Made myself a belt grinder!

I built myself a belt grinder for the shop. This is a handy piece of equipment, that if purchased new could have easily cost me several hundred dollars. I spent a total of about $70 on this one. I won't bore my dear readers with specs, so I'll shut up and let the pics speak for themselves.

I was screwing a small thin metal piece on with an electric screw gun when the screw hung up on the thin piece. It spun around and cut the width of my finger on the end. It was pretty deep. I had to stop work to clean it up, and then wrap it up.

The grinder needs some mounting feet and I need to build a designated work table for it. All of that comes later though.

For now, it works and it works well! I'm happy!

I'm an artist....officially!

Fiery Furnace Forge Blacksmith LLC is now a juried artist in the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen.

I got the notification in the mail today.

In the notification letter I also received the juror's comments and checklist.
I received a "strong point" rating in every technique, design, and finish category except one, and that one area does not apply to my work so it simply received a N/A. (not applicable!)

I also received several hand written comments praising finish, design, and attention to detail!

I'm THRILLED!



I have been having trouble with my online photo uploader, making it extremely difficult to upload and post photos. Hence my recent lack of posting.

I have just now mounted my post vise I purchased back in July at the National ABANA Conference. Credit to whom credit is due. The ONLY reason I have this vise today, is because of two guys out at ABANA. One guy heard me talking to the seller of the vise about the difficulties and costs of me having to ship the vise from Rapid City South Dakota all the way back here to Kentucky. The guy that overheard me talking, came up the next day and said, "but the vise and I'll ship it back." Sure enough I bought it, and this guy and another guy covered all arrangements and costs of shipping a 100 pound + vise back to KY. You guys are AWESOME!

Here she is! A massive, 6.25-inch Columbian post vise. It's awesome when your vise makes your 300 pound anvil look small! 

This is the screw! It's been collecting dust so I'll clean it off and regrease it. 

Here it is cleaned up and regreased. It is an AWESOME screw. Still very clean and crisp with very little wear. 

Here is the new stand under construction!

And here she is! Bolted, wedges, and in position. It's solid as a rock. The table around the back of the vise will eventually get a lip around the edge and hammer/tool holders as well. All of that can be done where it is now though.

Here is my old vise and it's mount. I've been using this little four inch vise for seven years. It is going to get a well earned break, but will soon be put back to use in another portion of the shop. All the heavy work will get done on the big vise but the little one will be handy for well....uhh little things.

Now to illustrate what I was talking about with the picture uploading problem, I just uploaded those photos that you have just seen. It took me about 20 minutes. It used to take me about 30 seconds.