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I Forge Iron

Be careful forging in this heat!


RyanMark

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I was doing a test forging of some bronze today (went better than expected) and I was working with a temporary open forge with a propane burner mounted and aimed at a thick steel plate, because I wanted to make sure I didn't hit the bronze at too low a temperature. So, I was working the bronze while it was still in the flame.

I had been drinking plenty of water, but there was no air movement in my shop (garage with the door open) and it's a muggy, hot day. I didn't turn on a fan because I didn't want to disturb the flame, and also because I haven't cleaned my shop in a while and didn't want metal dust blown on me. Anyways, my sweat was not evaporating.

I was hot, of course, but felt ok until I turned off the gas and went outside to cool off. I started to get lightheaded and dizzy, and nearly passed out even after stepping inside with the A/C. My heart was pounding and I drank some water and had to lie down for about an hour. It sucked and freaked me out. I still don't feel quite right...

So don't repeat my dumb mistake!

Ryan

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Get some electrolytes (like gatoraide) and mix it 50:50 with more water and sip that. Just water won't do it if you are suffering from an electrolyte imbalance!

When I have to work in *hot* conditions I try to work 1 hour on and then one hour off in the cool house. Slows everything down---including the need for ER trips!

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Heat exhaustion is REAL . It is not something you recover from in a hour or so. As Thomas said add electrolytes. Have someone check on your on a regular basis, and not just a verbal response, but a wellness check when you are working in the heat.

There is a thread on the site on how to stay cool(ish) during the heat. May want to check it out.

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You gotta be careful in this heat!!
I got heat exhaustion several years ago working in the sun all day. Every thing was fine and I felt good until I noticed that I had stopped sweating, a short sit in the shade and a long sit in the truck with the AC on full blast. I still can't take the heat for long periode of time.

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I just googled "heat exhaustion first aid," and it is suggested to have the patient drink water or other non alcoholic beverage. My personal experience makes me wonder about that.

In the long ago days, I was shoeing a horse tied to a post where there was no shade. It was summertime and hot, and after a while I began to feel nauseous and weak. I found a small shade tree a little distance away and lay down. The horse owner and lady of the house came out to check on me and said, "I know just what you need." She brought me a glass of iced tea. I took a drink, swallowed, and immediately threw up. To this day, I don't really have a liking for iced tea. From that experience, I would suggest not drinking much while you're in the acute phase of heat exhaustion. Maybe a sip or two after you've rested for a while.

The upshot was that after I had rested in the shade for about 45 minutes, I was able to (slowly) complete my work. Then, I headed for home and beddy-bye.

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I took a weld test yesterday in Chattanooga Tennessee and needless to say it was HOT. I was given 4 hours to take the test and finished it in just over 2. I got a lot hotter than I realized. By the time I got into my car I was soaked with sweat. I drank plenty of water during the test so I didn't think I was that hot. Well, by the time I got home I was so weak all I wanted to is shower and lay down. After a warm shower to get clean and then cooling it down to cool me off, all I could do is lay down. It's best to work at your own pace in this kind of heat.

Scott

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For a few years I have worked in horticulture, and on a couple of occasions gotten heat exhaustion (not heat stroke, two different things.) and sunstroke. Needless to say, the hallucinations as I lay in bed with a fever is a good reason why I stay hydrated and take breaks if I'm working out in the sun. I always take a nalgene full of ice water and a nalgene full of a weak gatorade mixture, which I pop in the freezer. It makes an incredible slushy after about an hour, and works wonders. But one note is to take the hydration slow. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke should be treated carefully with cool compresses, cool water bathing (NOT cold, only mildly cool to prevent shock) and slow sips of water first, then when you are feeling better, juice, gatorade or other good things like that.

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My day job (actually shift work) is in a steel mill in Texas so summers are brutal, temperatures of 120-140 with real high humidity. I typically drink about 8-10 bottles of water a day at work and I drink a powerade about every three bottles of water, and I still get cramps from dehydration after I get off. The real key is to begin the day hydrated, because if you don't you can't hardly drink enough to rehydrate while working. Heat stress is very serious and heat stroke is extremely bad, once you experience heat stress or stroke you normaly are more likely to have problems again meaning your body cannot fight it as well.

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Watch the beer man, i live in phoenix and work in a metal shop and 1 thing ive learned is to not drink beer for a couple hrs after work and after i feel GOOD! alcohol dehydrates you fast and after you have had heat exhaustion then start to feel better isnt a good time for a frosty delicious necture of the gods beverage (trust me that you have a good chance of feeling like crap tomarrow if you do.) Hope you feel good the rest of the night and happy forging!

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One thing not mentioned here is that your bodies core temp is too high during these times....your head is like a radiator on a car,,wet it down often and it will drop that core temp. i was an active firefighter in the phoenix area for 40 years,,trust me I knwo how to deal with heat,,,And we did our work a lot of the times with heaviy clothes, coats boots pants and helmets with a head sock to keep us from burning. You can wet towels and wrap youir head just rewwet or chang ethem often as the no longer feel cool to you. Also the rule of hydratioon is: prehydrate, hydrate and rehydrate, Pletny of fluids before you work,,during and after. If your urine is not light yellow or almost clear you are behind on fluids. If it is darker than you expect youi are in trouible and repeated exposure to heat may not do you well at all. If you have kidney disease or other illnesses you must discuss these activities with youir doctors

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If you run water over your forearms you will cool your body faster. The blood flow through your arms has less travel to cool you down. As for your water intake you should drink room temp or just tap. The reason is the colder the water the harder your body has to work to warm it up to body temp to absorb it. And one last bit of info, don't go in and out of the ac. Stay out and find shade and a breeze to cool down before you head in to the ac. Going straight into ac puts a lot more stress on the body.

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From what you guys have said, I now remember those things. In basic training we were not allowed cold water most of the time, only warm water from the canteen.

I remember some news from a few years later that a trainee had died of drinking too much water, because of the electrolyte imbalance. Unfortuately he was probably just following orders, as I know I was told to "HYDRATE!" more than I felt I needed.

And, I remember the diluted gatorade advice from my high school track and x-country coach. I should start doing that.

In my case today, a fan would have helped a lot to keep my core body temp down. My sweat just wasn't evaporating enough, which is what does the actual cooling. I only had the fire on for half an hour.

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hydrate and rehydrate, Plenty of fluids before you work,,during and after. " If your urine is not light yellow or almost clear you are behind on fluids." this is bass ackwards ----> (if the Urine is light yellow or Dark) You need MORE water ! Clear Urine indicates you have drank enough water for the time . at high temperatures and high humidity One must drink more water to keep the body from dehydration and the toxic levels in the Urine flushed out . any color in the during the hottest parts of the day or any other time is an indication of the need of water . Per the Military, and with 27 years trust me I drink a lot of water thorough the day when it is Hot .

Now Retired and still drink water all most all the time .

Sam

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I became so soaked with sweat last weekend forging for the historical society (early July in Northern Ohio) the coal soot/ash etc.etc. made a paste on me. MY wife had a real time cleaning the (white) shirt. She had asked me why I didn't shake off the soot like I normally do...........Duh!! IT was a paste! (apparently, to look the part of an old time blacksmith, I have to wear white shirts. White. In a blacksmith shop....................It looked like a wet "T" Shirt contest.

I left the shop early that day. I felt like I let the old time blacksmiths down. They would not have shut up shop early due to heat and taken a seat in the local McDonalds/drinking sweet tea. I feel like I don't deserve to hold the hammer any longer. I'm sorry.

I will wear sack-cloth and cover my body in coal dust for ten hrs.

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Yup the old blacksmiths would have gone over and immersed themselves in the stock tank on a regular basis. The also tended to start work at dawn and quit when it got too hot. They also tended to die in their 50's at least my great grandfathers did!

Out here it's so dry you don't usually have the sweaty feeling to tell you you are losing water *fast*. I've had a number of back east friends visit and have to really ride them about hydration as they never feel like they've been sweating---until they see the salt rime on their clothes later!

The rule we were taught is "You should be drinking enough that you feel the need to Pee every hour and don't drink straight water, cut it with gatoraide, brined pickle juice, or other electrolyte solution" Straight gatoraide does not seem to be as well tolerated as cut with water 50:50 or less.

And yes when you are nauseous *nothing* seems like a good idea to drink HOWEVER the ER will deal with it with an IV if *you* can't deal with it by drinking *something*!

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It sounds more like carbon monoxide asphyxia than heat exhaustion or dehydration to me. If you were working in such close proximity to the burner you were surely inhaling CO.


Could have been that, too. Even though the door was open, lack of air flow could have meant that the fumes were collecting in there...
I'll be forging outside in the shade from now on.
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Ciladog, I was thinking the same thing, it was the mention of the still air that put up a flag for me. I am sure the heat doesn't help either!!

I only wish I had the problem with heat here, where I live we have been suffering with non seasonal rain for the last six weeks, (even for England) and floods over the past week, and it's raining some more, so no doubt there will be more floods to come.

When I worked in India in 40+ degree heat- just as in Spain, everything stops for midday. You get up at the crack of dawn to work, then stop from around 11 until around 3, then get back to it until the sundown. Trying to work in extreme heat does noone any favours. Forging in the middle of the desert, sitting on the sand in that heat, even when not in the peak heat of the day...phew, makes me sweat just thinking about it, i don't know how I did it!!!

The locals there were adamant never to drink cold water, as they said it would "upset the body" and only drink water from a mutgee, which is a very beautifully shaped water pot, usually kept in a corner of the house on a metal stand, which apparently the shape of which keeps the water cooler than room temperature. I have no idea or scientific evidence of this, however, but it sounds nice and I do believe that if did seem cooler than the ambient temperature. The time I ever decided to drink cold water from a cooler there, guess what, next day I came down with a terrible cold!!!

They local rajasthanis also swore by eating raw onions to deal with the heat. They had the most delicious small red onions though, that went perfectly with thalis, very delicious. No problem, as that's what everyone ate, but might be slightly antisocial under different circumstances!!!

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Many hot dry places use a slightly porous ceramic water jug that allows a little bit to seep through the sides where it's evaporated lowering the temperature of the jug slightly.

I have used the old style linen water bags that do the same and my house is cooled with a swamp cooler that works off the same principle---up until about 30% RH then the efficiency drops off...

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I was thinking the same thing about lack of oxygen. Those gas forges can sneak up on ya, since they don't make visible smoke and the poisones gases don't make a noticable odor. That plus the heat can kill.

My grandparents were dairy farmers and used the old trick of running cool water over the wrists for a few minutes to cool off, it works rather well.

What is even better is the afore mentioned wet towel wrap on the head.

No cold fluids INTO the body, cool on the outside and warm on the inside. A cool wet towel around the neck also works wonders.

Stay safe!

Caleb Ramsby

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