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I Forge Iron

What's your day job


Jasent

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Thomas, I'm working on that whole perseverance thing, haha. It's always nice to hear stories of people making it in my field. Doesn't really help me much that New Orleans is like a technological wasteland, every few months or so I'll find anything in the tech field and they usually want a full stack developer with absurd experience.

Well, during one of my job changes I found a job in the right location; but the qualifications was long and they were excessively high; (10 years experience in things only around 5 years, etc) and then I saw the ENTRY LEVEL POSITION.  Right.  I was offered the job but the one working for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory was offered me a few days later with more money; much more vacation, better benefits and a very relaxed dress code---and I prefer living in small university towns....I don't know about making it; but I've provided for a family on a single paycheck and we've paid off our house and don't owe any money.  Remember too that my first coding was done using a teletype and punched paper tape if you wanted to save your basic or fortran programs.  Key Punch cards, (hollerwith cards) was a huge step up when I first went to college!

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Odd jobbed till I landed a position with the State of Ak in the soils lab. Kept getting tapped as a helper on one of the drill crews, ended up doing their welding and fab work then jumped up to driller. Transferred to highways maintenance after 20 years and retired with 30. Had a sweet part time retirement job delivering equipment and material for a rental outfit almost a whole 5 miles from home then got clocked by the tree in '09. 

I guess heavy equipment operator, fabricator welder are the main categories. Nonstop reader, tinkerer and long time blacksmith student.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Teacher. General primary, but in later years specialising in literacy skills, spelling, grammar etc. I did 20-odd years in the classroom and another 20 or so with School of the Air teaching remote area children via HF radio from Mount Isa Base, Western Qld and from Cairns. Spent some time as a journo and photographer, and now I am the curator of a Historic Village. Daily blacksmith demos are part of my job.

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I'm a forklift (I pick things up, I put them down) at the local mechanic shop. I don't actually get paid but they give me scrap steel, knowledge and occasionally lunch. College dropout, Walmart janitor. I moved to work in the gas field near cleburne tx doing water transfer for fracture operations at about 20. Then became a bouncer and repo guy and ended up collecting a baseball bat to the head at 23. Results: TBI and a stroke after the fact. Currently on SSD in my 30s and trying to get back to real work. 

I've always wanted to be a blacksmith and tried to make a go of it for a while as a stock removal guy and some armor stuff, but finally got up to really forging things and it's awesome.

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 cleburne tx 

I've got a friend in Cleburne, Matt Marti, He forges hammers and other blacksmithing tools. Small world!

                                                                                                                                                   Littleblacksmith

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Tool & Cutter Grinder 'A', tool Presetter.

Work for the British, building Rolls Royce (and other) jet engine components.

Invited to work seven nights a week.

Really interferes with my passion to hammer, though I get to use my Japan four ounce ball peen every night.

 

tooling 01.jpg

.008" (,02 mm) radius on tungsten carbide.

Robert Taylor

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1 hour ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

I would have loved to see how those were made.

BIGGUNDOCTOR - imagine how fine-grained the carbide and the grinding media would have to be -

I am using 600 grit diamond on the above tool, and that is almost too coarse for the job.

Mind boggling, but simply a matter of scale. :wacko:

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Operations Technician, 5.56mm Case Line, Lake City Army Ammunition Plant

Before that, 21 combined years in the US Army and Army National Guard, several odd jobs (mostly delivery of one type or another), and half of a BS in geology. -_-

My other full-time job is being a husband to my lovely wife of 15 years and father to my three-and-a-half year-old son. That might be two full-time jobs right there...

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The last 15 years as an certified work safety advisor in petrochemical contracting and metal industry. Therefore 20 years all-round metalworker lock/blacksmith, welder (process 111, 135, 141)

Next to that I carry out free-lance welding coordination as IWC-S on several small/midsize metalwork companies.

Was running a blacksmith shop for 9 years, but my two blonde ‘investments’ at home (45 & 14 y/o) made me decide to work for an employer again ( fixed pay check, you know ……)

See Hans more then 20 years ago below (the handsome guy in the middle ;) ) as 'Mr. May' on the local calender of this year finishing  a four arms 60 lbs anchor.

Good old times.jpg

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59 minutes ago, Charles R. Stevens said:

It's always a real pleasure to be able to come here and ask a question, and no mater how far afield and specialized you find a real expert lurking in the wings.  

No one has yet asked me about how to facilitate significant and effective philanthropy, but I’m confident that that day will come.

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