones.

What John O said

For a small business, small banks are better....same for individuals as well.

*&#@!!! banks

We've always used small banks for our business accounts & the Virginia Credit Union for our personal one. If the credit union was allowed to do business accounts, we'd use them for that too. The bank we're with now is the 4th iteration of the one we started with at that location, Metro County Bank. They kept getting bought by out of state banks. We're not too happy with the latest one which is based in Maryland, but we'll stick with them for now.

If you're just getting started in business, USE A LOCAL BANK WITH A MANAGER YOU CAN MEET WITH & IS ACCESSABLE!!! After a good CPA it's the most important thing you can have in that regard. The first thing overall is to have some sort of business plan.

My 2 cents.

Tom C

Small Banks and stuff

I'm in the process of looking but not as serious as I'm fixing to get. Thanks for the advice. The bank (Now TDBank) was small no more then 6 months ago. Changed fast! Amazing to see the change in the folk that decided to stay on..... They won't look me in the eye for more then a second. I feel sorry for them-- I couldn't do that.

Got a call for three Fireplace screens that will be glass outside and screen inside and a bunch of counter top brackets. BIG yank job. Seems the lady is one of those "new money" types. Talked to her and told her if I was to pull off the deadline I need her full attention and good communication is key. Then I called the builder, he had a sorted tail to tell as to how he got the job. I asked if the money was there, he said yes, I said I'll be testing that answer as 2 weeks was ridiculous for a time line. I'll go see the place tomorrow. I have a feeling I'm jumping into a frying pan. We shell see...........

AHHHH the things we do.........
JIM

Tom C

Forgot to say welcome back.
JIM

Jim Fecteau, When confronted with deadlines of the ridiculous, I often quote
"Speed costs money, how fast you want to go?"
This will sometimes sort out the not serious from the serious.

By the way, I did not make that up. It is attributed to Barney Oldfield, henry Ford's race car driver. It was in answer to the question, Do you think a man will ever exceed 100 miles per hour. I think the question was asked about 1902.

Good luck.

That question was answered in 1904 when Fred MacDonald drove a Napier race car 104.65 miles per hour on Ormond Beach. In 1906 Fred Marriott drove the Stanley Steamer powered "Rocket" 127.659 mph on the beach which stood for 4 years. He wrecked it later in fairly spectacular fashion.

Tom C

snow

We have about 5" of very fresh, very wet, and very straight down snow. There is three to five inches on top of six inch posts.
Sometimes the flakes are as big as half-dollars. Beautiful snow. Still Snowing.

Will take HELEN to Amarillo today. Spend the night with the youngest son. HELEN has to start at 9:00 AM,with her search and seizure of the kidney stones. Be glad when this is over. She has really had a lot of pain.

One of our cow country friends had some Morman's Tea. Started it last night.

chuck

Ya gotta look at Rich Waugh's gasser in the gallery across the street. Very clever.

Jim,

I'm not sure of the exact relationship, but TDBank is associated with Toronto Dominion Bank. So the ultimate head office isn't just out of state, it's out of the country.

TDBank

Yup.
That's fact Mike.
The way the act you'd think they were a corporate American bank . Guess the Canadians are just as susceptible to greed and moral decay,huh.
JIM

Rich Waugh's New forge

A nice forge indeed....
Have a look. It's worth the way to long of a wait.

JIM