Anyone changing anything in light of Iran/Iraq?

[redman2006]

Exactly that, is anyone changing anything they are doing? I have to travel to Cincinnati this weekend with M and baby H, and I might be giving a little more thought to it than usual, but other that, I don't see anything to change at this time.

[olfart]

No changes for us. We are at our permanent bug-in site, so the world can fade into oblivion and we won't know about it unless we happen to turn on the news.

[0utlaw]

Same deal here olfart, well I might have bumped up my pistachio reserves....just in case.

[kickstand]

Does not losing the extra 10 lbs (well, 30 lbs would be better) count as a "prep"? Ya know, in case I need to live off the "fat of the land"?

[redman2006]

I have decided to actively start working on diminishing that prep myself. Having the baby and 2 skinny women, it is hard. They dont see an issue, and it makes it tough.

[olfart]

Most folks would tell you it's just a matter of will power. NOT SO! It's a matter of WON'T power. I won't eat all that stuff she put on my plate. I won't sit and eat fried pies while watching TV at night. I won't have that bag of popcorn during the football game. You only have to ignore that the skinny women can eat anything they want, and take control over what you put in your mouth. Then get out of the house at every opportunity instead of sitting in front of the computer on Farcebook or some other site. Yeah, that's tough. But that's what it takes.

Now if only I could do all that...

[redman2006]

My wife likes to cook, I like to eat. Bad combo. I stay active around here with all the chores. Never been one for "exercise" as such. I never learned how to work out and feel like a monkey effing the football in a gym. I know that I need it, but am really uncomfortable there.

[olfart]

Take up a hobby like blacksmithing. Good exercise while having fun doing it, not to mention it's a great skill to have when everything goes down the drain. I like being able to make my own tools... hammers, tongs, punches, chisels, knives, stuff for the wife, etc. Her favorite so far is the paper towel holder with 3 horse shoes as the base and a doubled and twisted 3/8" rod topped with a heart for the upright. It's stout enough that you don't yank it off the table when tearing off a paper towel.

New Towel Holder.jpg

[AussieDarren]

Agree on the Blacksmithing, joins in with my knife making which does not include as much physical work
Tripod.jpg
punches and chisel.jpg

[kickstand]

Fire + steel = Blacksmithing

Blacksmithing + talent = Sharps

Sharps + kickstand = bad

[redman2006]

Nice work. What do you use for a forge?

[olfart]

Nice tripod and tools, Darren. All you need now is a pot hanger so your pots don't try to tilt on the hooks.

Pot Hanger.jpg

[redman2006]

BTW, love the face nailed floors. Is it an old home or did you do that for a rustic look?

[olfart]

Nice work. What do you use for a forge?

Was that addressed to me or to Darren? If to me, I have homebrew coal and gas forges. The coal forge is simply a steel plate table with an 8" square hole in the middle. In the hole is a slope-sided firepit 4" deep with a 2" air pipe in the bottom. I have a hand-cranked blower and can use an old hair dryer if I'm feeling lazy. The gas forge is made from a 20 pound propane tank with both ends cut out, lined with rigidized Kaowool and coated inside with ceramic refractory material. The burner is a "ribbon" or multi-port, naturally-aspirated burner. Here's a pic of the gas setup:

New Gasser.JPG

[AussieDarren]

Nice olfart, seeing that i can see a couple of designs in my head to do something similar with some bar stock instead of the horseshoe.
Redman2006 older house but we kept face nailed boards here a lot longer than in the states, done a few on production house about 30 years back.
Forges I run a gas venturi burner on LPG (Propane), small Coke forge that I'm looking to replace soon, have a new brake drum and body ready to go and i will swap over the fan from the other one, Also have an electric heat treat oven for my knives.
Saying all of that i started with an old round picnic Grill with a hair dryer running into it would run charcoal if i got a chance to make it or direct burn timber chunks and would still get to non magnetic to Heat treat knives.