Glenn Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 This needs brought back to the top as some of us are still addicted, others are becoming addicted, and none are getting cured. (grin) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 Glenn; every year some folks are "cured" by attrition. We're praying right now that well liked member of the forum doesn't go that way. My latest "fix" was getting another hand crank blower so I can have a travel set-up and a home set-up. I hope to go work on my shop extension tonight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad Creek Blacksmith Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 I told my wife I wasn't getting enough forging time in and was going to take 1 or 2 days a week in the shop. If I could get away with it it would be 24/7 I don't have a problem.... but she does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecelticforge Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 Hello, My name is Wind (really) and I am a forge-a-holic. I started around twenty five years ago. It seemed like such a little harmless thing at first. Sneaking anvil dust from my Grandfar's anvil stand. Then my cousin and I would go to the creek behind the shop, and take a few tablespoons at a time. It was a lark to put a magnet on my head and have it stick. But, as the years went by, I found myself working in his forge just to make my own dust. I was not even bothering to go to the creek any more. I would just grab a hand full and inhale it. Then a few years later, I was caught trying to go through the metal detector at the airport. The ex-rayed me and found that the gray matter in my head had turned reddish and was a solid mass if bog iron. So I moved to Ireland to live in the bogs with the hinkypunks and pukas. After several more years of being frozen and tanned by the acid, I had had enough. I swore off all ingestion of iron and I have come here to you, my Brothers for the support that only other addicts can give. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal L Posted October 10, 2009 Share Posted October 10, 2009 A lttle off suject but it relates. Do any of you have my kind of luck? I've been thinking when it cools off a little I'm gonna get back to some serious forging. Well here it is October, wife and kids are away, nothing special on the honey do list and it's as hot as an August day!!!!. Well I'm gonna get off this computer and go sweat for a while. I hear the shop calling me. Yea i guess I'm addicted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti_forge Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 Your only an addict if you think you have a problem, I would blacksmith 24/7 if I could and would not for one second think I had a problem Remember, your only a ----aholic if you go to meetings. welder19 Do hammer-ins count? Do we get a coin after a year? I have a sponsor, his name is Hay Budden. He does a great job of making me feel better when I have the uncontrollable urge to pound steel into submission. Thanks Hay... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayson Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Hello. My name is Jayson. I have been a member for a little bit now, though I only recently (yesterday) pounded my first piece of iron. OH WHAT WONDERFUL THING!! Teejay invited me over to learn a thing or 50. And what an awesome guy Teejay is. Willing to share his addiction...er...knowledge with others and everything. Thanks a lot for the invite Teejay!! So, after leaving all I can think about is where I am going to get the stuff for a forge. I have already looked on line for the scrap and junk yards in my area (there are 3 junk yards a one scrap metal place near me that I have found so far ). I told my wife about all the stuff I got to see and the new things I had learned to make. I also told her that I made a leaf all on my own. You know she had the nerve to ask if she could have it!! That thing is MINE!! ALL MINE!! It is the first thing I ever made. I NEED it. I am not sure she understands.....how could she. All she sees is a little metal leaf, not what it truly represents. My hard work, the starting place of my skill. The first bond between me, the fire in the forge and the hammer in my hand, a symbol of my new addict.... love... er....hobby. Help? I don't need help. I know how to get to the blueprint section all on my own. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigcity Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 (edited) well my name is james and i have an adiction it started with and old forge i found in my parents machine shed when i was 14 with some old coal i got it fired up then i built my own out of a car rim and brake drum and an anvil made out of a piece of I beam now im 26 and still forgeing with a real anvil now i think its a 120#er but not sure Edited October 25, 2009 by bigcity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Emig Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 Hey Jayson, If you give her the leaf, she will let you buy all kinds of tools to support you new habit. It goes like this-"Honey, I can't make that for you without (insert name of new tool/toy) ,so I need to get it. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divermike Posted October 25, 2009 Author Share Posted October 25, 2009 yesterday, while laying in bed grieving that I had a swollen ankle, I decided that enough was enough. I wrapped it up, but on a supportive boot, and went out to the forge, my wife thought I was crazy, and indeed, the pain was significant. But the joy of hammerin hot steel took over, and I was able to finish the paper towel holder project. As soon as it was done, bam! the pain really set in. Funny how the addiction pushed the pain to the background, until my goal was achieved. So sometimes, being addicted is productive, at least that's my story, and I'm stickin to it. I'd post a pic, but every time I try, it just don't work. If we don't get this fixed soon, my addiction will drive me to another site where I can post pics aaaaaaaggggg! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvillain Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 You guys ARE in bad shape. I can quit smithing any time I want to. Just yesterday, I quit three times. Anvillain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 I quit blacksmithing last night (just before dark). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironstein Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 I know i'm no addict. Definitely not a quitter. I can stop anytime. I work four days a week, have three days off. Every week i use those three days to blacksmith, for at least ten hours each day. I can't seem to think of anything better to do with my time. Today i had a cut-off disc on my angle grinder jump and sink into my thumb, about 1/4 inch into the middle of my fingernail and into the tip of my thumb. Usually people would stop for a while if they were a quitter, not me. After cleaning up the blood trail and duct taping the thumb with some gauze, i hammered away for another five hours. Didn't feel a thing (Divermike understands this). Unfortunately it hurts to type, i can feel my heart beating in my thumb so i am gonna stop typing. I wouldn't want typing this response to get in the way of my blacksmithing. Gotta rest up the finger so i can hammer. No problem here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigcity Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 lol i know the fealing i have had some gashes before didnt notice till i saw the blood trail duck tape is good for everything :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divermike Posted February 19, 2010 Author Share Posted February 19, 2010 My wife thinks I may be losing it, our monthly meeting was moved back a week, and I got a bit depressed, I was looking forward to it being the usual saturday, and did not get the message. What a bummer, now I have to wait another WHOLE WEEK to see the guys and get some shared smithing time in. Yup, it's a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poleframer Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 Hi, my name is Russell. Things of steel have held my attention more than anything else in my life. Whew. There it is... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sukellos Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 Hi, my name is Neal and I'm a Blacksmithaholic. HI NEAL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P. Bedard Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Well, this is hard for me folks so bear with me... I started when I was 19, just small time stuff you know. I made a forge from an old cast iron water heater and an electric fan. I used to run it on charcoal briquettes back then. I had one anvil back then, a 75 pounder.. But then, it got a bit out of hand, 4 forges and 3 anvils now. Dozens of hardie tools, hammers, punches and other miscellaneous gew-gaws. I just don't know when to quit. I tried, I really did, but next thing I knew, I was back in the shop, heating a piece and working long into the night to get it "just right". Well, I don't have to tell you fellas that do I? Glad to have guys like you to talk about this with. And maybe, swap tools after the meeting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddly Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 I am a blacksmith, I can change, if I have to, I guess. Been away from my forge for three weeks, two days, and 14 hours. I don't know what to do with myself. I've been buying supplies, and raiding the scrap bin, in hopes I will get to use them soon. I've also been using this time to start drawing again. Which is good, I think..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divermike Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 It has gotten so bad, that when I go to work at my regular job on Mondays, the folks start quizzin me on what I made, and why I did not bring it in to show it off! It's almost as if they think I spend every available minute thinking about this stuff, oh wait...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divermike Posted April 13, 2010 Author Share Posted April 13, 2010 Last night as I was barbequing some dinner, I gazed at the fire and thought to myself, didn't I see a forge setup somewhere that had a grill that could swing over the coals, thereby killing 2 birds with one stone/ I suppose charcoal would leave a better taste than bituminous, but heat is heat, and the pork chops would come out good I'm sure. What is it about this addiction, any effort made in another direction, still leads us back to this art??? The boys are coming over for the monthly meeting next saturday, ohboyohboyohohboy!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 Make a spike and drive it into a spud, wrap in foil in you don't like the flavor of the fuel, and suspend it over the fire. It'll cook in an hour or so nicely. I've read about this several places, even had an old time machinist tell me something similar. Why let all that waste heat go to waste? When you go camping you can use these implements there too! Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainely,Bob Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 My brother took me to a topless beach.He walked the surf while I took off into the dunes and came back with a couple pieces of wrought iron I wrestled from some drift wood beams. We were both smiling for very different reasons. Does this make me a blacksmithaholic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 Mike: Watching the Food Network last week they were talking about Pizzerias in both New York and Chicago that fired their ovens with coal. Seems there wasn't an appreciable coal flavor imparted, then again big city folk probably have ambient atmosphere trained tastebuds and nostrils that are immune to coal smoke. Baking potatoes on a skewer is old hat for me, No wrap just plant it so the spud is level with the glory hole but back from it and IR will bake it pretty quickily. We discovered in cold weather camps the only way to really enjoy a steak is to cut it into bite sized pieces THEN roast it on a skewer. Otherwise a grilled steak's first bite is too HOT, second bite is about right and from then on it cools to freezing too fast to eat. Last weekend when Bryan Morgan visited I was thinking about making steak bites for an over the forge lunch but decided I've put too many unknowns in my propane forge to chance. Frosty the Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 You know you got a problem when your back is so bad you can't bend over to pick up a hunk of steel off to the side of the road and you dial 911 so they can send an officer to help you, they told me it wasn't an emergency, I begged to differ, they told me to hang up, so I flagged down another motorist. He was a little p.o.ed too but helped anyway.I got five feet of 3/4" cold roll out it though. :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.