Matt Walker

As Alan indicated Johnson City has most chain/franchise places from lower to higher end. Just tell one of our local guild members what you want and we'll direct. When you see us there'll be no doubt we know where to find food. In East Tn we like BBQ! There is Firehouse BBQ in JC, pretty good and Southern Craft also close, fair imho. The real place is about 20 miles away if you don't mind a little drive. Been here 70 years and there is a reason the parking lot is full. https://www.seriouseats.com/ridgewood-barbecue-bluff-city-tennessee

Found something for ITH this weekend.

Hey Bill, Event at the venue plus the rain has canceled the workday tomorrow.

https://www.anvilfire.com/21st-century-blacksmithing/brass-bronze/

Very impressive: Skills, design, generosity! We hope you enjoy the hammer in.

Jaron, We all expect this thing to be an annual event. Our guild is a pretty solid group having meet continuously for the past 32 years except for a covid break. However expect it to evolve. Alan and I have convinced the more entrepreneurial members to keep it as much as we can like Bowie's at least this first year. In fact there is no local promotion. This forum and leaks are it. Long term goal is for our group to own our own meeting place. So it may need to change a little to help meet that goal. There will be photos for those who can't make it this time and one member just bought a video camera.

This is why they have a hole in the ends. The Heller I found on the road and the other one at a local flea market.

Warren, Hope to meet you at our guild meeting tomorrow at Rocky Mount. About a month away. Time to start cleaning those cluttered shops for tailgate sale items!

Something to be aware of: Not all bearings are 52100. I was in a bearing factory once. When I asked about the steel they were using, he said they commonly used 8 different steels. I don't remember him telling what they were, it has been some years. It wasn't a tour, I was just a tag along driver for a fabricator bidding a job.

I had a chance some/a lot of years back to sit and talk with an eminent metallurgist ( https://www.oakridger.com/story/opinion/2020/10/26/plow-factory-white-house-bill-manly-metallurgist/6046563002/ ) Just starting an interest in blacksmithing one of the things I asked about was my recent discovery that bending or forging a piece that had been brazed would result in failure. He explained it much as Alan has. But what I found most interesting was his description of armor piercing projectiles in WW2. According to him the business end had a brass component that in micro seconds under the impact and heat of the explosion acted to degrade the steel target to increase penetration. Maybe not real relevant to this discussion but maybe interesting to someone.

Brian, you're not the only one who didn't know it is band reference. Honestly I wouldn't be brave enough to wear that or the Pink Floyd one in the area he was in! And yes it is a pretty place. Look up Little Wilbur Dam. Interesting history and the Watauga Lake immediately above Wilbur Lake is special as well, has walleyes and covered with sailboats. We are lucky here, I'm heading a 1/2 mile up the road to fish South Holston River shortly. Study showed 9500 trout per mile!

Next time wear the "Pink Floyd" shirt!

Follow Alan and the others advise about finding a local group. Here is a handout from a demo at one of our local guild meeting from sometime back. http://matthewdwalker.com/beginner-notespages.pdf

Nicely done Alan:

Freezing a tank is a function of how fast the gas is pulled off and volume of the container. I can't explain the physics but you should be fine with one burner and the bottle you have. Yes, that's the forge the fellow had at our meeting that impressed several of our more experienced members. The beauty of it is the cost for what you get. Lots of people here can build a better forge but we can't do it faster for less money. The burner seemed especially nicely built and designed. The same people offer a two burner model. The experience you gain building and running that atmospheric forge will be valuable when you decide to step up. Over 30 years of experimenting this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmunsYUvA_Q is what works well for me making damascus in the size billets I liked to work with. Other designs may/would better suit doing other things.