[TheForge] YAK [Was Re: MaiL]

[Jerry Frost]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Spencer" <mspencer@tallships.ca>
To: <theforge@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 09, 2002 4:06 PM
Subject: [TheForge] YAK [Was Re: MaiL]



> Heh.  And I was thinking of you, Frosty, when I posted my whine,
> reckoning I'd get one of those yarns back from you that begins, "Waal,
> Sonny, back in November of '78 it was so cold that..." :-)
>

Waal the winter of 76-77 was a titch cold for the tenderfeet, saw plenty
of -50, actually had to wear a shirt when the wind blew and yada yada yada.
<grin>

> Today was back to normal, sun all day and above 50F.  Got my quench
> tank and a stake tool rack rigged, generator tuned up.  I believe I'm
> going to roof over my 1945 Bantam Jeep trailer and make it into a
> towable power plant and fuel storage.  Can't bring myself to store gas
> cans in a shop with open flames and hot iron.  And the notion of
> trying to run the generator exposed to a 40 mph wind and freezing rain
> doesn't appeal to me at all.
>

Ours is starting to "act" more like winter, it's actually been SUB-FREEZING
<gasp> for three days in a row! It might even snow monday or tuesday, not
that I believe the weather guessers.

I've been tinkering in my half of the barn a bit, still don't know how I'm
going to set up except in a very general way. Last summer `01' I built a 12'
x 28' addition on the west side of the barn for a buck pen and hay storage
and this is where I'm setting up "temporarily" since we lost the herd last
winter.

I'm constrained in where I can set up a hot work area because there's still
a fair amount of hay in the barn so the forge is kitty corner to the hay. I
poured a pad for the lathe in the old buck pen which is about the only near
ideal location for any of my tools, equipment, etc. in the barn. The lathe
will be under a large skylight with a glass window on the headstock end and
a "clear" fiberglass panel behind it. It goes on the long wall so I'll be
able to chuck 20' sticks to twist with about 6' clearance on the headstock
end.

I'm going to put a long solid bench on the same wall for cutting and
mounting the twisting (reciever?) vise. After that things get kind of vague
about setting up. A large problem is exactly where to put a wood stove for
good heat dispersal without it being in the way. The floor is cement
stabilized gravel; solid without being permanent like concrete.

I did not build the barn nor addition as a shop and it reflects it. Still
WAY better than the tarp tent I tried to use last winter!


>
> Hardly any quakes here.  Only place in Atlantic Canada that gets hit
> often is in New Brunswick where -- drumroll...rimshot -- they built
> the nuclear power plant.
>

A typically stringent gvt. selection process. My faith in any gvt's ability
to do anything remains unshaken. <grin>

> BTW, I took your advice and went, at least tentaively, for vertical
> stock storage.  Sawed all the stock on hand in half for the move.  I
> do believe I'm going to like it.
>
> - Mike
>

I love vertical storage: Saves floor space, easy organization, easy
visibility, less waste. Too bad the roof in the barn addition is just over
7' tall. Still WAY better than the tarp tent. And the tarp tent is way, WAY
better than open air.

Frosty
------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.