Marc

I heard about this some time ago, but we already had planned a trip to Vegas. It's a bummer, as my son lives in Bethlehem and it would have made a nice trip.

I read an article about the last blacksmith in Manchester, NH, selling his shop, and how disappointed he was that he had nobody to take over the business. That put a bug in my head, as doing restoration work sounded like fun. I was born and raised in Manchester and knew where that shop was, but never thought twice about it. I'm kicking myself now. The bug grew for a while, then two years later another article about a blacksmith in my home town of Derry was giving lessons through the town's adult education program. I signed up before the applications were out and have been happily hacking away for six years.

All steel pretty much has the same "springy-ness", or spring force. What the spring steels do is allow the spring to be bent further before taking a permanent set. So if your spring doesn't need to travel much, just about anything, including cheap mild steel, will do.

There's also insulating firebrick, which is almost as good as Kaowool at insulating. It's much lighter than hard firebrick, much more durable than Kaowool, but not as much as hard brick. Another material is insulating castable refractory. You mix it up like cement and then form it where you want it. It's about the same as insulating firebrick in insulation and durability.

Yeah, all the phones have the GPS receiver, but it still requires the local emergency services to have the equipment to access it. Your state may or may not have gotten around to it. But if you're not near a cell tower, or you have crappy reception (like me), you're still out of luck.

The cordless phone set I have now reaches easily to my mailbox, maybe 150 ft. away, but I haven't tried going down the street. My previous one reached over 100 yards before fading out. This is on a pretty woodsy street, but my house is up a small hill. Terrain has a big effect on range. I did a quick Google search on long-range cordless phones and they have some that'll reach over 5 miles. But they're pricey - around $600. You can run a lot of phone wire for that. Home Depot has it for $200 for 1000 ft. Personally, I would prefer anything connected directly to my phone line over a 2-way radio or even a cell phone. Like Mr. Bluegrass, I spend enough time alone at home that a 2-way radio would have nobody on the other end. And cell phone coverage is not reliable. And as for cell phones, I'm not sure what the status of wireless 911 is in my state, NH. A call to 911 from a cell always works to get to emergency services, but if I can't talk, can they locate me? This is one of those things I don't really lose sleep over, but it is worth the few minutes to think it through. And since the phones were essentially free, it's a no-brainer. All I need to do is remember to clip it on my belt. I'm just at the point where the safety glasses have become habit most of the time.

The cordless phones we have now came as a set of four handsets from Staples, with a rebate equal to the price. That was a loss leader to use their long distance phone card. Anyway, each handset can call any other, or all at the same time. So if my wife ever needs me to come in to fix the project she started, she can make a quick internal call to the phone labeled "shop". We've only had the phones a short time, so I haven't been summoned yet. But I know the day is coming :)

I think probably the most useful emergency device is my cordless phone. Cell phone reception is spotty at my house. Sometimes I remember to hook it on my belt, but usually it sits in its cradle in the shop. The father of my best friend from my school days died when working on a window in his basement. He fell through it, cutting an artery. Cordless phones weren't available back then to the working class, much less cell phones. He bled to death with his hand on the upstairs phone. Ironically, he was a retired firefighter who spent his career saving lives. Ever since then, I have tried to make sure I had a phone with or near me when in the shop or doing work around the house. It's real cheap insurance. --Marc

And in the version I heard, or read, big John Henry died immediately after beating the steam hammer. His heart supposedly exploded.

I only use mine when running noisy machines, such as an angle grinder. And also when using the treadle hammer. But my anvil is a Fisher and is pretty quiet. I use those non-disposable in-the-ear plugs.

Absotively, posilutely. They're cheap enough. I use one with a digital readout so I can adjust my ventilation before that annoying alarm goes off.

In addition to what Glenn posted, the New England Blacksmiths have a teaching shop in Brentwood, NH: Brentwood Teaching Facility A couple workshops are coming up and we're doing open shops monthly, which may happen more often if the interest is there. Marc Godbout NEB Director - NH

I tried a DIY refractory made of perlite, fireclay, and portland cement once. Both the perlite and cement melt at high forging temperatures and I ended up with a real nifty-looking glassy substance. But it was real soft in the forge at temp.

My problem is that the anvil is right in the middle of the shop, and the horn is in the most dangerous position. So no matter what I'm doing in there, the horn is just waiting to stab something. The worse case is when I'm at the workbench, all I need to do is back up a little too far and I'll get a very memorable goose. I found a red tennis ball some time ago, so when the yellow one wears out, I'll have a Bozo nose of the correct and proper color to replace it As for vises, my biggest problem is not the handle, but the the vise jaws themselves. The shop is small enough that just leaving the vises open gets in the way. I kind of get used to where things are, so when I move around the corner, I don't expect a vise to be sticking out, and get some bruised hips. Got to remember to close them when done.

I get pretty much no ring at all. There is some clanging, depending on what's in the tray, but that's about it. Also, Fishers are known for having no ring. There's a piece of plywood sandwiched between the anvil and the stand, so maybe that helps. Too late on the patent, though. I think Bozo the Clown already has that :)

Here's my 140-lb Fisher. The stand was something I put together a long time ago when I got my first welder. I wanted to make something with all that scrap I got from the yard, back in the day when you could actually buy stuff there. I learned that I-beam is not all that sturdy in the way I was using it. Before I put in those vertical 1-1/2" pipes, the anvil would sway so bad I couldn't hit anything. The pipes stiffened it up fine. I also raised the height with the 4X4's. I originally had it at knuckle height, 'cuz that's what all the forum folks said to do. An extra 3-1/2" is what's comfortable for me. The tray can swing around and is height adjustable. I can raise it to anvil face height and use it as a helper. And that tennis ball is bungee'd around the anvil. I slip that over the horn when not in use to protect my vital parts. --Marc

And here's an interesting website on the topic: A Look at Auto-Darkening Welding Helmets, Eye Protection

Glenn, you've done some wonderful math, but kind of missed the point. The 1/25000th of a second, or 40 microseconds, isn't to switch off the lens before the light hits you, it's to limit the amount of flash. And you missed a small point. It doesn't matter how far away the arc is, the sensor is about a 1/2-inch closer to the arc than your eye. It can't switch to dark until the light hits it. The damage is done by a prolonged exposure to UV. 1/25,000th of a second a few times, or even a 100 times per day should not cause problems. Even if you started the arc 2000 times a day, that would be a total of 1/12 of a second exposure. That's 80 milliseconds. You probably get lots more every time you walk outside and look up at the beautiful blue sky. Furthermore, all welding lenses block most of the UV with or without the auto-darkening. So that flash is mostly an annoyance. Limiting it to 40 microseconds keeps your pupils from contracting and lets you see better early in the weld.

I subconsciously put all my tools away promptly, often before I need them again. And I usually put them away where I can't find them. Either that or elves perform that task. But seriously, I smith in a two-car garage, with about 1/2 of that being shared with the usual home repair jobs. So to keep my head on straight and have the best chance to find those misplaced tools, I would say I fit in the "After the project is finished" category.

For refractory, look in the phone book for refractory contractors. I found one in my own town, and two others within 45 minutes driving. All three had no problem selling me things like insulating firebrick and insulating castable. One had Kaowool, but only in 1-inch wide strips. He said they occasionally get wider stuff in and to check back. I went with castable, though. But they only charge what they paid for it and were very pleasant to deal with.

Luckily, the steel places near me don't charge for cutting in half. One has a chop saw and the other an Ironworker shear. But when I was getting stuff from the scrap yards (back in the good ol' days when they sold to hackers like me) I used a cordless reciprocating saw. There aren't too many electric outlets in the yard :-) You can get cordless angle grinders now, too. I've got a vise mount that slides in my receiver hitch to make the cutting easier.

Thomas, what kind of thrust bearings do you use? I had heard of this and got some from McMaster-Carr. It worked great - for a while. Then the bearings pretty much disintegrated. not being a machinist, I don't know what to look for.

I just swept my roof to get rid of pine needles. I think I now know a better way to get rid of those :)

I used a trailer ball and laid some weld bead on the flat spot, then ground it round. It really didn't take long at all.

Try not to lose your temper.