Fires

[habu68]

While working at Rock Ledge Ranch historic site, on the edge of The Garden of the Gods park in Colorado springs, My master smith and I were working in the smithy at the far end of the complex. Andy was also the Ranch director and had strict rules on the use of cell phones during open hours at the site. In the middle of our demo his cell phone rang. It was Elizabeth our very proper young Victorian staff member in the Rock ledge house. She calmly explained that there was a fire in the smoke house. Andy responded with "yes you're cooking in there today."
"No Andy" she said sweetly "the smoke house is on fire"

We looked up to see 30ft flames above the Rock Ledge Historic house, silhouetting the golden leaves of the fall oak trees that surrounded the house and rose into the natural landscape of the Garden of the Gods Park. we were later told that the garden had not been touched by fire in 150 years since the Ute Indians burned it to drive off the Arapaho Tribes living there at the time. It was also a high fire danger summer and fires were burning over many parts of Colorado. It looked like the Keystone cops. 200 yard dash from the smithy to the smoke house , finding and rolling out the fire hose wrong way round, manning the hose and nozzle, we managed to get the fire out just as the fire department arrived.

Lesson learned. Saw dust behind lath and plaster in a wood frame building may have been the period correct way to build a smoke house but it will no longer meet code.

[Ten Hammers]

2007 Midwest Old Threshers. Myself and John Teslow were busy. I am in overalls, John in jeans and teeshirt. John had a project ( and the project really escapes me ). Hotcut was being used for stock removal from some bar stock ( 3/8 x 2 IIRC ). In any event John was in the fire and I was on far side of anvil runnin the hammer and hotcut ( onto a piece of aluminium on top of the anvil ). John was ready and we cut the piece ( him holding and myself runnin cutter ). THis is done so that crowd side ( camera side) is protected from flying ( possibly ) stock goes towards smith and fire side of anvil. without re-typing I now recall that the stock was a piece of leaf spring and was in fact 3/8. After straightening John wanted to remove stock for handle of knife( tang ). First cut made fine and stock was removed with tongs. Another heat and second cut was about to start. I made the cuts initially for reference and then went back to finish. First ( short) made the trip through the stock to the aluminium and was about to make second. John re-positioned a bit and I made second cut severing stock. Severed stock ( perhaps 1/2 wide and inch and a half long launched in the air.

Look at my right hand. Directly under it in pic is a chair. I have 2 chairs. The other one is blocked by me. It was setting in front of the tent ( background ). On the other chair was a pair of house shoes. Hotcut piece of steel launched and landed in one of the house shoes. Of course instant smoke and fire ( fortunately it didn't go into the tent ). John put the fire out in timely fashion. 2007 became the year of the house shoe and will be remembered in that way. I still have the trophy in the trailer. Thats my story and I'm stickin to it.

[Ice Czar]

I can't seem to go a whole month without lighting myself on fire somehow, Ive lit up hammers, gloves, shirts, pants and the last time, my shoe

Doing the patina on a large rail in bright sunlight, was unable to see the flame from the propane weedburner I was using to heat the rail. Between the wind, the ground and the cap I was heating it was whipping back around and lit my brand new boot on fire

Burned a hole right through the toe before I got it out

[Farmer Phil]

Dan you got an imagination to come up with this thread. Who would have thought there'd be so many heated tales to tell? That mouse one was a knee slapper for sure. The house that gets even and locks out its wayward pyro was pretty funny too. I guess the month long fire takes the cake for magnitude.

I haven't thought of my early days with fires for many a year. Guess I had hoped to forget them. My first brush was as a preschooler playing with matches. Set a leaf pile on fire. Boy did it get big in a hurry. Way beyond my ability to cope with it. Some construction guys next door spotted the thing and ran over, grabbed the hose form our house and managed to put it out. My folks were, to say the least, out raged at my sneaky misbehavior. I got a spanking every hour for the rest of the day. (They took consequences seriously in my neck of the woods!)

Fast forward a few years. I've decided to make a torch. Brought a few cattails home. Brought them up into our tree-house along with a can of gasoline. Yep, dipped one of those fluffy down cattails in and lit the sucker. Once again, out of control. Threw the thing down on the tree-house floor and tried to stomp it out. Bad idea. That gas soaked cattail down spread all over the place. We managed to get it out and the folks never did find out.

By now you'd think I learned not to fool with fire. Wrong. Fast forward a bit again. This time I have a great idea. I'm going to make a super-ball. You know those little hard rubber nearly spring-loaded bouncy balls? Not sure what I was thinking, but I pulled the rubber caps off the ends of my folks' croquet mallets and proceeded to try to melt them down. Not sure what I expected or planned to do, but never got that far. The rubber caught fire and once again was not very stomp-out-able.

Now you figure I'm cured for sure. Wrong again. Fast forward to my pre-teen years. Now I'm mixing chemicals to make my own combustibles. Stuff that makes sugar burn like no tomorrow, concoctions that ignite with water, or upon impact. Really neat stuff. I have one main goal (I won't talk about that home made zip pistol right here): to launch a tin can as high in the air as possible. Oh this time I'm smart, I'm going to be able to ignite it remotely. So I take apart a flash-cube and get a small flash bulb out of it that I figure I can make go off by hooking up a battery to it. In an effort to test it I put it in a small glass jar (one of my empty chemical jars) along with one of my "gunpowers." I insulate one of the leads to the flashbulb with tape, hang both leads out of the jar and screw the lid on. I set the jar on the workbench (I'm in our basement) and put a battery to it. Did anyone say bomb? You bet. My mom comes running downstairs to find me on the floor, back against the wall on the other side of the room saying, "it worked." Unbelievably, I'm alright, but that may have contributed to some of my present day hearing problems.

I wish it ended there, but I'll trouble you with one more event of absolute unconscious tomfoolery. Boy scout camping trip, camp fire, dinner time, canned something-or-other, place can in fire (whoops didn't open it). Did someone say boom? You bet. All over the bloody place. Set half the tents on fire. Got a free ride home and thrown out of the scouts (got invited back to be senior patrol leader later on). Again, no one got hurt.

These are just some of my exploits of growing up, which it is down right amazing I did. Talk about guardian angels! Guess I'll have to cut my boy some slack when he ventures out with his own versions of shenanigans.

[Ten Hammers]

Phil, in my teens I set a pick-up cab full of fireworks off with one M-80 that didn't make it out the wing vent. Sounds like we went to the same survival school.

[Jmercier]

A sign that every blacksmith should have in their shop and wherever they do demos should always be

"If any part of my shop OR myself is on fire, please let me know, it is not part of the demo, and just because you see it, doesnt mean that I see it."

[ThomasPowers]

No wonder they put Farmer Phil waaaaaaay out in the ocean on an island surrounded by a whole lot of water!

I caught myself on fire forge welding at a demo once---folks were trying to tell me about it and I finally had to say "I know I'm on fire but I want to get this weld first" (or words to that effect---very sweaty/salty/dirty tunic wasn't going to do more than smoulder a bit.)

[Farmer Phil]

Ha, ha, ha Thomas. You're welcome to come visit anytime. The island just might be big enough for the two of us (for a brief period of time). Boy blacksmiths can be hard core for sure! Talk about getting heated up over your work. What a picture it makes: smoldering and flaming blacksmiths. Wow!

[ThomasPowers]

Especially since this "boy" was around 35-40 years old! The stuff I did as a kid I'll keep quiet as I'm flabbergasted that I'm still alive, unmutilated and have my sight and hearing! I think a lot of us became blacksmiths to play with fire and avoid going to jail for arson!

I may have to come visit; but I keep hoping the Socorro Magma Bubble will do something local so I can get my volcano fix without travelling...(I know you just want me to visit so you can ask that I pack my suitcases and carryon with stuff and just borrow clothes when I get there---back in the pre-airline security days I once had a 90# carry-on full of scrap metal as they did not weigh the carry-ons but did the checked baggage. Poor little thing was never quite the same...I ran across a fronteir scrap pile up in the mountains of CO and couldn't let all the great stuff go to waste...)

[Ice Czar]

Originally Posted by ThomasPowers

I'm flabbergasted that I'm still alive)

and while the criminal stautue of limitations may have expired I'm not so sure the civil one has