Should be ready to go tommorow.

[arkie]

redd,

For a hot-cut hardy tool, a used mason's chisel works great.  Grind a nice edge, cooling as you go, and curve it if you wish for smoother cutting.  You can grind down the handle to fit your hardy hole, and if the chisel has an octagonal handle, like some do, it may fit your hardie hole snugly. If the handle is too small, you can (1) weld a piece of angle iron to it, (2) weld up some beads on two adjacent sides and grind to fit, or (3) use shims.

[Borntoolate]

To remove the ash and clinker out of the bottom make a counter weighted flip open valve.   Not sure how to describe it but I think that will be better than a screwed pipe cap fro the long haul.    It has a name but it escapes me.   You can use a spike as the counterweight.

when I first started the 3 lb crosspien would wear me out.   Until someone more experienced told me that they were getting wore out just being next to me while I was hammering.   My teeth were clenched.   My grip was too strong.   My effort was way too much.   This was early on for me fortunately.   I quickly learned that I needed to relax my grip and slow down and simply be accurate with deliberate blows in the right place with good hammer control.   It quickly got to a point where a lighter hammer was simply too much work.   For me a heavier hammer help me do the work vs me having to supply all the energy.   I would be cautious about letting adrenaline fill this need.

 So, starting out I would focus on hammer control using the least amount of effort physically to get the job done.   Let the weight of the hammer do the work while you guide it.  Get the most out of the rebound such that raising it up is the least effort possible.   Raise it high enough to make a deliberate, accurate and effective blow from the weight of the tool.   Avoid short tap tap tap.    My main point is to preserve your body by making sure the tool does as much work as possible and that your body only does what is necessary.    There are all sorts of threads about heavy hammers vs lighter ones.   Main thing.  Let the tool do the job not your body.

And yeah that cut off hardy made me nervous just looking at it sticking up!

[redd1981]

Haha you guys and that chisel I just put it there for the picture.I almost always go out of my way to make sure Im being safe and try  to think ahead of possible scenarios. but that doesnt keep me from trying to catch hot things as they drop. I learned the lesson on trying to catch sharp thing a long time ago,If I drop a knife Im working on my hands instinctively fly up in the air and I jump back in case the point misses my steel toes and decides to pay my foot a visit. and we all know if you drop a knife it always seems to land point down and screw it up forcing you to have to re-profile it. Unfortunately I will probably burn myself a couple more times before I learn that lesson about hot stuff.

 

And yes the first heat or two my teeth were clenched and I was super tense and trying too hard. after that I started to relax and let the hammer do the work like you said.I have decent hammer skill from work when I was younger and am one of the few people I know who can drive nails and never (well to be honest "rarely is a better word) bend them but this was completely different from driving nails home so I was nervous,anxious,and excited all at the same time. What I really didnt like was that I had only bought one bag of charcoal so once I was comfortable with the hammering and I finally figured out how to tend the fire and how my piece should be positioned in it to get back to heat a.s.a.p. I was pretty much out of fuel. I have been buying a bag every evening after work so this weekend I should be able to go until I get tired. Surprisingly I wasnt the least bit sore the next morning.

 Thanks again you guys are great and dont be afraid to keep the advice coming.

[ThomasPowers]

are you sourcing the 40# commercial bags of the stuff yet?

[redd1981]

No Thomas but you have peaked my curiosity can you please elaborate?  Iv just been getting the smaller ones from walmart for for a little over 6.

Ill go see what the weight is.

It is royal oak brand 8.8 lbs

Edited April 22, 2015 by redd1981

[ThomasPowers]

Sometimes BBQ places will share their source or folks who cater BBQ.  Back when I was smelting with the Pennsic crew we would go to the "factory" and buy them direct. Out here I can find mesquite charcoal but it's not real good for forging.  Not charred all the way so too many forge fleas.

[turbo7]

Hot steel has right of way, even if it is falling.

[ThomasPowers]

"if the ground wants to look at your piece it is extremely rude to get in it's way!"

[Charles R. Stevens]

"Everthing we do is hot, sharp or heavy" 

[Glenn]

Make that Hot, Heavy, Sharp, and Dangerous.

You are not limited to just one, and can experience all four at the same time, plus more.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Yes sir, 9 staples from one slip with a cold chisel

[redd1981]

wow a chisel?? I bet that felt AWSOME!!

[Charles R. Stevens]

Better than the staples. A good, properly heattreated and sharpend chisel. Hit it of kilter and it jumped right in to my left forearm. The off the shelf stuff realy dosnt cut wort a dang.

I learned long ago that the doc poking around with the local anistic hurts more than cleaning and sewing me up. Besides Dr. Westcot and I get a kick out if whatching new nurses and interns turn green watching.  

[redd1981]

Oh I understand a little salt packed in the wound stops the bleeding if its not stitch needing.

[ianinsa]

So redd1981, you might have thought of salt as a diuretic?.......

Oh I understand a little salt packed in the wound stops the bleeding if its not stitch needing.

​Salt does stop the bleeding and helps to clean the wound , but it leads to urination (you'll p.ss yourself) just thinking about it makes my eyes water.

Come to think of it you could also cuaterise it with a piece of hot steel, I mean if Rambo can do it ? Anyone can, ? can't they?

[Charles R. Stevens]

Clean and flush the wound, preferably with a saline salution and mild antseptic such as 1/2 percent iodine in said saline, apply a clean dresing and pressur, skip the salt and carterizations. Quikclot (derived from crab shels) works bery well and the doc dosnt have to clean it out like they do the clay basesd products. 

Superglue and stery strips are good for the dIY types, but i still recomend a trip to hour local saw bones, a thero wond cleaning and debridement, a few stiches and the apropriate antibiotics will get you back to work much sooner. When was your last tetnas booster?! I never make it to the 7 year line, lol, working with horses and over half my visits for minor bidy damage are horse related.

[redd1981]

ianinsa I only use salt on small wounds that are annoying and wont stop bleeding all over everything when Im trying to work on my hobbies and Im usually having some beers anyway so Im going frequently already. If its a serious cut I will just stop and and keep pressure with paper towels. And a small piece of folded up paper towel and some electrical tape works way better than any bandaid

.CharlesI try to stay away from super glue as alot of time a big or deep cut needs to drain. I prefer to let it scab over on its own and give it plenty of fresh air. And as for a tetnas booster I think it been exactly 20 years. I dont remember getting one after I had to get one when I was 13 to start jr high. I was just asking my boss the other day if walgreens offers them. I know they do a few vaccinations but now that Im gonna be digging through piles of rusty metal I should probably get one. And as for for horses I had alot of experience with them when I was younger. my sister has been training horses since I was pretty young and I would always go out on the weekends and make a little money cleaning stalls and that sort of thing and when I was around 17 or 18 she started a non profit abused and neglected animal shelter so I moved into the the ranch and worked for her for a year or two. It was crazy how she could take the most unruly horses that noone wanted anymore,train them ,and make a nice profit at the auctions. I remember this particular Tennessee walker who was crazy and I was the only one tall enough to fit my arms around his neck to hold him still to get a a harness on him and I was trying get him in the trailer and  he stepped on my foot and rolled over the steel toe. I was hobbling around for about a week lol.

 

 

Holy run-on sentences batman!!!

Edited April 24, 2015 by redd1981
humor

[Charles R. Stevens]

Most horses have "peaple" problems rarely do peaple have "horse" problems. 

Lickaly if you have the good sense to seek stitches you will recieve both the tetnise boster but the anti toxin as well, but if not tetnis is a sucky way to die had a goat go that way

[JHCC]

Come to think of it you could also cuaterise it with a piece of hot steel, I mean if Rambo can do it ? Anyone can, ? can't they?

When my grandfather was about four or five, he was jumped by a pack of sled dogs in the Alaskan village where his father was the local Episcopal priest. After one of the men beat the dogs off (saving his life), my great-grandfather knocked him out with ether and cauterized all the wounds with a red-hot poker. When I knew him, his whole head was covered with old scars.

He was a tough old bird, though; died about twenty years ago, five days shy of 99.

[Charles R. Stevens]

The cauterization probbably did more to destroy any bacteria from the bights than stop the bleading. Lots of things that "sound good" do a lot more tisue damage. Even rinsing a wond in plain water will damige the tisue. But irigating it to remove as much dirt and bacteria is the lesser of the two evils. A saline salution is recomended. I use a couple of horse remidies myself, one home brew and on off the shelf. Both minimise the tisue damamge, kill pathogins and irigate the wond. 

 

[JAllcorn]

In the shop bathroom, I keep a jug of Iodine (I think it is a solution, not pure) and use it when I get a cut worth treating.  After washing, I use a liberal handful for a final wash.  Good antiseptic and smells great.  The Iodine color washes away w/o staining.  Then band aid or bandage if needed.

[Charles R. Stevens]

7% providine iodine is common enuge, I use a 1/2% iodine solution in a .9% saline solution as a wound wash for horses. Strong iodin solutions, and plain water acualy cause more tisue dammage. I find a spray bottle on stream or a seringe with a canula worke verywel for flushing debree. 

Betricine is basicly a week bleach salution and dose the same thing. I have been told that irigating in plain water is beter than nothing, but because it causes cells to rupture