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I Forge Iron

Cold weather smithing


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You guys are getting me remembering when I worked at boys out camp and we would set up for the Order of the Arrow ceremony. Ah the coffee cans lining the trail with diesel soaked toilet paper rolls to light the path and the giant metal arrow we would wrap with diesel soaked strips of old decommissioned canvas tents. By the end of it I was usually soaked in diesel fuel too. Those were the days where they still had two warriors fight with the staves ends on fire. 

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Well I was going to share an ancient anecdote about my scout troop and fire and realized: I shouldn't!  Leastways not on an open forum where we are trying to get people to follow the safety rules.  

As for Frosty's dessert---could have been s'mores! (I introduced our church camp leaders to making them with nutella)

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1 hour ago, Charles R. Stevens said:

Us desert rats have a diferent veiw on fire, having seen first hand a discarded bottle of mineral water start a brush fire... 

Come to think of it, maybe the OP can forge in a snow fort?

Ok.  I'll bite . How does a bottle of water start a fire.     Ooh. I think i know. Magnifying glass affect? 

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I can categorically neither confirm nor deny, the allegedly true story of the bonfire built around a giant foil sausage stuffed full of the contents of a half dozen railroad fusees found along the tracks behind the Camporee field.

I can however confirm that when the fire was burned down to embers, the contents finally ignited, and were totally consumed within ten seconds with a great roaring sound, so that everyone staring intently at the Council Executive (who was just coming to the best part of his ghost story) was temporarily dazzled by the column of actinic fire. And he Was Not Amused.

Luckily it was not mistaken for a missile launch by Soviet satellites.

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To heat up the anvil in cold weather : first thing in the morning I go to the forge, plug a clothes iron and lay it on the anvil. If I will use the gaz forge, I will not light the wood stove which I do when I use the coal forge. I then go to eat and read and write.

When I get back after breakfast, the anvil is warm to at least 2 inches. Yes, I do eat a consistant breakfast …

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3 hours ago, Buzzkill said:

Crème brûlée?

:lol::lol::lol::lol:  Sort of, "Mojave Dessert" is like fried ice cream but you just set it on a flat rock till the coconut browns to your liking. 

But, yeah I was talking DESERT rat stuff, "spelling often being more a casual suggestion rather than a rule," One of our tricks was getting the angle just right through the crystal on a wrist watch to light a fire without taking the crystal off the watch.

Frosty The Lucky.

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ahhh, I cant wait till it gets cold here (40-50'sF:)....has dropped some, and is in the 80's. We are expecting a cold front tomorrow!!yeah!!!

                                                                                                                        Littleblacksmith

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On 2016-10-19 at 10:57 PM, John McPherson said:

I can categorically neither confirm nor deny, the allegedly true story of the bonfire built around a giant foil sausage stuffed full of the contents of a half dozen railroad fusees found along the tracks behind the Camporee field.

 

Fusees?? Were the locomotives running on clockwork?:D Ah now I understand. Our trains stopped using fusees and this is why they nowadays never are on time.:P

Sorry could not help myself.

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Ha! Learn something new every day. Never heard of fusee being a term for a mechanical clockwork movement. Thank you for that tidbit.

In railroading, and wildland firefighting, the specialized flares are universally known as fusees. Back in the days of cabooses and conductors, a good man could 'stick' the nail end of a lit fusee upright in a wooden tie without ever setting foot on the ground. (Who said knife throwing wasn't a practical life skill?) 

Fusee - 5 minute red.JPG

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I also learn. I have never heard about flares called fusees. I happen to own my greatgreatgrandfather's pocket watch signed John Ward. It has a (non-combustible^_^) fusee with a microscopic bicycle chain that winds around it; thus I know.

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