It followed me home

[Donal Harris]

74 F isn’t too hot. Besides, I know a guy who knows a guy with a plasma cutter. 

[ThomasPowers]

Knowing the right people can sure make your life easier!

[Frosty]

74f is TO TOO H O T! 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

1 hour ago, JHCC said:

modify the cart a bit to make sure it’s secure.)

Also so the upper holding rings don't interfere with the valves and regulators.

[Bantou]

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

74f is TO TOO H O T! 

Frosty The Lucky.

You Alaskans and your temperatures
74 is barely shorts weather. 70-85 is perfect weather for forging. Warm enough to be comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt but cool enough that you don’t sweat to death even next to the forge. It doesn’t get miserable until it gets over 90. 

On the other hand, anything under 50 means hovering over the forge in a hoodie. When it gets below 40, I may have to break out the Carhart LOL. 

[JHCC]

2 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

Also so the upper holding rings don't interfere with the valves and regulators.

That’s the plan: cut a gap in the top ring and add another about halfway down. 

[Daswulf]

6 hours ago, JHCC said:

so I had to get a smaller one than originally planned.

You will make good use of it. You'll honestly love as soon as you can upgrade to a larger tank. Less trips to fill, better fill/exchange price for the bigger size and more work from it in the meantime. But you'll love you have it now. 

[Donal Harris]

Except for the cold anvil sucking the heat from the steel, I love forging when snow is falling. Start wearing multiple layers. Finish with barely a t-shirt. 

[M.J.Lampert]

10 hours ago, DHarris said:

Except for the cold anvil sucking the heat from the steel, I love forging when snow is falling. Start wearing multiple layers. Finish with barely a t-shirt. 

i use a large block of steel in the winter to warm the anvil when  temp is below -5C . Below -15 to -20 the forge will not be started same with around 25C+ then i find it gets too hot to work comfortably.

for you crazies out there in order the above temps are 23F, 5 to -4F, and 77F+

14 hours ago, Bantou said:

You Alaskans and your temperatures
74 is barely shorts weather. 70-85 is perfect weather for forging. Warm enough to be comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt but cool enough that you don’t sweat to death even next to the forge. It doesn’t get miserable until it gets over 90. 

On the other hand, anything under 50 means hovering over the forge in a hoodie. When it gets below 40, I may have to break out the Carhart LOL. 

its not just alaskans

29C for forging Bantou your crazy? ok i guess that comes with the title Texan 50(10C) is long-sleeve and t-shirt temp 40(4C) is before mentioned plus a fleece sweater at -5C(23F) or prolonged time below 0C(32F) high wind at +5C-then the canvas coat covers a T and long-sleeves

M.J.Lampert

P.S.

shorts are not for forging or forging temps a 30-35C(86- 95F) minimum is required 

[Frosty]

No shorts is TOO risky for me! You never know when your fly might slip as isn't uncommon for my shop duds. Going comando at the anvil is just NOT in my book, a bush fire is a B A D thing to start! I don't have a large enough bucket of water around do dunk my lap!

Depending on how cold winter was, T shirt and sandals weather might be 20f and up. Socks in Crocs lowers comfy temps well into the single digits. 30s and up is run naked in the woods weather. No, you do NOT want pics! Not even when I was young enough to do such. <shudder> I'm not one of the serious cold weather crowd, I've never willingly cut a hole in the ice for a dip. The one place I willingly dunked through an ice covered pond was at a friends Sauna. Well, I've made naked snow angles front and back side in the snow outside a Sauna. It's funny, when you dash out of a 170f Sauna and roll in the snow, even at -40f it doesn't feel cold, it's crunchy. When it does start feeling cold it's time to hit the Sauna again. Good times.

Glad I grew out of the practice, at my age a dipper of water over the head works just fine. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[JHCC]

22 hours ago, JHCC said:

That’s the plan: cut a gap in the top ring and add another about halfway down. 

A more elegant solution occurred to me: take a 9” section of scuba tank and use it as a spacer under the O2 tank. I welded a couple of tabs onto it for a bit of extra security. Works very well, and easily reversible.

20 hours ago, Daswulf said:

But you'll love you have it now. 

Loving it already!

[Bantou]

Paid $12.50 + an hour and a half of drive time for this box of files and chisels. Not a bad deal at all for what I got. It’s probably $100+ worth of files and chisels if I were to buy them new. 

[BillyBones]

I used to have a nice raw hide mallet that last i knew of was with my dad, of course he has no such recollection. I have also been looking for an old farriers rasp and knowing of 1 farrier locally that has been to no avail except for "antique" ones that they want and arm and half a leg for. So i bit the bullet and just bought new ones. The mallet faces are smaller than the one i had and the handle is spindly but should do the job. 

[Donal Harris]

1 ton of coal and a 4.25 inch leg vise. 

[arkie]

Where did you get your ton of coal?  You're gonna have fun unloading that bag!!  Was it the Vinita $225/ton stuff?

[Frosty]

Opening the draw "string" and shoveling coal into a bucket as you need it is your idea of fun, Arkie? 

If you set the bag on one end of a tarp, you can fold it over to keep rain off, a couple weights or tie downs keeps wind from blowing it off. That will let a person move the tarp to shovel and double the fun. Hmmm? 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[ThomasPowers]

Strongly suggest moving the coal to a more durable storage; UV out here is very bad about rotting sacks!

[Donal Harris]

Yep. Utah coal from Vinita. It was a much longer and more expensive drive than I expected it to be. I think it was something like $14 in tolls and a tank of diesel. They said they would deliver if the association bought a truck load. They are supposed to call one of our directors today.

The coal side of the operation is closed, but they have managed to reopen the rock side.

I have two empty 55 gallon steel drums, two empty 55 gallon plastic drums, and two empty 33 gallon drums. I will have to buy more. Exactly how many more I am not sure. One online calculator gives the weight of a gallon of bituminous coal as being 13.49 pounds. But before I need worry about storing the coal, I have to first work out how to get the pallet off the trailer. I am thinking run a chain though the pallet and attach it to a spare tire and pull it off. Hopefully the bag doesn’t rip open in the process.

[Bantou]

3 hours ago, DHarris said:

But before I need worry about storing the coal, I have to first work out how to get the pallet off the trailer. I am thinking run a chain though the pallet and attach it to a spare tire and pull it off. Hopefully the bag doesn’t rip open in the process.

I would suggest unloading at least some the coal before you attempt to drag the pallet off the trailer. 2,000lbs generates a lot of friction, especially with a rough cut board as the “sled.”

[ThomasPowers]

If you can get it to near the tailgate; barrels load easier when they are on the ground and you are a bit above them.

[arkie]

8 hours ago, Frosty said:

Opening the draw "string" and shoveling coal into a bucket as you need it is your idea of fun, Arkie? 

Frosty, ain't NO WAY I would do it that way!

When I bought my bulk coal at the mine, it was dumped by loader into my pickup bed.  At home, I spread a tarp under the tailgate and shovel the coal into 20 gal. plastic trash cans about tailgate high.  THAT is much more fun..., and the tarp catches all the spillage....  The trash cans hold about 100# and move around easily with a hand truck.

7 hours ago, DHarris said:

Yep. Utah coal from Vinita.

D, when you have a chance to burn some of that Utah coal, let us know how it worked for you.

[Frosty]

D: Is the deck on your trailer wood or steel? It'll slide easier on steel and maybe not so much on wood. If you lay a couple old tires on the ground for the pallet to land on it'll probably be okay. Pallets are tough. 

Yeah, that does sound like more fun Arkie, I have you beat sort of though. The last time I got coal I packed it down the cut in the strip mine in buckets till the pickup was full enough, then shoveled it out into drums when I got home. Now THAT'S fun. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

On 5/3/2021 at 7:29 PM, JHCC said:

Problem is, I don’t have an empty 10-lb spool to wind it on, just the 2-lb on it now. 

I’ve been mentally playing with the idea of making some kind of mounting for the big spool and having the wire run to the feed mechanism after taking a few turns around the small spool, rather like a sailboat winch.  Probably more trouble than it’s worth, though. 

I ended up trying this earlier today and ran into trouble with the wire shorting out against the housing of the welder. In the end, I wound enough onto the two-pound spool to finish the job at hand. 

Might try again if I can figure out a way to insulate the incoming wire sufficiently. 

[Frosty]

Thread it through a nylon or teflon  entry "gromet." My wire comes on plastic spools and mounts close enough to the welder any rubbing is against the spool. The wire enters the welder through a non conductor port. 

You might be able to buy the hardware for your welder. My Hobart 120 Handler will only take up to 10lb. rolls without the after market extra drive rolls and the 50lb. spool reel. I don't know if they're available anymore though, I bought it in the 90s. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Jobtiel1]

They cut trees down around my boy scouts clubhouse, the municipality wanted more visibility around the area. A lot of maple and some oak. Took two big pieces of maple with me to make handles from.

Still thinking if I should bring some oak too. It's too hard for the children to comfortably process to firewood anyway.