[TheForge] Scrounged riches long ramble

[Reynolds]

Hey Frosty, good post. My sentiments exactly.

FYI, I pick up my 14-year-old nephew on an Anchorage flight now in a couple of hours. It is 99 here, so I think I'll start by packing him in ice and then ask how the rest of the family is doing. The poor kid will be sweating here 23 days -- it'll never get below 72 that whole time. He'll never get on a plane again!

Readers Digest of Frosty's last post!

Dumpster diving is a spontaneous art, like jazz. One works with what is<br>> given.<br>>  For us, as blacksmiths, a dumpster can be a giant giftbox

<grin><br><br>About the only time I buy steel anymore is if I have a fab project. 

<br><br>More than once we've been told it's more cost effective to buy new stock<br>than scrounge and this is true. I've never fabbed something for someone out<br>of scrounge, it ISN'T cost effective. I don't mean I haven't hit the<br>recycling center before putting out for new, I have but I don't use<br>scrounge. 

<br><br>If you're trying to make a living you'll go broke in no time trying to use<br>scrounge or even good salvage from the recycling center on a regular basis;<br>you have to have consistant resources and scrounge just isn't. 

<br><br>You have to consider a lot of things when using scrounge. Mild and spring<br>steel is easy, it's when you get into high carbon and alloys you have to be<br>careful. Very careful. It's on the scrap heap for a reason. Sure, I can<br>identify scrounged steel well enough to use it. I can also determine if it<br>has a fatal flaw, usually. I'm NOT about to make something for someone with<br>material that's USUALLY going to be safe! There's also the time involved. In<br>the time necessary to test a mystery piece of HC steel well enough to<br>properly work and heat treat it I could've driven to Anchorage, bought it,<br>returned and made what I want.<br><br>Regardless, I LOVE the hunt. Scrounging is as much fun as making things.

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