Preparing for Uncertainty and Self Reliance

[C-Mag]

I wouldn't mind a go at TIG welding, everyone says it's far superior to MIG.
Welding is really useful of course but there's not that much you can't do with pop-rivets or nuts and bolts if you are desperate.
I've got to make some belly boxes for my truck and will use the farm stick welder only if I can't bolt one together.

The general problem with Mig is limitations on the thickness of metal you can weld. Pretty much 1/4" is the typical upper level as far as I know. Mig just doesn't generate enough heat or lay down enough material at a time. But for good professionals I think they can weld it much thicker.

As Brewster said, the great thing about Mig is you can get a 120v lunchbox sized welder and do a helluva lot of work. There's a lot of flexibility in it for the novice welder. I have a stick welder sitting there, because I don't currently have a 240v feed in my shop. Plus, I only have a 60 amp panel right now, so until I get another line to my shop I can only weld with my Mig, without it I'd be stuck with either my Oxy - Propane torch or my Gas Forge.

[Montegriffo]

I wouldn't mind a go at TIG welding, everyone says it's far superior to MIG.

The new inverter rigs have made it MUCH cheaper to get an entry level machine, check out the ones at Harbor Freight. If I didn't already have a $400 ac/dc buzz box I got years ago I'd get one, but I don't need to weld for a job often enough to justify it. With my spool gun and buzz box I can even weld 1/16 aluminum, but it ain't purty.

Wow, I didn't realise they had come down in price so much.
This little 160 Amp TIG is available next day from Amazon for only £164.


£400 buys a MIG/TIG combined 250 Amp welder.

[C-Mag]

This is what I'm using.
Lincoln SP 125 Plus


Retails around $400, I picked it up with just the welder and gauges for $150 used. I'll need to replace the wire feed sleeve soon.

[C-Mag]

The A Team would have been dead long ago if it weren't for BA Barakas' welding skills

[Speaker to Animals]

The A Team would have been dead long ago if it weren't for BA Barakas' welding skills

The town of Lake Forest, Illinois can also vouch for his chainsaw skills.

[C-Mag]

Food Security and Food Purity are constant problems for 21st Century Globalism. It largely goes unnoticed today because production paired with a fantastic delivery system and good medical care mutes the problems. But Food problems are probably a little bigger than issue than we realize. Communist countries always have their problems, China is no exception. https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2018/11/ ... tself.html

In the US increasingly we have to deal with vectors in mass produced food. Like the recent 100,000 pounds of beef burger recalled https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/bu ... 057135002/ that's 200,000 head of cattle who's beef went to waste.

And Greens are suspect as well, not to mention, Turkey, and processed pork rolls. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/bu ... 076915002/

The rule of the day is, be cautious with mass production food. We need to move away from corporate food production, to a more local and less wasteful food supply.

[C-Mag]

Forging knives have been on the shop work list for a while. Got my first one done.


It's a Bowie made from a mower blade. It's an ugly beast. I managed to get a good edge on it. This knife will passed off to a friend who camps about 100 days a year for testing and abuse.

[SuburbanFarmer]

“Forging” lol

That’s a hell of a lot better than I could do. But I love the star hole where the blade connects to the shaft.

[C-Mag]

The material really determined the design a lot. Because of the pre punched holes, the knife had to be big.

Mower blade steel isn't the best for knives, but good enough for learning. The handle is just hickory from an old pick axe, brass rod for pins, 5/32 diameter.

Based on color, the steel was heated to about 1500 degrees for quenching. I did no tempering due to the nature of steel. After cooled, I drop the blade several times on the concrete, and banged it on the anvil. It held up.

I learned a bunch, biggest take away is that I need to improve my grinding process a lot

[C-Mag]

New military report confirms threat of an EMP attack is significant, and the predict 90% casualties on the east coast

https://media.defense.gov/2018/Nov/28/2 ... _FORCE.PDF