dennis mcadams

Well done indeed. Great workmanship.

Careful there Jesus, I'll make you a set to take away any excuses for failure and don't forget Mark's calibrated eyes as he ok'd all charges.

Well to chime in myself. I cannot say thank you enough to Alan for making this happen. It was a great opportunity to be part of an historic smelt indeed. The fellowship, chance to learn on a rather difficult ore, and some of the best weather you could ask for in East Tennessee in Feb. to boot. It doesn't seem to matter how many times I help or do this I still get excited seeing the bloom hanging there ready to drop knowing that we are doing something akin to the way it was done a couple of thousand years ago. My hats off to Jesus and Mark for their differing approaches to the same result. Alan and Chris for all the willingness to just get in there and do what need doing. I'm honored to call these guys my friends. Stepping off the soapbox for now. Denis Oh Randall never underestimate the fun of rabbit poop.

Useful it is O burner of solid fuel! Thanks for the tip. That would also easily translate to a charcoal fire it seems? Denis

Ichiban

Jim, that feather gives me so much to look at just in the technical details let alone the finish and artistry. I'm gobsmacked. Thanks for the tip on polishing back through a depletion gilt area to create those wonderful transitions. I'll put that one to use. Denis

Inspiring as usual Jim!

Looks like fun Mark. Are you going to use propane and blown burners? is that a graphite or silicon carbide crucible?

I'm not looking to market for him but if you search for Kelly Cupples he has been a supplier of powdered metals including pure nickel. Having seen crucible made powdered form may be better?

Kanpai Mark-san.

Looking forward to seeing it progress Mark.

It was indeed! When mark says "we" figured it out in the end he of course means he and Jesus. The wealth of working knowledge that these two are building is pretty inspiring to the likes of me. It's always a learning experience to get to help them with a smelt. I need to learn to make sure that we get a photo of me with my gob closed and Jesus talking! It does happen, I swear.

What good is it to visit another smithy if you canna borrow tooling ideas? Well done!

Thanks for the help guys. Jesus, while my newer controller has a slightly different jumper arrangement seeing how yours is configured solved the problem. Mine has always been set up for maximum torque and less speed so even at 10% you almost couldn't load it down. But now it runs crazy fast and has all the original torque at 60% plus speed but suffers a little torque loss at slower than 30%. I can live with that since it hogs off material at 100% like it never has! Denis

Here is another grinder question. I've had a BIII for a number of years and had to replace the controller due to an electrical failure. As this is the only one i've run much I thought they were supposed to run fairly slow but with lots of torque at 100 % but now I've seen a couple of others that run much faster than mine and I'm asking anybody who has one if they could share how their jumpers are configured. Mine is a 2HP variable speed DC model, 240 single phase input (what some call 220 single phase). Thanks in advance, Denis

Always great to see old friends and make new ones as well. Thanks Mark for hosting yet another smelt you always seem to be able to have everything ready to go and as evidenced by the photographic evidence (thanks Jesus!) I mostly just sit and watch the stack. Denis

I love the breathing sound it gives. That should be a joy to be near when running. Too bad more of us aren't closer geographically. Great job!

To anyone interested in this event but was unable to secure a spot I have good news for you! As I will be unable to attend I am selling my reservation. You can either PM me or send me an email to dennisbmcadams@gmail.com for the details. Good luck.

Like its maker it is quiet and understated.

So back to the shop for me and no photos of any hawks until they look much more like yours Alan! The tongs you mentioned early in the post look a lot like a pair actually two I have that Jack Wheeler from Chattanooga made me. As a side note he is the man who taught me to blacksmith and I hope to make him proud before he leaves this plane of existence. Denis

I wish I could have made it one of the last two smelts. Maybe I can before it gets really hot!?

Looks like it's going well Mark! And not to correct the wise and powerful Longmire but that looks a lot like mokume hada.Either way it IS cool. As for any slight inclusions they are in almost every old blade made from these types of materials it's only with either thousands of layers as in Japanese blades or modern mill steels that we have come to expect perfectly clean blades at the weld boundaries. My opinion anyway. Keep up the good work. With all that bloom material you've been making there are lots of blades to come. Denis

To my now fellow Dudeist Priest, "This aggression will not stand, Man!" To those who may not understand, Chris will. Rev. Denis McAdams

Ahhhh, that explains the extra coal train I've seen headin' your way! Great work as always my friend! Denis

Well done. "Because I can" may very well be the best answer ever created for the questioning minds. Denis