Glenn Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 Looking for life experiences so we can learn from others. Things like: Falling objects have the right of way. If something wants to fall to the ground, step back and let it fall. If you trip and fall, look for a nice, soft, and comfortable place to land. Then go back and remove the trip hazard. When you are at the flea market and make a purchase, it is less expensive if you carry small bills such as 1's, 5's, and 10's then if you have to ask for change for a 20. Corollary: the smaller the denomination of the bill, they more of those you should carry. Iron that is black and not showing color can still be 1000 *F. It will get your attention if you pick it up. When the steel in the fire looks like a 4th of July sparkler, it is too hot. Can you cut this 1/2 inch longer? Put your pants cuffs on the outside of the boots. and the shirt tail on the outside of the pants. When you find a bargain buy it now because it will not be there when you go back. Try out 10 gallons of a new coal before you purchase 10 tons of the same coal. They actually make a left handed hammer? How do blind rivets know where the hole is if they are blind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 If you own two vehicles, you will always be driving the wrong one when a bargain becomes available and needs immediate transport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 You have to have a second vehicle so you'll have one to drive while the other if broken down. You're typing too fast again Glenn. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 2 hours ago, Glenn said: When you find a bargain buy it now because it will not be there when you go back. My late FIL had a saying, "When you snooze, you lose". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 Do what I say, not what I do... strike while the iron is hot.. Accept generosity when offered.. It's being offered to lessen your load at that moment.. To give and receive is one in truth.. Your swinging the hammer wrong.. Lift with your legs. Not your back.. When you do lift with your legs cradle it with the creases of your hip to take the pressure off your back.. Ill fitting tongs can lead to a trip to the hospital.. If the forge weld doesn't stick first strike with the hammer.. STOP hitting it immediately.. it ain't working.. Clean, reflux and take a better heat.. If you have a cluttered shop.. Never let anybody move something to accommodate them... It will disrupt your natural rhythm and you will be tripping over everything after the fact.. If you can't accept criticism, Don't ask for opinions.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronist58 Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 Never scratch an itch on your temple when there is a triangular needle file in your hand. Nothing like having to pull a textured spike out of you lower jaw bone. Robert Taylor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 Never put flat stock in the vise the hardway and hit a side of it with a hammer.. Forgiveness is My only function as the son/daughter of God.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranchmanben Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 Do your thinking while your irons in the fire, not on the anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 3 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said: If the forge weld doesn't stick first strike with the hammer.. STOP hitting it immediately.. it ain't working.. Clean, reflux and take a better heat.. Reminds me of a line in a Judy Tenuta stand up routine. She said, "Boys if what you're doing isn't working DON'T do it harder!" It may have been part of her comedy routine but truer words were never spoken. Okay, for my contribution this evening I offer an ancient blacksmith saying I made up a couple years ago. "Carpe Frigido final." Seize the cold end. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 Don't take the work piece out of the fire till you have all the tools you will use on it to hand. Or from my first billet welding class: "Don't look at it, HIT IT!" (I was the student.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 If you ask a senior smith for help. Do exactly as he/she say's vs... This is how I do it... LOL.. Competence comes with experience, Speed comes from Experience, A well forged item comes from working slowly and methodically until you have experience.. Radius/es are a forged items best friend.. Use them.. Keep your forge, anvil, vise and hammers in good shape... Keep the area immediately around the forge, anvil, vise etc, floor clear.. Keep flammable rags away from the anvil, forge, etc.. PPE is readily available and used.. if you get scale in your eye... "Don't rub it".. Take a clean magnet stored in a medicine bottle in alcohol and have someone use it to pull the scale or such out.. If the magnet doesn't work, go immediately to the Dr or else you can ruin your vision as the lens grows from the outside to the inside and the scale or metal will get drawn deeper into the eye and will create rust rings as well as needing surgery after just a few days.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranchmanben Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 1 hour ago, jlpservicesinc said: Competence comes with experience, Speed comes from Experience, A well forged item comes from working slowly and methodically until you have experience.. This is something that took me, and it seems like everyone else, a long time to figure out and did more for me than anything else. When you’re new, fewer but more deliberate and precise stokes will do far more than getting as many imprecise blows in as you can just because the metal is hot. Practice being precise and speed will come. I still have a hard time with this at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted April 30, 2018 Author Share Posted April 30, 2018 Do not place a rag near a grinder. The sparks from the grinder can set the rag on fire. Do not operate a hand grinder any where near the wife's car. The sparks can travel great distances and embed themselves into the finish, the glass windshield, or the head lights. Flat, clean, and empty surfaces become magnetic. The longer that they are clean and empty, the more magnetic they become. You can not wipe an object any cleaner than the rag is dirty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 This is from an old Journal and try to use it regularly... Took me a long time to understand, Fully understand it without defending why I hit the anvil (keeps the hammer moving, etc, etc, etc, Blah, blah, blah, ) A strike upon and anvils face with no metal below it, is a waste of time and energy and shows the lack of fore sight in the smiths work/working.. I am not paying the workman to beat my anvil.. I am paying him to forge/ produce (hammer, hot metal, anvil) metal, not to forge air into nothing... Each blow not applied to the metal but in air (ringing anvil) is not only wasting the smiths time but my own in lose of wages per a given hour of work.. If a smith strikes 1000 blows upon a work piece and 200 blows against the anvil which is he or she trying to work.. When I was younger and didn't understand the flow at the anvil I would use the hits on the anvil as a way to gain time in my mind ( to catch back up) to figure out where to strike it next, or when turning a bar, to and froe to regain where to hit it... Again, it's usually because the mind, eye, hammer, metal, anvil alignment/timing is slightly off.. Using that split second with the tap on the anvil to catch everything back up to a manageable speed for my mind.. Know where to hit it, Then hit it... This guys statement rings true..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 How many blacksmith jobs have you been meaning to do for yourself and haven't got round to it? The cobbler's wife and the blacksmith's horse are the last to receive shoes. (Origin unknown) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 in addendum to the statement above.. Swinging a hammer slower can be the time needed for everything to jive.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubalcain2 Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 As far as blades go.. The devil is in the details. Finish each step 100% before you move on. take your time. Oh, and don't use and aggressively domed hammer when beveling. not from personal experience, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 I once forged a hollow ground blade.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubalcain2 Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 Been there, done that, got the T shirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 15 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said: Ill fitting tongs can lead to a trip to the hospital. 4 minutes ago, Tubalcain2 said: Been there, done that, got the T shirt. I used to have a T-shirt with a hot-cut-shaped burn in the center of the chest, from when a red-hot one flipped out of a set of poorly fitted tongs. THAT's how we know these things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 Lol.. gotta love it..topnews at 5.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 Wear a leather apron when welding up a juicy billet. (I bet a lot of us have the shirt(s) with the horizontal line of holes from the spray...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 Thomas,, " ONLY "" ONE""???????? LOL.. Back when I was a pro I would only buy black fruit of the loom T shirts with the pocket... I'd buy 12 at a time.. I think within a month not 1 of the shirts would not have weld splatter holes in them... Now, Unlike then it's not the value of burnt skin, but I'm to cheap to buy work shirts, so slip the apron on only when forge welding. LOL.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 I've caught myself on fire before welding a billet at a demo in my preY1K clothes. Luckily it was a hot day and my tunic was pretty damp and salt impregnated and it was pretty much a smolder. I still remember the crowd trying to tell me I was on fire and me replying "I know I'm on fire; just let me set this weld first!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 If you can't tell cotton smoke from: welding rod, forge welding flux, whatever's under the torch, your shoe soles, etc. you lack experience, really you do. Another reason not to tap the anvil, if you're using a cast Swedish steel anvil it'll put flat spots on your hammer and they don't match the face. The only time my anvil hits the anvil on purpose is if I'm letting it come to rest. Usually when I'm eyeballing what the heck just happened. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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