quick60

Thats exactly it Frosty. What ever is goiing around is not normal. The usual sore throat progressing to fever and chills then reversing itself over three or four days is gone. This hit us a week ago Sunday and we are still feeling the effects. It didnt help that my doc is scared of antibiotic mutations and said it was viral just let it run its course. I have the most severe cough and sore throat I have ever had and I am four days on antibiotics. It was just very ironic that my wife and i were hit at the same time the day after we were forging out in front of the house. Anyway if you get it tell your doc u need antibiotics for this one or you will be down for the count. Wife has missed almost two weeks of work. As I type this she is in the bathroom coughing so bad it sounds like shes is geeting sick....and this started a week ago Sunday. However, I am glad it is not exposure to coal smoke like I thought it was.

Forging mild steel 1/2" square bar. Didnt taste or see anything till right at the end. We just cleaned up and I put the garage door down. Left the forge sitting outside to cool. Thats when I noticed the taste so assumed it was more from the hot rich coal(no air flow) gassing off. Ran it by the Dr and she said she dosent think it was that because we would have other signs and symptoms had we been exposed to something that caustic. She said it certainly didnt help but not the root cause. Also talked to a co worker today and he reported similar symptoms starting around the same time. His Dr reported several cases recently of unusualy severe respiratory infections as well. Regardless it scared me enough I think I might be done with coal till i get a good flue built for my forge and only use it for demos from now on.

Thats awsome Matt!! I dont know if you already have ability built in to do so but turn your air down while working at the anvil and you will save a lot of money on coal. Its always exciting to pull the piece out at the heat you want and go right to work!!! congratlutions on your progress.

Just did some more reading and searching. Metal Fume Fever or exposure to the sulpher in the coal forming acid in the mucous is possible. All present similar flue like symptoms and MFF has a few more symptoms. We were working with half inch mild square steel so no chance of galvanizing being involved. Scary part is the air really appeared clear thats why I didnt put two and two together.

O yea there was a ton of drama!! But they wanted the relationship he said she said drama/gossip, not action footage or the thrill of the lights and performance of the teams or what it takes to cut that .000 light. That was my point when i said they hit a gold mine cause there certainly is a lot going on at the track and these kids are truely sportsmen when the rubber meets the road.

Anyone ever experience any symptoms from exposure to coal smoke? I was forging in my driveway last week and was running into darkness. My wife came out to help me so I could finish this project for her sisters birthday. As we were finishing up it was dark and I noticed a slightly acrid odor but didnt think to much about it as we were wrapping up. I assume the byproducts of the cooling coal were hovering down low vs blowing up and away due to the lack of wind, high humidity, and cool air. Over the last week we have both had severe coughs, sore throat, fever, runny nose, etc. It seemed to coincidental that we both started feeling ill the day after we forged. Any thoughts or experiences?

My daughter drove a Junior Dragster for four years. Last year a TV production company hired by popular TV channel wanted to do a TV reality show depicting kids with more "wholesome, down to earth" values. They wanted to get away form the jersy shore type of programming. IMO theyt hit a goldmine. Dragracers I know are much like all of the blacksmiths I know. Honest, trustworty, sportsmanlike, willing to lend a helping hand to anyone who needs it. These kids are great and nothing like the teenagers youd see wandering the mall. After a week of shooting footage, conducting interviews, etc, my daughter told me they wanted to create a "rivalry" between the kids. I knew it would be down hill from there. In the end they left and the production never took off. The demo tape said it all. The opening line started out with a girl saying Hertford North Carolina is the most boring place on earth. Nothing could be further from the truth. Goes to show that wholesome and honesty was not what they wanted or at least thats not what would sell.

Its called marketing. Its one of the most overlooked aspects of business success and is why many talented companies and people go out of business every day. They do not spend the time and money on putting their name and product out there. If you put your chisel and his on a shelf next to each other they will likely buy the cheaper priced tool. But people who watch these videos want to go out and buy a john neeman tool even though they may never use it, just to say they have a handcrafted tool with the soul he displays in the video. They won't want your chisel but they will want Johns after watching that video. EXCELLENT JOB on marketing your skills and product!!!!!

GREAT VIDEO...very inspiring!!!!! Who is the musician playing the soundtrack in the video? Look forward to seeing more from you.

It is probably the noise and smoke they are trying to keep to a minimum. If you guys got together and rotated your set up with maybe one or two anvils and the other smith(s) set up just a table selling premade wares then it might be readily accepted to let more smiths in. You could even demonstarate woking as a team using a striker and forging larger pieces and split the comission on if it sells. In stead of making three dozen leaves and letter openers put up a sign that shows the drawing of a small garden gate, grill, or some other complicated item that will go to the highest bidder on the last day. They may appreciate the people it may draw in on the last day and you will certainly get an invite back.

Wow!! All wonderful works of art.

Looks like yall had quite a a few watching you guys have fun. Glad the weather held off for you.

Looks like macbruce has about the best darn rivet making ma......contraption i've seen so far. Nice work. How bout rivet making die? That sounds good.. I think. I would think you could take that and make a series of holes of varying depths the last one all the way through for various lengths rivets. Cool!!!

Nice work Tim!! The place has great character which I bet is a plus with Mrs McCoy!!

Nice job Mark!!! Looks like a great place to get in out of the rain. We are not racing this year so I too will be putting some time into setting up shop. Take care.

Resized photo attached!!!! It is 7/8" wide. I had thought of that as well but wanted to get some ideas. He is building an entirely new swing to match the existing one. The brackets do not have to be exact but he wants them as close as possible. Thanks for the reply.

After reading bump down to the second reply for a resized web friendly photo, thanks. A friend who is in the construction business is building a porch swing to match one that he was told is about 100 years old. There is a metal bracket on each front corner that reinforces the upright post and the arm rest. It is also the attachment point for the chain on the front corners. He has asked if I can replicate the brackets to match the ones on the existing swing. I know this is probably pretty easy for some advanced smiths but I am a novice and I am trying to figure a starting point. Any help would be appreciated. Looking at the attached photo the corner bracket is 3/16" thick, 3 7/8" from top to bottom and 2 3/4" from back to the outside of the scroll which is 3/8' diameter. The piece that joins the back of the bracket to the top is 1/2" wide looking straight on and 5/16" thick from the view in the photo. This round section looks like it could also be a seperate piece that was forged to shape then welded to the corner bracket. My first thoughts are that it is cast and this may be so but I do not have that capability so forging it is. I thought of starting with 3/8" round and forging the corner bracket to the dimensions I need then taking a seperate piece of 5/16" round shaping to match then, fogive me, welding it to the corner bracket with my MIG welder. Once completed should the bracket be hardened at all so that if a rather large fellow sits on the swing the scrolls will not try to straighten out? Any advice would be appreciated.

Apple cider vinegar for an hour or two then brush it off, roll it in sand, tumbler etc. But the vinegar should be enough to do the job. If using galvanized then this will be a recurring problem throughout the life of whatever you make. Might want to try a different wire. I like the idea of a stainless and copper wire combination for the color.

Nice work!!!!!

Theres a guy that goes by NOS onthe site that has about 2000 feet of it he might sell for a small phenominal fee? LOL

WOW that looks awsome!!! The one set of fireplace doors is on a track but the doors look set into the frame. Is it functional? Everything looks great especially being your first for those items.

GO DRAG RACING!!!!! or get some graph paper and draw out some ideas on paper, weed the garden, build a rain barrel, shoot my guns, play chess or backgammon with the wife and kids, etc.

I like the way the polish/grind travels up the twist. Looks great!!!! Any reason you are not forging knifes? I assume they are low carbon. I have some stamped HC and understand they are High Carbon and suitable for knives. Would you agree? Nice work!!!

I will put on my firefighter helmet here and offer some thoughts on the subject some of which has been mentioned in preveious posts from an physics perspective. A taller stack when cold would not be not be very efficient without the turbine. The reason is as the smoke travels up the stack it will eventually cool and require more effort from below to push the cold smoke out. As the flue heats up and turbine spins faster this will become a more efficient process. In winter it will take much longer and require more btus and time to heat up the flue (espcially one 45 feet tall) and you may never get it hot enough to naturally take advantage of the flow of hot gases to travel up the flue. Hence a turbine would help this process especially when first starting your fire on a cold winter morning. In certain weather conditions it will be difficult for smoke to travel up the flue due to differences in pressure and temp outside v/s inside. We call this stack effect in the FD and in certain conditions smoke actually can travel down to lower floors of a building and travel down stairwells instead of up. One thing we have found in the fire service is positive pressure in the room or fire building is many more times efficient than negative pressure. If you pressureize your shop it would have a similar (and my bet is more efficient) effect on keeping smoke out of your shop and promoting flow up the flue. In a hot area it may improve temperatures in you shop as well as promote smoke travel up the flue. In a negative pressure situation (flue with no turbine) you must have the ability to replace air in the shop to improve the flow up the flue. Opening windows or installing grills in the shop to allow air flow into the shop will improve flow up the flue also. Adding power fans blowing into the shop will drastically improve flow. Think of putting that straw in your drink and plugging the top with your finger. Lift the straw out of the drink fluid stays in the straw. Take finger off and the fluid flows out. Blow on the straw and stand back cause you are going to make a mess. A turbine may be effective in your area or it may be a hinderance. In a valley in winter with little natural wind it may restrict the flue if the flue is so tall it cannot develop any heat. Depending on wind in your shops location and length of flue the turbine may be a very handy thing to have or it may have little to no real effect. Try one and find out. It obviously works for stewartthesmith but may not work as well in your circumstance.

Very nice work!!! I have never used charcoal, what is the process of making it if you don't mind? I suppose one of the snails is for the little one peaking from behind the anvil?