If you’re a regular forum reader than you probably already know that I’ve spent the majority of 2011 working really hard to avoid a layoff. As a result, I haven’t had much time to put into the site content or into monitoring the forum. A few of you have even contacted me personally via email to inquire about my absence.

Well, I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that I’ll have more time to spend on my metalworking hobby, as well as on the site over the next few months.

The bad news is I’ll have the time because I found out recently that I will indeed be getting laid off. But that’s actually a good thing. I’ve been itching for a career change for the last few years of my 10 year career in healthcare. So now I’ll have the time to make that career change. My wife also works in healthcare and didn’t get laid off, so financially we will be fine.

Please don’t mistake this as a plea for sympathy. As I said, we are going to be fine as a family. My wife works and we don’t have kids yet, so that definitely helps. With the state of the US economy, I’m definitely not the only one facing career challenges/changes. I actually feel fortunate that I’ve kept my job as long as I have (I’ve survived 7 of 8 layoffs over my 10-year career). And I also feel fortunate to be getting a severance. Many unemployed aren’t so lucky. So again, I’m not looking for sympathy, I just want to make sure you all knew where I’ve been and why I’ve been largely absent over the last several months. Basically I felt like I owed everyone an explanation. And I owed a few of you an apology for forgetting things or letting things fall through the cracks. I hope you all know I’d never intentionally let any of you down. It’s just that stress wreaks havoc on my memory, and with all the stress I’ve had over the last several months I’ve dropped the ball on several things. And for that, I’m sorry.

So here’s the timeline. My last paid day will be Feb 14th (with a mass layoff they have to give us a lot of notice). Between now and then I will have a lot of loose ends to tie up. But after that I should have a lot more time to develop and improve the site. So sometime after  February of 2012 you should start seeing more projects and more forum posts. But until then, thanks again for everyone’s patience and understanding.

Sincerely,

Tyler Youngblood

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This isn’t my auction, but I thought it looked like a great deal. (Thanks Ironman for pointing this out on the Forum!).

It’s for 44 taps in various sizes … for $26 bucks! For comparison purposes, I’ll include a box below showing other taps and their prices on Ebay (typically a quality 3 piece set is about $15+).

And according to the seller, these are New USA Made quality taps. From the picture it looks like they are Besly taps. Here’s the link:

http://shop.ebay.com/marko3337/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Anyway, I thought I’d share. If  anyone decides to buy a set be sure to report back! Thanks again Ironman for pointing this deal out!

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I just wanted to take a second and let you all know that I’ve added a new forum section entitled “Metal Finishing and Heat Treatment” (thanks for the suggestion Luc!).

Here’s the link to the new section:

Metal Finishing and Heat Treatment

I’ve searched the forum for any previous posts that dealt with anodizing, blackening, etc and moved them to the new section. I’ve found and moved about 5 old posts. If you know of an old post that needs to be moved to the appropriate section please send me a link.

And if you have any tips or tricks that you’d like to share about metal finishing or heat treating, please do so! This could include (but isn’t limited to):

• Anodizing
• Blackening/Bluing
• Metal Polishing Techniques
• Powder Coating
• Heat Treating
• etc …