I enrolled in the school of hard knocks

D

Dave Bowen

Joined
Feb 12, 2007
Messages
155
Wow, what a lesson I learned last night.
So my bow making buddy and I decided it was time to make my first forge welded damascus billet. :cool:

Fired up the forge, got it nice and hot, cleaned up the layers, fluxed em, stacked em, and put em in the fire. I was thinking; Man, I'm really doing something cool now!

Got it nice and hot, pulled it out and WHAM! :eek: I put the smack down on that steel.
This is right about the time I really would have liked to know that the flux was going to shoot out of the sides, and cover me in molten borax.

Good news is I was wearing gloves, long sleeves, eye protection, etc.
The bad news is the borax burnt right through the shirt, the pants, and went down into my gloves, so I got burned anyway.

I'm assuming these are a portion of the "dues" I will be paying for being a bladesmith. :D
Incidentally, the weld took, and I think it will turn out decent. I have to grind the sides and check it today after work.

I just wanted to share some of my misery with my good friends here. What are friends for afterall?

Dave
 
Welcome to forge welding!
I did my first real forge weld at a hammerin seminar 3 1/2 years ago, I was wearing a t-shirt (and gloves and eye protection) and that first setting hit sprayed a line of molten borax in a line right across my belly. I came home with a line of burns and a billet of bloom steel grinning like a fool. My wife absolutely didn't understand how I could be so happy about something that hurt so much, I gave her the line about "Glory is forever, wounds heal, Chicks dig scars", and that I had finally learned one of the fundamentals of traditional smithing, she pointed out that chicks don't dig emergency rooms, so I better keep those burns clean until they heal over, and she ordered me a leather apron from Centaur Forge. Now whenever I am forgewelding I use the leather apron.
Your weld took, it's all good, just keep the burns clean so they don't get infected and order yourself a leather apron. Welcome to the damascus obsession!

-Page
 
All my shirts have a line of holes right at anvil level. When i was working at my teachers shop I would strike the billet and the guy at the next station would start dancing, slag down the back of his shirt.:D:D Now I mostly dry weld so I don't have that problem any more. Now the big question, did the billet stick???? If it did it was worth all the pain. If you meet Tom Ferry ask him about the first time he tried TIMASCUS. Bout burned down his shop.

Chuck
 
Yes I too have forging clothes with many ventilation holes.
The other thing to watch outfor with forge welding is scale flakes. The hot balls shoot a long way the flakes just seem to fluter peacefully onto your for arms and stick. As you take them off the skin comes with it. I were long sleave shirts and long sleave gloves it cut most of it down. I have used short
rigger gloves for better feel of the hammer. I always end up with hot down the back onto my hand.
I stick to the long sleeve gloves and you get used to the feel quickly if you have regular sessions.
 
I have a burn on an old pair of jeans with a burn line right across the crotch, my anvil was a bit too low!
 
Sam Salvati said:
I have a burn on an old pair of jeans with a burn line right across the crotch, my anvil was a bit too low!
Click to expand...

YIKES!!:eek:

That's right up there with "Hot Crotch Rivet Syndrome"
That's when you take your wranglers out of the dryer and put them on before that brass rivet cools off...
 
Sam Salvati said:
I have a burn on an old pair of jeans with a burn line right across the crotch, my anvil was a bit too low!
Click to expand...

I hope you have fixed your anvil! If you'r working that low it's bad for your back shoulder and elbow as well as your future :eek::jerkit::D

-Page
 
This thread reminds me of the time I was burning off the old exhaust system on the truck when a big piece of slag fell onto my scalp (ball cap fell off while cutting) there was this horrible sizzling sound coming from the top of my head and the smell of burning hair and flesh. I burn't my fingers digging out a quarter sized piece of slag that burn't a hole right into the top of my head. It wasn't easy to dig out either as the slag burn't and stuck to the hair and flesh.
 
Wow, I don't feel nearly as bad as I did earlier.
Thanks!!

Also, My anvil sits right about crotch level on me too, but I think it's supposed to be that height. I think I'll just forge up some crotch armor.
 
Ouch!! I have a third degree burn on my right leg, I unfortunately did not suffer this wound making a knife. My story is a tad less glorified.

Nine years old and at my friends home we decided it would be fun to light a fire. Me being the stupid sort figured that paint thinner would burn quite nicely so I proceeded to pour an entire gallon of thinner on the flames! Little did I realize that the fire would travel up the stream of thinner right into the can. Once the can went up in flames I dropped it and sprayed thinner all over my leg.

I stopped, I dropped and I rolled but it did not go out till a neighbor ran over and threw and old carpet over me! My skin peeled away like those mooshoo pancaces.

Needless to say, I am more careful now when it comes to fire.
 
When I do a demo I always start with a safety talk. I point out the various safety item I will be wearing. As I put on my leather apron, I point to the BIG crotch flap, and say, "This is the most important piece of safety gear I wear!!"
Stacy
 
My buddy and I were working as volunteers at the state park in Key West, running the blacksmith display about a year and a half ago. We'd do small things to make the tourists ooh and ahh. We were demonstrating forge welding one weekend and did our normal safety briefing, pointing out that the boundary lines around the forge were for their safety. But of course, being tourists, they prompty forgot everything they had heared as soon as they saw hot steel come out of the fire. One guy came up behind and to the right of me, thinking he needed a better angle for a picture, and I didn't see him 'till after I had swung the hammer.

It's really hard to put a fire out when it's on a tourist who doesn't want to sit still... ;) :jerkit:
 
When I used to do a lot of centrifugal casting I had a 10" wide "nut board" bolted on the side of the casting tub. It kept any flying molten metal from making a eunuch out of me.
Stacy
 
If you are forge-welding don't wear synthetics and the flux won't go right through it. Also don't tuck your shirt in or you will wind up with flux in your shorts.
I guess I must be way out of proportion to the rest of you, because the flux spray always hits me 2 inches below the belt. :eek:
Thanks,
Del
 
I can't afford a press right now, but believe me, I have been inspired to build one. It will be my next investment. Well, besides the apron.

Great stories. I have this picture that I can't get out of my head, of a bladesmith in full gear, dancing a jig, barefoot around the anvil . :D

Great stuff.
 
On a more serious note, This is one reason why the first hammer blows,when welding up the billet, should be gentle.
Stacy
 
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