Snow and fire

Hello all!

Now that we are on the other side of "Snowmageddon 2011", let's talk a little about fire and snow. Ok, this will cover a bit more than that, but its an easy title.

In the past, I have done a number of demonstrations outdoors in winter weather and for a time I even worked outdoors without a proper building. This educated me on a number of interesting things I have not seen addressed in many other posts on blacksmithing online, and have not heard a lot of guys talk about at hammer-ins or around the table.

Let's start with working outdoors in snow. Visually, this can be very spectacular; thick falling snow, lit by the dancing light of a forge, a trailing flame-like ghost flame of mixed heat and steam from the snow touching hot steel... Ah! Male Romance right there my friends! But there are a few safety and technique considerations to be aware of beyond the obvious ones. First is footing; falling on slick snow or ice holding a hammer and hot bar of steel is not fun. And working on ice is even more dangerous since even if the hot bar does not hit you, it can hit ice and burn you with a jet of steam. Make sure your boots have good tread, and clear your work area as well as you are able. A thin layer of kitty litter may be in order to increase traction, or lay down a clean, dry sheet of plywood to stand on. Dropping hot steel on plywood will cause a scorch, but it will not catch fire and burn unless the steel is left on the board for a longer lenght of time, and you can grab snow and put out the fire easily.

The second consideration is frostbite. Even though you are standing next to a fire, you are outdoors in less than freezing temperatures. And you are sweating more than likely, and this can add to the possibility of frostbite. Make sure you are wearing proper, safe, warm clothing. A nylon snowmobile suit is far, far more dangerous than a pair of jeans over cotton long johns and two layers of socks. Once you have layers, your body will be more able to keep itself warm and the extra layers of natural fibers will also help to wick away sweat, keeping you safer from frostbite. If you start having numbness though, get inside and get warm! Winter is one of the few times I wear cotton jersey gloves to forge in, and I make a point of wearing a wool hat under my hearing protection.

The third consideration is less obvious; if you get your anvil wet, laying a hot bar of steel on it and strikign it with a hammer will cause a small steam explosion. This will crack like a gunshot (bad for your hearing) and throw some small amount of hot scale and steam which can burn you. Falling snow, wet gloves and other things are possible ways for your anvil to get wet. You can wipe it off, but it will take a lot of wiping. The other option is to hover the hot bar just over the anvil for a few seconds, letting the radiant heat from the bar drive the moisture away from where you are about to lay the bar. A quarter inch or so above the anvil works well, and keeps the cold anvil from rapidly pulling heat out of the bar which will happen if you lay the bar on the anvil to let it dry it.

Next we get the the heart of the title. Your forge won't like the snow. If you are running a basic coal forge, once it is lit it will keep the snow off the top of your banked fire without a problem. Unless the snow off your garage roof falls onto it, that would be bad... and you shouldn't have your forge set up that close to a building anyway! Safety first, remember! The big issue here is actually the melting water from your forge keeping itself clean of snow. This water will seek out the lowest point it can find, and that is often down in the firebowl where it will turn to steam and jet out. It could also crack a cast iron firebowl if enough water is present to suddenly change the temperature of the hot iron. If possible, keep a sheet of steel over the forge either suspended from above or on bricks to keep the snow off the top of the forge. Leave enough room above it for the heat to rise and dissipate and be careful of placing anything that could burn on top of the protective roof. A slight angle will help the steel shed water away from your forge as well, so if you can try to get it tilted and safely in place.

Another consideration to deal with is in winter the air is both heavier and colder. You are pushing this colder, heavier air into your hot forge fire. This will cause it to take just a bit longer to get to a given temperature, and if the air is wet may prevent you from being able to reach welding temps. The nice thing is the heavier air is easier for your bellows or blower to push, so depending on your system, you may not notice a huge difference. Test it with non critical projects however, just in case it comes to heat faster than you expect. Loosing a chunk of 3/8" round stock is much less frustrating than burning a five thousand layer Damascus billet.

If you are using a gas forge, there are some other special considerations. The refractory that most gas forges are cast from is much more sensitive to being wet than cast iron, so you should make every effort to prevent snow from touching the liner of the forge. Moisture can crack or spall the liner easily, depending on the type and condition of your liner. Atmospheric forges may also have problems with the colder, wetter air, and your propane tank will freeze much sooner than it does in summer. If possible, place a clamp light or other lightbulb near your tank to help keep it warm and your gas flowing. Never put your gas tank on a burner, cajun cooker or hotplate, or put a space heater directly on or aimed at your tank! All of these can end in serious trouble. If you can, a thermal bath will help to keep your tank from freezing. We use a large tub filled with heavily salted water to absorb the cold from the tank, but this bath must be kept from freezing. The expanding ice can damage a tank and make it leak. When I was working outside all the time, the thermal bath got hauled back into the mud room of the house when I wasn't working to keep it from freezing (which isn't going to be popular with a spouse, by the way). A better system may be to build a large insulated wooden box with a couple 40 watt light bulbs inside it, not touching the tank, to keep your gas from freezing quickly. Be very careful here! You will want some vent holes around the bottom, just in case you do have a slow leak in your regulator along with a door on the side facing away from you that opens easily. Keep your fire extinguisher close at hand, even with snow on hand!

Oh and of course, this is information for educational use only, you are on your own and take all responsibility if you choose to use any or all of this information. Study up on everything, ask your local propane dealer if they see any problems with your idea before hand and follow their advice.

That about covers snow and fire for now, be safe, stay warm and keep swinging that hammer.