Forging with "bad" hands

[BillyBones]

Frosty, that is an excellent description of swinging a hammer. I have tried to put that into words many times but i am no wordsmith. 

My grandmother had the rheumatiz bad in her hands. She had the classic big knobby joints and fingers going side ways. She swore by peanut oil. She would use it as a rub on the joints. 

[Frosty]

The cherry capsules say "dried" but they've had most of the sugars removed too. I've read the bottle on several brands and cherry types. Cherry type hasn't made a difference, dark, red, tart, etc. same same.

Thanks Billy, I've been describing the technique for years, it should be more clear and shorter by now. I'm still looking for a better description of the power increase with the 4th pivot point. I understand the physics involved, conservation of angular momentum says the hammer head MUST accelerate and every pivot point does it's thing. Describing it will come to me one day. 

It takes practice to become accurate but that comes pretty quick with keeping your eyes on the target. 

I get a little enthusiastic about the technique but it's worked so well for me it's hard not to. It hurts to hold a paperback book open anymore and sometimes I can hardly lift a cup of coffee but I can to to the anvil and swing away for hours without discomfort. Trigger finger in my left hand can cause me to have to pry fingers off the handle and I keep forgetting to make clips. <sigh>

I hardly ever swing a hammer heavier than 2lbs. I can get enough effect with that I rarely ever pick up a heavier one, though the 3lb. drill hammer I picked up at a yard sale isn't too hard on me, I think it's the short drill hammer handle.

Frosty The Lucky.

[SinDoc]

Billy, that is how my mother was getting. Her fingers/toes started twisting and she had to have titanium plates put in all of them to keep them straight and aligned. She will be on blood thinners for the rest of her life because of it, but hey, it beats having all your digits twisted into a mangled mess!

 

Frosty, I will have to try that technique. Those pictures showed what people were trying to describe very well. Not sure if I can do the cherries, because I really don't like them . If you had told me 12 years ago I would have all these problems I would have laughed at you and I still have a long way to go! I'm only 30 dang it!

[Frosty]

A sip of milk triggers mucous release in your saliva so pills and even gelatin capsules go right down. They'll go down fast enough you won't even notice the super icky flavor of gelatin. Honest, would I lie to you? 

Just remember cherry capsules do NOT treat arthritis, it just eases the pain. Don't damage yourself worse because you can't feel it happening. 

I also use "Diclofenac Sodium cream" when my joints start just hurting. Sometimes they just ache and shoot pain when I move them, the diclofenac reduces the swelling in maybe an hour or so.

I expect in another 10-15 years there will be a good treatment if not an outright cure for arthritis and similar afflictions. Medicine is starting to catch up with Doc. McCoy on Star Trek.

Frosty The Lucky.

[SinDoc]

I would happy if I could get cybernetic parts. Who needs a hammer? You ARE the hammer!

[JW513]

49 minutes ago, SinDoc said:

Billy, that is how my mother was getting.

My aunts has the same things in her feet and hands... My grandmothers fingers all all deformed.  It sucks, I'm only 28 and fear getting it.. Let me ask you, did you have anything stressful happen in your life? My mom, aunt and my grandma all had traumatic things happen to them before they got it. They say stress can trigger it.

I'll take a drop dead heart attack in my 40s or 50s a lot of people on my dads side.... I don't want RA.

[Frosty]

Hammer and tong prosthetics? Pneumatic hammer hand I can envision, even with quick change air connections but where would you put the compressor, a leg? Maybe do it like an airless nail gun, you could supply your own explosive gas with a little creative plumbing. I recommend green moose chili and unfiltered hoe brew beer for high octane/volume gas. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Cybernetic parts?  Like my insulin pump that can be linked to a continuous glucose monitor?  When our robot overlords show up I expect to fit right into their power structure!

[SinDoc]

Thanks Frosty. I just nearly spit out my drink and now everyone in the office is looking at me funny!

JW515, not that I am aware of. I had the beginning signs of it in my early twenties. Had blood work and such done and confirmed it. Over the last 8ish years, it has slowly become more and more noticeable. The aching isn't unbearable (except in my right where the bones shattered) but the most annoying issue I have is the finger seizing. On the plus side, I don't need a weather app to know when its going to rain anymore!

[Frosty]

4 minutes ago, SinDoc said:

everyone in the office is looking at me funny!

Ahhh, a clear accomplishment I can count this day!  Go ahead, tell the folks in your office, "Frosty made me do it."

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Naw; just sing the Frosty the Snowman song and see if you get more personal space....

[SinDoc]

Thomas, I don't need people thinking I am anymore unhinged then I already am 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Mod30
Remove excessive quote.

[Frosty]

I've found the more unhinged folks think I am, the less likely annoying ones are to bother me. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

A traditional ploy; I remember going to the Knifemakers Guild Show back when it was in Kansas City. I was staying with a couple of SCA armourmaking friends who lived in a bad neighborhood and they warned me to keep an ear open for my old vehicle getting broken into.  I said I didn't have any distance weaponry so what was I to do?   The handed me a quiver of Roman pilum to use...evidently a semi nude man screaming and throwing roman weaponry would be enough to scare them off (Foreshadowing of the Spear incident a couple of decades later...)

"don't you try to outweird me, I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal.”    Douglas Adams

[Randy Griffin]

I have arthritis in my hands. Not as bad as what you're describing but bad enough. Thumbs are the worst. When it acts up I start rubbing hands with castor oil every morning. Rub it in good. Wrapping in hot towels helps even more. After about a week I'm good for a few months. I'm talking pain free for a few months. Try it. It really works.

[BillyBones]

"GO GO Gadget power hammer!"  

I does bite getting old. New Years day i tore a ligament in my knee just by standing up. I did finally go get glasses when my arms became to short to read something. 

Thomas, would have been epic had your friends joined also and made it 3 half naked wild men running at them with spears. You guys should have formed a neighborhood patrol. 

[SinDoc]

Billy, if I hope I don't continue to take after my mother. Last summer she got up and went walking across the living room and snapped her Achilles 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

1 hour ago, Randy Griffin said:

I start rubbing hands with castor oil

My wife has some what she calls "magic salve" that a friend compounds for us. I have no idea what the ingredients are but knowing the friend, I strongly suspect some CBD oil is in there. It really is magic in muscle & joint pain management and bruising.

[SLAG]

Mr. Griffin,

I use diclofenac anti-inflammatory for osteoarthritis in my hands and fingers.

It comes in a compounded cream. It relieves the pain and has stopped joint deformation.

I also take the pharmaceutical in pill form.

Osteoarthritis is a wear and tear thing. If you live long enough there is a good chance you may develop it.

Both of them require a doctor's prescription.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a whole different matter. It is an auto-immune disease, and is beyond the subject matter of this thread and forum.

SLAG.

 

[Randy Griffin]

I too have used diclofenac. The castor oil works better on my hands. My knees however are too far gone. I'm candidate for replacement of both but after having my bladder removed last year, major surgery of any kind is out of the question for a long time. 

[SinDoc]

I have had several recommend castor oil. Also something I believe they said was called Ben Gay? Guess it is some kind of cream or something. I will have to look into it!

[Frosty]

You've never used BenGay? It's a topical analgesic cream containing a significant % of menthol and another active ingredient. The menthol is what causes the sensation of heat and then cold when used. The menthol really increases circulation which not only relieves muscle aches but makes bruising disappear. There's a good, non-commercial, write up on Wiki.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengay

Happily I learned from my parents and Grandparents and started taking precautions when I started noticing joint pain in my hands. My fingers haven't had a painful episode in better than a year except the trigger finger in my left ring finger though it's not as bad as it was. 

I'll give castor oil a try though, I'm in favor of painless that isn't telling me to, STOP DOING THAT!!

Warnings are good things, punishment for past deeds isn't so much.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

When using BenGay, everyone within 50 feet of you will be aware of that. Once my wife said "you stink" when I met her inside of Bass Pro. Needless to say, I spent the rest of her time in the store out on one of the benches.

[Frosty]

9 minutes ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

I spent the rest of her time in the store out on one of the benches.

My preferred method of shopping with Deb.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

I used to get a lot of tingling pain in my fingers, especially when they were cold. A blood test revealed a vitamin B-12 deficiency, and my neurologist recommended I start taking an OTC supplement. The neuropathy is basically gone, and all I have to worry about now is the tennis elbow!