Few questions on some equipment

[Frosty]

How much blast to use at the time is a matter of experience and something a little time with an experienced smith really helps learn. It's entirely possible to put so much air to the fire it hardly warms the steel let alone heat it like it should.

I'm pretty sure he meant rail rather than tie Bill. Getting the terms right is part of the learning curve no matter what some folk think. I'd love to follow some of the guys who don't think the right name is important while they shop or see their faces when they open the UPS package with their order.

We still gotta point it out though.

Frosty The Lucky.

[remist17]

Not using railroad ties but RR track. I m putting it on a 6x6 or a oak stump.

Thanks

[Michael Cochran]

Charles did mention ties but he was mentioning different ways to skin this cat (mount the rail anvil). I'm sure most of us know creosote isn't the best thing to be breathing but it's been used for many years for many uses we just have to remember to take precautions with it just like anythin else we do. Remember everythin we do is dangerous in one way or another.

[Stuart Stegall]

I would agree that everything we do is dangerous, but there's definitely a difference between smart dangerous and not so smart dangerous.

That said, cresote isn't super dangerous in this context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creosote#Health_effects

Just don't go breathing it in.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Acualy, as its used in roffing,paving, powerpole, teliphone pole and waterfront pillings as well as rail sleepers (ties) it is a very low risk. Some costituants (light coal tar) is used to treat skin conditions and dandriff. The primary danger is to persond working in treatment plants, for inside tal exposer (workers placing new treated wooden members, work gloves, longsleved and pants is considered suficent. 

Used poles or ties are bery low risk, unless eaten in large qontities. If your liking the post, i say Darwinism at work. 

Gliptosade exposer (resistant legumes and graines) in your diet pose a much higher risk

 

Edited August 15, 2015 by Charles R. Stevens

[ThomasPowers]

As to amount of air needed for a coal forge the answer is: yes definitely!  It depends on your preference, your forge, your coal, your project, your materials and your blower.  Hard for us to give you an answer for YOUR conditions.  What I would suggest is visiting an experienced smith and see how they are running their forge doing similar things and then go home and fiddle with the air till you get something in that region and start tweaking it to suit yourself; you will be doing so till the day you give up coal or give up forging.

[Brokkr]

Man, I'm glad I opened this thread up. It had simply never occurred to me to stand a piece of rail-road tie on end to use as a hot cut. Live and Learn. 

I meant, of course, "rail" instead of "tie." Is there no option to edit a post after someone else has posted? For some reason I don't see one. 

Edit: ...on second thought, I could probably "quote" my post and then make corrections.

Edited August 15, 2015 by Brokkr

[Charles R. Stevens]

The inability to edit seems relaterd to the "forbiden" bug. 

[Frosty]

You have a short time to edit your posts but don't ask me how long, it seems variable from zero to a couple hours. I think the shut off time is directly related to how much you really didn't want to say THAT.

Creosote is a term that's become a pigeon hole for tarry wood treatment, some pretty benign, others pretty nasty. The modern penetrating tar preservatives don't bother me to use but the old school Creosote tends to burn me within a few minutes. A LOT of old DOT wood is old school creosote, we even had 55gl. drums of the stuff with the warning labels. When we were working with the stuff, usually pulling old guardrail posts, bridge decks, etc. we were given hazard pay. A bottle of olive oil and a clean rag is the best way to get it off you and sooth your hide at the same time.

Whatever ground contact preservative it is you don't want to breath the smile.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Ditto on old school creosote. I learned my lesson on that one putting up sheep fencing when I was a teenager. After a couple of creosote burns, it was long sleeves and gloves all the way.

[Pat Roy]

Remist17,

by my calculation your hunk of steel (10x10x6) should weigh about 170 pounds. That's a pretty good weight for a starter anvil.