aplumma

Not only congratulations but thank you for remembering all of us little people. lol You deserve this for sure.

Art

Listen to the voice in your head if you have a doubt as to whether your vehicle will stop or go safely then you know the answer already. I personally subscribe to the theory of "bringing a gun to a knife fight." The accident that can occur from an overloaded vehicle no matter how safe a driver you are will be yours to live with even if it was not your fault.

Art

A good manual will spell out what to do as well as videos that are offered on the internet. If in doubt a post here asking for a helping hand and a promise of an all expenses paid trip to the local fishing hole should have you more offers than you need to learn how to do the more basic maintenance.

Art

The issue with driving over the speed that the conditions dictate is not if you have an accident and hurt/kill yourself but what if you hurt/kill some other innocent person. That is the thing that I do not want to live with. I have before and I will risk my safety doing stupid things but I try my hardest to make sure I will be the one paying the consequences.

Art

o yea we are the kings of bad food we even have this

Art

I went fishing with a group a few years ago and as we played poker he was doing chez whiz finger shooters. Yup sprayed a line on his index finger and sucked it off like a harmonica. He was a real eating machine.

Art

Welcome back Maureen glad to see you got the bug worked out.

Art

The banjo lure are very productive as far as attracting fish but so is a senco. The down fall of the banjo is it has the hook hooked to the lip of the bait so unless the fish gets all of the bait or the front half of the bait you can get a hook up. I have fished them and watched a lot of strikes fall short of the hook but hey the strike is the best part of a catch sometimes.

Art

Welcome to the board looks like you are in a good area to get some nice fish.

Art

Agree Art. After watching JP's old show I thought I would go to Fishing World and pick up a couple of the Mega Bass lures he was using. When I saw the price I passed.

Glad one of us didn't fall for it. lol They are good lures but I think that the megabass topwater is dead even with the live target mouse. The action of the mouse is as slick as a buttered saddle.

Art

Yea stinkin T.J. introduced me to megabass and my wallet has never been the same.

Art

I have made many a knife that has put smiles on peoples faces using 440 SS blades. It is not a bad blade it is what 80% of the knifes people use daily are made of. Few people need/can appreciate the precision and the other attributes of the specialty metals blade. In some cases it is like ordering a custom fishing rod to fish for perch. However for the few who want a custom knife that is made for them and fits there hand and style of use it is a joy to own and use. It is hard to explain it in most cases reaches a level of craftsmanship that reaches the level of mechanical artwork.

Art

live target mouse and frogs are the cats meow it is the first bait I throw in the morning or evening for bass.

Art

Realized I forgot the still shot.... Lloyd gets the credit for this one!

Hope you left him a couple of matches before you left him.

Art

Cliff the science of building knifes is lost on a lot of people and it is tough to show them why a knife is worth more than another knife that looks the same. The right metal on a knife makes the different on what it is worth. Some see a knife stamped 440C and have been told over the years it is the best metal for a knife. Truth is different metals, grinds and spines make one knife excellent for one job and horrible for another. Some of my high end blade makers are using a vg 10 base carbon blade wrapped with either a Titanium wrap or Stainless steel depending on there work enviroment. Once the material and the spine is decided then you can build out the knife to make it fit your hand. Once you have all of that done you then can choose the angle of the edge which depends on what it is going to be use for. A good sharpener is an investment and to do justice to a custom knife you will spend hundreds of dollars on that equipment alone. A decent set of tools and attention to detail are required once you start working with the expensive blades and materials.

Some of the nicest blades I have built came from flea markets and garage sales. A few of the beat up and forgotten blades were reground or polished and then stripped. A new handle needs to be formed and pinned. Shaping and finishing is the most time consuming of process with some times only getting 2 or 3 coats of finish a day.

Art

Cliff you can get them as blade stock or as a preground blade. The blade stock can be as rough as bar stock or as rough cut. Both of then are workable but you need some special machine tools such as a high speed belt grinder and a milling machine to start. Then a polisher and an angle mill to get it to resemble a blade. The heating and tempering of the blade uses a kilm to basic blacksmith tools. All in all unless you are making high end custom knifes not worth the capitol investment. The blade companies have ground/ tempered blades now a days for almost any shape and size. I pull blades from 4 or 5 suppliers that range from $15.00 to $400.00 per blade depending on material, tempering process, shape and size. Most of the time you will have between 3 - 12 hours in a knife depending on the fit and finish you want. Some of the materials used for handles are tricky to work with and are labor intensive to get a nice finished product.

Art

When the fried chicken is 'finger licking good' you might just 'lick' off the other items on your hands...

I use the stainless bar too most of the time to answer the OP question.

Thanks for that info. I'm a plumber yuck.

Art

I agree Wayne I have my garage as part of my house and put the osb on and then had to sheetrock it with fireproof drywall not only in the garage but also in the loft where it tied into the house. The restoration garage we built as a free standing building because of the metal working and solvents etc. we keep on hand. Losing a garage while tragic is not the end all let the house go then it is an issue.

Art

Personally I found fried chicken removes anything from your hands. No matter what it is grease, oil, ink no problem 2 pieces and clean as a whistle.

Art

Before you go with a wood product though check the local fire codes if you have a wall that is shared with the house it must have a 2 hour burn rating at least down here in USA we do I am sure that someone up North can fill in the blank here.

Art

Very nice photo.

Art

The funny part is I cuss because I don't catch a fish and he cusses when he catches any other fish but a bass. lol

Art

A bit of lemon juice in a bottle of hand sanitizer should have you fishing and eating in no time.

Art

The purchase of a boat can be a nightmare from the wrong dealer. Find one that is not only willing to make the sale comfortable but also any issues that you will need repaired in the future. I found that it is worth going to a dealer a little farther away if he stresses in writing how they resolve issues.

Art

What this man will do to catch Bass is amazing. We were fishing the Potomac with white bandit crank baits for bass no tournament involved mind you and he hooked into a large Blue catfish. He cussed for 10 minutes fighting this 35 lb est. fish in and couldn't release it fast enough to get back to the bass. He came up north to Lake Nipissing for pike and such and with in 1 hour he had dialed in the bass. He stopped using white spinner baits because the pike kept interrupting his bass fishing. He does have a beautiful set up to fish from The top end Stratos boat with every advantage you can put on it. I just find it a pleasure to fish with not only a great guy but one who has such knowledge and patients for the sport.

Art