One of those FRICKEN days!!!

[Dave Behrens]

I was only in the shop a total of 20 min before I called it a day. 3 machines out of commision, 2 F'ed up blades, 1 electrical fire, and a partridge in a GODDAMN PEARTREE!!!!

View attachment 249367 The day started off with the horrible realization that I have to part with my unused HT oven, bought when I owned a house, had to move, now I rent and cannot hook it up properly per the landlord(I understand their position). Since I won't be owning a home anytime soon, I cannot justify keeping it and it is just collecting dust.
DO NOT CONTACT ME ABOUT THE OVEN, THIS IS NOT A FOR SALE THREAD

It was all downhill from there.
View attachment 249370 My brand new firebrick cracked in three places, I know it is my own fault for running the forge to hot and to long. And the forge needs new insulation now as well. Not to mention I had a large peice of scale land on the back of my left hand while forging, I know gloves are recommended I just don't like wearing gloves for anything.

View attachment 249371View attachment 249372View attachment 249373 After the forge I moved on to grinding, which did not go well, as I noticed my grinder was leaving very noticeable divots in my blades...more on that in the next post. While I was grinding, I was startled by a very loud BBBRRRZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and a football sized white flame spewing out from under my workbench MY ALL WOOD WORKBENCH. Well Im not an electrician so I cannot tell for sure what happened, but it seems my spindle sander(which was not even on) shorted out and this happened. Now the sander, and the 4 foot power strip are now garbage as you can see, my bench has a huge burnt section, and my shop was filled with burnt rubber/plastic smelling smoke(pic was taken a few minutes afterward).

Just wait...it gets better.

 

[Dave Behrens]

View attachment 249381View attachment 249382View attachment 249383
Back to my grinder leaving divots. I have had this problem before due to the platen being warped, and was able to adjust my grinding to repair the divots. I did end up straightening the platen with light bending and hammering. Well it has warped back and I am not sure how, and this time I cannot seem to repair the divoting. Its hard to see the damage in the pics but trust me it's bad.

 

[james terrio]

Your platen needs a hardened steel, ceramic or tempered glass face on it to eliminate those divots. Ya gotta grind on a flat surface to get flat grinds.

Your kiln is a good one, try to sell it locally. If no one within driving distance wants it, keep it clean and dry and hold onto it because the dang $hipping co$t will queer any deal outside of that radius. As for the electrical stuff... I know just enough about electricity to know that I should call a pro. That may be a hassle if you're renting.

Sometimes you just need to shut down the shop, have a refreshing beverage or 12, sit back and think things through. Hang in there man, we've all been there and probably will be again!

 

[Dave Behrens]

Your platen needs a hardened steel, ceramic or tempered glass face on it to eliminate those divots. Ya gotta grind on a flat surface to get flat grinds.

Your kiln is a good one, try to sell it locally. If no one within driving distance wants it, keep it clean and dry and hold onto it because the dang $hipping co$t will queer any deal outside of that radius. As for the electrical stuff... I know just enough about electricity to know that I should call a pro. That may be a hassle if you're renting.

Sometimes you just need to shut down the shop, have a refreshing beverage or 12, sit back and think things through. Hang in there man, we've all been there and probably will be again!

I used to have a ceramic tile peice for the platen but it got lost somewhere a long the way, I'm probably just going to get a new grinder. You ain't kiddin about the shipping, cost 225.00 for me. And yes the boozed flowed early today. oh well tomorrow is a new day.

 

[RyanW]

Sorry about all of this Dave... did you have a good Christmas?

 

[Dave Behrens]

Yeah Christmas was pretty alright. We all have bad days though. Oh well, world still spins so its all good I suppose, just wanted to blow off some steam. Your guysisisisis, holiday season goin alright.

 

[RyanW]

Haha good to hear, My holidays have been going well... absolutely 0 shop time but maybe that is good after reading your post!

 

[Bufford]

There are some days that are not mean't for working in the shop. When it isn't working its best to shut off the lights and move onto something else (like single malt).

Hang onto your HT oven since you are only renting, you may want it if you decide to move again.

 

[Dave Behrens]

There are some days that are not mean't for working in the shop. When it isn't working its best to shut off the lights and move onto something else (like single malt).

Hang onto your HT oven since you are only renting, you may want it if you decide to move again.

Single Malt Irish Whiskey it was. I took the extra time I had to straighten up around the house and shop, walk my dogs etc. I have hung on to the kiln for over 1.5 years now, and we're moving again(renting) middle of next year so I'm not going to be able to hook it up anytime soon. It needs a dedicated circut, 220v outlet and a manual shutoff switch, so I figure there is someone else who can put it to much better use than a dust collector. I'd rather do that than risk damaging it in another move, that has already happened with prior shop tools I've had. Plus I will be going back to school full-time for the next few years and my shop time will be greatly diminished.

 

[Dave Behrens]

Tried to get a little shop time in today. I walked into the shop, decided to work on a very large D-guard clip point bowie I have been progressively forging out of 5160. I was looking it over an something on the clip point caught my eye. There are two 1/4" deep cracks about 1.5" apart on top of the clip. Oh well I tried, back to drinking.