Hello, Benjamin from Brother’s Campfire here!
It was easy to get up this morning as Sunday was a cheat day. I carb loaded like crazy and was ready for anything this morning. I started with prayer and Bible reading.
After dropping the kids off at school, we decided to go shopping. We opted for Harbor Freight. My Beloved was totally out of control and slid about on her new wheels.
I was mortified. She may have fallen and hurt herself or others. In all my wisdom, I counseled her for her behavior in a store, from a vantage point of course.
I find it interesting that as long as you are wearing a face mask and social distancing, you can engage how you will. Some of the employees found us amusing. I mean, who swings a hammer left handed?
We moved on down the way to a discount food store. I could not pass up a 2 pound bag of Dark Roast, Straight Shooter, A Double Bareled Cup Of Joe. I cant wait to to try it as it smelled amazing!
We headed home and experimented in the kitchen a bit, wrapping duck eggs around pinto beans. It was different, but well seasoned and tasty.
Back at the Harbor Freight, I picked up a few items for future projects. We will see how it all goes.
I spent most of the day talking to my Beloved. It was great and we drank lots of coffee. We have plans, goals, and dreams for this year.
On of my goals is to learn a new skill. Recently, I took a smithing class with my son and mounted a railroad rail to a stump so we can get some practice in. It’s not much, but is more anvil than I had before.
To shape metal you need heat so pulled some red brick from the yard to make a forge of sorts. I have never made one but I know it needs to retain heat.
After building a Campfire, I began shifting the coals into the enclosed area and connected a blow dryer for air.
There were a lot of adjustments to be made, and I finally was able to accomplish a toasty little fire.
Today was a proof of concept day so I heated up a large nail. It did the job.
I can see that it will be a journey to navigate all this. I think my first project will be a simple mild steel knife. I may attempt to manufacture tongs first as the channel locks were a wee bit short and slipped from overheating hands.
Oh well. We had fun building a fire and enjoying ourselves.
Author: Benjamin
Benjamin Thiel is a community leader, urban farmer, and author of The Ongoing Tale at Brothers Campfire. He might know a guy...
Very cool. It will be interesting to see how the tongs come out.
They will be a challenge.
I keep leaving your blog being very, very hungry- 😹🌞🌸
Have a great day with your family! VVN
Thank you, you as well!
I’m pretty sure HarborFreight carries “dip rubber”, specifically intended for making tool grips. Just something to get you by awhile longer, and have an excuse to return to HarborFreight!
That is an excellent idea, Bubbles! I love those kind of excuses!
I LOVE Harbor Freight! I also thought your pictures of you and the Beloved horsing around on the dollies were hilarious! Maybe I’m just humor deprived, but I so miss browsing in stores and looking at stuff I wasn’t planning to buy but “hey, this looks fun.” I’m glad you got a day off to spend with family. Be careful with the home forge, however! I took a horseshoeing class, which included a lesson on using an old-fashioned smithy, and I actually melted the tongs I brought from home. Thank goodness modern horseshoes don’t need to be heated and pounded on an anvil anymore.
Fortunately, though we were horsing around, we jave no plans on wearing metal shoes so we are good there. Thank you for the advice about the forge. Mine was not tong melting hot yet, I just burned the rubber grip.
A shoeing class sounds like fun and a lot of work.
Finding humor when and where you can is important!
Thanks for stopping by today!
Fire!
Marshmallow, Coco!
Yum!
Looks like you had a busy and quality sunday with family
We try to stay busy! How are you doing today?
Great man thanks for asking
Absolutely! Is it late afternoon over there?
Its 7.42pm in chennai india
I bet it is beautiful there.
Refried beans and eggs is a dish I love to eat. I’ve never been able to recreate it the way Alejandra’s mom cooked it though. I think she used a Peruvian bean and some wicked Mexican seasoning. Every time I think of it I get extra hungry. I often use refried black beans.
Keep having fun, dreaming, and being the beautiful people you are.
Thanks for sharing this! Have a beautiful day!
That’s awesome! We also built an improvised blacksmithing forge with friends a few years ago
That sounds like a lot of fun! I want to focus on a hotter fire next time. There may be an Orcs about and I need an improvised weapon for defense.
How can you not have fun at Harbor Freight! I do hope you have good leather gloves, or you may not have fingers anymore. Wow you fried those Chanel Locks!
Take time to Laugh. It’s worth it
We had a blast at Harbor Freight! Depending on the circle, some smiths are anti glove so hot metal doesn’t get in your gloves on accident.
I am brand new, so I don’t have a valid opinion yet.
Yeah, we sure did fry them!
I’m not a smith but My dad had a forge and he swore by good gloves. Loos fitting so they came off if metal went on
Sounds like he would know! Thank you!
That last looked delicious what you had cooking.
And it was!
Darn I was going to say I bet it wasn’t lol. Just kidding. Now I must try it 😊
Enjoy! It is a yummy breakfast.
Thank you!!😊
Sounds very fun especially the store encounter
It was!
I enjoyed your post! Love the home made anvil with the rail road track and the stump. Very ingenious!
Dwight
Thank you Dwight! Have a great day!
You are welcome!