What's on your mind today?

[Dark Lightning]

I get you. I'm going to lean hard on the orthopedist for knee joint surgery instead of cortisone injections. I can't even wash and wax my own car, let alone crawl into a cabinet, and I'm only 73. I can get down, but getting back up is an exercise in faith. I used to be able to pick up 225# engine blocks off the ground and put them in a truck bed, unassisted. I'm currently up at 2:30 in the morning- can't sleep. Humbug. Getting old ain't for sissies.

[billy rubin]

awkward isnt it, bud

im sucking water out of contaonment sumps on a west virginia well pad, so i have to climb over the containment walls.

only about 42 inches  but i dont bend easily anymore either.

[Icarus]

In the past, HAF had numerous active contributors. For whatever reason, there is precious little participation of late. It seems that activity has gradually eroded to.................not much.

Have those former HAF guys and girls faded into oblivion?   

[Dark Lightning]

I'm seeing it across all forums I visit- wood working, wood carving. metal working, science sites and a truck forum. Plus other atheist sites. Most being trades sites, I get that. Eventually, the US will have more trades training going on. That whole, "everything is going to be computers" mentality has failed miserably. I do most of my own home maintenance and repair, but I see so many shysters out in our neighborhood taking advantage of the neighbors. AI is causing a kerfuffle, but needs authoritative direction. That authority has to be learned by people, at least so far.

[billy rubin]

im here but i dont often have anything of value to say. i seem to spend too much time watching the end of the american century in real time.

not that i mind my country not being a leaderin world domination and the suppression of sovereign rights, but ireally dont like being on the side of the evil bond villains.

[hermes2015]

I am also still here, but more as a lurker these days. I have been so busy with my design and art projects that I have not made any contributions here, although I check in most mornings to see the latest posts.

[billy rubin]

well that is a better excuse than mine. i actully have more time, becausse i have . . . retired, semi-like.

lately ive worked a five-day week, about 55 to 60 hours, US$28 per hour. but my company offers a different position too, which is three days only, at $34. so i switched to that, and now get four days off per week, at a substantial money hit.

but im at the age where i value time moe than money. ive seen the world, i have no interest in cruise ships, i dont want any more possessions. and i live in a place that would occupy all my time in agricxulture, beekeeping, and repairs until i keel over with most everything still unfinished.

plus, im freshly 70 years old, and im losing muscle mass at a disconcerting rate. my job isnt strenuous, just connecting and disconnecting hoses and a lot of driving, mostly. but 12 and 13-hour days still take some energy out of me.

so thjis new regimen is looking good. previously i would take the first day off to rest, and the last day off to get ready to go back to work. now i get two additional days off in the middle, which is a win.

so today ive got to lay out the fencing to keep the deer out of the garden, pay off the weeks bills, and do some motorcycle work. if theres time, ill look nto my bees, which i have purposely ignored.

tomorrow is still up for grabs.

[hermes2015]

Well, I will be 80 in July, so I understand what you say about changes in the body! After I retired I found that the days were suddenly too short, since I have so many things I want to do. When I was still active in my profession, I would often get frustrated that I had no time to try out the many ideas that popped into my head. One example is silversmithing, which I did for about six months at a jewellery studio near my home. I had to take off a morning once a week to do it, but since I travelled abroad so much, it was simply not a workable arrangement.

Something I would like to try is bronze casting at an artist's foundry in my city. That is something that would not be practical to set up at home. My big concrete sculpture pieces, on the other hand, have been much easier to do in my home studio.

[billy rubin]

all i know about casting is from following motorcycle crazies who occasionally arrange to have unusual cylinders cast for their old obsolete motorcycles. this, for instance, is a mid-60s BSA 650 motor in a modern state-of-the-art sport bike suzuki frame that an australian nutcase put together.



he built a model for the 750cc cylinders himself and then had a local foundry do the sand casting.

how is bronze cast? is it a lost-wax procedure, or something similar? bronze pieces are often huge. why bronze? what is the actual alloy, and why is that selected over others?

[hermes2015]

For sculptures it is most often lost wax, not sand casting. One sculpts the original in clay, plaster, or wax, and then the guys at the foundry make a mould from it. Lost wax is usually used for jewellery and glass pieces.

[billy rubin]

what is the technique for making the original sculpture? clay/plaster/wax on a mesh form? are th ematerials used together on the same form?

what would be the technique to end up with a life-size bronze figure of a human being or animal, for example?

[hermes2015]

Here is one of many good YouTube videos that explain the process:

[hermes2015]

[hermes2015]

Another good video.