Iraq

[nicglass1]

hello everyone

no no this is not another political rant about the state of affairs in iraq that seem to be so numerious now days. instead it is to tell everyone that yes, yet again, i am heading over to iraq come june-ish. this time i will probably be over there for 18 months or so and with the army instead of the marine corps. hopefully i will be able to pack up my engraving stuff and take it with me, but i highly doubt that they will be happy with me taking a damn 40lb gravermiester with me much less a big power hone. so i might have to be taking a break from learning to engrave. besides the fact that i wouldn't exactly be comfortable having a quantity of silver laying around while i work on it, things like that would probably tend to disappear rather quickly. than again if i had a palm control of something like that then i would be able to handle that rather easily, but of course it's the age old problem of no money maybe i will smuggle my collection and push gravers along and find some scrap metal laying around that the machinist guys won't miss too much. or i might be able to knock out a carved coins.... i guess i should figure out how to ask the boss if i can borrow the ball vise for awhile. so y'all have fun and keep cutting away and posting some nice stuff that i can look at while i am stranded in the desert.

 

[KCSteve]

THANK YOU for your service!

Have as much 'fun' over there as you can - hopefully it will continue the current trend of being 'professionally boring'.

I'd bet a handful of gravers - especially ones in GRS' QC holders plus a couple of QC handpush holders would be easy to take along. I wonder if ThermoLoc will hold in Summer temperatures or if it will get hot enough to form? A couple pounds of it plus an old fashioned leather pad (which you could probably take over empty and find some sand to fill it with there) should give you a versatile holder. Add an optivisor if you can and you should be able to work on nickels and such. Not what most folks would choose but I bet when you get back you'll be a whiz at the basics.

 

[nicglass1]

hmmmm temps there in the summer get to around 115 or so, hotter if it's in a closed up building. i don't know how hot thermoloc can get before it turns loose. is there anyway to make a homemade rotateable vice from say a small regular bench vice or something like it? i have tried holding something with shelac and a block of wood by hand, and lets just say it was a painful experience. couldn't rotate around a curve with enough control to not slip out of the cut and into my hand.

 

[qndrgnsdd]

I salute you and thank you for your service! Thermolock softens at about 130 to 150, so you are OK there...take a peice of wood closet pole that is abour 1 3/4 inch in dia cut about 8 inches off screw a 3 1/2 inch round of 1/2 inch plywood to one end with a long sheet rock screw 2" at least then use shellac or hot glue to hold your peice onto the plywood this keep your hand under the slip and cuts way down the need for blood transfusions....along with a few hand gravers and you are better equiped than many of us started with!!

 

[monk]

when you get there, get a junk bowling ball. in a pinch they can serve as a ball vise. although not good for heavy work. i have a bowling ball vise that i still use today for some things. the tops can ( should be) machined or cut as flat as possible. then a variety of small fixtures and actual vises can be affixed to these .

 

[mtgraver]

I started my engraving career with hammer/chisels by screwing down flat pieces on a block of wood and using a swivel vise. I still use that method on long guns when the patchbox is mounted and finished, etc. Maybe you can use brass and gild it later? As another avenue of practice.
Fare well during your time in country.

 

[jlseymour]

I just received the sharping system from Lindsay and that makes a complete protable syatem with the palm control... I only touched up some gravers and have not started with a new blank, but Steve says it took him about 5 min...
Good luck and Thanks for your service...
Jerry

 

[Ron Smith]

Nic, you could take a little thermoloc and stick your work to a gun turret and go to engraving. Ha ha!
Kidding aside, the push tool idea would work, and to sharpen, Mackenzy's (is that spelled right?) sharpening system of a stone and dowel wouldn't take up much room. You could carry it with you wherever you went. I am already visualizing all of this exquisitely engraved artillery after you leave there...........Best of luck, my friend, and thanks for your service to our country. Guess you can still stay in touch with us on the forum?......Ron S

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi nicglass

18 months is a long time to be on an active service tour of duty. I wish you and your fellow soldiers a safe journey.

Best wishes
Andrew

 

[nicglass1]

i was looking at that one from lindsay and it LOOKS like it would be simple and easy to use and really portable, but i am just not sure. so JL if you could start from a blank and take it to finished and tell me how it works for you.

 

[Dulltool]

Hey Nick,
Keep your head down and keep in touch.

Dennis

 

[jimzim75]

Hi,
Good time to practice your balino. You should have brass around to practice on in the form
of shell casing. You could either practice in the round or take them to the motor pool,
and have them flatten them out into sheet for you. I find if you keep your eyes open, most
stuff you need is at hand. If you only see it because it's not box say vise or whatever.

Have a good tour and keep in touch. I would be interest in what you can do with a
50 cal. shell.
Jim

ps, You can also just screw sheet to a piece of wood. Something round like a baseball bat (cut off)
or whatever. Improvise a jewellers pin (V-shape piece of wood attach to table.)
No one will steal any of this stuff. It's easy to remake if they do.

 

[jimzim75]

Hi Nick,
One more thing. I talked to Aaron over at GRS this morning during a service call.
He told me that Glendo would of course ship to you in Iraq if you needed something.
He said GRS stands 100% behind you guys.

Just another thought, if you get board with just engraving for the fun of it.
You might show a local kid how its done. Harts and Minds stuff.
You can never tell what will happen with one good act.
Talk to you later,
Jim

 

[beegee]

My son spent a year there as SSgt USMC. Lost his two closest friend to IED's. Godspeed, be safe, prayers go with you. Thanks for your service. Sorry I can't counsel on engraving techniques in the desert. You should be able to find plenty of scrap brass to practice on.

 

[maryw]

Hey Nick - thanks for what you're doing for all of us. Our prayers will be with you.
Mary W

 

[SamW]

When Ray Viramontez traveled in the USAF he packed a 17lb Victor vice and hand tools needed into a bowling ball travel case and off he went. Kept in practice doing Zippos and other small items.

Best of luck to you and you have our most heartfelt thanks for your service. Sam

 

[nicglass1]

see luckily i am a POG (personel other-than grunt) this time. and generally that means that there will be alot of down time unless we get a convoy mission. so hopefully i will be able to make some contacts with important (to me) people once i am there. machine shop, motor pool, ammo supply guys. those people should be able to get me what i need to work and things to work on. and like one of you mentioned before i can always do zippos and stuff like that. my main problem is going to be switching to something other than a ball vice, unless i can find one before i go for dirt cheap. i can smuggle, aquire, or make a few things, but that will be the main challenge.

 

[KCSteve]

Nick,

Take a look at this thread - it's about making cheap vices with lots of good info.

Depending on where exactly you're going to be I'll bet you can scrounge up everything you need to make a vice there - especially if you have access to the machine shop guys. Maybe do up a Zippo or two to take with you as 'seed money'