Smithy.Travis Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 While waiting for stock to heat up, I took and threw my tongs in the air having them do a 360. It was all good until one decided to do a 180, and land the business end of the tongs in my palm... :( I learned a few things that day, 1) 360s are for drum sticks and water bottles, 2) ALWAYS quench your tongs after use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_K Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 When you make scrolls and have done all the ones that are clockwise. Now you struggle with the ones that are to be used on the other side of the gate or fence that are counter-clockwise. Struggle as in fight with the metal and the symmetry to make it look right. Then your son comes along and says *want to see magic happen?* He grabs hold of one of the clockwise scrolls and flips it over and says *see magic* as he smiles and quickly walks away. That gets even funnier when one reads your second sigline. :D leaving the chuck key in the drill press. I never try it, but about once a month something distracts me and I do it. it goes flying, makes a heck of a racket and then I'm on my hands and knees searching for the keyfor half an hour! -J Bicycle innertube. Sliced lengthwise, one end around the chuck, the other end around a part of the press. Bonus points if you make it so that the rubber crosses over the off/on switch. I'm sure I have some 'don't do that' moments to add, but I'm going to have to scrounge the memory banks a bit. Be back later. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george m. Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Once I had a long piece precariously balanced on the end of the forge with one end heating in the fire. It was too precarious and the cold end dropped while the hot end came up out of the fire. I was turned away and was turning back. The hot end just touched the end of my nose for a split second and raised a nice blister. The bullet I dodged that time was close enough to hear the sonic snap as it went by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donnie Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Do not pull a piece of 1/2"sq out of the fire and grab the orange metal with your bare hand to straighten it. You will leave your fingerprints on the steel and keep your hand submerged in water for hours. There is a reason I know this! I don't know why I did it. But, I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergely Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Well, Donnie, this really needed the second post as a clear up... I just can't stop asking: why on earth? I mean no bad only wondering. My story happened at the first time forging short stock. Not suitable pair of tongs. So the don't do this again point was: don't stay still when the glowing stock starts to fly. It usually helps if you step away of its way. I learned it really easy, only a 2" scar on my left arm for a couple of months. Be well and careful! Gergely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yves Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Shoot, forgot the punch! Better go over there and get it (carrying my hammer). Return to anvil with punch but no hammer because I set it down to pick up the punch. Head back to get the hammer... Now why did I walk over here again?... I am worried for you. How old are you? I'm worried for me and I know how old I am ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I am worried for you. How old are you? I'm worried for me and I know how old I am ... I own dozens of tape measures. They are everywhere, in all my vehicles, shops, house. Why can't I ever find one when I need one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJS Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I always tell people senility sets in early in my family, or is that ADD??? ;-) it amazes me that I can loose tools in plain sight. I know matter is neither created or destroyed in the normal course of things, but it is amazing how things can DISAPPEAR... I have an ill fitting tong story was teaching a younger boy and was working on something that didn't fit in the tongs and was higher carbon, as the stock cooled past its forging range and I kept working it jumped harder in protest and bounced out of the tongs and cartwheeled through the air and blistered the end of my nostril and upper lip... LOTS of nerve endings in your nose. Three lessons: tongs need to hold formerly, stop forging below forging temp, don't burn yourself, especially tender bits;-) Same boy I was showing how to do Damascus and I was using the rightangle grinder on the billet HOT. I have a resperator and hearing protection on and he swats my shoulder and points at my chest where my sweatshirt is on fire, I finish what I was doing and then put it out. Sometimes a leather apron is an important PPE;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gote Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I own dozens of tape measures. They are everywhere, in all my vehicles, shops, house. Why can't I ever find one when I need one? Did you not know??? Tape measures are a kind of larvae. they creep away into a corner, form a chrysalis and eventually emerge as wire coat hangers. My sliding calipers are migratory birds. They go south for the winter and come back in the spring.. Göte Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothBore Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Don't attempt to bend EMT Conduit, while working on a Scaffold. ( It cost me 9 broken vertebrae to learn that one ..... ) . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohio Rusty Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Picking up a piece of metal on the floor thinking it was cold ....... Dang that hurt ...... Assume every gun is loaded and every piece of metal is red hot ...... two good rules to live by. Ohio Rusty The Ohio Frontier Forge S.E. Ohio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intrex Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I forging a bark textured corkscrew handle with a drifted and riveted corkscrew. Fully finished the piece and coated it in wax. Had some people over for dinner and when i tried to open up a bottle of wine I realized that I had turned the screw counterclockwise so that you have to turn to the left to open a corc. A few hours of forging and finishing to make a nice paper weight in the form of a corc screw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Not a paperweight; an intelligence and dexterity test! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george m. Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 There are two things that happen to us as we get older. First, we start to lose our memory capability and I don't remember the second one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 What? TYPE LOUDER! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I have a few. When I was first using my drill press I was not aware of the force you could apply as opposed to a hand drill. I was drilling a "larger" piece of metal and thought to speed up the process u applying more pressure on the bit, whoch resultet in it breaking inot pieces, including one that shot into the hand that I was using to hold my piece. It popped right out, but for my first drill press experience I was a little unsettled. Another time with the drill press, Somehow it turned on while I was tightening the bit with the chuck key and caught my fingers for a second. Second time I used the drill press I was also a little unsettled. Holding the orbital sander between my knees. I have a couple scars on my knee from readjusting it while it was running. Those are scary stories Graeson, REALLY scary. The shop classes in school, (lots of classes couple schools) had a city wide policy. Every power tool had a yellow line painted around it. Unless it was planned and approved by the teacher ANYBODY not running the machine who crossed the line was suspended from class. As I recall, the first offense was a one week suspension, 86'd for a second. Something else that'd get you a talking to was drilling ANYTHING in the press without clamping it to the table, vise or not. It's just not possible to let go and get clear if the bit catches, a piece of bar will leave a serious bruise if you're lucky enough it hits you in the ribs before shattering your hand. A piece of sheet metal is a meat slicer and you're going to hold it in your . . . HAND?! Loose clothing, long hair, jewelry, etc. ANYTHING that can be grabbed by a moving anything can cripple or even kill a person. I love this thread, safety is something we should ALWAYS keep forefront in our minds, especially in our shops. It's a dangerous world out there kids, stay alert and prepared. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Saw a fool catch his pony tail in a fan belt... Didn't take me making that mistake... As to senility, i got it from raising two girls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 An accident happened back in the 1970's in the shop I eventually taught at. Totally preventable. A history teacher who like to work in the wood shop turned a lamp body out of wood but did not put the hole for the wire through it while fabricating the stock. He decided to drill it in the metal shop on the big variable speed drill press. But he did not have a bit long enough.....You can guess what happened....He welded a piece of rod to the end of a spade bit. Put it in the drill press without first checking what speed the drill press was set to. As soon as he turned it on, the out of balance bit bent sideways and became a propeller, because the speed was left at over 1500 rpm. It came around and sliced his two legs open. He lived, and no students got hurt, but both he and the shop teacher were fired at the end of the school year. (Un-authorized use of equipment by the history teacher, and the shop teacher for letting him). Bottom line: Check speed on drill presses with nothing in the chuck before starting an operation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-hr Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 My favorite don't do that again moment was the time I decided to see what would happen if I put a golf ball on the flat dies of the power hammer, and stomped the treadle...Right into my guts at 300mph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy.Travis Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 My favorite don't do that again moment was the time I decided to see what would happen if I put a golf ball on the flat dies of the power hammer, and stomped the treadle...Right into my guts at 300mph. OUCH!!! That honestly sounds like something I'd do... :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yves Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 I own dozens of tape measures. They are everywhere, in all my vehicles, shops, house. Why can't I ever find one when I need one? Easy : because you leave them with mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Easy : because you leave them with mine. I think the missing tape measures have a secret life with the orphan socks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 The only tape i can find is the one that is either split longways, the end is missing or wont retract. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyO Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 RE: Frosty - My good friend who's been a smith for almost as long as I've been alive showed me the risk of drilling while holding the object in his hand. He was drilling instead of hot punching holes in his bottle openers using a 3/8" bit when the bit caught, and before he knew what happened, his hand was pulled around so hard he broke not only a finger but snapped the bit in 2. RE: mike-hr - The same smith told me a similar story of smashing a pop can (or maybe it was beer), under his 250# Chambersburg that exploded and imbedded a 2" piece of the can into one of the walls of his shop. Imagine if a body had been in the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caotropheus Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Speak with the wife while metal is warming up in the fire! Quench the new forged "fire poker for the fire place" in water and not tempering it at once...I had to use a broom to clean the pieces after I dropped it on the floor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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