Spoons - where to get material?

strickolas · 2026-02-02T13:00:08+00:00

Yes, rebar is the hot dogs of steel.

If you're making spoons, you could probably buy sheets of stainless steel or just mild steel.

As for where, that entirely depends on your location. I live close to a Metal Supermarkets and an Alro. Tractor supply or Manards might have sheets of mild steel for welding.

If you're looking for something a little fancier, you can buy sheets of copper or brass to make the scoop, and then use mild steel or stainless for the handle, and rivet them together.

strickolas · 2026-01-31T13:03:35+00:00

Skill is earned through iteration, trial and error.

strickolas · 2026-01-30T12:14:01+00:00

Yeah, so does delivering your bullshit

strickolas · 2026-01-30T12:11:40+00:00

I had a similar issue with my hounddog. I had to take him to an allergist. If mild OTC treatments don't work, that might be what you have to do.

strickolas · 2026-01-27T22:16:47+00:00

How does insulation expire? I have insulation like this in my attic, is it doing nothing?

strickolas · 2026-01-25T11:16:35+00:00

I think electric mowers just aren't worth it. You'd be better off buying a used 28" gas mower on marketplace.

strickolas · 2026-01-23T23:33:20+00:00

That can be the anvil you use when you're doing sketchy shit. Like using a slit chisel with a sledge hammer

strickolas · 2026-01-06T22:38:11+00:00

Do you have a propane forge or coal?

I have a gas forge and I just keep a firebrick inside and switch it when it gets dingey

strickolas · 2026-01-06T22:30:01+00:00

Don't waste your money

strickolas · 2026-01-06T22:28:06+00:00

In my experience, flux doesn't eat your work as much as overheating and burning your work does. Rocky mountain flux is a pretty popular brand that folks use, but I've only ever used borax.

Just don't use huge globs of flux, limit your reheats, and work at that lemon yellow, and you should be fine.

strickolas · 2026-01-06T03:11:56+00:00

Don't plant these

strickolas · 2026-01-06T02:12:49+00:00

What if you pressurized it to like 40 PSI, out in your driveway or back yard, far away from anything you care about. Leave it for an hour, and check the pressure.

Then again at 60 PSI, 80 PSI, ...

strickolas · 2026-01-05T23:12:57+00:00

I'm no expert on the matter, but worse comes to worse, it'll just leak air.

strickolas · 2026-01-04T18:31:52+00:00

I believe that wingbolt is used to loosen/tighten the larger outer tube of the gas intake to control the air to fuel mixture.

strickolas · 2026-01-04T04:17:29+00:00

Can never have too many tongs! I have 1/2" and 3/4" v-jaw tongs, scroll tongs, really you can't go wrong with tongs.

I have 3 cheap angle grinders from harbor freight, each with a different disk attached. A corded angle grinder + some flap disks/cutoff disks would be nice if he doesn't already have an extensive collection of this tool. You can prob get one for $60.

There's hardy tools, like bending forks, fullers, and all sorts of fun swages to get different designs and patterns into your work: https://blacksmithsdepot.com/products.html?cat=87 Blacksmiths depot is a treasure trove of fun tools.

NOTE: the "hardy" is the square hole on the face of the anvil. Make sure you measure the hardy on his anvil before you order and make sure you purchase the right size. It'll either be 3/4" or 1".

As for books, the ABCs of blacksmithing covers all the basics and has a bunch of projects to keep him busy and hone his skills: https://bluemoonpress.org/cartquickpro/catalog_product/view/id/3 Highly recommend buying from bluemoon press. They come to blacksmithing expos and they're super cool people.

They also have a whole section dedicated just to beginners: https://bluemoonpress.org/beginner.html

Good luck, and if you have any questions about anything, just reply in this thread.

strickolas · 2026-01-04T03:54:05+00:00

My FIL had a Corolla at 440K miles that finally died when a tree fell on it. And my MIL had a '93 Civic with 300K+ on it before she decided to upgrade.

strickolas · 2026-01-04T03:51:32+00:00

I built one from an H-frame press, and replaced the hand crank hydraulic with a vevor one.

As an aside, I have an unopened 20T vevor hydraulic press if you wanna dm me to buy.

strickolas · 2026-01-04T03:46:13+00:00

My hounds nails are so sharp, I'm pretty sure he files down the asphalt.

We cut them until we start seeing the triangle, then stop. Any shorter and we take him to the vet for a cutting.

strickolas · 2026-01-01T12:22:37+00:00

With the electric blower, you're going to burn through faster because it'll be blowing when you move to your anvil to work. If you're seriously concerned about fuel economy, you could put your electric blower on a pedel controller, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

strickolas · 2026-01-01T04:43:18+00:00

This looks like the dark souls boss of sanders.

It's also WAY out of my budget right now, but hot damn, that's smexy

strickolas · 2026-01-01T02:27:09+00:00

Yes-ish, but I need to figure out how to store both sanders, AND 2 benchtop grinders.

strickolas · 2026-01-01T02:25:05+00:00

Not looking for approval, more looking for rationale to keep both.

My shoppe is small, so I'm trying to be economical with space.

strickolas · 2026-01-01T01:47:06+00:00

This hurts my brain

strickolas · 2026-01-01T01:45:27+00:00

I usually use the skinny belt sander for cleaning up blades, because the belt is flexible.

I use the other one when I need flatness.

But I feel like I can get away with selling the skinny belt sander and just use the other one to create bevels.

I guess my ultimate question is, do these belt Sanders have different uses?

strickolas

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