A fun day was had

Went to the Welding Rodeo -- today was the professional day with teams from local Wood Stone, a team from Denmark and about 12 overall teams competing in the event. Friday's session is the non-professionals with teams from various vocational schools and private groups. Last year they didn't have any blacksmiths show up but this year they had four so I came away with a couple cool things -- one guy was forging Aluminum which doesn't change color with heat the way that steel does. He used a cedar stick which when dragged on the face of the metal left a track that changed with the temperature -- you read the color of the track. Also picked up some good tips on forging animal heads. I'll be posting some pictures in a day or two. Lincoln had their spiffy brand new Virtual Reality Arc Welding system. It was an immersive VR system that simulated the sound and image of welding and gave you immediate feedback on how your weld was going -- if you were entraining a lot of gas or slag in the bead or wandering off course or moving too fast or too slow. The only thing missing was the heat on your hands. The image was also displayed on a big-screen monitor so everyone else could watch you goof up. Unnnn -- I did that on purpose! Came back, put a couple hours in at the store running conduit (almost done) and sitting down to a late dinner...