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I Forge Iron

It's so hot...(how hot is it?)


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Been forging in it again. Cool spell today, only 92, with 60 percent humidity. Fungus getting so bad from the humidity, it's running in packs and carrying knives. Got in a rumble with some mosquitoes yesterday.

Made a drawknife and started some gouges yesterday in the worst of it. A turned bowl adze today. Iraq was GREAT on the sinuses....except for the formaldehyde in the swa huts.

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I always wear a cotton t under my work uniform shirt. The two layers help draw sweat away from your skin to actually keep you cooler. My usual choices in color are a dark blue or sometimes black. My wife has commented that she can tell how hard of a day I had by how far down the shirt the salt lines are from evaporating sweat.  The worst days don't show... the t-shirts aren't long enough.

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Charles knows about the heat in my area. I have seen 113° F with 1% humidity. The highest in the low 120's. The sweat evaporates so fast you don't' t get wet when you have single digit humidity.  We will have 100's everyday through August. Lows can be as high as low 90's, and I have seen 100+ at midnight several times. The low hits around 3am, and it is 100 by 9am.  July brings the Monsoon season when weather reports sound like this -  108 and chance of thunderstorms, and the humidity gets to 50%+.. During the summers I have slept on a hammock strung up on my front porch. I actually sleep better out there than in my bed. No mosquitoes, so it is very restful with the wraparound airflow. I tend to work after the sun goes down, or early morning on weekends. What is amazing is what happens to cars. My black dash is already hitting 200° when parked. Body panels will easily hit 177°, and I have recorded interior temps of 160. That is why some leave oven mitts in their car. When things get rolling you leave the AC on until the very last moment, because as soon as you turn off the key it feels a like someone put you in an oven. On an up note , I have done a batch of sun dried Roma tomatoes in one day by placing them outside. 

 

Safety is important during the summer here. Dehydration will hit you fast if you don't drink enough water. I carry around a gallon in each of my vehicles in case of emergency. I have been stopped on the freeway for hours due to an accident, but I was good since I had food and water with me. 

 

Sunburns are like tinnitus in that they are an accumulative ailment. They fade away , but the damage adds up over time. 

 

Be heat safe everyone.

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It's strange just how well humans adapt to temps in a relatively short period, I often used to work in our Al Ain shop in Abu Dhabi and happened to always choose two of the worst months of the year for it:D August (av.temp 44 C = 109.4F) and December (89%humidity) working in a ibr aircraft hangar ,casting aluminum on one side and forging on the other was somewhat less than ideal. Yet within days one's acclimatization kicks in and off you go! Yes you get to drink more water than you thought possible but hey you NEED TO! 

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I cannot resist it. I must reply. The only post so far from the southern hemisphere. (Ah, except for Ian).

Mid winter here. Lovely cool days, about 25 degrees C at midday. Cool enough in the morning to enjoy getting the forge going.

Just saying ...

Edited by ausfire
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Went to bed last night and it was still 95 degrees IN THE DARK OF NIGHT.   Geeze.  Last year I swore I was not going to do any forging in the worst of the summer and the worst is upon us, supposed to be well over 100 this week, with heat index even higher.  I'm melting, melting, MELTING!!!   25 degrees Aus.... really?   That's just cruel to even mention while the rest of us are standing in puddles of sweat. 

BTW, Ronin, I don't recall the title but I read a book about survival skills some years ago and the running theme in it was "Cotton Kills" - that if you're stuck out in the heat and have cotton on it's the worse possible choice.   Like Charles said there are tons of alternatives, lots of good sweat wicking fabrics.  You're probably like me, though, have a closet full of tshirts and just pull one out and go.   

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Heat index of 100F+ all week, and I am putting in new garden beds at the farm. About one hour out of a T shirt  (CoolMax or plain) and a quart of watered down Powerade Zero.

I braved the crowds at Costco shopping this weekend just so I could have a few minutes in the walk-in cooler.............bliss.

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The EU did some testing and fount that wool outperfomed senthetic "athletic" wicking/cooling faberics. The athleats body temps wher acualy a degree or two cooler wile doing strenus workouts in the heat. Senthetics have to down sides, they melt and burn, and they harbor stinky bacteria. Wool dose nither. Light weight merino wool under garmets are available and are acualy prescribed for peaple with skin conditions. It feels bery nice against the skin, especialy when you are sweating buckets (in comperisan to cotton) I can wear my wool long underwear, alternating between two sets on winter for more than a week with out offending Sandy's nose. It is realy hard to beat a wool base layer and a tight cotton outer for most strenus activity. 

The stuff is spendy (costly) in the US ($40-50 for a pair of bicycle shorts or a "T"shirt) but like a good set of work boots well worth it, especialy if yiu are wearing heavy cotton FR rated clothing. 

The senthetic stuff is costefective alternitive for folks that don't face fire hazads and can launder and bath daily, but for fire hazards and use in the feild their is no comperisan (I wear wool sox all hear long).

old miitary, camping and servival lititure pre WWII accualy recomended wearing your long underwear "as you are going to swet anyway"

my experiance is limited to wool and cotton, I can not coment on linen or hemp,  

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Aw, Gee,  its 8 AM and here I am at our home in La Lucia, Durban its a 'chilly winters morning'   he' he' 18 degrees C ,there's a light breeze , clear sunny sky, temp will max out in the mid 20's a bit cool to swim right now but in an hour or so int'l be OK!  so i'll possibly skip the wool outfit today!:rolleyes:

Charles, how come sheep pong?:D and chlorophyll is supposed to give you 'fresh breath' sheep get lots of it and their breath 'hums big time':D 

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Ianinsa, you're KILLIN' me here!  STOP!!       Last night here the local news did a story on playground equipment.    Why?   Because metal playground equipment around here is clocking in at 125 degrees or more to the touch, enough to burn the kiddies.   !!!!   And it's 18 degrees where you are?!      Sigh, the world is a strange place indeed.   AWESOME, but strange. 

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Spanky it's about 64f. We have to remember to convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit when most everyone here posts. Can anyone tell me why we measure everything different here in the US? I can convert weight in my head and I can get close enough on length for a general idea but not temp. I wish I'd learned metric when I was a kid.

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It depends on which thermometer they are using in their part of the world

18 Celsius = 64.4 Degree Fahrenheit

20 Celsius = 68 Degree Fahrenheit

 

104 Degree Fahrenheit = 40.0 Degree Celsius

125 Degree Fahrenheit = 51.7 Degree Celsius

 

 

Edited by Glenn
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Spanky it's about 64f. We have to remember to convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit when most everyone here posts. 

Convert?  Is that like .... MATH?    Sorry, no comprende.... I have a fully matured, half-century old Math Phobia.    60-something is still a terrible / lovely thing to consider when it's so darned hot in these parts.    

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Yes, Sparky it is just amazing, but as they say in ol'blighty  you got horses for courses, we're struggling through md winter right now:D it gets a smidgen warmer here in mid summer. In Johannesburg where I spend most of my time, right now you get single digits C In the mornings with wind chill maybe -4 (25f) midday 27 C(77f) that is a major temp difference in(like 50 degrees F) a few hours so hard to dress appropriately!    

@M Cochran just think even the Brits have metricated  a lot of conversions I do automatically kilometers/miles divide by eight and multiply by  five etc. Inches to mm actually multiply by 25.4 but mostly by 25 is close enough the metric system is well.......... just so logical! 

I however need to look up C to F and when people use Stone or hundredweight my eyes just glaze over. 

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If you wish to use feet and inches, then use it. If you wish to use metric measures, then use that. 17. 25 has no value unless you know the scale,

Same with temperature, if It is 20 degrees it is just a number until you know the scale being used.

 

20 degree Fahrenheit = -6.6666667 degree Celsius

20 degree Fahrenheit = 479.67 degree Rankine

20 degree Fahrenheit = -5.3333333 degree Reaumur

20 degree Fahrenheit = 266.4833333 kelvin

 

No math involved if you align the scales.

clickable thermometer

It is just a number until you know the scale your using.

Edited by Glenn
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Well YES and er.....NO! THINK of the TON here Glenn? (sort of the 'long' and 'short' of it) to you 1 ton is 900Kg and to me(and a fair portion of the rest of the world) it's 1000Kg that's in the region of a 240 pound difference , not much between friends (unless you're the one footing the bill for the difference):D

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