[TheForge] newbie

[Marrin Fleet]

I am barely old enough to remember some of the older farmers in my
area who did their own blacksmithing.  As suggested below, a minimal
shelter, was used.  Around here, this was usually a lean-to on the
side of the barn.  Barns here in the South are different than the
larger, more tightly built barns I have seen in the North.  Our
Southern barns are usually a central pole-barn with lean-to wings on
each side.  Many didn't have walls, just a roof and the poles.   There
was a nail keg on its side alongside the forge, at forge height, in a
position that was pretty much shaded, if possible.  To judge color, a
piece of steel was taken from the fire, and quickly put into the
relative darkness inside the keg, and returned just as quickly to the
fire if necessary, before too much heat was lost.   Sometimes, there
wasn't even a chimney, allowing sparks and smoke to fly about at will.
 They tended to use inferior coal, as that was what was available.
Some would spend hours coking up the coal to remove as many impurities
as possible, then store the coke in a barrel with a piece of tin on
top.  One old man would reach through the barbed wire fence to quench
in a horse trough!  All that seemed to suddenly end just about the
time I went into junior high school, back in the early fifties.  I
still miss watching those old men shoe a horse or mule, or repair some
falling-apart piece of horse (or mule) powered farm equipment. I just
wish that I had had the foresight to learn from some of them before
they were gone.  And yes, those old men really were old.  One old man
of my acquaintance was still farming with a mule when he was near or
into his nineties.  He rode the same mule to church on Sunday.  Others
were in their seventies or eighties. They don't make 'em like that
anymore!

On Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 5:35 PM, peter fels & phoebe palmer
<artgawk at thegrid.net> wrote:
> Our honorable newbie is working outside with a charcoal forge.
> He gets extra credit for making his own charcoal....and a bonus for
> forging ahead under his own steam!
> Soon, we'll find out if he's stubborn enough...grin.
> Of course, any indoor forge needs good venting.
> One of the difficultys of working outside is that it's hard to see the
> color of the glowing metal.
> And therefore harder to judge the temperature ( very important).
> That's the reason traditional BS shops were pretty  dark inside.
> Some kind of minimal roof overhead, at least gets you out of the direct
> sunlight..and the rain.
>
> On 11/14/2010 12:34 PM, Allen Ortery wrote:
>> I would install a hood over the gas forge to vent bad gasses and extra
>> heat. carbon monoxide detectors also a good idea. Keep in mind that
>> fire equipment should invite you to go towards the EXIT, always best
>> to go to the door then be trapped, that is what the fire Marshall
>> would tell you if you where dumb enough to invite him on your place.
>> Less the city knows the happier you will be. If your fellow citizens
>> don't gripe then you will most likely get away with it.
>>     Just remember that there is no such thing as being to safe. And
>> that if you don't go asking the city if it is all right then you may
>> get to do as you want. If they show up to jump up and down and yell be
>> polite and play dumb. Just a hobby and you know other guys that do it
>> at home all the time, guy I bought my anvil off of was working in his
>> garage in Atlanta in a very nice neighborhood. they will most likely
>> tell you to stop, and you can then ask about city rules Ect. that
>> control what you are doing.
>>    Also agree that buying a good forge and learning how to run it
>> properly is great advise. Nothing like knowing what you are doing to
>> keep you alive.
>> Allen Ortery
>>
>> --
>> Allen Ortery
>> bluestoneforge at gmail.com
>> 309-368-7967
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