Blacksmithing; Part Hobby/Part Job

[ColdHouse]

About 10 years ago we went on a trip and stopped in South Dakota. There was this black smith hobby guy on the street corner handing out items. It was very entertaining. We spent more than an hour chatting with the guy and walked away with a couple specialty horseshoes and a modified railroad spike.

[Hoytman]

When I was a kid Albert and his wife Annie would come to our house weekly. When Annie died we invited Albert to keep coming. I was pre-teens at the time probably and teens when Annie passed away. These visits went on for most if my early life and became something we expected…as they seemed part if the family because we made them feel at home when they would visit. My parents would have been early 30’s or younger and it went on until their mid-40’s.

Albert would come eat dinner with us and sit and talk awhile…about old times, things he did and experienced. We didn’t mind the company and it wasn’t a burden to us at all. They would visit on Tuesday night every week. Before that there was another old gentleman that would visit with us until he too passed.

Looking back I’m sure those older folks enjoyed visiting with us and having someone to listen to what they had to say. I feel both honored and blessed that they took a shine to us and us to them. I’m sure it meant a lot to them. At my age now I look back and I’m so thankful for lending them an ear. I know that visiting my grandpa’s, after my grandma’s had passed away, sure meant a lot to them.

Don’t forget the elders around you. Invite them for dinner sometime. You might just spark a relationship that when they’re gone you wished you could have had with them for a lifetime.

[Greenleaf]

The village shop where I'm employed. We use coal, coke and wood to fire our forges. Typically bituminous fuel of high grade and pea sized. Raw wood works better than commercial charcoal for our operation and the heater is wood fired only.

[Greenleaf]

Random shots in the blacksmith shop today

[PatrickMgroyn]

Nice,im an aprentice myself at 53 years

[Greenleaf]

Nice,im an aprentice myself at 53 years

Never too late to learn

[Retro_Origin]

Is carbon monoxide much less a problem with bit coal or is just when you're outside it's not that big of a deal?

[Greenleaf]

Is carbon monoxide much less a problem with bit coal or is just when you're outside it's not that big of a deal?

Interesting! Never thought of that. Nor has anyone asked me that.
I suppose so, if you have a sealed shop(??) But the forge fire is typically vented into a chimney. Not always.......but typically.
Our shop is a large old barn ( true blacksmith shop) with large
barn doors, lots of windows etc. 35 foot ceiling with vented cupola.Not all the forges are vented to chimney. We don't have issues, even if we smoke the place. That is, nobody has died.

[warminmn]

There are clip on CO testers that can tell how much CO you are exposed too. Its not an alarm, but used to please OSHA and their crappy regulations on it. You could wear one for 4 hrs, read the amount, divide by 4 and know how much CO you were exposed too per hr. I think OSHA uses 400 parts over an 8 hr time as acceptable for workplace, which always seemed high to me. Anyway, just a thought on something you could do to check.

[Greenleaf]

There are clip on CO testers that can tell how much CO you are exposed too.

[warminmn]

Where theres smoke theres fire!

[Richard S.]

CO bonds to the hemoglobin in your blood preventing it from carrying oxygen, this is why it's so deadly and there isn't much they can do for you with high level exposures. You can be on a table in the emergency room with gallons of blood on hand and you are still dead if the exposure is high enough.

OSHA standards are 50 parts per million over 8 hour period, it's just trace amounts because what is not immediately deadly can be over time. The density is nearly identical to "air" so it can easily travel along air currents which is why it's particular issue in a house.

No idea what kind of exposure there might be from forge but might be something to investigate. Chronic low level CO exposure has been linked to health problems.

As side not this is completely different than CO2 poisoning, the thresholds are much higher given in percentages. I think it's around 12% unconsciousness is imminent and eventual death. You only need fresh air to cure it. CO2 is twice the density of air so it will pool in low lying areas, tanks for example.