Just thought that this may generate some good chatter. My question is this; what do you find yourself doing while your iron is in the forge? 

I tend to organize, sweep up cold slag, and get a bit of grinding in on future and uncompleted projects. Well and of course check iforgeiron posts lol

Also, am I the only one with headphones in while working? If not, what's your forging playlist?

I have been on a Moonshine Bandits kick lately around the forge. But there's not much for music that people would be surprised to hear I listen to lol

Put another piece of steel in the fire so there's less downtime; I often have the primary project and a secondary project.  The secondary often being one that can take a bit more abuse---like making tent stakes

Stand in front of the forge, wondering why its taking so long to heat up... or, try to whip out something on the honey-do list, like sweep the garage, and then wonder why my steel burnt up while my back was turned.  Of course, I'm impatient AND dumb... a bad combination for a hobby blacksmith.

I just stand there and crank the blower.

I never use headphones. I just turn it up really loud. Every once in a while, I get a song that is in the same key as my anvil!

My forging playlist

alot of Clutch 

recently I have been on a punk kick. Nofx pennywise and bouncing souls. Good speed for working.

If I had that much time on my hands picking up a heat I would spend it all designing a hotter forge ;-) 2-1/2" round takes three to five minutes on the first heat and I spend that time turning the stock often. Smaller stuff is a snap. Shop music is as varied as the things that come off the anvil ranging from Wagner to Bluegrass to Metallica. Today it was Bing Crosby, Perry Como and Sinatra.

This Wagner?

The same!

Depending on your project, I try to have more than one item in the fire at a time (bituminous coal, electric fan). One piece in the sweet spot, one on the side of the sweet spot and a couple on top of the fire. As number one comes out of the fire, number two goes from the side to the center of the sweet spot and number three goes from the top to the side. It is a dance with a piece of metal always up to forging heat and waiting.

As to music, mainly instrumentals such as Popcorn, Wipe out, or if you need some time to think Apache. 

To get things done shift to Boogie Woogie.

 

 

well, I don't listen to music while I forge, but if I did, it would maybe be-

https://soundcloud.com/jamesriley/hammerfalling I had never heard this song until in one of Alec Steele's videos.

Or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRgL92K5zuE

or maybe even

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov4epAJRPMw

 

                                                                                                                                            Littleblacksmith

I haven't listened to music while smithing I a while, but I'm really into the Isaacs right now.

Music is an integral part of my forging experience and I listen every time I am at the forge.  It is interesting that this topic has taken this turn, because I was thinking about posting something about blacksmithing and music myself.  

I used to use ear buds but that got tiresome.  They also end up giving me ear aches.  A couple  years ago I bought a UE Mini Boom bluetooth speaker and have been using that to listen to music in the shop.  I carry all the music I am currently listening to in files on my phone.  A three or four months ago I was in a Verizon store and they had a UE Boom playing.  I was amazed at how well that single speaker filled the entire store with music.  Very nice sound quality as well, but the $150.00 price tag dissuaded me from buying one.  Then, a couple weeks ago I was at Costco and lo and behold, there was a rack of UE Booms for $99.98.  I instantly bought one and two weeks later I bought another.  Why, you may ask?  Because Logitech (owns UE) offered an app that allowed two to be played together....in stereo.  

I have been setting one on each side of my shop on a narrow shelf but feared that vibration would bring one down so today I forged a couple of quick brackets to hang them from.

Hanging from their brackets and details.   I don't have doors on my forge so I can't leave anything hard wired out there from fear of theft.  These speakers truly fill my shop with great sound.  As to what I listen to, lately it has been Lost in the Riots, Clever Girl and Magyar Posse.  I do my best work with intense music and a hit of weed. I can say that now because it is legal in CA.  

 

I never listen to music because most of my forging is done at demos and you need to talk to the people. I do put ear protectors in for the heavy hammering and then take them out for the lighter stuff and heating/bending.

While the work is heating I will often have a secondary piece in the forge - usually something more robust than the work piece to reduce the chance of it burning. Never more than two pieces though. Too many irons in the fire and all that.

in my current (soon to change) shop, i don't have anything set up as far as a sound system gos, so i sing and play harmonica........ A LOT.  country, gospel, bluegrass, celtic, you get the id. have to say i sound kinda funny singing bluegrass with no music, except for harmonica which i can't play when i'm singing.

 I don't listen to music in the shop, mostly because I'm wearing earplugs all the time. (I damaged my hearing enough when I was a professional woodworker, and I don't need hobby blacksmithing to make it worse.) When I'm driving, on the other hand, I've lately been listening to a lot of Tom Petty, Steely Dan, and Kirk Te Kanawa's recording of Canteloube's "Chants d'Auvergne".

Getting back to the original question of what I do while the metal is heating, there's a certain hierarchy.  The first priority is safety: making sure the workpiece is secure in the forge and that there's nothing I'm going to trip over,  putting away tools in their proper place so that they won't get in the way, etc.  The next priority is laying out the tooling that I will need for the next operation and planning that operation through in my head. If there's time, I'll think through the next few operations that need doing, and evaluate if I need to change anything. Then I will think about where I am in my schedule of planned projects, thinking about whether any of them are now of higher or lower priority.  If it's a really big workpiece that takes a long time to heat, I will often have time to neaten up and re-organize the workspace up a little more.

If my ASD son is working with me, he likes to sweep the scale off the anvil, and I will often give him a piece of wood to hammer on: it improves his technique and keeps him from losing focus and interest while the workpiece is heating. 

I dont leave the forge while a piece is heating. I tend my fire(coal). Half the time  I have no music. Helps me escape the world. I have a stereo that does the bluetooth thingy so I call up pandora. The stations I like when forging are the Celtic Thunder radio for when I'm mellow then the other I like is Thumbprint Radio when Im all wound up. It plays all the hard rock and metal. Wasp, Accept, acdc, voltbet etc. Goes good good with a barley pop.

.

I am still in the experimenting stage so I stick very close to the work piece when it's in the heat. I did try multiple pieces a couple times and I did get a lot done but it really kept me hopping, there was no time for anything else! I definitely see that as a viable working method as my skills improve.

As far as music in my shop.......well for me it's everything from John Coltrane to Johnny Cash to John Lee Hooker.....from Sarah Vaughn to Stevie Ray Vaughn to....well you get the picture.

I stand next to the coke forge tending fire & then answer the phone & BURN Up my work

So Leave a Voice massage next time LOL !!!

I also keep many pieces in the forge so there's No down time ! until I am done

the forge has a  fan on a foot switch for control on/off works well no hands needed

also I can set it up to where you must stand on the switch to keep fan going That's for the newbie's to save coal 

Pandora here to cranked Up so I can here it over the PH noise with my ear protection on

speakers above PH facing the worker

I usually use the heat time for cool down time for me and a drink.  Milwaukee Bluetooth jobsite radio jamming out some Ray Wylie Hubbard is common place around my forge.

On 2016-11-20 at 2:46 PM, JHCC said:

 Getting back to the original question of what I do while the metal is heating, there's a certain hierarchy.  The first priority is safety: making sure the workpiece is secure in the forge and that there's nothing I'm going to trip over,  putting away tools in their proper place so that they won't get in the way, etc.  The next priority is laying out the tooling that I will need for the next operation and planning that operation through in my head. If there's time, I'll think through the next few operations that need doing, and evaluate if I need to change anything. Then I will think about where I am in my schedule of planned projects, thinking about whether any of them are now of higher or lower priority.  If it's a really big workpiece that takes a long time to heat, I will often have time to neaten up and re-organize the workspace up a little more.

 

Exactly what I do. To me "Mental rehearse of the operations" is very helpful. Very simple repetitive pieces like "Tent pins" I tend to have 2-3 in the fire at the same time but otherwise only one at a time.  

On 11/22/2016 at 2:44 PM, muddawgchuck said:

I usually use the heat time for cool down time for me and a drink.

Yes, rehydration is always a good idea.