Addison restaurant means we are neighbors.  Let me know if you need a hand with anything.

The knife feeling lighter than it actually is = balance.  Stimpson is being modest if he professes that to be an accident.

Stimpson I will crank up the YouTube machine.  I do truly enjoy your page.

Tapering the tang probably moved the balance a bit forward, but with the blade catcher I think I could have left the tang thick and it would have been better balanced.

Thanks for any YT time, Mounger.  Glad you like the channel.

Gee, that’s not obvious!

I’ve been tuning out sigs for a while I guess.

Also, while I love your setup for mechanical ingenuity, why not put a speed controller on that fan? Just saying...

GENERAL NOTE: yes there will be a book.  Tech Wizard is pretty much smoked right now, she is team lead
for two separate groups of over 100 engineers each.  I need a few moments of her time.   And. I met PFunk, obv.
It was a gas.  PF might be able to manifest a general opinion/s that 1.  I am not a writer  2.  I actually have
a personal life ( houseboy for Tech Wizardess ) 3. I probably have not spent my life behind a desk ( exactly ).
3A. I might have other "pre-occupations."  4.  No, I am not PFunk, and PFunk is not me--pretty sure I can arrange a pic of PF and me and STJ/s knife
at some point, even though you all ( very reasonably ) would all much rather see a pic of Tech Wizardess ( which
would be incredibly charming, and in this digital age would be a severe professional risk.  For her. Because I am probably
( certainly ) not what her peer group has in mind for a companion, or even acquaintance, of any sort whatsoever.
Which amuses the shit out of her.  And me.  Lots of fun.)

--W3kmp!!!!  good to see you make the jump.  Other thread going down--max bad.  Trying to find solutions, see
none.  The dog.  The dog.  Ovcharka?  What a beautiful beast.

--STJ ah jese, on review I could see at that time clear evidence of temper line and so attested (bravo me) but
in real life--GENERAL NOTE: the temper line is almost yarn thin and clear clear clear--another "how the FFF
did STJ do that?????"  Max cool.  And shaaaaaaaarrrrrrp....creepy straight razor hair grabbing sharp.  (Yes
STJ the Sabatier--need Tech Wizardess phone/camera mo mo bettah.)

--STJ I think I've watched all your run/gun, smithing, and FAL videos.  I think I'll watch again/more.

--DFarm we/STJ/the universe approves.

--STJ yes we must have some info on that dog.  Must.  Must.  W3 you hear that?

--CPn/Ron this thread has been 99.999 percent....graceful.  I vote that as chief knifemaker STJ can post any
link he wants, unless tentacle porn, anime, or square dancing.

--STJ, allow, approve, will watch more.

--Mounger good to see you and the Master Plan--and there is one--and it is....Old...takes
considerable interest in neighbors at suitable and meticulously managed intervals.  Agreed
no accidents with this knife.

--STJ the knife as an interpretation of a time and a specific "need" is pretty much flawless.
The blade catch/weight, for that period, would have been "adjustable"--with a file--or heated/removed/replaced
/modified--according
to the need of the carrier.  The purchaser of this knife would have been in regular consultation
with you, the maker, as this/other/many knives evolved.  This is a 'dress' knife.  Meetings with
the Governor.  A fine restaurant in San Antonio.  Breaking the kneecap of a mouthy freight shipper
in a tuxedo with the weighted spine, instead of killing him, because the shipper's long boat was delivering five tons
of pig iron on the Mississippi and then west, and the Gehrs used a lot of iron, and don't like blood on the rugs.

GENERAL NOTE: speaking of which--who here has read/enjoyed "Lonesome Dove"--THE BOOK, not the
(actually quite excellent) tv show/series?  I have a huge chunk of/all plot points/characters/conflicts/reveals
of a Pop Gehr/ancestor/earlier Pop Gehr--generational owner/engineer/gunsmith/educated ruffian of
the original "Workshop" in the 1870/s.

Thanks for th eupdate DC. Hope to,read the book one day.

Missed this.

I would put a speed controller on the belt grinder long before on the blower.

The problem with the blower is that there are too many variables to really make automating it practical.  
-the amount of heat you want is variable
-the flow through the fire, is variable (related to amount of fuel in firepot, density, green coal or coke, is the fire capped?  banked? open)
-recovery time is annoying, so you go off the fire with a bigger piece and so you opt to kill the flow with the lever, when you come back to the fire you have saved fuel, but lost fire, and now must wait for the heat to recover with renewed air supply.

Believe it or not, I try not to automate stuff in the shed, and I am an EE in the automation industry.  It just isn't why I am out there.

Yes, Caucasian Ovcharka, Simba, 1 1/2 yr. We started with Dobies in 1964, have had Tibetan Mastiffs, and now Simba a CO. He loves to cuddle, is good with our two Scottish Deerhounds, and super protective of anyone he does not know. Not a breed for for the inexperienced or faint of heart!

Ken
NRA Life
Oathkeeper

s

That's an awesome looking dog.

How much does he weigh?

DC-

"And. I met PFunk, obv.
It was a gas. PF might be able to manifest a general opinion/s that 1. I am not a writer 2. I actually have
a personal life ( houseboy for Tech Wizardess ) 3. I probably have not spent my life behind a desk ( exactly ).
3A. I might have other "pre-occupations." 4. No, I am not PFunk, and PFunk is not me--pretty sure I can arrange a pic of PF and me and STJ/s knife
at some point, even though you all ( very reasonably ) would all much rather see a pic of Tech Wizardess."

1. He didn't strike me at all as a writer. He's fit, and spinning faster than he lets on. He's more into human behavior than anything. I've met a few writers; he doesn't seem at all like a writer.

I'll leave #1 at that.

2. He has a personal life. He has an awesome woman, he's very well educated; and talked about things that had nothing to do with the thread, or anything he's spoken of in the thread.

3. He hasn't spent his life behind a desk. It's obvious.

3A. He has other pre-occupations.

4. DC is definitely not me. I find it strange anyone would question that, but I guess someone could. I got in on the thread because I thought the story was exceptionally well written. We live in close proximity, and I got to meet him first.

I'll be in a picture with DC and the knife. I'm 5'7 and have gray eyes. DC is around 6' and has brown eyes. He has facial hair. I don't.

Yes, you'd rather see the woman, she's beautiful. She's also in a position of authority and I see why her picture being public would be a problem. Think Audrey Hepburn, but taller.

The knife is huge, and perfectly balanced. STJ is over-analyzing the weight. It's perfect. I have some experience in such things. It's a perfectly weighted, razor-sharp, fighting knife.

That's it.

If I need to specify anything further, let me know.

-PF

--zoe17 you will have your book, and a signed hard copy, hang in there---I just ask that
you recall that I am not a writer.  Really.

--STJ I was fumbling through your text going uh-huh uh-huh ummm....yeah....and then
I got to "EE in the automation industry. It just isn't why I am out there." and yep.
That I get.  I have some machine made knives, I only care that they function.  A
hand made....bowie?  Different universe of value.

--K41/W3 max cool dog and dog pics.  Particularly struck by bottom face forward pic.
Very unnerving quality of molossers/some pits is the total forward gaze/binocular gaze,
very very human, on such a broad wide head.  Also note the "curls" at the corners of
the eyes.  Like a Japanese war mask. Incredibly expressive, resolute, focused.  Stunning beast.

--PF a general thanks and I do appreciate reinforcement that "I am not a writer" (whatever that is)
because the multiple delays here, and continuing, are part and parcel of a previous life(s)/now life/
and learning a new discipline/and studying a new market/business/world.

--yes we are going to do a knife photo

--PF picked up on a number of "notes/themes" in the story that directly relate to considerable
study/s in/of human core drives/habits from a school that might be called "behaviorism" as
opposed to Jungian Freudian and etc.  Yes, they are there in considerable number and would
be part and parcel of "knowing what the FFF is going on" and "knowing your friends, and why,
and your enemies, and why" and so on.

--PF has had a pretty interesting life himself which he may use/refer as appropriate in his
overview of this/all, that/which lend him a lot of insight into what I'm trying to do.

--yes Tech Wizardess would be 'extremely interesting' and she is considering a tech solution to
"some kind of pic" that would preserve her anonymity from "future tech" (the kind she works on)
that will within 3-5 years auto-sort ANY image/facial/other and "cluster" these images around
searchable "identities"--what G....le etc. already does but much much much more.  Our privacy...?
I think she should wear....a veil.  But no, not enough.  Oh yeah our privacy? Nobody cares.  Except us.

Sounds like your tech wizardress might be working with IoT/Watson tech. I work for a company that was acquired and rolled into the Watson unit. Neat at first glance, but crazy scary (think Cyberdyne Systems) if you think and connect the dots.

I will continue to wait patiently, glean knowledge, and contribute as I can until THE book is released.

--mnmiv--like many of her peers/professionals her work product is behind a wall of NDA/s.  But.
It is pretty clear a key part of her job/s is simply increasing 'productivity'...by reducing/eliminating
the human component/labor--simply by default.  We joke, bleakly, about this all the time.  She
wrote (in her spare time, oh...this is interesting...I wonder if...?  Oh.  Yeah.  This works.) a minor
program that would have eliminated 40 high-end interpretative coding jobs in ONE APPLICATION.
For some reason that program is still...."being improved" and has not been released.  I wonder if
it ever will be.  But.  It doesn't matter.  Simply by selecting for and hiring the kind of people she
can work with at her level, she is by default discriminating against the work product of other people
in her domains. It really really bothers her.  She is an empathetic humanist.  Deeply kind.  
Like I said, we joke.  Bleakly.  She jokes (bleakly) that I will have one of the last jobs ( assuming
in the future that people still 'read') because my stuff is too 'weird'--and would be very hard to
reduce to a sorting pattern/algorithm/s short of full A.I.  She gives us less than 20 years.  Bleakly.

Understood, as a side note I’m on the operations side of implementing automation. I was really just referring to a rheostat/VFD option with a handy knob as an alternative to your mechanical solution. Fans or motors in general unnecessarily running full speed tend to bother me, casualty of the occupation of course. Smithing is obviously an escape/“other” thing to do, I wouldn’t blame you in the slightest for avoiding automation.

On the AI side of things, there is some deeply disturbing tech out there. And that’s just what is known about. WiFi routers used as radar imagers, power-line communication, mobile super-computing spies(smart phones), it goes on. It’s only logical that certain people or groups of people with substantial means maintain some number of redoubts against the inevitable.

Edit: Can’t help myself. Maintaining constant airflow would be a piece of cake, with the handy knob adjusting the flow setpoint rather than the motor speed directly. But then automation has infiltrated the space. Preaching to the choir, I know.

That bottom picture is crazy, very cool.

I R EE.
Can't spell geek without double-E.

I have designed myriad systems to control either the flowrate in the tuyere or the exact temp in the firebox via PID.   Simple.  Again, the problem is the variables, even doing one of those, the fuel supply is variable.  The control cannot acquire the feedback it needs to know the condition of the fuel in the firebox.

Controller "This is going great!"
"Wait...wtf? temp just dropped 400 degrees!" ramps to 100% output.
Temp stays low for the next minute and a half since the fire is open due to the large piece being removed...sensor is exposed...I am hammering away at the anvil.
Bias winds up that entire time.
Piece goes back in fire, coke filled around it, new coal banked on rear edge. Still way below setpoint and staying there cause piece is cold and green coal soaking heat...the controller continues to add bias.
Temp finally crosses setpoint, assuming I haven't yanked the piece again, since its temp is the important thing and not the sensor.
Controller spends 3 minutes removing bias windup before ramping down.  Fire is getting too much air risking burning the piece and burning fuel at an unnecessary rate.
Rinse and repeat.

When I glare at the firebox I know what's wrong, and I adjust.  The OODA loop cannot exist without experience.  Making a perfect reducing fire in the middle 70% of a 100 yard long rotating kiln is simple enough.  Teaching any controller how to push 'just enough' green coal into an 8" firebox to maintain a given temp while controlling only...what?  fan flow and (oh Lord this is arfcom) maybe a treadmill?  Not going to happen.  The gains would be bipolar.  "15 minutes to Wapner!"

But yes, I go to the forge to escape the exactness of the world where my mind is for rent.  In the forge I can learn things that have no modern value...and still hold them dear.

How about a foot operated damper?  Kind of a gas pedal type arrangement. Motor speed constant 100%. You just have to find the correct "idle" setting.

You don't want to stand in front of the fire, trust me.  Well SOME days you do, but not for long.

That's an awesome looking dog.
How much does he weigh?

He is a neat dog, I am just guessing his weight at at bout 125#, but will know for sure, as he needs his rabies shot, and I can get his actual weight.

GENERAL NOTE: there will be a book blah blah--um...Amzzznn...so maximum uncool.
Just look at the media JB owns.  And what that media is doing.  Grinds my gears.

--Cpn/Ron--A.I. and deeply disturbing--prediction: this will be THE ONLY story in 10-20
years, all implications, across the board, Tech Wizardress is horrified to put it mildly, we
have several direct links into this/associated domains--really really grim stuff.  And no:
it will not be "shared."  It will be "owned." And not by anybody here.

--Coontrapper that bottom pic is one of the best, copyrightable, eerie pictures of any
animal, anywhere.  The eyes.  Look at those eyes.

--STJ everything on my desk is a substitute for modern values.  A reference to other,
older, stable values.  Everything...

--wingsnthings--nah he wants to fiddle with the fire--an early flow activity/mind/catharsis--
fiddling with the fire.  Like wondering about the weather....tides...

--STJ--I bet a lot of forgers wait for cold weather.  Forging during a Texas summer...I think
not.

ONE KNIFE TO RULE THEM ALL.... Attached File

LOL

You realize you have a 'type', right?

Honoured to have my knife amongst that group.

--Big/D yep lots of fun.  A few more here and there, but that is what fit the frame.

--STJ we will have plenty of blade parsing in the future, some in person I hope.
Those knives were grail knives many years ago--but too expensive to take some
place and never bring back--functional classics--not the best but way good
enough--I'm cycling through the 14/Attacks right now looking for "better"
grips/handles--at some point Gehr Waffen will stress test the shit out of
at least one, maybe make a video, etc.  The 14/s were/are about as much
as I would ever spend on something to use/knock around.  I liked the
old Puma/s, tool steel, they were fine, there is an old Puma White Hunter
I wish I could have kept.

--your knife leads a fairly large tribe.

Randall knife #1 "Look at the F-n n00b, he pretty."
Randall knife #2 "IKR?!?"

Well! This thread has evolved, hasn't it?

I've dropped in for news, now and then.

Still waiting patiently . . . kinda'!

Sorry to hear you're still having so much aggravation with publishing, DCB. Trust me. It's aggravating to us, too!

I have faith it'll all work out in the end.

Oh! The knife is simply astounding! Just amazing. Truly a kingly gift.

Sooooo...lessee....a year ago.....

--STJ the other knives always needed somebody to look up to.

--gungyr exactly, sometimes I think the other knives forgot where they came from.
Now they know.  They really really know.  They are weeping tears of oxidized
iron particles in pure joy.

--Former11/B I could write another book on publishing/Amazon/other: about as
interesting as watching dust float, and--

--highstepper hardly pleased myself but at some point the title to this thread
will read "Soldier's Son Published" and etc.

I love to read.  Always have read a ton.

I have not researched amazon and their mess but you are not the only one having issues with what to do.  Others talk as well here and there.  I actually read stuff here and tb2k and if I can't find something I go looking for others.  Tom sherry, not sure how to spell, was on tb2k but has now got a few books on amazon as well.  I like the shtf books I guess.

By no means do I have a direction to recomend you head.

I check this when I see it bumped and I did grin when I saw the knife pic.

As much as I thought about sending this or that down the road cause I use what I use right now I am simply cleaning and oiling and putting things away for a while.

Trump is a good time for the economy.  I dread the bad times coming back.

Off to midway to order in some 24cpr m193 and that is 24 cents per round to the door.  Been a bit since I recall that price being easily available without rebate paperwork.  I hate paperwork.

--biere, et al.--

GENERAL NOTE: a number of times, going back over a year now, this story/book has been loaded
in an AMzznn test template--the assumption being that publication would take place in a matter of
days.  My point: I have a pretty "clean slate"--not a lot of philosophical/moral regrets--and every
day I learn something new about AMzznn and the world it favors--and I choke.  Publishing on
AMxxnn will be one of the worst things I have ever done--direct participation and profit from
a system I know a very great deal about...and do not like.  I cannot plead ignorance.  And it
will be permanent--cannot be undone.

GENERAL NOTE: I am a realist.  There are actually no other alternatives to AMzznn--I have looked
long and hard--particularly
considering my long term 'interest'--which is not financial.  I have to make money at this eventually,
it just takes too much time, but I have zero near or intermediate...or really any need at all--to make
money at this.  And I also hope I become filthy rich at this, because I also think this genre is a vast
missed opportunity for something let's call it 'different.'

GENERAL NOTE: the new title to this thread, assuming ar15.com still allows thread title editing, will
be "Soldier's Son Published" and a date.

GENERAL NOTE: I am acutely aware of the patience shown here.  I am very grateful.

Good Morning DCB,
We here are / are becoming a patient group as we cheer you on sometimes loudly, sometimes silently.  You are doing a thing that some / many of us cannot do.  We all have different strengths / talents given to us by our Maker.  Yours seems to be a combination of "Seer" and "Bard".  Just as Stimpy cannot take less time than it takes to make his "delimbing device", you cannot be done until it is finished. I will be here as I suspect that most others will be as well.

Well put, and agreed upon.  I'm not posting as actively as I used to here but I still check in every few days...

Someone asked me to...

You do some awesome work stimpsonjcat! That is gorgeous...

That's beautiful

That looks awesome! I haven't sat and watched YouTube for a bit.  I'll have to catch up.

GENERAL NOTE: have had regular prompts from one/and other members here--courteous,
yet sharp, on "not stalling"--yes, I am stalling, all wise advice to the contrary, the acceptance
of Ammzzn practice/s and tacit approval there of is an irrevocable step--ok enough about that.
Have a two week window here with a primary distraction somewhat abated.  No promises
ever again but--there will be a book.

--GreenGiant much much thanks and I am....very very....aware of how long/and evident
patience .re this process.  I think that everyone here at this stage has some kind of
cosmic certainty that there will be a book--they are correct.

--greyguy and thank you as well.  There will be a new title to this thread--you could
just keep checking there--but then you would miss many treats and extraordinary
artifacts--see below!!!!::::

--STJ yes that most definitely belongs here, and on a Gehr desk--precisely the kind
of art/artifact/weapon/tool they make, collect, revere, illuminate.  Stunning.  Oh shit...
I might need a damascus axe someday...

--Coontrapper--it is beyond stunning.  And it could actually...do stuff.  Cut down a tree.
Pull down a shield, and then cut/smash what was behind the shield.  Interdasting:
Norse/Siberian winter/woodland cultures: the axe dominates, the knife slices and cuts.
The Nepalese kukri axe/knife actually a concession to economic necessity: a traditional
culture so impoverished, and steel so dear, that one tool can be afforded/must do all.

I still enjoy checking in here but I find that I don't have as much to add to the conversation as I did when the story was still unfolding.  Watching the knife that StimpsonJ made evolve was definitely cool...

You ain't getting anything else til the book goes live.

I am operating under restraining orders and death threats now.

There is a new final vid up for the axe.  https://youtu.be/RGBoLzPaGpo

Mr. Yeats hasn't seemed so prophetic since 1939.

Yeats is a favourite of mine.

His concept of the 'great beyond' as the source of conscience always fascinated me.  It occurred to me that to most people this would resolve as a form of 'hel', while to others it would be just another orbit.

While we're waiting for DC:

I've found a YouTube video that I'm compelled to share.

What you are about to behold is nothing less than glorious.

Like many of you, I have a daughter. I've failed miserably at braiding, finger and toenail painting, pony tail making, and pretty much every other girly thing that seems to come naturally to both her and her mother.

That failure causes me to better appreciate the masterpiece you are about to behold.

It let's me know, I'm not alone in my struggles. It speaks to me on a deeper level.

This cinematic monument has it all. Family values, dabbing, spray paint, the other dabbing, beautifying cardboard with items from a hardware store, a reference to Taco Bell robberies, 80s wood panneling.... and so much more.

I proudly present to you; our own STJ and his beautiful, patient, young daughter; as she attempts to instruct him in the subtle nuances of facial make-up application.

(Applause)



STJ the make-up artist

You're welcome

Yeats and Carl Jung make an interesting study.  Jung was a big proponent of the collective unconscious and the convergence of archetypes: The great mother, the old man, the Trickster, the tower, the Tree, the Shadow.

I bet you are fun around a camp fire.  Alarmingly well read.

NC, eh?  That's not far, I may call you next time I am up that way.  Or hit me up if coming down here.

Dangit PF, that wasn't meant for this crowd!

There *is* a final axe video up though.

Hah, I try.  I don't have as much time to read as I once did with a 2.5 year old and another coming in June.  Come on by, I'll introduce you to the best hot wings you ever had.

I did not have the patience for watching the makeup video but did give it a shot.

Found it amusing.

Happy to see another kid being raised as it should be.

--greyguy understood on "story unfolding"--post publication presumably there might be some
references to story 'as told'--many many (thousands) of micro-tweaks and a few substantive
'elaborations on existing themes'--problem will be...spoilers.  Most/all discussion will
incline to 'spoilers/reveals'--ok, deal with it later--(oh really?  There will be a book
published? Yes.  And no one will ever think again about how long it took...except the author....)

--sTJ--death threats--oh man that is funny funny--Ok, understood.  Live book.  Knife.
Maybe axe.  Or....another knife.  Ok....motivation!!!!  More motivation!!!!

--Designated/M like many/most here you never fail to raise the bar--some Yeats
for you..."Jut of chin and tilt of head showed Gretzky's interest directed high on the cliff to Billy's right,
where a pair of gulls swooped and whirled in a //widening gyre//, shrieking their dismay..."
--written for us, by one of us--

--STJ, Yeats,...um yes on many things--complicated--what is 'seen'/interpreted/transcribed--
and why.  "Another orbit"--I like that.

--PFunkk yes that is a cinematic masterpiece of patience, dutiful affection, Victorian sensibilities,
and hardware store accessories.  Good job, STJ.

--Designated/M, Yeats/Jung perhaps we should discuss these things someday.  Must.  Publish.
Book.  First....

--STJ--fun around the campfire--appropriate on many levels.  For...
'many people' 'many of us' are probably 'no fun at all.'  Tant pis.

--Designated/M "another coming in June" we are hoping for a substantial
branch of this extended tribe.  Carry on.

--beire--yes imagine the clusterfuck--I would reason that STJ probably owns
all kinds of interesting tools--what a shock--I doubt his daughter has any
inclination whatsoever to misuse them--we will never see her as a public
example of anything--and that is a shame.

There will be a book.  A Published Book.

DCB

Tools are replicable.  What has been made can be made again.

It's the thing we make that we are not supposed to make that marks us.

Oddly enough...this very evening...my birthday...on the ride home.

Daughter-"I find myself...helping them align themselves."
Me-"For a field hockey game?"
Daughter-"Yes, they don't notice that the team that fights each other always loses."

What does a leader look like?

I hope she never has to be a public leader.  
No productive member of our society should be forced to serve this duty.  No un-productive member should be allowed to.

My daughter, I am certain, looks at my tools as things I revere, and yet not as things the world reveres...though those lines, like railroad tracks into the distance merge.

Confusion.

You don't pound belief into the children...you show them the magic and let then decide.

Picture moving the most perfect billet you ever made into and out of the fire for 18 years and you will have the least understanding of what being a father is.

My daughter is both something I made, and something she is making with and without my advice.

It's like watching the sun rise...and being both annoyed by the aberration and stunned by the beauty of it.

Amazing articulation!