[TheForge] Re: Alright i lied i still dont care

[Mike Spencer]

> How many of you wise sages have or know of someone who has or does
> anyone in fact have lung problems from using coal.The reason i ask
> is i was watching a video on blacksmithing from an ontario smith and
> he had an incessant hack that he referred to as a blacksmiths cough?

But he didn't say whether he was a 3 pack a day man or not, right?  I
met a blacksmith once who I'm sure would have referred to his gait as
Blacksmith's Wobble if he had made a video, omitting to mention the
pint of rum that he kept by the forge and replenished during the day as
needed. (He is, of course, dead now.)

I went to a week-long January workshop once, in NH where the temp was
0F and down.  Organizers had a beautiful exhaust system for 8 or 10
forges.  Which failed within the fist hour.  Room became opaque with
coal smoke.  A couple of guys over 50 just  packed it in for the day
but everybody else was too excited to show good sense and worked all
day in the smoke.

At dinner time, everybody was hacking and coughing.  Guys in their 30s
who had been smokers since 13 were coughing up blood specks.  Others
were  coughing up black gobs.

So there's a benchmark.  Don't do that. Always do better than that.

Don't breathe excessive amounts of coal smoke or coal dust.  If you're
chronically respiratorily compromised to begin with, always do much
much better than that.  


- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^