JLP Blacksmith Teaching Center.

[Frosty]

Jennifer: Is the one heat tube sufficient for your shop or is there another one not shown? I realize you have a couple large air heaters too but my shop is half the size of yours so I'm thinking I can maybe afford IR radiant.

Frosty The Lucky.

[jlpservicesinc]

Frosty just the 1, 150K unit.

I'm not exactly sure on sizing for said building size.

When I bought the heater the rep said as 125k would be the right size with the level of insulation there is unless the doors were going to be open a lot.  

From what I have read the ideal is for the heater to come on, run at high for a little time then switch to the low circuit and run nearly continuously. 

After last winter I have a much better grasp as to what is needed to heat the building well and it wont be much once the heat circulators are in and the furnace ducts are mounted.

I wont have any real insight on sizing for the heater until its completely installed and I can run it. 

Every owner I have talked with loves them. 

When I was looking to purchase there were a few on FB market place. I didn't know enough about the heaters so passed and bought new.

The guy who showed me his. Bought used 15 years ago and it's still going strong. 

[Frosty]

I've worked in a few shops that used them and liked everything about them. Being able to pull a piece of snow covered equipment into a state maint camp shop in the bush when it's -30 or worse and feel warm when the overhead door closes is like a slice of heaven. Then you go have lunch and in an hour most of the  snow's gone, the rig is warm to the touch and life is good. 

It's a strange feeling when your lungs and nose tell you it's C O L D but our everything else is comfy warm and in a few minutes the air is warm too. 

Keep us in the loop as you get to know your heater please, it'd be nice to be able to work in winter, the accident hit me before I had all the trim up and insulation in so I have lots to do but heat would be good.

Thanks.

Frosty The Lucky.

[gewoon ik]

Nice. I know the ir heaters on electric (not the red quartz type but black tiles) and they work fantastic. I've seen factories using them above workstations so working underneed ia really nice. And no need to heat all the air in the complete building to heat where you work (so lot of heatloss and moneyloss).

Never see them on gas (propane or natural gas or ...) nice to know.

[ThomasPowers]

Amazing how making a worker's location the most comfortable place to be winter or summer; helps keep folks where they are supposed to be...

[jlpservicesinc]

Made some good progress on the electrical front. 

Mounted the wireway and one panel. 

Have another panel and 1 more wireway to put up. 

Yesterday got 2 lights hung.

 

Lights are 240watt LED 5000K with 91cr.  I think I'm writing it correctly.  The 91CR is for filming and such. 

[jlpservicesinc]

Frosty I certainly will keep you updated on the heater..   I really wanted to buy a 1000gal tank and bury it but having a hard time finding one for a reasonable price..   They are in the 5K range now vs 2 years ago in the 2500.00 range. 

I might just reach out to the local propane company and have them supply the tanks in the mean time to get it fired up. 

If you were closer I'd come help you get your insulation in and finish things up.  Have you thought about reaching out to your local forging group for help? 

I reached out to the NEB group and some of the people I hang with there came..  Made it all possible. 

[Frosty]

Propane companies around here get pretty jumpy about filling owner tanks, our 100gal tank costs something like $15/year rental and they'll replace it when it's time for testing. Having to test and have your own certified means being offline while it's at the facility, maybe several months and then you get to pay for it. 

I can't imagine what it'd cost for a 1,000gal tank. Unless you're talking about fuel oil and I missed the segue. We own a 500gal tank. The EPA regs involved in burying one are insane and expensive to work through. If one springs a leak you're living with an EPS superfund site. Even a little one is insanely expensive to clean up and dispose of the oil. 

Finishing up the shop is just a matter of doing it and I have serious trouble keeping on task and worse getting started. Initiation is a typical TBI issue, one of the most common. Sometimes it takes me 3-4 trips to the fridge to remember I wanted to refill my iced tea. Just clearing enough space around the walls will be a major chore. The guys would help for the asking a BBQ and some beer but I tend to walk in circles even for simple things like bucking, splitting and stacking firewood. They put me on the splitter where all I have to do is load a block and pull a lever. It's about my speed anymore.

Frosty The Lucky.

[jlpservicesinc]

Well not sure if I have TBI then from all the head crashes over the years because getting anything started is a major problem and then walking 200ft from shop to school I'm guaranteed to make 5 trips for 1 item since I forget what or why I w as liked over in the first place.

 

Same deal with propane people here but it would be an in ground tank so will just show the receipt.

The gas companies here are not fond of even installing them unless big dollars are involved. 

[jlpservicesinc]

Well, it's been an interesting few weeks..  Oh, wait " few months".  Broke my arm and dislocated my elbow on a mini dozer and hydraulic press frame incident pushing up firewood length 24-36" diameter wood to the log splitter.

This put me behind 2 full weeks from where I wanted to be..  

It all started out beginning of November with catching a cold which turned sinuse infection, then nearly pulled my pinky from my body when I jumped out of the IH3800,   then arm break /elbow dislocation, the tripped and caught myself with my left ripping all the skin off but better that then falling on my right side/arm.  

Then Person came over to help with truck body removal and a socket he was using on the electric impack flew off and hit me in the face.  

Last few months have basically had me messed up in one way or the other..   Went back to work after 2weeks off with a much better appreciation for the work with horses.. 

I'll be gimped up for a long time with the elbow though. 

 

[JHCC]

Ouch. 

Judging from the woodchopping video the other day, it looks like you're recovering okay, though.

[jlpservicesinc]

Dominc S came out (also NEB alum) and helped get the panels mounted, and the last sheet of siding up..  Made the rest that follows possible. 

I did however have another great guy from NEB  Sam P offer up a day and he came over and we were able to get nearly all the electrical service entrance and load centers installed.  Sam was super helpful and easy to work with and fully understood the domino effect. 

In this school/shop build there are so many steps (I call them dominos) that take on a 1, 2, 3 kind of deal before being able to move onto the next step.. 

So we will start with a few photos of the electrics.  Today I need to go and get 1more ground rod, acorn and some 1/2" emt. Turns out I don't have any..  I have a few hundred sticks of 3/4" but not a single section of 1/2".  

In order for the electrical inspection and then a sign off for service from the inspector to National grid,  I need to only have one load center connected to something that needs to be powered.  So have only connected 1 load center at this time. 

[JHCC]

NEB rocks.

[jlpservicesinc]

2 minutes ago, JHCC said:

Ouch. 

Judging from the woodchopping video the other day, it looks like you're recovering okay, though.

Sadly no on recovery.   That was easy peasy and my elbow doesn't really get used in that motion.   That was about 5% power out of my right arm with little if any real movement.   

The nerve damage is extensive with both nerves being on the outside of the nerve channels.. Basically my funny bone is the whole elbow.  The lower nerve when touched makes both ring finger and pinky numb with pain.. 

I have nearly full flexibility in the joint. Just like 7% real power.  Certian motions are out of the question. 

Swinging and axe is a lot like swinging a sword..  it's the whole body in motion that does it. 

John, they sure do. 

And now onto a part of the domino. 

So Eric J. came over to help me get the cab off the diesel pick up and how I ended up with the shiner,  I had wanted to use the IH3800 but over the past year the hydraulics picked up water contamination and the hydraulics would not work.. 

So, I moved the 3800 into the school to be in a warm enviorment to drain out and replace the hydraulic fluids.. 

Since she doesn't run well someone mentioned it's more than likely dirty injectors and figured I have an ultrasonic cleaner so could use that to clean the injectors. 

The ultrasonic cleaner had been working fine up to this time frame..   

I take it next door and rinse out the tank, bring it back and plug it in..   NOTHING..  Argh.. fuse blown.  so 4 fuses later I order a new one with 2 day shipping.   Bing, bang, boom, easy peasy..  

9 days later it arrives.   

In the mean time, I  can not do any work with the manlift since the IH3800 is huge.

Someone before me broke off one of the lines inside the top of the injectors so this also needed to be fixed. 

  So now I have 5 of the fuel injectors cleaned but turns out the pre combustion cup is wrong in one of the cylinders so will have to replace that.. In the meantime I'm still working on getting out the last injector but the other 5 look spiffy. 

[jlpservicesinc]

Furnace update: 

I love the Eagle 1 furnace with the Clave used oil burner. 

The furnace being multi fuel (wood, coal, oil, used oil,) has kept the building in the 60-70F range with a burn rate of .5gal per hour of used oil.   I use about 55gals per week.  This is when fired with oil only with no fans to blow the heat down from the eves.   Once the duct work goes in for the furnace I expect the useage to be a little less.

The used oil can be a problem with people who don't really understand what clean oil means so have added a few items to the furnace pre tools.   

A paste for water testing,  a centrifuge for cleaning oil made out of a Scania truck oil filter unit, and have a commercially made Oil centrifuge from PA biodiesel on the way. 

I also picked up an fryer separator so can be used to filter some of the oil.  It flows about 4gal a minute so acts as a good pump from 55gal drums to the feeder tank. 

Now the furnace has worked awesome except for some user mistakes..  Especially keeping it plugged in..    

[arkie]

Jen, don't know how you do it all!!!!  First, the accidents...we're gonna have to wrap you in bubble wrap!  Second, with all the equipment purchases, repairs, cleaning, installations and electrical stuff...when do you have time to sleep??  I guess any forging is out of the question with the arm injury(ies).  That might have given you a little relaxation time.  Hope you heal quickly and get all the construction wrapped up soon (pain free).

[jlpservicesinc]

Arkie, thanks for the encouragement.   I often feel like nothing is getting done that is measurable. 

Sumo suit with boxing headgear with full faced helmet might help some.  

Yesterday I got kicked in the palm of my left hand so my left wrist and hand was sore last night. 

The domino effect has been a real problem..  I can't even guess as to the last time things went bing, bang, boom in succession.     It's more now that 1 aspect of 15things will go right with the other 14 needing to be addressed and fitted like a surgeon.. 

Really not sure as for the injuries what is going on..   Just in the bathroom looking for chin hairs and slipped and smashed my cheek on the medicine cabinet mirror frame handle.  LOL..  

I'm confident all of the things will work out.    It's the time frame I'm not certain about..  Well other than, the time frame will be exactly what it's supposed to be despite my best attempts as shorter is better. 

[arkie]

Jen, maybe you should quit playing dominoes?????

[gewoon ik]

Off all the pieces you mentioned scania is not one of them. I did not know they send the trucks or engines to the us.

Be carefull jen. I know you don't want to hear it, but you are not 20 anymore

[Frosty]

Good grief Jen, you aren't supposed to work on things by beating them into submission with your body! 

Do you have any plates or screws in your elbow? I made a shattered mess of my left elbow in 06 IIRC. My pinky, and ring fingers were numb and uncoordinated, my middle finger was numb on again off again. The nerves healed and other than skeletal damage everything works now. Even my funny bone, I have a couple screw heads close to the surface, one right on the point of my elbow, they aren't as hair trigger sensitive as they were but I sure don't want to hit anything hard. With it.

All the above story is to show I have a good idea of where you are right now and to say it all gets better, even nerves heal they just take longer. 

You might want to take some time off to heal and get rested, working tired can lead to accidents and mistakes you know.

Be well, we're pulling for you.

Frosty The Lucky.

[jlpservicesinc]

Arkie, I'd love to call it all off and just go teach someplace else.. If I did not put the school up I could retire this year and lived well.   

But, I have pushed and pushed and fully understand the dynamics at hand "NOW"..  

I am extremely grateful everytime I go out in the building and look around at all the hardwork and treasures and know that someday it will be finished and "Spectacular"..  I just need to hang in there a little longer.  

The farrier work is going gang buster..  8-12 horses a day..  It's part of the exhaustion factor and I usually take a few hours in the afternoon to get going again..    

Even so, I have been extremely prone to injury..  Again, there is something there I'm supposed to be looking at lesson wise.   I'll figure it out..  Just gotta keep, keeping on.. 

Gewoon Ik..  There are a few Scania trucks in the USA but they are pretty rare.   I ordered these parts from the UK.  The Internet has made international purchases a lot easier. 

Lip flapping on an exhale..   LOL..   Yup, haven't been 20 for a long time now..   54 has been a tough one for sure.  
Busier then ever to boot.  it will all work out..    

Frosty,  yes indeed its been pretty tough few months..   Was just brushing my teeth and closed the back door and just about shoved the toothbrush down my throat.    

The tip of my right elbow has been broken 7times badly from rock climbing falls.  the Left 4 times.     I've had Lyme disease 12X badly , the first time for 5 years.    This last time it really effected my elbows and after the first round of antibiotics my elbows started to feel better but then terrible again.   I then ended up going on a second longer course and this really helped but then same kinda deal. 

about 2 weeks after the last course of antibiotics is when i did the red tailed hawk rescue and went on the Super duper antibiotics and my elbows felt like a million dollars but my gut was way off..  Still is so I have been trying to eat probiotics and prebiotic food stuffs to get it in better shape..  

I think this is where things started getting tough. 

As for plates.. No plates and no screws..    I've had some small fractures but this was the first truly broken bone..  First time in my life I actually went to the hospital for such and injury.. 

I've never seen my arm pointing in such a bad direction..    Yup, the nerves do heal over time..  My nerve channels (where the nerve should be) are completely shifted..   So will be nice to see how it is in 3 months from now..  

I think I can swing a hammer more than 5 times now..   So thats good. 

Oh, by the way.. I can feel there is something off..  

[JHCC]

I had hoped that our hammering ability might someday be equal, but I'd much rather rise to your level than have you come down to mine.

[jlpservicesinc]

You swing a pretty mean hammer.. 

My elbow back when I was in PA was in pretty bad shape but still forged the longest bar in 10min..   

Once the nerves adjust some I should be ok..  If surgery becomes a thing I'll investigate it when the time comes. 

Main problem in Mass is they don't want to treat Lyme seriously. 

Anyhow time will tell what kind of performance I'll have..   I'm encouraged with range of motion and certain things help my elbow feel more lubricated..  

[George N. M.]

Jennifer:  I have to admire you in the way you handle and deal with obstacles and difficulties.  It seems that you have had more than the average amount of rocks in your road of life but you have managed to overcome them and move on.  Not everyone could have done that and I salute you.  I don't want to gush too much but you are one of the everyday heros who should be emulated by the folk who feel entitled and are likely to give up when confronted with issues, bad luck, or accidents/illness.  The ability to mentally and emotionally bounce back from setbacks is not as common as we could wish it to be.

George

[jlpservicesinc]

George thanks very much for the kind words..  Very heart felt and much love in it.  Thank you and hugs to you..