Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Education is great. But somewhere along the line, we decided that an "education" is no more than a tool for wealth accumulation. What a short-sighted mindset. Worse yet, it's a dangerous and misinformed mindset. When 100% of our lives as individuals and a society is dictated by the relentless pursuit of wealth, not only are we lost, but we are bound to fail.
One of my favorite questions to raise eyebrows (and kick-start thought processes) is "What barter-able skills do you have?"
Kinda thought this thread would take off better Lolly..
I do most anything I need to get done for myself. Got up this morning to go out to work in the cold, move some snow with the Bob Cat, and power wire brush glass dust off big rollers for a machine we have to rebuild, and bam 2 buttons pop off the fly of my swedish woolies pants..
Sewwed them right back on. I can do most anything, from make my own knifes from scratch, to sew leather sheathes by hand for them. last year around this time back into winter a bit more than say right now I made a cocker of a axe case. I gotta get some pics of that.
The axe is something like a Hudson Bay axe, based on a Ft meigs pattern. I didn't make the head, the head was a Maine made head as 3 pounds American Bit, and I have that axe as a Collins. So I didn't need a 2nd almost the same heavy axe, and cut this one down with a powder band saw made for metal. The stick is white ash from right here.
This called for a nice case, so i designed one. It's pocket and has a flap over the top. The flap has a belt over it. The flap passes over a copper wire fitting I made and riveted with more copper wire and little copper squares, then the belt just slips thru the wire, and the axe's own weight prevents the flap from coming open. The stick is 32 inches long, which is real long for most ay axe, but the head getting lighter calls for a faster speed to bite deep. The stick is patterened of the Ft Meigs straight handle too. Dunno if you can google Ft Miegs axe and get anything or not... I'll see about that.
That is a nice looking ax, Mac. I can see where it would be handy as a belt tool. I live near the area where Little Turtle had base camp. He and William Wells probably walked across my land at some point in their travels.
A couple of fellows I worked with did/do colonial re-enactments. They are both blacksmiths and seem to be pretty accomplished. One was my journeyman during a portion of my apprenticeship and he tried to teach me new ways of looking at problems to achieve a solution. The other became an apprentice after I reached journeyman. Though I didn't have any part in his training, we often worked on different parts of the same project and talked often. JJ gave me a small anvil that sits on my desk at this moment. It might weigh two pounds and easily sits in the palm of my hand. So far I've only used it a few times working on a jewelry piece, but it brings good memories.
The skill I brought to my job was diminished when computer drafting and CNC programming reached a level where any ten year old could punch the button and watch the chips fall. I'd love to get my hands on an old KT milling machine that I could move into my garage. It takes patience and a little skill to hand crank a piece to within .001 tolerance.
As I work on getting the farm in operational mode (this year, please the universe) I want everything to be at a level where the work can be done with chain drive if need be. I kept all the college textbooks and training materials from twenty years as a die maker. My skills at improvisation have some back-up with a library of older how-to books, Fox-Fire Books, and reprints of 19th century information. Last summer I found a copy of Homemade Contrivances and love the information it provides. I recently saw it recommended in "Mother Earth News" so I must not be the only person who thinks it's handy to have around..
Lolly this is the larger head I cut from a big axe. It is the big brother to my little one.
I don't have pics of it complete, but you can trust me it is
The head finished
I have come pretty close a few times to building a wood spring driven wood lathe. I can do that after the shtf I guess. I got tons of junk layin in the woods that should do most of it.
Lolly this is the larger head I cut from a big axe. It is the big brother to my little one.
I don't have pics of it complete, but you can trust me it is
The head finished
I have come pretty close a few times to building a wood spring driven wood lathe. I can do that after the shtf I guess. I got tons of junk layin in the woods that should do most of it.
I like that second axe (big brother). Very nice. Great finishing job.
I have an old forged broadax head (aka broad axe--for hewing timbers in timber-frame and hewn log homes/barns) from my grandfather's old tools. The blade is over a foot wide. My dad didn't even know what it was for (other than cutting wood), but because I dabble in timber framing, I knew what it was right away. It's badly rusted and pitted. I think it could be saved and I'd like to nurse it back to health and use it, but I'm afraid that just grinding it might mess the tempering up. So it's sitting around here waiting to be rehabilitated. I've rehabilitated a few big timber framing chisels and slicks, but doing this broadax head by hand would be quite a project. I've not seen a broadax this wide and heavy except in pictures.
BTW, I love that muzzle loader in the linked picture you provided!
Mac, it's obvious to me that it was one piece. I was checking out the cut lines and trying to decide what tool you had used to remove so little material with such a clean cut. My curiosity also wondered what you intended to do with the segments you saved.
Chris, if you are wanting to sharpen your axe, you'll probably need/want to temper the blade. If you know someone who specializes, let them. You can do it yourself, though. A little reading on the subject and I think you'd be fine. Charcoal fires are best, of course. The latest issue of Mother Earth News has a brief article with photo of a homemade charcoal stove (page 70) and a note that the plans can be found on-line at www.MotherEarthNews.com/Charcoal. Of course I can't actually get there to retrieve the link this evening.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
