We’ve added a new section to the website — Blacksmith’s Blog Posts. This is a collection of posts we created for Horton Brasses’ blog back in 2010 and 2011. The posts are about our shop, the tools and processes we use, and other aspects of blacksmithing in our shop in the woods.

 There are also two posts which have links to YouTube videos, one of Molly explaining how she uses her power hammer and one of me making latch bars.

We’ve begun building a new shed for the side-by-side ATV Daria and Jeanene gave us for Christmas 2013. The shed will be 12 by 20 feet in size and besides the ATV will have space for some extra storage, including a loft area.

We began building in December 2014 and the photos here are from then.

The shed needed to be tall enough for the ATV to enter and be wide enough so we could get in and out of the ATV easily. The horizontal 2×6 boards are about 8 feet above the ground. This was a fairly level spot so that meant a lot less work preparing a flat earthen floor.

The cats have been entranced with the building. Gray was the first to climb onto the horizontals. He used the home built scaffolding to reach the horizontals (the scaffolding is visible in the photo above this one). Once he was up there he tried every one of them, even the scary narrow ones.

We got the rafters up in late December and that seemed to excite the cats even more. Having the rafters in place meant the cats had to step over each one where they rested on the horizontal plate. They love challenges. After Gray had been up on the framework, Blondie gave it a try. Kitty Boy was the last to try the frame, showing that having three legs isn’t a handicap.

We now (in mid January) have the roof sheathing on and the cats are disappointed. Once we have the loft finished next spring with a ladder for them they’ll be happy again.

More photos to come to show our progress.

In 2013 we spent a good deal of our Gas Well Study time investigating Underground Injection Wells used to dispose of oil and gas industry liquid waste deep underground. The injection well that first attracted our interest is in Fayette county and has been operating since 2002. Their permit expired in October 2012; they managed to get the long-overdue permit renewal application in to the Office of Oil and Gas in January 2013. While the Office was processing the permit the operator was allowed to inject waste without a permit. The operator eventually got a permit in 2014 which was revoked a month later but is still injecting waste as the Office continued to process a new permit application.

There are too many issues with the operator, the facility’s contaminating a nearby stream, the Office’s procedures to try to write a brief post here. Instead, here’s a page on Sootypaws devoted to the well and here’s a great video that presents the issues.

The Office has finally created a new draft permit which has numerous flaws, including not having conditions required by state and federal law.