Thread: Cold weather forging

,,,,,,,,,,,,at least my post had some humor in it,,

dat ain't right Cangooner,,,,

Originally Posted by Cangooner

I hope you made a nice profit on that! Peter Wrights are fine hunks of steel. (full disclosure, the anvil that is currently freezing its arse off in my garage is a Peter Wright so I may be a bit biased)

My understanding of this - and I certainly stand to be corrected - is that the body was cast in one or two pieces, and then a hardened face plate welded on. I know that's one method of manufacture, but I'm not 100% sure that's the process PW used.

Those are excellent anvils. And from what I understand, if it was cast like that, it doesn't ring as much.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Yes, depending on your definition of cold.
If it's freezing -25 celsius, steel becomes fairly brittle.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

The question is .......... are you a fair weather forger ? How is the weather ? Inquiring minds and all that ............

Yep, at -25C, you bet your tail I am a fair weather forger. I don't use gloves with my hammer hand...doesn't feel right. Where I am from, -25C is the end of the world. I'm not sure, but I don't think we have seen -25F in a LONG time.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Yep, at -25C, you bet your tail I am a fair weather forger. I don't use gloves with my hammer hand...doesn't feel right. Where I am from, -25C is the end of the world. I'm not sure, but I don't think we have seen -25F in a LONG time.

Bah - if you're out of the wind, -25 is a doddle.

I'm thinking of picking up either a battery blanket or a magnetic oil pan heater to use on my anvil to take the edge off the cold on days when I feel like braving the chill.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Yep, at -25C, you bet your tail I am a fair weather forger. I don't use gloves with my hammer hand...doesn't feel right. Where I am from, -25C is the end of the world. I'm not sure, but I don't think we have seen -25F in a LONG time.

I don't mind cold. When you're swinging a hammer you get real warm real quick. The worst imo is light drizzle rain combined with a lot of wind. You get wet and cold. It doesn't freeze that often here.

Oh, and I don't know it you have forge welded yet, but when you do, you might want to give it a try WITH gloves on both hands, preferably leather, before deciding not to wear glove. Consider a stack of plates, molten flux in between at 800+ degrees Celsius, and a hammer coming down on top of that.

I have a roof over my head and a wall on the north and south side of me, so drizzle or wind doesn't bother me much. I just can't stand my fingers getting cold on my right hand. I cut my middle and ring finger tip off at the first joint at 18 yrs old. They saved them, but the circulation isn't the greatest and hurts like the dickens when cold...so no cold forging for me. You are right about warming up quick, not hard to break a light sweat at freezing & boy does it feel good. That cooldown is the booger...

Leather gloves are okay up to the point where they start to get warm inside from the heat of the fire or hot steel. By the time you, the smith, realize they are getting a little too warm, you plunge them into the quench tank in reflex. You instinctively think, "It's water, it cools things, this should work..."

But as it took time for the heat to penetrate (and it continues to build inside the leather, e.g. heat bloom and lag time), it takes time for the cool to penetrate too. You could have a burn despite trying to cool things down. This is known as a work interruption.

Over time, the heat distorts the leather, it can hold on to your hand a little better (Oooo, these are comfortable gloves...they fit my hand...) and be a lot harder to shake off your hand when the heat just won't stop and you need to get rid of them to avoid the above mentioned work interruption, ah but it's already too late isn't it?

I'm going to suggest either a kevlar type soft flexible weave glove or cotton for forging. They are cheaper and work quite well, all the while giving a better sense of grip. No you can't shake them off, but your sense of real-time temperatures is faster and you'll work smarter. If you get into trouble (heat lag) they cool much faster when plunged into water. Sure you might work wet, but you'll get used to that a lot easier than having to take a few weeks off while burns heal.

DO NOT purchase these gloves with any kind of plastic/nylon/nitrile coating or the little pebble thingees for texture. That stuff will simply melt into a form fitting skin burning cast.

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The idea here is that water will penetrate and stop the heat if you need it and you don't suffer the leather distortion in a more expensive glove.

If you're a sensitive kind of guy smith, these are available and will keep your arms from having a lot of speckled burn scars. Mechanix MHS-05-500 Heat Sleeves | FullSource.com

But you'll have to live with folks like me not believing you're a real smith. LOL

Oh, remember to cool off your tools every now and again.

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

If you're a sensitive kind of guy smith, these are available and will keep your arms from having a lot of speckled burn scars. Mechanix MHS-05-500 Heat Sleeves | FullSource.com

But you'll have to live with folks like me not believing you're a real smith. LOL

I generally only care about my hands and my eyes. The rest can stand a bit of wear and tear.