July 22, 20188 yr Hi, I’m new. Mid fifties, early retired, Gloucestershire, UK. A long long time ago I was a metallurgist and now Im trying to do something creative in retirement. Picked up a 5cwt anvil for £200 and a 5” leg vice for £25. Spent a bit more on a new side blow forge from Mike Judd. Teaching myself, (with you tube and Alec Steele course!) for now, signed up for a weekend course in September in S Wales. So far I’ve made 4 ropey brackets to hold some steel stock, and burnt my first bottle opener to a cinder, and got the time it takes to make a coathook down to about two hours. :- ) most important lesson learned... if you have a side blower forge using coke, and you stand facing the blower and you stick a bit of angle iron in to heat it up, beware, the blower will blow a fat lump of red hot coke up the angle of the angle iron, up your sleeve and aaaalllll the way up to your armpit before you know it. So stand to the side....
July 22, 20188 yr welcome to the mad house, last weekend I was at tewkesbury selling forges and tools, back home in northants now and getting ready for a show at kelmarsh next weekend
July 23, 20188 yr 5 hours ago, RogerrogerD said: most important lesson learned... if you have a side blower forge using coke, and you stand facing the blower and you stick a bit of angle iron in to heat it up, beware, the blower will blow a fat lump of red hot coke up the angle of the angle iron, up your sleeve and aaaalllll the way up to your armpit before you know it. So stand to the side.... Oh ROGER that one! Same but much worse if you drop a hot piece of tubing in water to cool it, it'll shoot scalding HOT water across the shop, or would if you weren't still holding onto it. Welcome aboard, glad to have you. I think you're going to fit right in here, you tell a good yarn and don't seem to take yourself too seriously. Being able to laugh at our mistakes makes it easier to learn from them. Like puns? Frosty The Lucky.
July 23, 20188 yr this is something experience teaches well! despite the logic welcome to the forum nice anvil BTW.
July 23, 20188 yr 11 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: open Pipe will chimney hot gasses all they way up to the "cold end". Just to add, If you are forging pipe it helps to stuff a rag or damp paper towels in the opening of the end you are holding to stop that chimney effect. Welcome aboard!
July 23, 20188 yr Back in Ohio we just used to thump it against the ground to put a dirt plug in it; out here in the desert that doesn't work so well---unless we make our own "mud".
July 23, 20188 yr 14 hours ago, ianinsa said: something experience teaches well! despite the logic "Logic is the art of going wrong with confidence." -- Joseph Wood Krutch
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