[TheForge] Wombat is back from the forest!

[Stephen Viola]

Yeah well I really would not have missed the experience for anything.
The salary could have been better, but as a summer job it was fine.
Purely due to the location I doubt if I would ever work there again..
if it was local I would love it there. Work started at 06:00 and
finished by 14:30. That left me half a day with a professional forge
at my disposal to do my own thing. The boss being a generous guy let
me use both machines and material to complete a metal sculpture for a
group exhibition this summer. It's ideal for someone like me.. pity
the pay was piss poor and the location was less than desirable. I
lived 11 weeks in a cottage with no running water nor toilet. The long
drop and the wood heated sauna was all I had. Although I did have a
spectacular view as the lake was a mere 8 metres from the cottage and
had deer and moose as my garden pets :o)

Now back in the land of the living.. internet and all!!!

Stephen

On 20/08/06, Jerry Frost <frosty at customcpu.com> wrote:
> Oh yeah, I know just what you mean though in the states
> the polite term is "laid back" or "relaxed". <grin>
>
> Fuel oil is (I believe) called paraffin in the UK. Here
> it's called heating oil, fuel oil or diesel fuel
> depending on what you're using it for and what color
> dye is in it.
>
> It was a good enough description most of us will get
> the idea. Oil fired forges aren't so popular in the
> states where coal or propane is so common. A Babington
> type burner uses compressed air or a high velocity air
> flow. There are a number of sites on the web with
> various oil burner designs if you want to find out
> more. Just search "oil burner" and you'll find all
> kinds of sites from the sublime to the ridiculous.
>
> I have to say I like the term, "arse about", I think
> I'll be using it frequently, it fits sooooo many people
> sooooo well. <grin>
>
> Sounds like you did alright for yourself, learned how
> the hammers work, picked up a new(to you) anvil, tongs,
> hammer heads and rivets. I usually don't trade labor
> for hardware unless it's really good stuff and a
> written in blood contract; I seem to get screwed over
> otherwise. Of course I'm kind of arse about anyway.
> <grin>
>
> Frosty
> -------------------------------
> If it ain't forged
> it ain't real.
> Wrought iron is.
> The FrostWorks
>
> Meadow Lakes, AK.
>
> http://www.artmetalradio.com/
>
> From: "Stephen Viola" <stephen.viola at gmail.com>
>
>
> G'day Frosty!
>
> Yep, I made it out of the forrest with little more than
> a bumkin
> accent to my Finnish language ;o) nice people just a
> little
> sloooooooooooooow if you know what I mean.
>
> The liquid used to fuel the brick forge is apparently
> the same oil
> used to heat the Finnish houses. It kind of smells like
> diesel and as
> I have lived in Finland for close to 15 years I can't
> for the life of
> me think of what this oil is called in English.
> There is some pressure on the oil coming out of the
> nossle and if I
> worked it out properly there seems to be some
> compressed air as well.
> When fiddling with the 5 different levers and taps to
> adjust the flame
> every morning, I discovered that I could achieve quite
> a hot flame
> with less oil and more compressed air. I know I'm
> explaining this as a
> complete novice but all my training has been using
> "kivihiili" (stone
> coal??) in my forge. This oil / brick forge was a new
> experience for
> me as were the spring hammers. My complete repair on
> one of the
> hammers has now given me good insight the the workings
> of them.. but
> this oil system still has me baffled.
>
> A bit of an arse about way of explaining it but I think
> you'll grasp
> what I mean.
>
> OH I should say the best thing about this summer job
> was the over
> time!! I managed to strike up a deal with the boss
> man.. 29 hours of
> overtime and I earned a 100 kg anvil in prime
> condition, a couple of
> hammer heads, a few pairs of tongs and a bucket load of
> rivets of
> various sizes. Not a bad deal for the equivalent of €
> 330 !!!!
>
> Stephen
>
>
>
> On 18/08/06, Jerry Frost <frosty at customcpu.com> wrote:
> > Good to hear from you again Stephen, glad to kow you
> > made it out of the woods alright. <grin>
> >
> > The pics made it fine. How is the brick forge fired?
> >
> > Frosty
> > -------------------------------
> > If it ain't forged
> > it ain't real.
> > Wrought iron is.
> > The FrostWorks
> >
> > Meadow Lakes, AK.
> >
> > http://www.artmetalradio.com/
> >
> > From: "Stephen Viola" <stephen.viola at gmail.com>
> >
> >
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > Sorry it's been more quiet than usual from me..
> > > I`ve
> > > had a summer job
> > > for the past 10 weeks as a blacksmith up in the
> > > sticks somewhere. I
> > > have attached some pics of my workshop including 2
> > > spring hammers and
> > > the forge I rebricked. I have plenty of other pics
> > > but I just want to
> > > see if this works well or not.
> > >
> > > Log into "the forge" photo site and look for the
> > > Wombat Forge albumn
> > >
> > >
> > > Stephen aka Wombat
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> > theforge mail list group photo site is
> > http://www.photoaccess.com
> > Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> > password:  anvil
> > ___________
> >
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
>
>
>