Today I learned . . .

[ThomasPowers]

My family has never been considered "normal" in suburbia; I still remember my Mother opening the window above the kitchen sink and yelling "Tommy Powers, if I catch you doing that again I'm going to skin you alive and boil you in oil!"  much to our Neighbor's dismay...

[Purple Bullet]

Abnormal, strange, not like everyone else, I've been described as such, and gladly received! In my mind, perversion is using something created for one purpose for a different, destructive or self-harmful purpose. Using a screwdriver for a crowbar for instance.

[Frosty]

Who is this Norm to which you refer Purple?

I grew up in suburbia more or less and hearing Mothers yelling things like that was the norm and not necessarily their children. I had my butt paddled by more than one neighborhood parent in my formative years. 

"Skin you alive!" was as unusual as, "please pass the salt" at dinner. Skin you alive and tack it to a wall wasn't unusual. The neighborhood mom we were all careful around used to say, "Switch you bloody." She was scary, her switchings were famous though I never saw blood. Still . . . Mother's wooden spoon hurt more than enough.

Ahhhh, the good old days. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

We were living in McLean Virginia, just outside the beltway for Washington DC and close to the CIA headquarters and the Kennedy's Hickory Hill.  Lots of Pentagon people and other Government workers.  My mother, growing up on a farm in OK with no electricity, was a bit closer to the "land" than most of our neighbors. 

[rockstar.esq]

Today I learned that the local schools call snow days the night before based entirely on weather predictions.

In my day, we'd have to listen as a radio host read all the schools that were closed the morning of.  As a kid hoping for a day playing in the snow, the suspense was incredible.  Seemed like at least once a year we'd have to trek through a huge snowfall for school, then the next time there was a tiny dusting, everything would be shut down.   Felt unfair to have snow days when you couldn't go sledding.

 

[BillyBones]

Rockstar, i remember those days but for me it was the TV. Only time i ever watched the news as a kid. When i was in high school we lived in a town that had 2 high schools. I remember the disappointment when you would hear that your best friends school was closed but yours was still open too. 

If anyone is wondering we had 2 schools in a small town becuase they wanted to build a new high school. When it was finished a bunch of stink was raised as to what they would call the school and the football team. So much so that the city council stepped and just said quit arguing, we will have 2 high schools for a town of 25,000, problem solved. Even when they closed the old high school, re-named the new one, people like my parents refused to recognize it as the high school. 

[ThomasPowers]

I remember a time in Indiana when we had a terrible ice storm; but they didn't close the schools.  The school bus put on it's brakes half a block away and skidded way past my bus stop. We later heard that the person in charge of calling off school for bad weather slid into a ditch driving into work.

[Frosty]

I'd never heard of a snow day when I was in school, it snowed one day and the teachers had to let us out of class to go play with it before it melted.

What we had that more than rivaled snow was fall when the olive trees would drop their fruit. Over ripe olives are slick and nine kinds of owl mucus and when you load the slime with olive pit ball bearings the roads were impassible. The city, county, etc. would send out water trucks and sweepers to clear the roads.

The birds LOVED that time of year and would perch shoulder to shoulder on any horizontal surfaces, sometimes enough to break power or phone lines. Talk about Hitchcock season! The local stations played the Birds in the season of course. 

Good times.

Frosty The Lucky.

[BillyBones]

When i was stationed in Germany they had frog crossing signs. During a part of the year frogs would get so thick and so many would get run over the roads would get slick. Like driving on ice but it was frog guts.

[ThomasPowers]

Had snow last night, only a couple of inches; but folks out here are not used to driving on iced over roads down in the valley.  I drove into work on the local road---2 miles of no passing zone, narrow, hilly, lots of curves and little in the way of sight lines.  Had a big pickup decide I was going to slow as I was only driving the speed limit; so he passed me and when we got to the right angle curve he was way over in the opposite lane and fishtailing and slow old me was downshifting to not get too close...I took the  Explosive Laden Vehicle road the next 3 miles to Campus, zero traffic and while it was iced over more; folks tend to drive nicer on it---especially around trucks...

[arkie]

Once the wife and I were travelling in the TX hill country.  Got up in the morning and looked out the hotel window...3"-4" of snow on the roads and lots of ice.  Left the hotel without stopping for breakfast since we heard that the bad weather had not affected the roads a few miles south.  We were driving slowly, about 20-30 MPH, as were all the other folks on the 4 lane divided highway.  When we came to a bridge about 50 yards long, we slowed down considerably more for icing on the bridge.  A redneck in a PU had been tailgating us, impatient to pass.  You guessed it...when we slowed down for the iced over bridge he saw his chance to take off!  He gunned it, went around us and immediately went into an uncontrolled side to side spin, bouncing off the concrete bumpers.  As he finished his wild race across the bridge, he went into a slide off the right side, down a steep embankment, and about 100 yds. later crashed head on into a big tree....karma.  We honked and waved as we went by.

[Frosty]

I was wondering if you'd gotten snow Thomas. We have folks like that here too. You'd think driving on slick roads 7 mos. a year would learn em better but noooooo. Every once in a while you get passed and get to watch them hit the ditch. Hopefully not someone coming the other way!

When I was working for Road maintenance in Anchorage the antsy ones hated getting stuck behind a belly blade sander. On occasion we'd be all hands on deck due to freezing rain and it's hard to beat wet ice for slickery. You hear a lot about "black ice" but it's only a hazard because folk don't realize it's icy, not because it's more slippery. 

Anyway I'd been making repeated passes on a couple main lines to prepare for morning rush hour hopefully if you get enough sand with extra salt in it enough salt will build up in the pavement that traffic will keep it wet and clear. . . ish. 

So, I'm drifting 75,000lbs of belly blade sander down the road, trying to keep it balance on the centerline crown making a blazing 25mph. Much slower and you just slide to the shoulder, much faster and you get to explore the ditch. Fun driving. Anyway, I'm blocking both inbound lanes laying sand. I love looking in my mirrors on days like that to see a constant line of headlights patiently following like ducklings. And as often happens my timed his drive to the minute and is now late passes traffic on the shoulder and comes roaring up on me. He's riding my spreader (the thing that slings sand) flashing his lights and honking his horn while I'm ignoring him. 

We get to one of the only two left turn lanes, now removed for on/off ramps, and he makes his move. He's able to put on a good bit of acceleration because I'm dumping sand copiously right in front of him. I'm expecting it so I'm keeping an eye on my left and here he comes SWOOSH he leaves the sand as he sticks his left arm out his window to flip me off and immediately starts swapping ends. He passed my window going backwards with his arm beating the roof and side of his car violently. and before he passes my front bumper hits the ditch going backwards with REALLY BIG EYES. 

The good thing about hitting a ditch with lots of snow in it is it's usually pretty darned soft and by the cloud of snow he threw up he had a pretty soft landing. Unfortunately his driver's window was wide open so the cabin probably got pretty stuffed. The bad thing as far as I was concerned was I couldn't have stopped if I'd wanted to my stopping distance from 30mph was better than a mile. 

I made two more passes sanding before I saw a wrecker and cop on site, both waved when I laid the sand on heavy around them. Almost everybody in a sander had a similar story to tell at shift change. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

When I was in college in NW AR we used to get one or two good ice storms a winter. I lived off campus and would bundle up and walk the mile to campus.  My housemate from AR asked me "why don't you drive, you learned to drive in NJ which has this stuff all the time in the winter?"  I'd tell him "I know how to drive in it; but all y'all don't and I'm safer on foot!"   He owned a sports car and I remember it spinning it's wheels in idle in our driveway.   In emergency situations I had chains mounted on two spares in my trunk of my 62 Buick Special...

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

We haven't had an ice storm of note in about 5-6 years and very little snow. Mother nature is paying us back for all those mild winters today. Weather warning issued on Tuesday and extended through Friday. Started out as rain late Tuesday, changed over to freezing rain/sleet Wednesday then snow all night and today. So far about 8 inches and the temp. in the teens with a wind chill below 0° F. So far the power has stayed on so I haven't had to start the generator and the only snow shoveling I have done is out the walk to the bird feeders so Axle could go out to do his thing.

[BillyBones]

I used to drive a 70' Nova, all suped up and went really fast in a straight line for 1/4 mile. Anyway i was working 2nd shift at the time and went to work one day in the winter. It was about 60*F that day. Well while at work the temp dropped into the 20's and here comes the freezing rain. When i went to leave i discovered i had left my window down. My front seat, that old foam they used to use, acted like a sponge and i got to ride home on a solid block of ice. 

Yesterday my work called me to see if i was coming in, mind you i have to drive back roads the whole way. I said with 2" of ice covering everything no i wont be in. Me and the only other person who drive a 4x4 truck said no while the one kid with a little Honda sporty type car, all low to the ground fast and furious like said he would be there. Dont know if he made it or not but i do know the ice was deeper than the front of his car.  I have a feeling he was the only one and they called him and said they were shutting down for the shift. On the bright side i get a 4 day weekend this weekend.

[ThomasPowers]

Billy; when I was in the oil patch I was once asked to go out and "rescue" a mud logging crew.  One of the fellows had driven out his brand spanking new corvette to the rig and the storm came through and the snow, ice and frozen ruts were all taller than the wind dam on the front of his vette and probably a lot of the undercarriage as well.  The rig couldn't get a full shift in so they picked up off the bottom of the hole and were just circulating.  Someone called into our boss for them ---pre cell phone days and told him they  were out of propane(heat), out of food and stuck at the rig. So me in my 1968 ex phone company van stocked up "consumables" and headed out.  As I recall I slid off the road 3 or 4 times, but had 40' of wire rope with a loop at either end and 25' of log chain with hooks and 2 come-a-longs and could always find a fence post and get it back on the road.   Finally got there and yup they were even younger than me and much more impressed by the money they were making than I was.  The propane was basic stupidity: a unit had two tanks, you used one and when it was empty you turned on the other and got the first one refilled.  Well they had hooked both up and opened both and when they ran out; they were out!  The food was basic stupidity too; they didn't carry any emergency rations with them; nor a hurricane candle or two for heat.  Made me feel a whole lot older!  Got them "bailed out" and turned around and drove back to town; got credit for a full 12 hour shift too!

The National Guard was dropping hay bales to the cattle out there and I have never seen so many pheasants in my life as they were gleaning after the cattle  around the bales.  

[Frugal]

Today I learned that blacksmithing without an instructor stood by you saying "hold it there", "hit is there", "turn it this way", is a lot harder  My first solo attempt at an s-hook looks more like Salvador Dali's moustache  

[ThomasPowers]

Was it supposed to?

[George N. M.]

Frugal, you are preaching to the choir.  A lot of us are self taught with no mentoring, instruction, or videos.  It was probably a dozen years after I started that I even met another blacksmith.  Part of that was living in thinly populated areas like Wyoming.  As a result I am sure that I still do some things bass ackwards from proper/best technique.  Back in the Paleolithic all we had were hard copy books and our own intuition on how to do things and lots of mistakes and "Well, that didn't work the way I expected."

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

 

[ThomasPowers]

And *lots* of rocks!

[pnut]

18 hours ago, George N. M. said:

.  A lot of us are self taught with no mentoring, instruction, or videos. 

I feel very fortunate to have access to resources like this website. I wish I could have found it earlier.

I only know two blacksmiths near me and they are both self taught as well.  The upside is they have been doing it for multiple decades so they've stopped me from making some of the mistakes they made while learning. I don't get to spend a lot of time at their shops but I make the most of the time I do get. I have to work on getting my smithy indoors so I can get more anvil time at home. 

Pnut

[arkie]

On 2/5/2022 at 2:51 PM, Frugal said:

Today I learned that blacksmithing without an instructor stood by you saying "hold it there", "hit is there", "turn it this way", is a lot harder  My first solo attempt at an s-hook looks more like Salvador Dali's moustache  

Smiths are always fixing their mistakes...just heat the middle, clamp it in the vise and twist one end 180*....now you have an S-hook!

[bluerooster]

coal smoke/soot, is corrosive in the presence of moisture.   Rain cap blew off the forge flue. The vertical supports were corroded through.  Had to replace the bottom 5 feet of flue pipe due to corrosion. Only a year of part time use.

[ThomasPowers]

The sulfur in coal smoke produces sulfuric acid when water is around.  Another reason why low sulfur coal is preferred by smiths!  (Besides being less toxic to breath and the sulfur being bad for steel---why Mn is added to almost all steels today.)

Keep your eye open for a section of stainless pipe to use for the lower part of the chimney; I got some from the Restore that had been used as part of a restaurant's stove venting that was reasonably priced one time.  They also make some stainless for wood stove chimneys.  Sourcing at the scrapyard is MUCH easier on the pocketbook than buying new...

[Glenn]

When you get down to fine measurements, 1/32 of an inch is about 32 thousandths of an inch.  Actually 0.03125 but close enough when your using a 2 pound hammer to forge with.