[TheForge] Re: Oil fired forge

[Mike Spencer]

Mikey opined:

> I consider the complete lack of enthusiasm for casting among
> blacksmiths to be one of life's minor mysteries.

Different psychology.  Or mind-set.  Or frame of reference.  Or
esthetic.

With hot iron, you push the metal, a smidgen at a time, a little this
way, a little that way.  You're behind it, nudging it along.
Deciding, in 500 ms frames, where the next little nudge will be
directed.  If something isn't quite right, you bash it back into shape
on the next blow or the next heat.

Hot glass is completely different.  The glass goes where it will,
chiefly where gravity directs.  You chase after it, hustling to keep
under it.  Spin the blowpipe (or punty), twirl the blowpipe, stop for
a moment while the glass sags in a desired direction, then chase after
it again. If something isn't quite right, you *may* be able to wait
while the whole thing drools away sufficiently to absorb the defect
and then start over from there.  A whole different view of the world
-- the world at the ends of your tools -- is required.

Foundry is even *more* different, more removed from the mentality of
forging.  You stand around for hours, tinkering with burners, fuel,
blowers, draft, flux, sand, sprues, crucibles, ladles etc. etc.
Suddenly wham bam GLOP SLURP piddle... [1]. And it's all over.  Then
it's just a matter of "Let's see what come out." [2] If something
isn't quite right, you start over. Or go back to the mold design. Or
even back to the pattern bench.

How different can you get?  By me, it's a wonder that *any* blacksmith
*ever* manages to melt up some stuff and make a casting.

Well, as Frosty observes, life would be boring if everybody had the
same point of view. :-)

- Mike

[1]  I believe it was Pogo's neighbor, Wylie Cat, who said, "Ah sees
     somebody sneakin' crosst mah backland and Ah ups with Ol' Betsy
     an' BLAM.  And Ah sees ifn they's friend of foe when Ah turns em
     over."  Sort f like casting. ;-)

[2] Lunenburg Foundry used to make a number of cast iron stoves, one of
    which had small front doors that opened so that the stove was like
    a tiny fireplace.  Across the opening behind the doors was a grate
    formed from the letters "L S W C O".  No one at the foundry knew
    for sure what the letters had originally stood for although there
    was speculation that it was Lunenburg Stove Works Company.

    I always thought, on account of the nature of foundry work, that
    it must stand for "Let's See What Comes Out".

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