Did you know that we are currently seeing a resurgence in U.S. rail traffic? There are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which are today’s high fuel costs. Railroads can haul three times the freight as trucks for the same amount of fuel. Obviously, our healthy economy and the boom in container shipping – expected to grow 5-7% per year for the next five – is also having a positive impact.

Blacksmithing continues to be a very practical field with the farrier, a specialty smith who makes horse shoes. Our topic this month describes blacksmith-like metalworking for very practical purposes while creating works of art.

Remelting steel saves 75% of the energy as compared to producing it from raw materials. In fact, the steel industry saves enough energy in one year by recycling to power 18 million homes for an entire year.