One of them days.......

[KYBOY]

:mad: Just one of them days. The metal just wouldent listen to me tonight:rolleyes: Making a nice fire poker for dad. The design called for a forge welded handle. Got everything done and ready to weld. Dang if I just couldent get things to go my way tonight for some reason. Well theres a reason they say dont forge when your mad. By the time I was done I could have chewed that poker in two... You also have a habit of striking way to hard when you get aggrevated it seems, and it seems the more the weld dosnt want to stick the more aggrevated you get:p got it to stick, barely and just wasnt happy with it. So I stuck in the bending forks and it popped loose with a "PING"...So I just took a deep breath, cleaned everything up and set the poker aside. Ill get up in the morning, make a clean fire and try again.

[skunkriv]

"Ill get up in the morning, make a clean fire and try again."

Words to live by...

[pete46]

There's so much wisdom in that quote; I'm supprised it's not in the Bible.:)

[HWooldridge]

I feel for you, friend...been there and done that on lots of stuff. Many years ago, I was building a headache rack for the truck and accidentally put a piece in backwards, then completely welded it before I noticed what had happened. I yanked the piece out of the vise and threw it across the shop, where it went right through the window. Of course, then I had to fix both the rack and the window.

You are smarter than most folks when you know to put it down and come back later...

Edited June 14, 2008 by HWooldridge
speelin'

[KYBOY]

Well, fresh coal,fresh fire this morning and she welded like a charm After I calmed down and looked back at what I was doing yesterday its no wonder i couldent do anything..LOL, I felt foolish Thanks fellas. ;)

[Frosty]

It's a wise man who knows when to step back from something that's not going well. It's a different face of persistence and often the hardest to master.

Worth it though.

Good for you.

Frosty

[Archie Zietman]

good on you for just walking away and not chewing it up. Sometimes it just doesn't work, other times it will. You have to be willing to have a bad forge day in order to have a good day. At least that's what I tell myself.

[Sabre]

hey what are the plans.... i am making dad one to!

[Ferrous Beuler]

KYBOY, don't sweat it. It is amazing to me to watch an acomplished smith do some forge welding, the way they make it look so easy.
Watch them and you will notice how focused they are in the moment, very deliberate.
Expereience shows in the discipline they follow. No fooling around, tools right where they should be, no clutter in the way, take the iron from the fire, a quick whisk with a wire brush at the scarf while all in
one uninterupted fluid motion from the fire to the anvil's face the piece is placed exactly where is predetermined and tap-tap-tap, the weld is done.
Tap-tap-tap, not WHAP-WHAP-WHAP.
Sometimes I can weld like I know what I'm doing, sometimes I am reminded by my results that I am the novice that I am, so I go try again Dan

[jayco]

Kyboy, I've had those days when nothing went right.
It took me a lot of years to learn to just put it down for the day.
A new day brings new thoughts and ideas.
Apparently you learned quicker than I did.:)

[ThomasPowers]

I tell students that in blacksmithing it's important to stop work *before* you make the irretrievable mistake due to tiredness or loss of focus. Learning how to recognize this point is one of the true higher level skills of smithing!

[hammerkid]

Yeah Ky Boy I have them days sometimes:mad:. I reckon most everyone does. I find when I am not mad ,when i`am calm the metal moves much easier (it seems that way) . I try not to smith when I`am madd but it happens LOL;)