jayco

Well, let's see.........
In winter I seem to cut a lot of firewood. In summer, I do a lot of gardening.
A bit of carpentry, mechanic work, farming.
I play electric guitar.....country and rock..........(when there's time)
Oh yeah........AND GO TO DOCTORS!

Ot 70, welcome to Iforgeiron!
Unfortunately, I cannot help with questions about gas forges and bladesmithing,( I do more general smithing with a coal forge) , but there are plenty of knowledgable folks here who can help you.
If you have questions, just ask.

Enjoy!

Matt, I'm gaining strength and doing a little more each day.
My doctor told me to keep taking my meds and come back and see him in 6 months.
For a couple more weeks I'm not to lift more than 7 lbs. with my left arm.
( The wire 'leads' from my defibrillator must become 'seated'.)

I've been tinkering in the shop.......playing with some copper sheet........and doing some light forging.

All in all, I'm doing OK! Thanks for asking........James

Here's what the ice storm looked like for us. Power was out, cold, roads were slick.

Actually, we were fortunate not to have down trees on our buildings. We had removed them after the big ice storm a few years ago.

Bud, welcome to Iforgeiron!
You'll find that this site is huge and full of metalworking information........including forge welding.
A good place to start is the 'Lessons in Metalworking' section on the front page.......lots of great info there.
Also, I think there are a bunch of smiths/IFI members up your way.......might want to check them out.
Enjoy!

Seems like it's been forever since I started this project. (I've been 'sidelined' for a while).

Anyway, I finally finished some crucifixes and took some pictures!

I took a very simple approach to the 'ageing' part of it.

After I pre-cut the wood, I simply brushed some vinegar on the fresh cut sides. Since I couldn't finish the work in a timely manner as I had originally planned, I also placed the wood outside for a few weeks.

So, I guess the results are a combination of vinegar and natural weathering.........oh, well.........

Any way, here are some pics........

One day a few years ago, I serviced our farm tractors in the barn. Just your basic lub and oil change.
Anyway, since it's a messy job, I had scattered oily rags around everywhere during the process.
For the sake of neatness, I piled them up together at the end of the day, planning to dispose of them the next day.
Next morning, when I went back to the barn, I noticed the pile of rags was sort of........SMOKING!
The sun was just coming up and I could see a wisp of smoke from the pile.
When I went to investigate, I touched the pile of rags with my hand and nearly got my hand burned.
I quickly grabbed a rake and got them out of the barn. I scattered 'em out and discovered they wouldn't go out! ( No water was readily available)

I learned to believe in spontaneous combustion that day. If I hadn't went to the barn that morning, the barn might well have burned.

It's one of those things you wouldn't think would happen, but let me assure you...........IT CERTAINLY WILL under the right conditions.

Ed, thanks for all the information. I never realized just how complex the interactions between my 'device' and electromagnetic fields could be.
I will be seeing the doctor who installed my defib, and the company rep too........but I seriously doubt there will be any recomendations to 'just go ahead and weld'.

From what I'm learning,it looks there are just too many things that can go wrong.
Some risks are not worth taking. Cardiac arrythmias are serious matters!
And yes, I PREFER LIVING OVER ARC WELDING.....HANDS DOWN!

Thanks a million........James

Ed, the reason I asked the question here is because I figured some other smith or welder has had experience with this situation and could relate what he or she has learned.

I am in no hurry to experiment on myself with my defib and arc welder.

I have recently heard 2 stories of what defibrillation feels like.

That it feels like 'getting kicked in the chest by a mule'
and.........that it 'knocks you flat to the ground'

Neither of these descriptions sounds very pleasant........

So, for the present time, I'm brushing up on my forge welding.......learning a little about O/A welding........and staying away from the arc welder.......at least until I understand a whole lot more about this issue.

James

Sidney, welcome to Iforgeiron!
I can readily identify with the 'being your own boss' philosophy. I'm retired myself.
Blacksmithing is a marvelous journey of learning.
You'll have all kinds of decisions to make in this craft.
All the decisions are fun, though.....

Like deciding what tools/skills to aquire
what you want to forge
useful items vs artistic items........or both!

It's fun.....jump in!

The 'Lessons in Metalworking' section on the front page is a good place to start.
If you have questions, just ask....

Happy Birthday, Tom!
At 50, you're just a youngster.........

Have a good day!

James

CBrann,I haven't noticed too many sparks,fleas,or exploding pitch pockets.......at least not enough to be any bother to me.

What got me started at this was being curious as to what kind of wood could be burned directly in the forge that would come close to having the characteristics of homemade charcoal.
I'm searching for the least amount of smoke,ash,and radiant heat.

Of course, when warm weather comes, I will most likely be back to using coal and homemade charcoal in my forge, due to the radiant heat.

Throughout the winter, I've been trying different mixes of wood in the forge........hardwood scraps, bark raked up from around the wood splitter, and even chopped up pieces of green tree limbs.

All these will make a forge fire, but it takes longer to get a good 'heap' of coals, more smoke, more ash, etc.

We have a bunch of downed trees and limbs due to the ice storm a while back. My son is considering renting a wood chipper for the cleanup. If he does, I will have a big pile dumped near the shop. I could do some wood burning experiments with that!

I guess I should add that burning wood in the forge is not a 'first choice' solid fuel for blacksmithing.
The first choice fuels would be

Good coal
natural charcoal
coke

But then again, there are lots of things that can be used as solid fuels.

I'll sum it up this way.....I'm a penny pincher........and I like to experiment!

james

Divermike, that's a good idea, thanks! I've been looking for 'light work' projects to keep me occupied during my recooperation period..........and.....I think I have some pieces of copper sheet in the resource pile........HMMMM!!!

James

Vince, welcome to Iforgeiron!
You're correct....there's a LOT of information on this site.
You can click on 'Lessons in Metalworking" on the home page and catch up on the basics.

Then there's the archives.........you can get lost in there.......there's so much great info there!

I started to list all the great features of IFI.......but, there are too many!
If you have questions, just ask.......there are lots of friendly folks here to help you.

Enjoy!

A little update;

I'm still improving, getting my strength back.

I'm still restricted a little on just how much I'm able to do.

My doctor tells me there are wires running from my defibrillator to my heart.......and they have to sorta grow in place. For the time being, I can only lift up to 7 lbs. with my left arm. tearing the wires loose would mean another surgery!

Surgerys are just not that much fun that I would want to repeat them.

The last couple of days I've been able to get back in the shop........make some leaves,nails, rivets, etc,
I'm just not supposed to do any heavy lifting, pulling, prying, etc for a month.

I'm just 'takin my time' about getting back to forging........of course I always did any way!

James

I should add at this point that I do have options.

I can practice up on my forge welding skills
I already have an O/A torch (I just never did much welding with it) that I can use.
I have a 27 year old son who lives here on the farm and can arc weld.
If I have to have something arc welded, he could do it.

I suppose it's just my natural curiousity to want to know as much as I can about the subject.

I'm in no hurry to try arc welding.......I would like to amass some information on the subject, though.

Thanks for all the replies, James

Here's my question for the month: Since I recently had defibrillator/ pacemaker installed in my chest, I'm wondering.......does anyone out there have any experience with this situation?

First thing after my surgery, my doctor informed me to stay away from electromagnetic fields.........that proximity to them could disrupt the unit in my chest.
In short.....NO ARC WELDING! The Literature the hospital sent me home with said the same thing, but with the caveat that "If you have to arc weld, you can.......if you follow some simple safety rules."

I'm getting a contradictory message here........."Yes you can" and "No you can't"

I went for my checkup, today........saw my doctor, and also the company rep for the defibrillator I have.

Apparently, at this time, I do not need the pace maker function.......that section of the implant is not activated. If my heart were to jump out of rthym again (it hasn't so far) I would get a high voltage shock to set things right again.

My doc and the rep told me of a welding instructor (with a defibrillator) who manages to weld a little by keeping amperage at 130 or below, wearing dry shoes, heavy gloves, staying away from the generator/transformer as much as possible.
Also important seems to be to keep the arc a minimum of 2 ft. from the unit in my left shoulder.

I want to put here a disclaimer that "I AM NOT RECOMMENDING THAT ANYONE GOES OUT AN TRIES THIS TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS!"
This is merely research on my part, and may be too dangerous to attempt.

I also looked at a welding site that said that 'Arc welding with a defibrillator is doable if special precautions are taken.........so...........

What do you guys think? Any experience with this?

James

Welcome to IFI........Enjoy!

James

I'd seen on the news where Bowling Green, Paducah, and Cadiz had seen damage from the high winds. In North East Ky, it seems we're all right so far.
This is some bad stretch of weather!

We used to have tall white pines in the yard and other places around the farm until the ice storm of 2006. We still have white pines on the farm, but a lot of them are still dying from having the tops broken out. After that ice storm, we cut all pines that could fall on the house, barns, shop, garage, etc.

They do grow quickly and make nice shade, but they're absolutely vulnerable when covered in ice. I went out to town today and noticed a lot of broken white pines after this last ice storm.

Steve, I was with j4jiron when he logged in the chat that night.

I explained to him that the chat was not working properly.

He understood perfectly.

NO problem!:)

First, welcome to IFI, Troy!
One way to look at the problem would be to figure out what fuel is available to you.
Coal, natural charcoal(not briquets), and gas are all good fuels and can be used for bladesmithing.

Gas is convienient: Light it and go.....and the neighbors don't complain about the smoke.
But, it can be costly.

If you can find good coal locally, it makes a good economical fuel for forging.

If you have access to plenty of scrap wood and can cook it in a barrel in the back yard, you can make your own charcoal to use.

You can make solid fuel forges from lots of stuff besides brake drums......my main forge for 35 years was an old 20 in. truck rim with a little fire pot under it. There are plenty of ways to make coal/charcoal forges from ' found stuff;

My 2 cents worth.......

Jeff, the hold-down looks to be well designed and very versatile. You can't beat that!

(I'll be making me one of those)..........Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for all the responses, guys, I much appreciate it!

As far as the "quitting arc welding" is concerned, I have plenty of interesting options available to me.
For one....I have a 27 year old son who is a good arc welder. I could just let him do what arc welding I need done. It might be a sneaky way to get him interested in blacksmithing

And.....I need to hone up my skills as a forge welder and O/A welder anyway......
We'll see what develops.

By the way, I really missed talking to you guys this past month.

I love this site!

James