So, what are your pet peeves?

[ausfire]

 Having big problems posting new topics, so here's yet another try:
 
The end of another year and time to reflect on what we have achieved. I’m quite happy with the progress made, successful projects and some new smithing skills gained. I have also thought about some of the things which have annoyed me from time to time; those little pet peeves that we all have. I have listed ten here … I’m sure you can add your own to the list.

•  
• It annoys me when visitors to my forge say “Ah, here’s the old smithy at work.” I can live with the ‘old’ bit, but I resent being called a smithy.
• How many blacksmiths were there in the past? Seems to me everyone has a grandfather who was a blacksmith. Some are undoubtedly telling the truth, but perhaps old grandad just had an anvil in the shed.
• It annoys me a bit when on a pioneer day demo, a visitor says “The old time blacksmith wouldn’t wear plastic safety glasses.” Well, they may not be authentic but I’m not compromising eye safety for anyone.
• On a similar vein, I don’t like it when someone complains that I have mig welded the leaves onto the stem of my roses. If the old time smith had a mig he would have used it. Surely hand forging and modern methods can co-exist.
• I think my prices are very fair and most visitors agree. Occasionally though you get the clown who thinks ‘hand made’ in a smoky forge must equal cheap. Stock reply – ‘Here’s the forge, here’s a hammer … How good are you?”
• The first question you’re usually asked is ‘What are you making?’ That’s natural enough, but it’s annoying when you’re in the final stages of a nice bottle opener and Blind Freddy could see what it is.
• It’s annoying when you have a hot animal head ready in the vice and you can’t find the eye punch. Golden rule – have everything ready. I forget that sometimes.
• Or when you have really lost that special punch and find it later, nicely annealed in the ashes when you clean out the firebox the next day.
• It’s annoying, (and painful) when you’re hammering a piece of old rusty steel with a short handled club hammer and a piece of hot scale lodges between the hammer and your forefinger. Makes future hammering uncomfortable till the blister heals.
• It’s aggravating when you have just finished a demo nail making and you quench your perfectly formed 3” nail and it falls from the nail header into the murky depths of the quench tub.

I realise that my pet peeves 6 – 10 are all my fault and could all be avoided with a little more care.
So what are the things around the forge that occasionally annoy you??

[ianinsa]

(1)Think of it as a term of endearment there's a lot of other things they could be calling you :)

(2) At least a Brazillion give or take  :)

(3)Yes but if they lost an eye they could still make a career change and become captain of a pirate ship, you can't as that career is now reserved for Somalis :)

[ThomasPowers]

Still not king yet!

 

My biggest peeve, (besides the king thing), is that I have a lovely smithy with lots of neat tools in it and it's a 3 hour drive from where I have to live to work!   When I can drive up to visit, I generally have tasks needing to be done before I can have fun.

[ThomasPowers]

A second peeve is that IFI has a long lag times as it has to go out to the various ad bots and slow loading of pages then result in double posts needing to be edited into something else.  It was much better when I had Javascript turned off but I ran into other issues and had to turn it back on.  (chrome running on KUBUNTU)

 

Another is that I clicked on "peeves" and the "what did you get for christmas page opened" and I had to go back to the index and try again---been happening regularly lately I think the issue is that the page redraws after the ad finally appears and shifts the content down and I'm clicking while that is going on in the background but hasn't redrawn the page on my system yet; as I always get a link that was somewhere above the one I selected.

[HWooldridge]

Here's a list my wife sent me a while ago - she is a master seamstress so gets to hear these kinds of comments at shows...

[ausfire]

That's an interesting list HW. It needs to come with a parallel list of appropriate come-backs!

 

And Ian, Yes, I guess 'smithy' is not the worst we could be called. They mean no offence, but just don't understand they are standing in the 'smithy'. Perhaps I should place a copy of Longfellow's poem on the wall with Line 3 highlighted.

[caintuckrifle]

Pet peeves of 2014: swords, knives, and armor.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

That I rarely get to do any of my hobbies since I started commuting to Utah for work.

[Jeddly]

1) Trying to forge stuff 10 hours a day for 4 days straight, and injuring my dominant appendage. (shoulda stopped at first sign)

2) Thinking of all of the cool stuff to forge, whilst laid up.

3) Getting orders for more stuff, whilst laid up.

 

4) Letting the magic smoke out of my VFD on the grinder.

5) Others inattention to details.

6) Inefficiency. 

 

Gosh, I better quit whining.

[VaughnT]

1)  People that expect me to work for pennies.  Hint: I don't live in a third-world country!

2)  Never having the size stock I need for a project I want to get done.  It really sucks not having Ausfire's scrap heap nearby!

3)  Ausfire's constant teasing with all the pictures of his utopian piles of rusty wonder in the outback. ;)

4)  Guy's that see me sweating my butt off to make something and turn to the wife to say, "Save your money, honey, I can make that when we get home."  Yea, right, bucko.  

5)  Running out of fuel at the most inopportune time.

6)  People that say they love my work but never seem to find two nickels to rub together so they can "support the artist".

7)  Heavy hammers with spindly handles.  I just don't understand what these manufacturers are thinking!

 

Overall, 2014 was a decent year and I'm looking forward to seeing what 2015 brings.  

[njanvilman]

"Is the ________________________________(fill in the blank) HOT?

 

"Is the anvil heavy?"

 

 

And on that vein, why is it that at EVERY auction that had an anvil on the ground, every teen boy or young man had to make a show of trying to pick it up?  They don't pickup heavy tires or mowers.  Just anvils.  Go figure.

 

The list that HW posted could be applied to all crafts with handmade products.  Great list.

[John McPherson]

As for the snappy comebacks, while tempting, they tend to make enemies of the public.

 

But I did see a sign on a vendors table that read "Sure, maybe you could make it, but will you?"

 

Exposure comebacks, well, we get into dangerous waters very quickly. "Oh, didn't somebody try that, and break the internet?" "The judge made me sell my trenchcoat."

[ThomasPowers]

#2 "Kids this is what happens if you don't go to college"

 

My reply "and if you're lucky enough it can happen even if you do go to college!  I have a couple of degrees and have worked for world famous research organizations and have found that blacksmithing is a great way to relax after a hard day working with ones and zeros---I get to go out and *HIT* something---repeatedly!"

[mtforge]

Here's a list my wife sent me a while ago - she is a master seamstress so gets to hear these kinds of comments at shows...

Nice list

Here's a few from me:

 

Q: Have you ever been burnt?   A: Today or ever.  Q: Today  A: Not yet it's been a good day

 

The husband say he can make that. I then turn to the wife and say "Buy this one and when he does make one you can sell this one." The wife usually chuckles because we both know he won't.

 

When you are demonstating and you become the sounding board for the guy who no one will listen to. You can't leave and he won't so you become his new best friend. He occupies the time to talk to the visitors.

 

It's always interesting whan a family comes up and the kids ask Dad what I'm making and he comes up with either horseshoes or nails or some such. Never asks me what I'm making and doesn't realize I'm only a few feet away and can hear everything they're saying. It usually doesn't go well to correct them but I sometimes feel bad for the kids. But if they would ask and show a little interest I'd probably make something and tell them every step I'm doing and give it to them when I'm done.

[ausfire]

 

Nice list
Here's a few from me:
 When you are demonstating and you become the sounding board for the guy who no one will listen to. You can't leave and he won't so you become his new best friend. He occupies the time to talk to the visitors.

Oh yes, I know the guy well. He's the one with the loud voice who knows everything and lets everyone else know it. For the benefit of the mere mortals looking on, he gives a running commentary on what you're doing. Gets the names of the tools wrong but carries on regardless. I don't waste my breath correcting him, but I'm pleased when he drifts off to annoy someone else. Sometimes I feel like handing him the hammer and going for a cup of tea. And he's the one who calls you a 'smithy'. Grrrr!

[Grundsau]

I've had those cling-on type folks hang around also when doing demo's. Some of them do seem lonely.

But they're great at cranking the blower and shoveling more coal on the fire. Most don't hang around long for some reason.

 

This is just a minor non-blacksmith related peeve.

It's folks who are constantly saying "you know?" like every three words before they even say what they are talking about.

Sheesh.

Can't help myself and start replying "no, I don't know" but with a smile of course. Ya know? :D

[L Smith]

Mr.  Powers In don't know anything about computers but there is no lag when I am on the forum. Am I missing something? My wife had to teach me how to shut it off without un- plugging the dang thing!   I do enjoy your posts.   Keep up the good help sir.

 

My pet peeve is my wife says I can do these projects after we move and sell the house we are remodeling while she does her hobby of cross stitching. I am soon to be 71.  It is tight quarters in a casket!

[arkie]

A second peeve is that IFI has a long lag times as it has to go out to the various ad bots and slow loading of pages then result in double posts needing to be edited into something else.  It was much better when I had Javascript turned off but I ran into other issues and had to turn it back on.  (chrome running on KUBUNTU)

 

 

 

Have you tried using Adblock Plus?  I use it on IE and Chrome and it helps (some).

[RGraff]

Not smithing related but...In a former life I serviced and opened locked/malfunctioning safes, vaults and vault doors.  It never failed.  I'm on my knees, eye to the borescope, and some know-it-all will invariably stand over my shoulder and proclaim "Where's your dynamite?" and then guffaws as if he just came up with that one and I've never heard it before. Then he wants to know where my stethoscope is and why am I using such a small drill.

 

I'm getting fired up just typing this. 

[ThomasPowers]

As for the correcting without making a dad look like the idiot he may very well be:  I like to say something like "That was and is commonly believed and is in some of the old books and even TV and Movies; but nowadays we know that in reality...."

 

as for adblock I'll see if they have a linux compatible version; thanks

[Gergely]

Really good ones you have there.  :)

 

I have had only one: every, literally every single time when my blacksmithing comes up people ask first:

Oh, so you make fences?

And they not mean forged stuff. Nowadays around here "wrought iron fence" means cast or pressed readily made ornamental elements welded together. I hate those things. They are ugly but for some not even cheap enough, and then comes the next level: install-ready whole panels you can buy in big stores. - So I just have to say:

"No, I don't make those, you need totally different gear to do that efficiently."

 

Bests to All

 

Gergely

[forgemaster]

I get my back up when tradespeople or engineers from other industries or anyone really asks, "so you just sort of get it hot and kind of bash it a bit into that shape"?  I cant resist answering, "yeh we just sort of bash it a bit into that shape, kind of like you just get that bit of steel, stick it into that lathe machine thing and just sort of wear it away until it looks like you want it to".

 

Phil

[GottMitUns]

This one is not blacksmith related but it came up over the weekend and really bugged me.

 

We decided to make chicken and dumplings for a church fund raiser and were asked at least 5 times "What are you using for dumplings?", our reply, "Dumplings!"  

[GottMitUns]

Our pot does kind of look like something from a bygone era even thou is brand new.

[ausfire]

OK, while we're talking about pet peeves, not necessarily directly related to blacksmithing I hope you will allow a slight digression.
As an admin on a grammar/spelling website, I am astounded that there is so much confusion over the simplest pair of words: it's and its.
I will try to relate my examples to blacksmithing comments frequently heard on this site:
The steel has lost its heat. (Not it's)
A PW anvil. Its ring is very loud. (Not it's)
A dangerous hammer. Its handle is too loose. (Not it's)

It's can only mean it is (or occasionally it has) and cannot be used as a possessive. You don't put an apostrophe in yours, ours, hers, theirs etc. It's not rocket science, but I have come across teachers (and I was an English teacher for 40 years) who still can't understand the poor old apostrophe.
It's a shame its correct use has fallen by the wayside.
So there's another pet peeve.
Now, back to blacksmithing ...