Fowllife

My wife had a coworker request a dozen wine bottle holders. After a few text back and forth I though I had figured out what she was looking for, but since I was getting all of my information third hand I wasn’t quite sure. I made these last week and sent them down to her. As far as I know they like them.

Mr. Powers - no worries, it’s easy to miss small things. I’ve been here long enough to know you need to give details like that. I D & F - Yes, I’ve looked at that thread, and some others. I may have missed it, but all the ones I’ve looked at seem to be lacking dimensions. I was thinking about Mr. Powers earlier post when I was out in the shop working on the base. I came to the conclusion that there are two main types of people on here, the guys that will keep on tinkering with a forge until it’s perfect (or have 10 forges) and the guys who will build one forge (or two for a second fuel type) and just make what they have work. Unfortunately I fit squarely into the second group. A forge it more of a vehicle to get to were I’m going for me (hot steel)

Mr. Powers. I did state my intended fuel source of coal and corn. From my limited understanding corn and both types of coal can be used by modifying the trench size & depth. I believe Mr Aspery uses his design for his classes on basic forging, which is my intent as well. I understand that each design has it's limitation which I will work around as I currently do with my gasser. I'm sure several members has built similar design, but I have not seen many dimension other then what Mr. Aspery provides in his article. I'm fine with modifying the fire bowl to fit the project, but I don't have a lot of spare time to rebuild the whole forge. My assumption is that if I leave enough room below the tuyere and around it I should be able to adjust to a wide range of projects assuming I have the air flow. That's why I was questioning the pipe size. The general consensus is 3/4" is fine for a JABOD, does a water cooled tuyere make that much of a difference that 1 1/4" wont work? It will have a steel frame base, so it's portablity (is that even a word?) will be limited to were the skid loader takes it.

After a little over a year with the gasser, I decided I wanted to build a solid fuel forge. I have never used a solid fuel forge of any kind so I could use a little help with some dimensions. Yeah, in hind sight I probably should have made a JABOD first, but I'm already into this project. I decided to build a side blast with a water cooled tuyere based somewhat on Mark Aspery's design. I'm using an old tank that is 30" diameter, I already have one side cut and a plate welded back in to mount the bosh/tuyere to. So, here's my questions. 1. How far should the tuyere extend into the forge? Mr. Aspery made his 16" long which put it in the center of the forge. It feels like that is too far in, would 8-10" be too short? 2. Currently my outer pipe is 3 1/2" and my inner is 1 1/4." After I had this welded together I saw were he said to use 2 1/2" pipe for a hand crank blower, which I plan on using. Is my 1 1/4" inner pipe going to be too small? 3. How far above the forge floor should the center of the tuyere be? I plan on making it adjustable and I would like to burn both corn & coal. 4. How tall should the sides of the forge body be? I currently have them at 10" and it feel like that might be too high. I don't like cutting stuff apart and fixing, so I would like to get this as close to right the first time if I can. I've seen some info from Mr. Stevens and other on here and it doesn't match up completely with what Mr. Aspery has in his article.

That's why I think some kind of anit-body test, or whatever it is truly called will be a game changer in some ways. If we can find out who has had it it will help in a lot of ways. It just feels odd to me that the symptoms vary so widely, and there are so many people with the "usual" symptoms that test negative. It feels to either there are variation to the original virus, a very similar virus, or very bad testing. Mr SLAG, thanks for the reply. I believe they are in contact with the Ohio Dept. of Health and the Ohio State University on almost a daily basis. Neither ODH or OSU are offering anything like this yet, so they were looking more outside of the box per say. I know almost nothing about what goes into all this testing stuff, it's way over my head.

As far as I know these people tested negative for all strains of flue/ strep they were tested for. There has been some questions on if this stuff ran through SE Ohio, WV in the December-January time frame. There was a "bug" going through that area with very similar symptoms and also a fairly high death rate that tested negative for everything they tested for. That's why so was so interested in the "recovery" test since her and a lot of the staff had the earlier "bug" Since we all know we can't trust any info from China, and the US didn't stop flights out of China until the end of January I think it's somewhat short sighted to think that we didn't have cases in the US in some areas way earlier then they are saying.

SLAG, is that test readily available? My wife had one of her people looking into it lat week so she could test her staff members and was not having any luck finding anything currently available. The thing you need to remember also is these test are not very accurate. I have heard they are only about 60% accurate with a lot of false negatives. Granted there are a lot on different test out there right now and some are better then others. The facility she is at has sent out quite a few test and they have all been negative. There have been patients that have every symptom and still test negative multiple times. My personal thought is there is either a mutated strain they aren't testing for, or something going around with very similar symptoms.....or the test are just that bad. There are more test available now so it might have changed, but previously most places in Ohio were only testing people that needed admitted into the hospital, and health care workers/first responders.

Does there happen to be any state or city money involved in the gym? The government doesn’t usually like projects they are invested in to sit idle.... I think a lot of the “essential infrastructure” items on the list are more intended for a war time type issuance, this health crisis is different from the “usual” way it gets used. I did talk to a couple friends of mine that work at different steel fab shops and they were both working. One shop does a lot of press & equipment repair, and the other one builds manufacturing type equipment. Our fab shop does strictly structural steel. As long as everyone is taking precautions and being safe the more people that can stay working the better in my opinion.

I think the "card" thing is interesting also. If you allowed to be out to get food and other "essentials for life" all you would have to say if you get pulled over was you needed milk for your kids....or something like that. Why even waste time with the cards. All of the sheriffs in the local counties have said they have no intention of pulling people over to see why they are out. The cops down where my wife is just told her to show her hospital badge if she gets pulled over. In a lot of ways it makes more sense for cities and county to try to issue the appropriate level of control instead of state or federal level. Most of our states have fairly diverse regions between larger cities and open country. My daily routines are much different then someone in Cleveland, or New York City, or even someone in ranch country like Texas or Montana. I'm rarely in a room with more then 10 people on the average day, and only go to the store every month or two. There who probably don't see 10 people a day, and others who touch 10 people before they had their first cup of coffee. I also find it interesting how rational though seems to be lost in times like this. Peoples reaction are all over the board.

That's sad to hear Thomas. If they are short on feed I have some round bales I could spare. If they are close to my area you can PM me.. Hopefully this all straightens out in the next few weeks. If not I'm afraid there will be a lot of people in similar situations.

Our jobs out in the field are shut down, but luckily we have a decent backlog of work in design so I'm working from home for the next 2 weeks, but with reduced hours. Between saving an hour of drive time and 1-2 hours of overtime each day I will have some extra time. In the wood shop I have an island for my wife's house I need to finish. If the weather cooperates I'm hoping to get the tractors and equipment prepped for spring field work, along with some fence maintenance. In the smithy I have a dozen wine bottle holders to make, and then hopefully start on the solid fuel forge....oh, and some dies for the press. As far as what things on the "list" am I going to get done? I've stopped making list because I always run out of paper....

After saying that I noticed several truck going by the house hauling grindings, it made me curious so I decided to look at what Ohio stated. It says construction of essential infrastructure is allowed (which I assumed it was.) It also describes building hospitals, distribution centers, grocery stores, marinas, ect....even residential housing. So there is a lot of construction allowed apparently. We are a GC, and we have our own steel fab shop that does outside fab as well. It will be interesting to see if any of our steel fab customers are still working and looking for steel. I would be willing to guess 3/4 of our current work load could squeeze into the "essential infrastructure" if we tried. Our management is fairly conservative and employee safety is a major concern so it doesn't surprise me the route they took. I think it's interesting how different states are reacting. I thought I heard the governor of Texas said he would put the states economy in front of citizens welfare. On the other hand the governor of Ohio pretty much said he would shut down the whole state to save one person. Its also interesting to see what businesses deem themselves "essential." Harbor Freight is open, but dentist are closed. Whirlpool is open (makes washer machines locally) but the auto parts manufacturer is closed.

Unfortunately, per all of the list I have seen it is not essential. Pennsylvania has a really good list no their website that is based on Federal guidelines, which is what most states seem to be following. Essentially all construction is shut down with the exception of emergency calls for heating, electrical, or plumbing issues. Each state can set their rules so they may vary some. You are allowed to work on projects for essential industries in most cases. Our company is working in a couple food plants, and a surgery center, but we decided to shut down all job regardless. Management decided it wasn't worth the risk or liability to keep those jobs running. In Ohio at least they are relying on the companies to self police, but the local health department can shut you down if they decide you are not essential. But, agriculture is exempt and is considered essential. I have gotten emails from all of the companies I use for parts and supplies and they are all open with modified procedures. Ag equipment repair will remain open. In preparation for "the surge" there have also been quite a few layoffs in the heath care industry. My wife has already made a round or two of cuts to her staff. It seems very counter intuitive to cut hospital staffing at this time, but if a hospital doesn't have any "infected" patients they probably don't have any patients. The govern eliminated elective surgeries, nobody is going in for rehab, or Dr appointments, or even to the ER or urgent care if they are sick. A lot of hospitals are not going to be able to afford keeping staff on with no billable income.

Thanks for all the nice comments. I have had very little time in the forge the last 6 months, so it was nice to have something turn out how I wanted it to ( minus the rivets.) That was also the first plant hanger I have made. Punt, I used 3/16”x1” for the upright, 1/8”x1/2” for the scrolls, and 3/16” rivets.

I’ve been busy cutting fire wood and getting the tractors ready for the spring, but I did have time to make this for my mom. I had some issues with the rivets, but overall I’m pretty happy with it.

It seems like things are getting a little crazy, so here is my take on this. I just got off the phone with my wife who is an executive at a small critical access hospital in southern Ohio. I'm sure anyone who is really interested has done their own research into this, but here are my thoughts. The Governor of the state of Ohio closed all schools in the state for 3 weeks effective Monday. He is also banning all visitors from seeing patients in hospitals and nursing homes, along with gathering over 100 people. The reason for such large steps is essentially, Italy. It spread through Italy quickly and their heath care system was overrun and as a result they had a extremely high death rate compared to most other counties. Slowing the spread will help the hospitals handle patients at a slower rate if it is needed. Closing the schools had her concerned for a more socioeconomic reason. That area of the state has a lot of poverty. Unfortunately there are quite a few kids who rely on school for their breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner. They are trying to get a plan in place to get these kids what they need. Should you be worried? It depends on your age and health history. Even though I'm younger I fall into the higher risk category since I've had pneumonia twice, and I'm married to someone in heath care. I'm personally not worried. For kids under 10 there are no known cases. The average, healthy adult that does not have respiratory issues or some other underlying heath problem has very little risk. So if you're a healthy adult, don't panic. Even if you get it you would probably think its the regular flue and be over it and a couple days and move on. If you are older then 65, or have an underlying medical issue you already know to be on your toes during flue season and know the precautions you should take. The death rate for people under 65 is like 0.2% and that doesn't count the millions of people who have had it, recovered, and never got tested. I do have some family members I'm worried about, but I was worried about them even before this virus. PPE and hording supplies. If you are a healthy person you do not need to walk around wearing a mask, and by all means DON'T HOARD THEM. Believe it or not most hospitals and first responders don't have pallets of PPE in a warehouse somewhere. Please save them for the people who actually need them. We are coming to the end of the "regular" flue season and stocks are running low, some places have been on a supply ration for months. I'm not even going to get into the silliness of carts full of TP and paper towels..... In closing, just be a good person. If you have an elderly neighbor, don't put them in danger, but see if they need anything. If you know of a family with some kids that could use some help, try to lend a hand. Be patient and just stay calm. (Disclaimer - I am not a heath care professional, nor do I play one on TV. This is just my thoughts and opinion.)

MDF would be pretty far down the list of materials I would try to use for this, at least here in Ohio. With our crazy temperature swings and high humidity I don't know how long MDF will hold up. Any cut joint will absorb moisture unless sanded and sealed extremely well. I really don't like using it in basements (will use MDO instead) and I would not use it for anything outside.

We are getting a little off topic here, but this was very common in farm tractors in the '60-'70. Earlier then that a lot were a lot 6 volt systems. There are even quite a few positive ground systems in that time frame as well. A lot of the new/newer heavy construction machinery is running 24v systems.

That is actually just what I ordered for mine, should be here tomorrow. I found that Ebay had the best prices on motors, mine was like $195 with tax and shipping. As you mentioned, make sure you look at FLA. There were quite a few that were listed as 5hp then the spec's said 16 FLA's and an actual 3.5 hp.

If you have a 60a sub panel it should not be a problem to add a 50a breaker to run the welder. As long as all of your wiring is sized right you should pop the breaker if you ever overload your sub panel. I don't think I have ever had my buzz box turned all the way up, even welding 1/2"-3/4" steel I rarely go over 175. Well, I just caught were you said your panel is 60a 120v. Are you sure it's not 60a 240v? It would seem odd to me to have a 30a 120v circuit also. If the breaker feeding the sub panel in a 2 pole breaker you panel is 240v. Remember, the 60 amp is the usable power (minus reductions) of your panel. You can have more then 60 amps connected, you just cant use more then that at one time. So theoretically as long as your using less then 10 amps for lighting you can max out your 50 amps for the welder.

Please do not do this. The only place that you should bond the neutral and the ground is at the main service entrance. As Steve explained, these are separate circuits and need to be maintained as such. Chris, if your not confident and comfortable with what you are doing (and it doesn't sound like you are) I would have your electrician come out and do it for you. Your welder has a 3 wire plug and will only use 3 wires, 2 hots and the ground. You don't need a neutral for a welder. Since you already ran the wire I would just put in a sub panel as Steve suggested earlier.

Rookied out the ends she says, yup I resemble that. Do you happen to have any pictures of what the ends should look like? I still have't found my groove yet on scrolls and hook ends. I had to trim the heart ends a couple times, and I still wasn't very happy with how they turned out. I should have spent some more time drawing the tips out to a point.

I apologize if my original post came off the wrong way. A lot of guys don’t realize the power requirements of that big of motor, especially being 3phase. You have the flow, so I would get as big of cylinder as your budget allows. Also make sure your control valve can handle the flow you’re pushing.

I’m sure you’ve used yours way more then I haves used mine, but my liner is holding up ok after a year. If I remember right your coating was a little tougher, maybe if it was smoother it wouldn’t break up as easy? I was pretty careful with keeping mine as smooth as I could and the only cracking I have is between the floor and the wall. I think I’ve ran 250ish pound of propane through it?

Would it be an option to get a bigger tank? I know the TSC in Norwalk will fill tanks. I’m not sure if the one in Wellington will, or if there is someplace close that would fill a 100lb tank. It’s so much nicer having a bigger tank then a 20lb.