[TheForge] OT Re: NYT B Smithing reference

[Andrew Vida]

David C Kuhlman wrote:
> First post here...

	Welcome.
> 
> It truly is a pity that I can't find something to do that keeps me away from
> the idiot box.

	One solution if all else fails is a 12 ga.  One shot and your idiot box 
problems will be over.  I have been without any TV for 2 years now and 
it has been a blessing.  The first three months were tough, though.  TV 
is literally physically addictive, counterintuitive as that notion may 
seem.  Once over the hump, the presence of an operating television is 
likely to become a source of nerve-grating irritation.  It is very 
unhealthy stuff, regardless of content, but that's another story 
entirely.  Get your hide up an d running with a forge, etc. and TV will 
become even less attractive.

 > Just getting started with blacksmithing and really looking
> forward to see what I can conjure up from this pile of steel I was fortunate
> enough to find on Craig's List for next to nothing.

	Do you know what sorts of steel?  It will be useful to learn to tell 
the general categories, particularly in terms of their heat 
characteristics.  For example, are they water-, oil-, or air hardening 
grades.  There is nothing more annoying than putting a lot of work into 
a chunk of steel only to have it fail in some miserable fashion just as 
you are putting the finishing touches on it.
> 
> So, I find this forum with a mailing list that seems like it is supposed to
> be about this truly noble endeavor and look what happens? Flame wars! 

	Shoot, don't let that scare you off.  They are uncommon and the amounts 
of good information available here for the asking makes the list 
eminently worthwhile.

 > The
> whole "Fox News" Obama and everything else political is what drove me into
> the garage in the first place. Anybody who thinks for one minute that the
> problem has ANYTHING to do with left vs. right really has ZERO clue!

	Precisely so, but this is the sort of statement that some here would 
try to take you to the mat over, so really the best thing is to avoid 
them entirely.  If things get out of hand, the list mom spanks us and we 
go back to behaving ourselves better.