David de Groot 𓆉 @dadegroot@mastodon.social

Another bodkin arrowhead forged today. This time I started with 12mm stock (½ inch for the decimal challenged), which proved a lot easier. A nice firm fit to the shaft and not too heavy.

#blacksmith #metalwork #arrowhead

Banana, date and nut loaf x2 fresh from the oven :-)

#food #baking

Infinite Lorikeets!

#gif #photo #bird

Sometimes you just catch an expression on an animal that requires a meme.

http://degrootphotography.com.au/stuff/SuspiciousTurtle.gif

I had to light the forge today to harden and temper a blade for the workshop, and so after doing that, I hunted around for something to make.

It's been a while since I last made a hairpin, so I went with that.

Made from garage door spring, this time I drew out the steel somewhat more to thin it down and reduce weight. @Leadegroot says it is noticeably lighter.

#blacksmith #art #mastoart

Well I despair for my country.

Clearly the living conditions of the destitute, and refugees don't matter to my fellow citizens.
Neither does the plight of our planet, or even just our little corner of it.

This election has once again been won not by the Liberal/National Coalition, but by Murdoch and his undue sway over the media, and by the small mindedness of my fellow citizens.

The only good thing to come from this was the end of Tony Abbott.

#auspol

Today, I forged arrow heads. The first attempt was way too big, and misshapen, but the 2nd was a lot better (standard bodkin, from mild steel). The third attempt is in spring steel and has a smaller tip, and is therefore lighter. It suits my low draw weight bow nicely.

#blacksmith #metalwork #arrow

Koala shaped Ayrshire lemon shortbread that I’ve donated to the local hall fundraiser for Election Day.

These three however managed to escape and stayed at home for later consumption ;-)

#ausvotes

Oh, Hawkie is dead at 89.

The larrikin PM, known for drinking a yardie and giving everyone the day off after the ‘83 America’s Cup, has passed away only a couple of days before the federal election.

The average price of Italian White Truffles at the moment is $1211/kg.

Yep, $1.20 per gram of underground mushroom.

...inued

I roasted a ¼ of a Kent pumpkin chopped in approx 1 inch chunks.
I also caramalised 2 brown onions.

In another saucepan, I sautéed a diced carrot and diced celery and 2 rashers of bacon (diced) in some butter, with salt, thyme and rosemary.
When almost ready to serve, I added 1 ½ dessert spoons of double cream, and after a couple of minutes, folded in the onions and pumpkin pieces.

Served the ravioli, with the sauce, and topped with grated pecorino di romana cheese.

O.M.G. that was sooo delicious.

(no photo I'm afraid, we ate it)

I picked up some chicken and mushroom ravioli at the shops (yeah, I'm not making fresh pasta on a weeknight)

cont...

It is too windy to light the forge today, so instead, I mounted the swivel arm I made last weekend, and started on a small bow.

The bow is pictured here in a tillering stick. You draw it bit by bit, shaving off various parts until you get an even bend. This one has a long way to go, but I've closed up shop for the day as it's time to start preparing dinner.

#blacksmith #woodwork #bow

Decided to try a few new things today and push myself a bit.

I made a swinging arm bracket, and in the process made my first tenons (three in total, with one being peened over into a rivet holding the arm to the swivel).

All up, took 3.5hours.

I'll probably mount it near the forge to hang my charcoal bucket off.

This was a bit of an experiment to see if I could do it, because the eventual plan is to make a small crane to hold stock long stock in the forge. #blacksmith #metalwork

Today’s job was to install a roof and front wall on the forge to try to prevent some of the rain getting in.

Roofing is a pain, but we got there in the end.

The front wall panels were a doddle in comparison.

#blacksmith #workshop

Yay! Got the admin interface on my backup NAS working again.

QNAP faffed an update a while back and after that I could not login to the admin webpage. NAS worked fine, just couldn't manage it.

Today I finally got around to trying to fix it. Turns out there was another firmware update released recently that fixes that issue, so a bit of command line stuffing around and a reboot, and it's back in business :)