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I Forge Iron

Winter ... around the shed..... hahaha ...


Ibor

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Don't know how you guys put up with that!

I have the opposite problem ... too hot! I was forging in the heat recently when an English gentleman came by the forge. He commented on the sweat falling on the anvil and he said that in the English winter anvils would get really cold and there was a high risk of breaking an anvil hammering on it when it was frozen up. I thought that sounded a bit far-fetched. It's not a problem I will ever encounter anyway.

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Steel does get more brittle in the cold with some alloys having more of a problem than others.  In my MatSci class we studied a liberty ship that suddenly broke in two while docked in absolutely quiet waters.  The issue being that it was something like -50 degF.  The one instance I personally know of someone breaking the heel off their anvil was in the dead of winter as well.

 As heating the anvil allows you to work much longer on a piece and gives you a nice warm place to sit while waiting for the next heat I do so and advise others to do so.  Cooling a hot anvil is not necessary until you get into the tempering temps!

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3 minutes ago, Scoot said:

Sometimes you just want to get out.

 

Scoot

 

It warmed up to -14f this afternoon but it's on it's way back down passing -17f right now on it's way to maybe -25f tonight. I'm way past just wanting to get out unless it's to warmer climes.

Scoot: Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the Iforge gang live within visiting distance.

We used to call my little Sister Scoot sometimes Scooter because she scooted on her butt a lot more than she crawled. I don't know if she ever forgave us for calling her that till she was in her 40s.

Not that that means anything I'll just envision her scooting around the linoleum whenever I see your web handle. B)

Frosty The Lucky.

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20 hours ago, Frosty said:

It warmed up to -14f this afternoon but it's on it's way back down passing -17f right now on it's way to maybe -25f tonight.

my 5f just got demoted to  a little inconvenience, compared to your temps

KOAAaYn.jpg

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I didn't say I was doing anything outside if I didn't have to. It's COLD outside. <SHEESH!> A thermometer only puts a number to how it feels, if it's cold it's COLD. Of course there's nothing like -20 to make -5 seem okay. ;)

Frosty The Lucky.

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Makes me appreciate it here, I was complaining to my wife before work this morning that I would be outside all day in 45-50 degree temps doing a service upgrade. Well it's cold to us anyway. The Noalox doesn't like to come out of the bottle and the vinyl tape just breaks unless you keep it in your jeans.

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23 minutes ago, Glenn said:

Have you tried Scotch Series Super 88, Temperature Range 0 Degrees to 220 Degrees F

Oh we use Scotch 33 for anything important but for pulling wire and temporarily bundling home runs for easier handling we use the cheap stuff.

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Wow, and I thought I was daring for forging in 9F weather.....

                                                                                                               Littleblacksmith

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We have been having a warmer winter than usual in Vermont so far, have had -15f a couple times and 12 days not above freezing but my  shop is closed for the winter anyways. Busy building a shop in the basement for this time of yr.  It was +30f this morning a heat wave!  We always pay in the end for good weather as much rain as snow this yr. so everywhere you  try to walk is ice.   

I was snowmobiling in Yellowstone in '93 and one morning it was "cold" the thermometer had NO Red showing out of the bulb at the bottom at all.  We were told it was -92F wind chill at the south gate (we were at the north gate) we decided to ride anyways and did 157 miles.  Nice day not a lot of traffic.   

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Been pretty nice here for a couple days in the 20s yesterday and just passed 21 just now. 11:20am and the sun is almost on the ground here. Going to go warm the plow truck up, we got probably 16" of snow yesterday and I'd only JUST gotten the place cleaned up. 

About cold, most people don't know what the MOST dangerous temperature really is, especially not here. No, it's not oh GOD below zero, it's right around 65f. T shirt and shorts weather for folk here but hypothermia sneaks up on you when it doesn't feel cold and by time you realize you're in trouble you can't recover without help. The danger range is much wider if it's wet out, runs into the high 70s in fact. 

Feeling cold in the 40s-50s is a good thing. If it feels cold it IS cold and might be too late. People stranded in the desert are often killed by hypothermia their first night rather than thirst.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Closed mine up today time to go back to my real job and money up lol for next season got some new ideas to work on and think about tackling.One thing for shore I want is a hydrolic press got a price on the system and a plan to build the frame,another project is a coal forge anyway we,ll see how the money works out lol.

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It's been a fairly mild winter here, and I've been able to get out into the forge relatively often. My setup is in a two car garage with the door open, and I've been able to work in my shirtsleeves or at most a light cotton sweater.

I did have a slack tub freeze solid and crack apart during a cold snap a couple of weeks ago.

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Oklahoma winters are positively bipolar. We can have mid 70's and then single digits in a day.  To day is exelent, still and 73. 

Still and sunny are the important thing, usualy it's windy, either coming up from Texas (about 3 days of that and my hay fever kicks in) or down from Kansas. Either way it sucks, as I am either set up on the truck or in the carport (it's a wind tunnel). 

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It's been a warm year, and this winter has been in in the 60s 70s and a little bit in the 80s. I would prefer it to be in the 50s, as it makes it more enjoyable when forging.

                                                                                                                Littleblacksmith

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6 hours ago, Charles R. Stevens said:

Oklahoma winters are positively bipolar. We can have mid 70's and then single digits in a day.  To day is exelent, still and 73. 

Still and sunny are the important thing, usualy it's windy, either coming up from Texas (about 3 days of that and my hay fever kicks in) or down from Kansas. Either way it sucks, as I am either set up on the truck or in the carport (it's a wind tunnel). 

Heheheheh, yeah our winters are bipolar too, it was about 60F here on Christmas day, then below 20 the week after. Today was 68. I wish I knew where we get our wind from....

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