[TheForge] Working alone in shop

[Aaron Silver]

At 09:00 PM 10/30/2003 -0800, you wrote:

>I feel positively safe in the shop. With the forge fired up, its nice and 
>cozy, and I have never cut myself so badly I needed stitches, or even a 
>butterfly bandage when working by myself. Usually the worst injury I get 
>is bruises on my legs from bumping into junk I should have put away.

This is about where I am as well. I don't fear going into the shop, however 
I do try to be aware of my mental state. I remember one night where I was 
trying to get started and kept tripping over stuff I hadn't put away in the 
past. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, simply take some time to put it 
away, right? Instead, I found myself irrationally p****d off, and ready to 
chuck things around. At that point I realized that I was in no mental shape 
to work with hot metal. I went right back in the house for a beer and some 
mind-numbing TV.

As for being mesmerized by the action of the powerhammer, I have two comments:

1) What we do with metal is magical. Within reason, don't lose that feeling
2) The first couple of times you get too mesmerized, you'll wreck your 
piece. No big deal... It just adds to the humble pile. After creating scrap 
that you've invested a fair amount of time into a couple times, you'll find 
yourself muttering "pay attention" as you work. It'll balance out. :-)

Aaron Silver