Monday, October 14, 2019

To all our family and friends, Judy & I take this opportunity to wish each and everyone, a very Happy Thanksgiving and a year ahead to be very generous to you all.
We are thank full to have you as our family and our friends, thankful for our health, and the talent to give. In Judy's case, her knitting, which is distributed free by the West Carleton Knitters to those who are elderly and in care facilities, the less fortunate and/or in need. For me to give those of you who enjoy square dancing with us, some pleasure, challenge, and laughter while dancing in our clubs. 
I am particularly thankful to have brothers Dave and George with me in the Blacksmith Shop on Friday At The Forge, as we celebrate our first year mark of learning this craft. It has been a blast for sure.

To our square dancers at Adams Aces, the schools are closed today so no dancing tonight, next Monday is Election Day, Oct. 21st. and Aces has been moved to the small gym at the rear of the school, come in the same door and walk all the way to the end of that corridor. 
Next Sunday, October 20 is Cookie Club at Roy G. Hobbs Community Centre, 2:00 to 4:00 PM full Advanced dancing.


That's all I have to write about today, enjoy the day, eat well, and I'll see when we are all a little older. HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

OCTOBER FIRST

Fall is now upon us, Square Dancing is in full speed ahead, the Trailer is all closed up and put to sleep for the upcoming winter, and "Friday At The Froge" is hot.
It looks like the Village Squares will have a full square of New Dancers this year, which is a good thing. Our Program at the Village Squares is "7:00 - 7:30 Plus Dancing", "7:30 - 8:45 Basic Teaching and Dancing", "8:45 - 10:00 Mainstream Dancing and review where required".

Adams Aces of course is well underway at Queen Elizabeth School on St. Laurent Blvd. from 8:00 - 10:00 and is in full positional dance mode with assistance where required, and as we build our confidence we will nudge our way into some A2 stuff just for fun. 

The Cookie Club hasn't started for the season yet, but will fire up it's engine on Sunday October 20th. from 2:00 - 4:00 at the Roy G Hobb Centre in Orleans, our program there is full Advanced on the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th, Sunday of each month.

Friday At The Forge is in full operation with many projects to build, if you have something in mind from the Blacksmith Shop  that you might like, we will try to produce it. We can make "Fire Place Pokers", "Coat Hooks", "Candle Holders", and "Knives", and some leather craft as well, but we will try to produce your "made of steel ideas" if possible. 

Well, that about all I have to tell you for now, life is full of fun and excitement, Square Dancing, Blacksmithing, playing Lap Steel guitar, or Drawing and making Leather Craft projects there is never a dull moment. 
Take care of yourself and each other and I will see you on the Dance Floor or when we are both older.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO

Indeed, where does the time go? It was a wet spring, just the other day, we went on vacation and it got very hot here and wet where we were, we returned from vacation enjoy a few day at the lake with a fire ban, obviously not much rain here while we were gone and now we are already finished our second week of Square Dancing, and I haven't even mentioned Friday At The Forge.
Square Dancing is going very well this fall, the Village Squares have a class of New Dancers, and almost four squares of returning dancers. Adams Aces is also doing well with four Squares posibly five when everyone is out.
Friday At The Forge is great, of course, we have a few knives on the go at this time, one a Hunting Knife, another is a Chef's Knive which looks like a Clever.
I am very happy with this one "ADAMS BROTHER'S #2" aka "THE HUNTER #1" and it's sheath, which was my first experience with tooling and dying leather. Heat treating the steel is still very much a learning thing, with a good bit of trial and error process and reading. We had one knive tang after heat treat was so hard we couldn't get the drill to even mark it.
"ADAMS BROTHERS #1" Pictured on the left, looks very  comfortable in it's new home. It is a big knife, which I am so proud and happy to have made.
Sometimes, when I get to thinking, I wonder what it would be like to be bored, or not to have an adventure to persue.

Oh me, oh my, what will we do next ? Make a Tee Shirt which could look something like this one. 


Front
Back




Okay,  that all I have for today take care of yoursaelf and each other and I'll see you on the Dance Floor or when we are older.

Saturday, June 15, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

Good rainy Saturday morning, as you know yesterday was Friday at the forge where again we started forging out another knife. This one is our #3 which we started with a piece of 3x4x3/8 spring steel the same as #2, and follows the same Adams Brothers design. Both blades are ready for brother George to put the Fuller Grooves in on the lathe and then I will do the heat treatment and tempered each blade, hopefully this process will go as well as it did with #1.
This is the starting picture and the next picture is where we had to call it a day

Anyway it was a good day as well as being very productive one. That’s all I have for you today, take care of yourself and each other, and I’ll see you when I’m older.

Saturday, June 1, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

Good morning readers, Friday at the Forge was very busy today, with three projects on the go. Project #1 was to rebuild a campfire cooking grill, which I didn’t take a picture of, but it was 30” x 28” with 3 layers of expanded metal welded to the top and bottom which were  completely burned and rusted out. The expanded metal I cut off and cleaned the frame at home, which took a couple of hours. At the shop using 3 pieces of 1” square 100 wall tubing 30” long we welded them to the underside of the grill and using 2 bbq grills welded them to the top of the grill and we had a very good open-fire cooking grill. If anyone is looking for an open fire cooking grill 28” x 30”, we will make you one for $150.00 that will outlast anything you can buy in a store.
My next project was to finish the 2 fire-pokers I didn’t finish last week, so with some time left before lunch I finished them. They available for $20.00 each, if you want one. Now for the last project to do today was to start a new knife. Starting with a piece of Spring Steel 3” x 4” x 3/8, a lot of heat and a good power hammer, we managed to get it roughed out to the basic shape.

Our normal routine is to go to Embrun for lunch, the same guys are there almost every Friday and we all chat about the weather and the crops and the gossip from the forging shop. Yesterday we were talking about large equipment and a picture of Chris’s John Deere tractor out in Stony Plains, one guy asked why I go to Stony Plain, so I told him the short version of the reason but did use Gavin’s name, which turned out that the guy I was chatting with actually knew Gavin and had skydived with him in Embrun. Wow, it sure is a small world.
That’s all I have for today, take care & I’ll see you when I’m older.





Wednesday, May 15, 2019

MONDAY AT THE FORGE

Monday, what on earth am I doing at the Forge on a Monday? Well let me say we were trying to finish up the knife project because I plan to go camping on the weekend, provided it doesn't snow. Also this should give a review of what happens from start to finish, when you take on a project, such as a knife.


To start with I made a drawing of what I wanted to make, as a somewhat of a beginner Blacksmith and that would allow me to gain the  required skills  and development, in learning how to hammer, strike correctly, and how the steel reacts to the hammer blows, as well as learning about Quenching and Heat Treating the steel to obtain the best results.

Brother Dave with his excellent skill with the zip-cutter, cut out a mild steel 1/8 inch template which we could follow while forging the blade. 

Then choose the steel which was 1/2 inch thick by 3 inches wide and about 10 inches long, which was the rear Leaf Spring from a big old dump truck.

We cleaned most of the rust off it, welded a chunk of round bar on one end to use as a handle and put it in the forge. Using mostly the power hammer we drew (drawing something out means you do not loose any steel you just make it longer or wider and more dense by hammering it) it out to about 19 inches long and about 2 1/4 inches wide, tapering it down on one side which would become the blade edge. Also somewhat of the shape of the template, Dave went at it with the Disk-Grinder and it started to take the shape we wanted.

The next step in this process was to see what it would really look like when completed. So I got some Brass and again Dave with the zip-cut made it the shape I wanted, while I cut out a couple of Oak Scales to mount for the  temporarily handle.


Now comes the scary part, the Quench and the heat treating of the blade. If we quench too cool it will not take, if we overheat it it becomes too hard, it must be just the right temperature which is between 1450 & 1500 degrees Fahrenheit (also known as critical temperature). This nonmagnetic, and must be quenched in warm oil at about 130 to 140 degrees. We are so lucky because we got it right, on the first try. Next comes the tempering, which makes the blade neither too hard or too soft, but is durable and will take an edge. This is done by placing the blade in a 500 to 550 degree oven for an hour, then shut the oven off and allow everything to cool. When it comes out of the oven it will look like this. 
The colouring now has to be cleaned off and the blade returned to normal colour. Again luck was on our side, and the blade turned out perfect, with the help of a little elbow grease and some emery paper. At this point all we have to do is install the Cocobolo Wood handle scales and Brass pins, sand everything smooth and make sure it feels good in the hand and we are done.

Well, almost done, every knife needs a leather sheath to carry it in, and no you can't buy one at any store to fit this knife, so the only thing to do is make one. Something new to learn. 
Which is exactly what I did, and there you have it. One completed project. Hand made right from scratch. This story is my way of of saying to anyone, that if you want to do something, anything, then figure out what you want to do, then just go do it and don't stop till you have it completed. 
Should you ever wonder what this old Square Dance Caller would do when I retire from calling, I'll tell you I don't know off the top of my head, but I'm sure there is  something out there somewhere I might want to turn my hands or mind to.
That's all I have for today, hopefully you will enjoy reading this and have a wonderful summer. Take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you when I see you.

Saturday, May 11, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

Well now, what a very interesting and almost scary day of heat treating steel. After watching some You Tube videos and one in particular from The National Research Council on tempering and heat treating steel, I felt ready to take the adventure, knowing all that could go wrong, and writing out a step by step procedure, and rehearsing the procedure, then making sure I was following every step, we began. 

Step 1. The Quench: Clean the steel so that it is free of slag, dirt & oil. Prepare the forge, and the quenching container to be in close proximity of each other and heat the Quenching Oil to 130/140 Degrees Fahrenheit, because hot oil has less viscosity and therefore cools quicker than cold oil.

Step 2. Heat the steel to be quenched to between 1450 & 1500 Degrees Fahrenheit (Critical Temperature or the state of nonmagnetic) evenly, so that the entire piece reaches Critical Temperature at the same time. Then quench it in the hot oil being very careful not to cause a flash flare up of the oil, move the steel slowly up and down in the oil to reduce air bubbles until it reaches between 400 /600 Degrees Fahrenheit. 

Step 3. At this point we removed the steel from the quench and placed it between two pieces of angle iron positioned in the vise, and clamped the steel between the angle iron and tighten the vise, this procedure eliminates warping and twisting of the steel and allows it to cool to the touch.

Step 4. When the steel was cooled we removed it from the vise and closely checked it for straightness, hardness, cracks, & cold shuts, etc. Then clean off all the slag created by from the forge, from it and shine it, install the brass guards, and it is ready to temper. 

Step 5. Tempering, this took place when we placed the steel in a preheated oven at 500 Degrees Fahrenheit for a period of one hour and the cooled while remaining in the oven. This results in a beautiful purple colour  with a narrow strip of blue on the edge. This is exactly what we want and where this part of the story ends.  

From here we must clean it, shine it, sharpen it and install the handle, which will take place next week.

Saturday, May 4, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

Wow! Yesterday was Friday all ready. First things first Judy is safely in Italy with her best friend Lois and having a grand time, in good temperatures, and fantastic food. I on the other hand stayed at home, to hold down the fort and continue my self imposed forced labour, of working at the forge.

The project this week was to start making a Bowie Knife, Jim Bowie was born in Kentucky on April 10 1796 and died at the Battle of The Alamo in February 1836. Although Jim was not a Square Dancer, nor a caller, we did name the call Alamo Style after that great fight and I'm sure when Square Dancers hear the call "Allemande Left in the Alamo Style" they think of poor old Jim Bowie, and his big old knife. There are many versions of this legionary Bowie Knife and we picked one, in hopes of making something similar. I drew it out and cut it out, set it on a 1/8 piece of sheet stock and drew the image on it. Dave who is great with the zip cut, cut it our as the template. while I started forging a piece of 1/2 inch Spring Steel 2" wide and 10" long and hammering it into the desired shape. 
In the images above you can see my drawing, the templet on the right, and the very rough shape of what will become our Bowie Knife on the left in the lower picture. To get this far was a full day project for both of us, and we are very happy with both our progress and our results. We have learned a great deal about Blacksmithing since we started in October of 2018, with lots left to learn in the future.
That's all I have for today, Take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you when I'm older.

Saturday, April 27, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

Another great Friday at the forge with the three brothers all in attendance, we spent some time discussing how to manufacture a Compass Rose either out of steel or maybe out of brass and if we were to make a sand mold into which we could pour the molten brass, as to whether that could be done and would result in what we were looking for. All three agreed it was possible and will be kept in mind until it happens. Then it was time to light the forge and turn out another belt buckle and bolo tie with an anvil mounted on the face, turned out not too bad. By now it was time to go for lunch and get on with other issues going on in our life outside of Blacksmithing, and machining. So we closed up shop and got to the business at hand. 

Square Dancing again tomorrow, Sunday afternoon A2 Cookie Club will have the last session for this Square Dance season and wait until October to start back at it again. Where did the time go?
Monday evening will see the end of season for Adams Aces A1 Club and celebrate with Ice Cream Sundaes at the end of the evening. With Square Dance season coming to an end, it must be time to get the Golf Clubs out and start swinging.

Swing is the WORD in the Square Dance Hall we swing our partner, in the Blacksmith Shop we swing a hammer and on the Golf Course we swing the golf club, maybe I should get a cane and start swinging it as well.

That's about all I have for today so take care of yourself and each other, and I'll see you on the Dance Floor, Blacksmith Shop, or Golf Course.

Saturday, April 20, 2019

GOOD FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

Yep, yesterday was Good Friday, and it was a good Friday to be at the forge although, there was a significant amount of rain, the forge was working fine. We managed to turn out a good sized Bolo Tie with an anvil plug welded in the centre, which will match the Belt Buckle I made last week. However, some people think it is much too large for me, so I might have to do some adjustments to the size, but that will remain to be seen. I found a drill bit which was all rusty in my neighbours driveway and figured it would be sure to create a flat tire on her car, so I picked it up put it in my pocket thinking I might be able to make something useful out of it. In the afternoon we turned it into a small knife with a steel handle, our first but not last attempt at knife making. 


All said and done we had a great day, except we missed Brother George, who was away today but will be back next Friday.
Square Dancers remember The Cookie Club is closed tomorrow Easter Sunday and Adams Aces is closed Easter Monday, so in my spare time I am working out some C1 choreography which we may try following The Cookie Club on the 28th of April. Maybe!
Happy Easter and take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you on the dance floor.

Sunday, April 14, 2019

WHAT A WEEKEND THIS WAS

Starting with Friday at the Forge which was only a half day this week because of other commitments, but we did get to refine the Belt Buckle I forged out last Friday as well as making a Troll Cross which is a Viking symbol to warn off bad spirits.

The next task was to sort through the Calling equipment and load it to go to Peterborough Saturday Morning. 

Saturday was a beautiful day and we had a great drive to Peterborough (thanks to Shawna) to participate in the Calling of the Lift Lock Square Dance Clubs "Spring Spree" starting at 2:00 PM and ending at 10:00 PM. an excellent event which took a huge amount of work and organization by the Members of the Club. Thank you to the the Lift Lock Squares. 

Also a huge Thank You to all the Ottawa Square Dancers who traveled to Peterborough to support Judy and I, words cannot express our gratitude for your attendance and support, this was greatly appreciated by us, and I'm sure by the Lift Lock Squares as well.

Tomorrow evening is Adams Aces and we hope to see you there. Take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you on the Dance Floor.




Saturday, April 6, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE


 Another great day at the Forge, outside just a little cool but good for working in the shop. I goal for today was to try to forge out a belt buckle, which we did to some degree, although it isn't perfect and Dave's handiness with the ZipCut made things easier, the next one will be better hopefully as my Forge-welding continues to improve. Even though this buckle needs some refinement, I am pretty happy with it.




My First Belt Buckle
Anyway, that's how the day went by, like a fast train through a station as you watch it speed by. 

Sunday, March 31, 2019

COOKIE CLUB TODAY

Good morning Dancers, it looks like the snow has stopped and it's not too cold so the Cookie Club will dance this afternoon. As you recall we have moved the regular scheduled Cookie Club from April 14th to today, so no one has to rush back from the Spring Spree in Peterborough on the 14th. The next Cookie Club dance will be April 28th. which will also be our last dance for this season. We hope to see you this afternoon if you can make it.
Take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you on the Dance Floor.

Saturday, March 30, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

A beautiful day to be at the FORGE and 2/3 of my planned work completed. I set out to #1. make a hanger bracket for my Yak Stack Speaker, #2. to forge a wrist band of mild steel, and #3. forge a Viking Troll Cross. We made the aluminum speaker hanger from a 1/8" sheet of Aluminum, and the arm band of mild 3/8" square Bar. I am very pleased with both projects, unfortunately we ran out of time for the Troll Cross, so that will be next week.
Speaker Hanger


Wrist Band









 \




That's it, now it's on to  the next project.
Dancers don't forget Cookie Club tomorrow March 31, 2:00 - 4:00 A2.
Take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you on the dance floor.

Sunday, March 17, 2019

COOKIE CLUB SUNDAY

Well now, what do we see, I think this will be a good day for the COOKIE CLUB. No rain, freezing rain, snow, or extreme temperatures, so after a couple of cancelation we finally get to dance, providing this old caller can still put it all together, hummmm.

Hopefully everyone is well and ready to dance, we'll see you at 2:00 PM.

Saturday, March 16, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

Good afternoon, it is a little cooler today than yesterday allowing a slow down on the snow melting process, which is a good thing. Spring will come eventually as it always does, hopefully without too much flooding.
We had another very productive day at the Forge and one more set of tongs added to our collection, we now have one set of each of the following, Flat Jaw, Bolt Jaw, and Wolf Jaw tongs, all very useful and we are getting a good deal more proficient at forging them out. Our coat hooks from two weeks ago are now in use in the shop and we have an order for a few more sets, which we will start working on next Friday.
At lunch yesterday I met up with a High School Friend of mine, whom I haven't seen in about a year and as you might imagine we had a lot of catching up to do. As well as some reminiscing of the days back then, such as Hot Rods "Flaw-Flaw" which was a phrase one of our classmates used to describe the sound of a Hot Rod. When the Addressograph Building at 248 Slater St. blew up, and Patty Mitchel who was in our 9EF Class at Tech, and later became the leader of the Stop-Watch Gang. Fun times to remember, knowing we both survived unscaved, to be sure, and avoided being sent to The Alfred Reform School. As my chum said yesterday, "that was another era, and that era is over".
That's all I have for today, hopefully I'll see you at the Cookie Club tomorrow and/or at Adams' Aces on Monday Evening.

Sunday, March 10, 2019

NO COOKIE CLUB TODAY

Good snowy Sunday morning to you, and just so you know, I am now sure that Mother Nature does not really care much for this old Caller and our attempts to hold Sunday afternoon Cookie Clubs. Looking at the weather forecast for the rest of the day, it is far wiser to stay at home in the warmth and comfort, and off the roads where visibility is poor, danger of being in an accident or in the ditch is just ahead, just to go Square Dancing. Accompanian the weather I still have the cold and cough, and sore back, so although the weather is my reason for canceling my need for rest is a contributing factor.
Therefore Cookie Club is Canceled for today, we will try again for next Sunday. Thank you for your understanding.

Adams Aces is closed tomorrow evening due to March Break.
Have a good week take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you on the Dance Floor when the weather is better.

Sunday, February 24, 2019

COOKIE CLUB DAY THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN

Good morning dancers, unfortunately Mother Nature doesn't seem to care too much for me and my efforts to provide Square Dancing to those who want to dance. I think this has been one of the worst winters for freezing rain and very poor road conditions ever. We have decided to CANCEL The Cookie Club for this afternoon.
Hopefully tomorrow evening will be better weather and we don't have to cancel Adams Aces as well.

Sunday, February 17, 2019

COOKIE CLUB SUNDAY

Yes, today is Cookie Club Sunday and it looks like it's going to be a nice day, but, maybe a little cool. Right now it is - 20 C with a NW breeze of 4km/h and it will warm up to about -6 or -7 C by this afternoon with sunshine most of the day.

I was thinking you might want to know what is on the program for the Cookie Club today, well, of course all or as many Calls off the Advanced List as I can cover, also putting emphasis on "Chain Reaction"- from a Left Hand Quarter Tag and "Reverse Recycle", "Transfer and Anything" with the Anything being Peel The Top", "Fractionals" "Split Circulate 1 & 1/2", "1/2 Partner Trade","Partner Trade 1 & 1/2", "All 8 Circulate 1 & 1/2" "All 8 Circulate and Split Circulate from an 8 Chain, Line, and Trade By Formations", "1/2 Out Roll Circulate", and "Wheel & Deal from a Tidal Line". If we get all that covered we will be doing very well.

Tomorrow is Family Day in Ontario so NO ADAMS' ACES TOMORROW NIGHT.

That's about all I have for today, remember to take care of yourself and each other, be kind to someone and I'll see you on the Dance Floor.                                                     

Friday, February 15, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

Well now, let me tell you, this was quite a day to be at the forge, as we had another friend, Tony, come along for a day at the forge with the Brothers 3. So of course we put him to work drawing out a piece of square bar from 1 1/8 inches to 7/8 of an inch, allowing it to fit into the hardy hole on the anvil. There were a few times I noticed that his forehead was pretty wet with beads of sweat from working between the forge and the power hammer, as well as swinging the hand held hammer. His best comment at the end of the day was "Forging and swinging a hammer, looks like a lot of fun, but the novelty wears off rather quickly". He did say he had a good time hanging out with us, and he did mistakenly pick up a piece of hot steel, but not for long.

I had seen a blacksmith using a Guillotine tool, which is very useful, and can be used for many applications from cutting off a hunk of hot steel or making a groove around the end of a bar before you "upset it" make it fatter by hitting on the end you want to increase the diameter of, or making a groove in a blade, etc. I got the steel yesterday and we made it first thing this morning. We only made one set of dies today, but we will make more as we need them and we will need them. Then I made 2 more coat hook like I did last week, after lunch. Looking back a couple of week when I spent 2 hours on a 20 minute job, today I turned out 2 in about 35 minutes. So speed-wise I think I'm improving. Here are a couple of pictures of my Guillotine Tool.
Guillotine Closed no steel
Open Steel round bar inserted

Side view steel round bar inserted
 All in all, just a great day, and lots of fun. I must say a huge "Thank You" to My Brother Dave, for letting me have more fun than than the law should allow.

Sunday, February 10, 2019

COOKIE CLUB SUNDAY

Good -17C Cookie Club Sunday Morning to you, the wind has died off to about 9 km/h out of the West, which is a good thing and better still is that it will be sunny most of the day and the temperature might get to -8 or -9 C by mid-afternoon. The weather man has finally given the Cookie Club Dancers a travel break.
The Program for the Cookie Club is as many Advanced Calls we can get covered, plus work on "Split Circulates & All 8 Circulate a little", "Chain Reaction from a Left Hand Quarter Tag", "Reverse Recycle", "Waves of Three", and "Wheel & Deal". This should fill the afternoon with some interesting dancing, I hope!
Tomorrow evening is Adams Aces, and again it looks like the weatherman is going to give us a break with some good driving weather for a change. Remember we start at 8:00 PM. Also remember Circulate means to take the position of the dancer in front of you, along the Circulating Path.
That is all I have for today folks, I think I'll go make me-self a batch of Tea Biscuits, run my half-brain over the A2 Call List, whilst you are getting up having breakfast and getting ready for church. Take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you on the Dance Floor.

Saturday, February 9, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

Good morning to you on this -12 C with 35/45 km/h wind out of the West. I know I'm late getting this posted but I slept in. 

This was another great day at the forge, things went better this week and not too many errors, although, I didn't get forge-welding anything. We did manage to turn out 2 coat hooks, one out of flat-stock and one out of round stock. We forged a ball on each end and a couple of bends and a couple of holes punched, which only took a couple of hours when we subtract the talk time or listening to Willie time which is also very important. Now you might think there's not much skill in making these, and you are correct, so my advice is, go get yourself a Forge, an Anvil, and a couple of Hammers, and get to it. You will find "it's drop dead easy" (a PAism).

 For us it's a great day to be at the Forge and having fun, like 3 young Brothers hanging out together, and doing whatever we want, whenever we want, which I think is an invaluable slice of life we are so lucky to have, and knowing that very few people ever get the opportunity to enjoy.

Cookie Club tomorrow. Take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you either on the Dance Floor or at the Forge.

Saturday, February 2, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE





HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY TO YOU! 
If I were a Groundhog I would not be coming out of my hole today, because it is -20 C outside. 
I can now say the power hammer that my brother Dave has built completely, starting with an idea and turning that idea into what is now a fully functional working piece of machinery that will transform a piece of hot steel into any shape you desire, and sure saves the arm. Thank you Dave! If you need one for your shop just give me a shout and we'll see what we can do for you.
I'm still working on my forge welding, but so far we only have had minimal to no success, however, we will keep trying and we will definitely get success eventually.

Square Dancers this afternoon Frosty Fling 2:00 - 4:30 PM at St. Pats High School, on Alta Vista, Geoff Clarke and Bob Summers, Calling and Gerry Sawtell cueing Rounds. Tomorrow is our Callers Meeting, and Monday is Adams Aces, so lots going on. Winterlude started yesterday in the City with lot of things to do there as well.
Take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you on the Dance Floor.

Sunday, January 27, 2019

COOKIE CLUB SUNDAY

Good morning to you and to what looks like kind of nasty weather again. The temperature is - 12 C with a 18 km/h wind from the East making it feel like -18 C. The only good thing is that the snow  and blowing snow is going to stop around 11:00 AM and it will mild up to about -5 C or so and based on that the Cookie Club will dance this afternoon, which is a good thing because, if I have to cancel again I'll likely forget how to Call.
A couple of things I have on the Program besides all the Calls on the A2 List  are  "All 8 Circulates & Split Circulates", "Scoot Chain Thru from Quarter Tag", "1/2 Out Roll Circulate" & "Wheel & Deal". This should pretty well round out the Program.
That's all I have for now, take care of yourself and each other and hopefully the roads will be okay for driving, and we will see you on the Dance Floor this afternoon.  

Saturday, January 26, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

Learning is fun, learning can be frustrating, learning takes time, all in all, if we can learn something in a short period of time and remember that which we have learned things will get easier. 
      So I watched video on how to forge a coat hook or coat hanger, made out of a 12 inch by 1 inch by 1/4 inch chunk of mild steel, which could be done in about 20 minutes. 
    However, that is not the case when you are learning, first we did the layout, then get the steel red hot and start beating on it trying to form a rounded ball on each end, then bend this steel to make a hook to hang your coat on. So, trying to form a ball on each end and keep everything in line and true as you go, after a while the hammer arm starts to tire and the grip on the hammer gets weaker, and the sweat on your forehead is running into your eyes, what do you do? 
   Give it all over to your brother, who gets right at it ,heat & hammer, heat & hammer, very soon the sweat beads are forming on his forehead, but looking on the bright side we are almost to the shape we want.    
 Guess what happens next, our mentor Steve walks in and asks what we are doing? So I told him we were 2 hours into a 20 minute job, which we were and he laughed, at what I didn't think was all that funny. Then he says" Why didn't you make it out of a round bar, make the ball in the vise, flatten out the middle section make the bends and your done. "DUH"! Gee sometimes I can be pretty dumb, like why would a person in their right mind try to flog a chunk of flat bar into a round ball, when the round bar is right there in the steel rack.
  You may laugh if you like, but some day, I will learn how to do this stuff (I hope). 
Take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you on the Dance Floor.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

COOKIE CLUB SUNDAY

Good morning, this is terrible weather, cold, snowing, and windy therefore we will CANCEL the Cookie Club for this afternoon.
Take care if you are out in this very bad weather and I'll see you on the Dance Floor another day.

Saturday, January 19, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

Wow! Another chilly morning in our town, -24C and a NW wind at 9km/h gives us a -31C wind chill. today should be sunny with cloudy periods and the snow starting late this afternoon.

I had a great day at Forge with the Brothers and Steve Morris. Steve is a Farrier/Blacksmith who shoes the horses at Brother Dave's, he sure gave us some real good pointers on Forge Welding, Drawing out steel and Ideas on what we can make. So Thank you Steve this was our first sort of lesson from someone who really, really knows what he is doing. 

Dave has the Power Hammer almost finished and as you can see it is going to work like a charm. 
 Yesterday I was able to use it for the first time, sort of a trial run and it sure can pound out hot steel. We will get lots of use out of this machine.
I didn't start any new projects yesterday, but will pick up more steel this week and get something underway next Friday, may some coat hooks for the shop.
I hope we don't get too much snow tonight and tomorrow because tomorrow is Cookie Club Sunday for our A2 Dancers. Also I want to say a Huge Thank You to Mel and Barry for using one of my articles on Square Dance Calling in the latest edition of "Behind The Mic" which is an International Magazine For Callers from Australia.

That's all I have for today on Blacksmithing and Square Dance Calling. Take care of your self and each other and I'll see you on the Dance Floor.

Saturday, January 12, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

Good Saturday morning to you and it is very cold here in our town, with a temperature of - 24 C, which is 11 F degrees below Zero the other way.
Yesterday was another very quick day at the forge, we started about 9:00 am and what seemed to be  an hour later, it was 2:00pm and time to clean up and head for home. Brother #1 was working on the power hammer which is a remarkable piece of equipment, Brother #2 was working on the lathe making parts for the power hammer and the gyroscope, whilst I was making a braided twist for a poker handle at the forge and anvil. I don't know time can zip by so fast.

Tonight is Mississippi Squares Halfway Dance and I hope to see you all there. 
Tomorrow Sunday is The Cookie Club, and Monday is Adams Aces, so there is lot,s of Dancing coming up.

I have to run now because I slept in and have to make up some time. 
Take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you on the Dance floor.

Sunday, January 6, 2019

LAST DAY OF CHRISTMAS VACATION

Good Sunday morning to you, it is a little cooler this morning than yesterday morning with a temperature of -1 C and falling during the day with some light flurries off and on.

Tomorrow evening Monday January 7th 2019, is the start up of Adams Aces, and we hope to see you all again on the dance floor. We start at 8:00 finish at 10:00 PM, at Queen Elizabeth Public School on St. Laurent Blvd. The program will be A1, with some Plus calls to refresh the mind for Saturday evening's Halfway Dance in Carleton Place.

Wednesday evening is the Village Squares start up and will be a Basic & Mainstream review. The next Wednesday January 16th The Village Squares will host an Open House for New Dancers, we do have some prospects this year, which is a welcome change from the past few years.

Saturday night January is The Mississippi Squares Annual Halfway Dance in Carleton Place this is a must attend Dance if not for the dancing then for the food and the prizes. Callers are Brian & Amy Crawford, Geoff & Teena Clarke and Paul & Judy Adams, Cueing Rounds, Jean & Don Clingin. If you are a Caller and want to participate in the Callers Showcase then please Contact Brian Crawford.

Sunday January 8th. 2:00 - 4:00 PM is The Cookie Club, two hours of action packed A2 at the R.G.Hobbs Centre at the corner of Champlain and Larch Cres. in Orleans.

Then Monday back to Adams Aces, as you can see there is lot of Dancing to be had, and this is only our clubs, don't forget all the other clubs are starting back as well.

That's about all I have for today, take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you on the dance floor.







Saturday, January 5, 2019

FRIDAY AT THE FORGE

Friday Jan. 4,19 found the three brothers back in the shop, admiring Dave's and George's fine craftsmanship on the power hammer, which by the way is looking amazing.

My day at the forge was definitely not as productive as I had anticipated, for one, I couldn't get my forge welds to stick properly, followed by too much material loss during the heating process. So now it's back to the books, the online videos, and try to figure out through a better understand why things went wrong, besides lack of knowledge and lack experience. Then go get more steel, and hope for some good luck and more productivity next Friday. All under the heading of "learning".

That's all I have for today, so try get time to get out to your shop, your studio, your music room, practice room or your ski hill & trail, or skating rink and work on whatever is "YOUR PASSION".