Retirement Projects
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Work called off on account of too cold to work outside...
But the lady of the homestead wanted a pallet Christmas tree for the extended family get-together this Saturday. Guess what I got to do in the cold invigorating outside air... (She did make me hot tea when I got back inside.
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All salvaged wood and hardware. Still needs a little trimming, a green wash, some lights, and a big red bow on top.5 -
That'll be lovely for the Christmas-y gathering.
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Final product, ready for today's gathering. (Lady did the painting, lighting, and bow on top. I moved it around for her.)
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d_thomas02 wrote: »Final product, ready for today's gathering. (Lady did the painting, lighting, and bow on top. I moved it around for her.)
Now everyone's going to want one.
Warm up your saw.2 -
New toy for the smithy. A used portable metal bandsaw (thank you e-bay). Set up as a bench top vertical bandsaw with a custom shop-built table (did that yesterday) in a soft-jawed vise for now. Eventually will fabricate a stand for it.
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Milwaukee make good quality tools in my experience. That's a nice addition to your workshop!2
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Fired the forge up for its maiden flight.
Still needs some tweaking. Using a salvaged gas furnace inducer or combustion blower on a dimmer switch to give heat control to forge currently temporarily mounted using 3" dryer duct.
Ash dump detail, lift counter weight (salvaged CV knuckle from that same F150 4x4 front drive shaft) with foot. Have a steel bucket to catch hot ash but currently tasked with a different job. Shouldn't need to dump ash for a while.
Fire started. Using lump charcoal.
Five minutes later. Steel in the fire.
Two hours later. Getting too dark to see.
Two small (3") split crosses, one large (6") split cross (didn't get to the second one I had prepped), 3/8" Round bar now with tapered end (Valentines Day gift, more on that later), 1/2" rebar with one end flattened and bent 90 degrees for a forge rake to manage the fire.
Not seen, 4 pieces of garage door spring coil and 2 pieces of car coil spring heated to light orange (non-magnetic) and buried, in that steel bucket I mentioned earlier now full of, vermiculite to anneal so they can be worked into other smithy tools. (See first photo)
I wanted to try coal this morning before bottom falls out of the weather, but got a call to come in to work. (Stupid work, always interfering with fun.)5 -
JeromeBarry1 wrote: »JeromeBarry1 wrote: »I am in awe of each of you who do things beautifully in retirement. I have skills, but they are not useful or transferrable outside the semiconductor design industry.
I plan to die on the job. In this industry, there is no forced retirement age. There are a lot of people who die on the job, too.
I heard that the lead layout guy for the Pentium chip collapsed and died in the midst of tape out.
I have a new plan. Actually, a new plan was given me last week in the form of a 2-week notice of contract non-renewal.
I will make my living by trading stock option calendar spreads in my IRA, and withdraw proceeds each week. I'll have one day per week of work, but it's closer to half a day, and all the rest of the time free to engage in actually living. I'm not sure I know how to do that. I've only ever been really good at working.
I will be going back for another 3-month gig 1/22. It may be 3 months, it may be 15 years. I don't know.4 -
Two inches of snow today and another two expected by sunrise tomorrow (more than we've gotten last few years combined) before temps drop. Highs next couple of days in the low teens (F), lows zero or below. Looks like smithy is frozen in for the moment. Silver lining, should give me a chance to work on the smoke hood for the forge in my semi-heated basement/garage.
Looking at highs near 60F come Saturday. Welcome to the Ozarks in SW missouri.3 -
Turns out my semi-heated basement/garage wasn't as warm as I thought. First winter I haven't fired up my central wood furnace. Have relied on the propane furnace only and that doesn't leak heat into the basement like the wood did.
Deep freeze is over and tweaked the forge a bit. Added cross bracing to the frame and heavier duty wheels so now it doesn't threaten to collapse at the slightest touch.
I've replaced the rotor in the forge as the original wasn't deep enough (you may have noted the fire bricks I had set around the rotor in the previous pics). Also lined the pan with old broken fire brick from that wood furnace (which is getting new brick installed). Wood ash spread over all to fill in cracks.
Also trying some new hacks to the duck nest (i.e. brake rotor) to improve fuel efficiency. First one is just scrap sheet metal and probably won't last long, but should help for now. Second is a mockup in cardboard. Plan to fabricate it out of those leftover 3/8" and 1/4" plate scraps.
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I've missed updating for a few weeks, so thought I'd catch up real quick.
Between cold weather, snow, freezing rain, and actually being called into work to pull the heads off my work truck (a big block 494 cu in {8.1L} Chevy), and starting a long overdue clean up of my basement/garage/workshop, not much time for the smithy.
I did get that last insert for the forge's ducknest fabricated (the one I had mocked up in cardboard last time), replaced the electric blower, and fired the forge up yesterday using coal as my solid fuel.
I've since re-mounted the blower higher and closer to the back leg as it was interfering with my ash dump. Still using the temporary air duct to transfer air into the tuyere. No immediate plans to change it, maybe next winter.
Tweaked some tongs that I had fabricated from farrier tools, annealed a chunk of drive shaft destined to become a hot cut hardy tool, finished two more large 6" split crosses and two small 3" ones, and tapered a length of straightened coil spring that will become a touchmark (a way of stamping my pieces with my identifying mark). But the main reason for firing up the forge was to work on my valentine's gift to my wife.
Stands about 8" high. All forged from scrap.
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Impressed, as always...1
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It's adorable.
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So I took a page from @FarBack's book and put a week into cleaning up my basement shop. Just over half done but ya don't get rid of 20 years of clutter in just one week. At least you can tell the bench tops are white, and I have some room to work again. (Most of what's on top of the bench is just waiting to be sorted and put away.)
Before and After
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Looks great!1
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Found an old mule shoe during my shop cleanup (don't ask me where it came from 'cause I have no idea) and decide to fire up the forge and make my daughter (19 yrs) something for Valentine's.
Well, that shoe was so worn out on one side that it just sort of twisted into a mess. I gave up on it and picked up the 1/2" square scrap piece that I had used to practice on before starting on the shoe and banged it out into sorta what I wanted. Not too horrible for having started out as trial and error play piece.
While the forge was hot, I knocked out a hot-cut hardy tool from a chuck of axle. Here's a before and after and last shot is it in working position on the anvil.
As the name implies, a hot-cut hardy tool is a tool that fits in the anvil's square hardy hole and is used to cut work while it is red hot.
Just got word that parts for the big block chevy rebuild will be in tomorrow morning so guess the forge is going to stay cold for a while. Timing works too as I'm shipping my broken anvil to Texas tomorrow to have the damaged face replaced. It may take 3 - 4 weeks. Gonna be nice when it comes back not having to search for a workable surface to bang on.4 -
So anvils take road trips? Does the shipping company come pick it up and then drop off at your place?0
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Afraid not. I picked up a wood pallet from work and strapped my 125 lb anvil to it and then ran it up to a Fastenal location in the back of my pickup.
This company does 3rd party shipping if and when space is available on their trucks. No guarrenty on delivery time. Could be a week, could be two. But it is an economical way to ship heavy items.1 -
First, let me say that I'm jealous of anyone who is retired. I have to wait til I'm, 66, so 7 years. I'm not going to be one of those people who wonder what they're going to do when they retire.
A few years ago, I had to change jobs, and now have a 50 minute commute instead of the 15 minutes I used to have. I used to make and sell soap at craft shows, which I stopped doing when I changed jobs. I'll start up again once I retire, but for now I just make a couple batches a year for personal use.
I dabble with jewelry making too and have a rather large hoarde of beads.
Since losing weight, I've rekindled my interest in clothing. I've been playing with indigo dyeing and some upcycled sewing projects.
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I've enjoyed seeing @d_thomas02 blacksmithing stuff. DH and I took a blacksmithing class at a local museum a few years ago. He was very good at it, me less so, but I still enjoyed it. We have accumulated a forge, vise and a couple anvils, but he has rotator cuff issues that won't be improved by repeated beating on hot metal. I'd still like to get our equipment set up this summer so we can play with it.3
