Ted Stocksdale

I suspect the presence of paint thinner and metal accelerants is why my Grandfather always cautioned away from Tung oil. I was raised in the cult of Shellac from a very young age But I can certainly appreciate my second-hand "advice from the late 40's" is a bit out of date with due care to get the correct purity of the oil. Linseed oil was also always right out in his book unless you pressed the flax yourself. There are just too many tempting shortcuts in making it cure well. (And I stand by my claims that it is easier to use and smells nicer )

Besides being oil and therefore needing petroleum products to work with (minor quibble to be sure), it's quite poisonous before it dries, though that's usually not brought up a lot. The most direct quote from the Tung tree article on wiki: The tung tree is poisonous in all of its parts, including the fruit and the seeds, although some parts of the tree have been used for medicinal purposes in the past. According to the University of Florida Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, just one seed from the fruit can be fatal, and other symptoms may include vomiting, diarrhea, and slowe

Yeah... Jantz has this: Butterscotch - Jantz Supply (knifemaking.com) One trick I have used before is to use powdered brass in casting epoxy. Amazon.com: Brass Powder -325 Mesh One Pound (1LB) Ships Priority Mail in Amazon.com: LIQUID DIAMONDS EPOXY RESIN: Arts, Crafts & Sewing Just enough brass to make a paste. It ends up quite impressive, and a lot lighter than an actual brass

I made mine like that at first, too. Just finished rebuilding as much as I could manage because of the issues Wayne mentioned: - Takes too long to heat up, uses too much gas - Once heated, it takes a very long time to cool off again. - Outside gets too hot - enough to be dangerous to touch: melts plastic, makes wood smoke and turn black My bricks and wool smoked for the first couple of days, then stopped: it think it's just various volatile things burning out of the bricks and the wool.

For color, I would recommend Shellac. It is easier to use, quicker to dry, seals better, and is safer than Tung oil (and just as traditional to boot ). I whole-heartedly agree with Alan on the second, though: water based polyurethane is my absolute favorite. Just remember that for any polyurethane, the full curing time is about a week. (Water or solvent based doesn't matter: full hardness is a chemical reaction, not evaporation)

Did you ever get your copper? I got the scrap box from Online. None of these are all that long, though (this is a box of cut-offs), and nothing is exactly what you wanted, but the thicker pieces I got are 1/2 x 1/2 3/8 x 3/4 3/4 x 1 1/2 If you still need it, how long of a piece?

1. Alex Middleton 2. Cory LA 3. Conner Michaux 4. billyO 5. Ted Stocksdale

More "what did I do in my shop this weekend", but yesterday was busy at the place that makes it so I can do these things First off, my first welding project after learning on little scraps: a table for welding other things on (prior to cleaning up all the flux scale) Then, to "business", for my next attempt I took some of this And I cut the rough shape out Then I heated and pounded on it until I was rather sore. But I was able to grind it the results into a small cleaver. I didn't take a picture between forging and grindin

Possible lead? Look at #2618 on this page: SPECIALIZED ON BLACKSMITH ANVILS AND FORGE TOOLS - blacksmith anvils paradise by Emerald Koch (blacksmithparadise.com)

I have a 5# copper scrap box from them coming early next week, I'll see if there's anything

Online Metals has it Copper Bar | Custom-Cut Lengths | Onlinemetals.com -100 Products with Volume Pricing

Ah, yeah: that would make it a lot more challenging! "Billy Budd" is also good.

I wouldn't be surprised if Melville was thinking the older design - his own whaling "adventure" had been earlier. But the two stories the book is very loosely based on were not that old... Mocha Dick - Wikipedia Essex (whaleship) - Wikipedia I have a lovely, ancient, crumbly completely unabridged version that I have read a number of times. I loved the strange, miscellaneous (and honestly kinda pointless) technical details especially in the "preface". If your copy doesn't start off with a chapter titled something like "Notes from a sub sub librarian", then I recomm

Wiki has a little... Harpoon - Wikipedia, looks like it should be the "one flute" design. As you say, predating the toggle. There is also a decent article here: Lewis Temple's Real Innovation | New Bedford Whaling Museum: while it covers the toggle, it does spend some small time describing what the toggle replaced. There are quite a number for sale on Ebay you can go look at (they made lots of them once upon a time, quite a few have survived)

I will vouch for "no bricks" in the "learn from my fail" category: they seem like a good idea, but my quite nice looking brick-lined forge takes FOREVER to heat up. Stays hot for a very long time, too. (Can be good and bad... if I turn it off and close it up, I can go eat lunch and take a nap and come back two hours later, then be ready to go again in just a couple minutes)