One of the side projects that has been on the back burner for a bit is a "claymore" mine for airsoft. This is a mechanical device that throws a handful of plastic bbs (or navy beans, or what have you) when the trip wire is pulled. They are quite safe, and not really dangerous, but instead are intended to safely simulate the effect of a trip mine in a paint ball or airsoft game.
As we play airsoft, and are fairly handy, we decided that we needed to come up with a few clever versions for our own use, and figured "heck, why not make them available to the community at large!". Yep, pretty soon we will have airsoft claymores on the main site!
These will range in size from a cigarette pack up to about the size of a small footlocker, and will all be custom made and painted. More info on these soon! Right now we are testing the prototypes and we will post a bunch of pics once we have the production run started.
30 January 2011
21 January 2011
Protective gear for blacksmithing.
I know a few of you out there reading may have asked yourselves “should I wear this near fire?”. Well, this post will help you decided that. Lets start at the top (of your body) and go from there.
Your brain is the most important safety tool you have. It will often warn you something bad is about to happen (like in that question above) and it can be easily upgraded (by educating yourselves on what not to do). Use it first and always! That also means no playing in fire if your brain isn't fully functioning. Be it drink, cold medicine, a lack of sleep or just feeling off, if you aren't on your game, save forge work for another time.
Eye-wear is the single most essential safety item. Period. Why? Simple, a blind blacksmith doesn't know how hot his steel is, where to hit or if he is done. So much of the craft is visual, and most education to further your craft is visual. Good quality safety glasses, furnace glasses or some kind of impact rated goggle is a bare minimum. And they don't work on top of your head – WEAR THEM.
Hearing protection is a pretty close second. Hearing damage occurs over time, and by the time you finally realize there is a problem, it is way too late. And I can tell you first hand, it sucks. Ear plugs, shooting cans or a combination work well and aren't that hard to get used to. Sure, you might not look all that cool, but damn! You have hot metal and a hammer in your hands! That offsets any non cool look right there.
The constant ringing of the anvil, sharp noises from steel being dropped and other sounds can quickly damage hearing, but other sounds over time can as well. Things like a grinder, sander or even the blower can, over time, damage your hearing. Wear cans or plugs.
Next up is your torso. Sure, working bare chested is pretty cool, but a burned nipple will definitely screw up your day. And not just hot steel burns your skin. The infrared heat coming off the forge or a large, hot bar of steel can also cause surface burns pretty easily. If you will be doing any arc welding, these also can cause surface burns. Wear either a leather apron, or a heavy shirt made from natural fibers.
Here is a big thing on clothing to remember; natural fibers ONLY. No polyester, rayon or other synthetics, as these will turn to dripping napalm if they do catch fire. Natural fibers will not melt to your skin, and extinguish fairly easily or on their own (good quality wool in particular). Cotton and linen are also good choices, and many commonly available garments are 100 percent cotton (things like denim jeans for example). Also remember, you are going to sweat. Natural fibers will wick sweat away from your skin to help cool you. Thicker clothing will insulate some heat away from you as much as it holds your heat in.
On your legs, jeans are a good way to go, see notes above on natural fibers though.
On your hands... here is where it gets interesting. We generally don't wear gloves for forging or grinding, but do for welding. Gloves can get caught in rotating machines (that's bad by the way) and may allow things you are holding to slip. Often, you get a lot of physical feedback up through a set of tongs that can warn you a hot piece of steel is about to go on its own way that gloves will prevent you from feeling. Gloves can also give you a false sense of security, and if they get hot can be hard to get off in a hurry. That said, a lot of guys do wear tight fitting gloves with great success.
Gloves are one you are going to have to decide on for yourselves.
Boots or shoes; here is one we see a lot. People forging in tennis shoes. Uh... no. We prefer leather engineer boots, as they protect the feet from falling hot scale, bounced off bits of hot metal and other minor hazards, as well as supporting the ankle. Boots or shoes made of synthetics are just asking for trouble. Remember that bit about molten, burning plastic sticking to your arms and torso? It hurts more on your ankles and arch of your foot. Wear sturdy leather here, K? And steel toes are up to you. We usually aren't moving large, heavy objects, so the worse thing that falls on our feet is a dropped hammer or tongs. Sure steel toes would prevent some loud, bad words. But you get quick about moving when hammers fall.
So that covers the basics of what to wear when forging. We might do some more detailed posts later, who knows?
Have fun, be safe. Wear your safety gear!
Your brain is the most important safety tool you have. It will often warn you something bad is about to happen (like in that question above) and it can be easily upgraded (by educating yourselves on what not to do). Use it first and always! That also means no playing in fire if your brain isn't fully functioning. Be it drink, cold medicine, a lack of sleep or just feeling off, if you aren't on your game, save forge work for another time.
Eye-wear is the single most essential safety item. Period. Why? Simple, a blind blacksmith doesn't know how hot his steel is, where to hit or if he is done. So much of the craft is visual, and most education to further your craft is visual. Good quality safety glasses, furnace glasses or some kind of impact rated goggle is a bare minimum. And they don't work on top of your head – WEAR THEM.
Hearing protection is a pretty close second. Hearing damage occurs over time, and by the time you finally realize there is a problem, it is way too late. And I can tell you first hand, it sucks. Ear plugs, shooting cans or a combination work well and aren't that hard to get used to. Sure, you might not look all that cool, but damn! You have hot metal and a hammer in your hands! That offsets any non cool look right there.
The constant ringing of the anvil, sharp noises from steel being dropped and other sounds can quickly damage hearing, but other sounds over time can as well. Things like a grinder, sander or even the blower can, over time, damage your hearing. Wear cans or plugs.
Next up is your torso. Sure, working bare chested is pretty cool, but a burned nipple will definitely screw up your day. And not just hot steel burns your skin. The infrared heat coming off the forge or a large, hot bar of steel can also cause surface burns pretty easily. If you will be doing any arc welding, these also can cause surface burns. Wear either a leather apron, or a heavy shirt made from natural fibers.
Here is a big thing on clothing to remember; natural fibers ONLY. No polyester, rayon or other synthetics, as these will turn to dripping napalm if they do catch fire. Natural fibers will not melt to your skin, and extinguish fairly easily or on their own (good quality wool in particular). Cotton and linen are also good choices, and many commonly available garments are 100 percent cotton (things like denim jeans for example). Also remember, you are going to sweat. Natural fibers will wick sweat away from your skin to help cool you. Thicker clothing will insulate some heat away from you as much as it holds your heat in.
On your legs, jeans are a good way to go, see notes above on natural fibers though.
On your hands... here is where it gets interesting. We generally don't wear gloves for forging or grinding, but do for welding. Gloves can get caught in rotating machines (that's bad by the way) and may allow things you are holding to slip. Often, you get a lot of physical feedback up through a set of tongs that can warn you a hot piece of steel is about to go on its own way that gloves will prevent you from feeling. Gloves can also give you a false sense of security, and if they get hot can be hard to get off in a hurry. That said, a lot of guys do wear tight fitting gloves with great success.
Gloves are one you are going to have to decide on for yourselves.
Boots or shoes; here is one we see a lot. People forging in tennis shoes. Uh... no. We prefer leather engineer boots, as they protect the feet from falling hot scale, bounced off bits of hot metal and other minor hazards, as well as supporting the ankle. Boots or shoes made of synthetics are just asking for trouble. Remember that bit about molten, burning plastic sticking to your arms and torso? It hurts more on your ankles and arch of your foot. Wear sturdy leather here, K? And steel toes are up to you. We usually aren't moving large, heavy objects, so the worse thing that falls on our feet is a dropped hammer or tongs. Sure steel toes would prevent some loud, bad words. But you get quick about moving when hammers fall.
So that covers the basics of what to wear when forging. We might do some more detailed posts later, who knows?
Have fun, be safe. Wear your safety gear!
Bellows update
I posted a bit on building bellows a while back, and had planned to get photos up of the build process. Well, that tanked. Something went awry and I seem to have lost all the photos, so I am in the process of trying to make a few drawings up to better explain the process, then when we build another set I will photograph the process and reshoot (hopefully we will also do video at the same time for our upcoming DVDs). So, keep an eye open here for new bellows images - hopefully soon!
(see the orginal post here: Bellows)
Until then, these pics will probably help:
In this pic, we see all three boards hanging in space, one over the other. This is how the bellows would be arranged if the nozzle (with hinges) and lung were mounted, and both chambers were fully open (ie, full of air). The valve boards are shown in violet (without their leather hinges in place), the top and bottom are shown as edge joined boards and the center as chip board. This is only done to make the image easier to understand, please see the main post on what to make these parts from.
This image shows the rough shape and proportions of the boards from the top. Yours does not have to be exact, roughly this shape and these ratios will work just fine.
This image shows the midboard, with the notch at the front for the nozzle to be mounted in, the hanging pins and the holes for the valves. The bottom board has the same valve holes, but does not have the hanging pins or notch at the front.
The top board is the same size and has no holes.
The lung of the bellows will wrap from the front (narrow) edge all the way around the curved rear of the bellows to the opposite front edge.
I will see about getting the nozzle image up asap.
(see the orginal post here: Bellows)
Until then, these pics will probably help:
In this pic, we see all three boards hanging in space, one over the other. This is how the bellows would be arranged if the nozzle (with hinges) and lung were mounted, and both chambers were fully open (ie, full of air). The valve boards are shown in violet (without their leather hinges in place), the top and bottom are shown as edge joined boards and the center as chip board. This is only done to make the image easier to understand, please see the main post on what to make these parts from.
This image shows the rough shape and proportions of the boards from the top. Yours does not have to be exact, roughly this shape and these ratios will work just fine.
This image shows the midboard, with the notch at the front for the nozzle to be mounted in, the hanging pins and the holes for the valves. The bottom board has the same valve holes, but does not have the hanging pins or notch at the front.
The top board is the same size and has no holes.
The lung of the bellows will wrap from the front (narrow) edge all the way around the curved rear of the bellows to the opposite front edge.
I will see about getting the nozzle image up asap.
Bad math steel weight estimation
Ok, here is a quick n dirty system we use at the steel yard to estimate the weight on a given bar of steel (this works for hot or cold roll as well as carbon steels). Since we often buy by the pound, not per piece, knowing about how much you have in the truck before you hit the scale helps to keep the sticker shock down to a minimum at check out. This system is really for getting random steel for playing with or so you have various stock on hand for what ever comes up, not for a given detailed project.
For those who have not purchased steel (or coal) in large quantity, I should explain quickly; You weigh your vehicle before you go get what you want, load it up and weigh it again on the way out and pay for the difference. Yes, you could fill your back seat with sand and pour it out before you load up to get more “free” stuff, but be advised if you get caught (and you will) its a whole lot of jail time.
Most steel weighs 489 pounds per cubic foot. All you have to figure out is what part of a cubic foot your bar weighs, right? Heck no! I am way to lazy for that. So some math later, we find that a cubic inch of steel weighs .28 pounds. This is a lot handier... round up just to make the numbers easier; a cubic inch guesstimated weight is .3 pounds. Therefore every 4” section of 1/2” square is .3 pounds, so 3 of those equals just under a pound. Remember, round up. Hey, if you are 20 pounds under at the scale, that's less you have to pay on the way out the door!
So 1 foot of 1/2” square weighs a pound. Ok, a “bad math pound”.
Therefore, if you have a 1” x 1/2” x 1 foot bar, it's going to weigh 2 pounds (since there is twice as much steel there) and a 1” square bar 1 foot long should weigh under 4 pounds. (It's actually more like 3.4 pounds per foot, but round up for bad math.)
you could round down to a quarter pound per cubic inch, but I would rather not accidentally overload the truck and break an axle or some dang thing, not to mention I often hit the steel yard with a given amount of money on hand and I want to be sure I come in under budget for random steel. On a given project, I tend to buy what I need plus 10% for screw ups, but this system is for random stuff to make what ever out of.
Buying thick plate is similar. A 12” by 12” section of 1/4” plate weighs almost exactly 10 pounds, so if you can do some quick math based on this you can guesstimate the weight of a given section of plate. 1/8” thick is half as heavy, 1/2” plate is twice as heavy. Simple! Ok, simplish. You may be able to envision the bar you are looking at as a section of plate, cut into strips and laid end to end to make up a bar or vice versa. It all depends on how you happen to think about volumetric objects, as different peoples brains work in different ways.
Ok, so that works for square or rectangular stock, what about rounds? Since a circle fills about 80% of the volume of a square that is the same width, you can take your formula above to figure out what a square bar that dia/across would weigh, then multiply that by .8 or just call it close enough and have a little money left over at the check out to go grab lunch. Again, this is already rounded up a bit, so your actual weight will be under the guesstimate.
Most other shapes can be though of as made up of parts that you can already easily figure out with the above formula. Angle iron is two sections of flat bar stuck together down one edge, channel is three sections. You can think of pipe as a flat bar that has been rolled into a tube, so here take the thickness then wrap the tape measure around the pipe to figure out what a given section of pipe would be as flat stock (unless you can do circumference of a circle in your head easily – some people can, some can't).
And there you have it, a lazy, bad math way to guesstimate the weight of a given bar of steel!
Or just write down 1/2” square is a pound a foot and 1/4” plate is 10 pounds per square foot and work off that.
Either way.
New Look
Hello all, just a quick post to let you know we aren't dead and we updated the look of the blog here.
A lot of changes in the home life since the last post... I won't go into details, but suffice to say it has kept us busy! Some new posts are in the works; updating and completing some of the previous stuff (like the bellows pages) and a number of new projects as well. Hopefully, we will get these up in the next few days.
Until then, stay warm!
A lot of changes in the home life since the last post... I won't go into details, but suffice to say it has kept us busy! Some new posts are in the works; updating and completing some of the previous stuff (like the bellows pages) and a number of new projects as well. Hopefully, we will get these up in the next few days.
Until then, stay warm!
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