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Re: Reasons To Be Grumpy thread

Started by jumbojak, October 27, 2012, 09:21:31 PM

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Velma

Life is but a momentary glimpse of the wonder of the astonishing universe, and it is sad to see so many dreaming it away on spiritual fantasy.~Carl Sagan

Guardian85

Quote from: Velma on December 10, 2015, 05:34:51 PM
Maybe I should go out this weekend and look for some decorations for the wheelchair. It could be fun!
And rockets! Nothing says fun like rockets. Propulsion or armaments, doesn't matter.  8)

And yes. Pictures, please.


"If scientist means 'not the dumbest motherfucker in the room,' I guess I'm a scientist, then."
-Unknown Smartass-

Tom62

The last three days I've been packing one carton after the other. Amazing how much stuff women need. Worst of all, my wife loves scrapbooking and card making. Her whole appartment is full of stamps, dies, colours, cutters, paper and other crafting material. Since her appartmetn doesn't have an elevator, I can carry all the heavy cartons three floors down.
The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.
Robert A. Heinlein

Tank

Quote from: Tom62 on December 13, 2015, 01:48:06 PM
The last three days I've been packing one carton after the other. Amazing how much stuff women need. Worst of all, my wife loves scrapbooking and card making. Her whole appartment is full of stamps, dies, colours, cutters, paper and other crafting material. Since her appartmetn doesn't have an elevator, I can carry all the heavy cartons three floors down.
Down is bad.
Up is worse!
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Firebird

So I'm going to see Bruce Springsteen in February. First time ever, and though I'm a little young for when he was at his peak, I've always loved his music. I'm grumpy because I'm going by myself.  In the past few years I've had to go to more and more shows on my own because too many friends are either having kids and hardly ever make it out or just don't share the same musical interests as me (this is one is a combination of the two). My wife goes to some shows with me, but she's not into rock or jam band stuff, which is fine. But no one was willing to come out to see Soundgarden with me, or Dream Theater or Buddy Guy or Joe Satriani. Getting a little tired of this, and feeling a bit lame too.
"Great, replace one book about an abusive, needy asshole with another." - Will (moderator) on replacing hotel Bibles with "Fifty Shades of Grey"

OldGit

Tom, I deeply sympathise about carring loads of stuff out.  I've had a lot of that myself lately. :(

Guardian85

Quote from: OldGit on December 14, 2015, 09:30:47 AM
Tom, I deeply sympathise about carring loads of stuff out.  I've had a lot of that myself lately. :(
I second this sentiment. Moving is quite a bother.


"If scientist means 'not the dumbest motherfucker in the room,' I guess I'm a scientist, then."
-Unknown Smartass-

Tom62

Quote from: Guardian85 on December 14, 2015, 11:37:59 AM
Quote from: OldGit on December 14, 2015, 09:30:47 AM
Tom, I deeply sympathise about carring loads of stuff out.  I've had a lot of that myself lately. :(
I second this sentiment. Moving is quite a bother.

Thank you guys. Hopefully it will be the last one. But, I somehow doubt that it will be the case. My wife is rather restless, so I assume that we'll move again before we both retire.
The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.
Robert A. Heinlein

Essie Mae

Quote from: Firebird on December 14, 2015, 03:31:15 AM
So I'm going to see Bruce Springsteen in February. First time ever, and though I'm a little young for when he was at his peak, I've always loved his music. I'm grumpy because I'm going by myself.  In the past few years I've had to go to more and more shows on my own because too many friends are either having kids and hardly ever make it out or just don't share the same musical interests as me (this is one is a combination of the two). My wife goes to some shows with me, but she's not into rock or jam band stuff, which is fine. But no one was willing to come out to see Soundgarden with me, or Dream Theater or Buddy Guy or Joe Satriani. Getting a little tired of this, and feeling a bit lame too.

It's a pain isn't it Firebird? Things will probably improve again as your friends' childcaring responsibilities  start to diminish. I am lucky enough to have a friend who enjoys the theatre as much as I do. I was very happy though that my husband came to see 'Bridge of Spies' with me. I thought it would be too slow for him, but he enjoyed it. We both rate Tom Hanks very highly. I have a friend who goes to Indie (don't know what that sounds like), concerts on her own, but she always seems to meet people there. Anyway, enjoy. :jumps:
Hell is empty and all the devils are here. Wm Shakespeare


jumbojak

Quote from: Firebird on December 14, 2015, 03:31:15 AM
So I'm going to see Bruce Springsteen in February. First time ever, and though I'm a little young for when he was at his peak, I've always loved his music. I'm grumpy because I'm going by myself.  In the past few years I've had to go to more and more shows on my own because too many friends are either having kids and hardly ever make it out or just don't share the same musical interests as me (this is one is a combination of the two). My wife goes to some shows with me, but she's not into rock or jam band stuff, which is fine. But no one was willing to come out to see Soundgarden with me, or Dream Theater or Buddy Guy or Joe Satriani. Getting a little tired of this, and feeling a bit lame too.

Too bad you're so far north. I'd love to have seen Soundgarden. Springsteen too.

"Amazing what chimney sweeping can teach us, no? Keep your fire hot and
your flue clean."  - Ecurb Noselrub

"I'd be incensed by your impudence were I not so impressed by your memory." - Siz

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Tom62 on December 14, 2015, 12:25:42 PM
Quote from: Guardian85 on December 14, 2015, 11:37:59 AM
Quote from: OldGit on December 14, 2015, 09:30:47 AM
Tom, I deeply sympathise about carring loads of stuff out.  I've had a lot of that myself lately. :(
I second this sentiment. Moving is quite a bother.

Thank you guys. Hopefully it will be the last one. But, I somehow doubt that it will be the case. My wife is rather restless, so I assume that we'll move again before we both retire.

I think moving is great! It's exciting. Of course it's much easier when you get a moving company to do all that arduous work for you.  :badger: 

I love the smell of new cartons filled with old stuff!
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


OldGit

Quote from: FernandaI think moving is great! It's exciting. Of course it's much easier when you get a moving company to do all that arduous work for you.

OK, but it's the endless niggling about silly legal details that drives you mad in the UK.  My buyer's lawyer has spent four weeks asking for guarantee certificates for some new windows, though we told him at the start that we can't find them.  And so on.

jumbojak

Went out today and lit the forge. The weather was nearly perfect; nicely overcast if a bit warm. I got everything hot, cleaned up, and ready to go. Then the piece of leaf spring I was working on started to crack. So, back into the fire it went, followed by the ash bucket to anneal again. Moved onto a file I planned to use for a few chisels... and the rain started. One of those annoying, light rains that's just enough to stop you from doing what you were doing.  >:(

"Amazing what chimney sweeping can teach us, no? Keep your fire hot and
your flue clean."  - Ecurb Noselrub

"I'd be incensed by your impudence were I not so impressed by your memory." - Siz

Icarus

JJ are you familiar with the cutting tool called; Slick?  It is a giant chisel, 3 to 4 inches wide, with a long handle, usually made from a truck leaf spring. It is a deliberately heavy tool revered by old time boat builders. It is capable of taking a paper thin shave, rabbeting, or removing a heavy chunk. The weight gives it sufficient control to do delicate wood work. 

I have the leaf spring, all milled, to shape, drilled and tapped for the handle, but have not gotten around to heat treating and annealing yet. Alas I have no forge, only the gas fired burners that make me less than confident. I do have Temple strips to reveal the temperatures, It is said that the correct heat treat temp can be ascertained with the use of a magnet. The magnet is not attracted to the metal when the temp is elevated to the quenching temp..  Is this something that you know about? I am trying to do this right, but I am suspicious of the gas fired flame and its affect on the hot metal part. 

jumbojak

Heat treating generally involves heating the piece to a non-magnetic temperature - you are converting the perlite structure to austenite - and then rapidly cooling the piece to convert the austenite to martensite. Tempering produces tempered martensite, which relieves stress and is an operation that can safely be performed in a standard oven. I say generally because some steels are VERY finicky about treatment procedures. Stainless steels are a prime example of this, requiring precise heating and accurate soaks above the curie point to avoid decarburizing or excessive scaling.

Annealing softens the steel, converting whatever martensitic structure may be present back into perlite by allowing the steel to cool slowly enough to allow a full phase change to take place. You probably won't need to perform that particular operation but I might recommend thermally cycling to refine the grain structure and remove any stresses that may be present. If the spring was straightened cold it is highly likely that stress in the structure is present which would likely manifest itself in warpage as the piece is quenched. Cycling is done by normalizing - heating and air cooling the piece - and three cycles are usually recommended by knife makers. A chisel isn't that far removed from a knife in the end.

As to lacking a forge, they are quite simple to build. You will probably have some trouble getting the piece heated sufficiently with only a propane burner, though an oxy-propane torch would work nicely. A simple gas forge can be built using soft insulating firebricks, but be warned that they don't stand up well to thermal shock. Cracking is inevitable, eventually at least.

With a bit of Kaowool you could make a very nice gas forge. Almost any nongalvanized steel container holds the wool and it's just a matter of tuning the burners. There is a design called The Frosty T-Burner, developed by an Alaskan smith named Jerry Frost which comes highly recommended. Anyone I've seen build a T-Burner that didn't work didn't follow his directions. Never actually built one myself though, I'm an anthracite kinda guy.

A solid fuel forge can be as simple as a hole in the ground with an air source. Dig a hole, buy a bag of charcoal (lump works best, but briquettes will do in a pinch) and play around with getting the temperature right using a hairdryer. Adding more fuel doesn't make a fire hot. Adding more air, within reason, does. A wooden box packed with clay or cob works as well, if you don't want to work stooped over. If you go with charcoal though, make sure your airflow is from the SIDE, not the bottom. Side blasts work much more smoothly with charcoal.

One more suggestion. Before you attempt to heat treat your finished slick, test a small piece of the same material. That spring may be water hardening, but if it's oil hardening it's likely to crack if cooled too rapidly. Use oil heated to 150F first and see if a file bites into the material after it has cooled. If not, try again with water. You may even need to use brine. And when you treat your finished slick, make sure the final bevel isn't ground all the way to the tip. Otherwise you'll probably burn the tip off in the fire and waste all of your work.

So yeah, I think I covered everything... THATLAZYMACHINIST on YouTube has an excellent video on heat treating if you're interested. Steve Sells also has a few good articles over at iforgeiron.com. It's not a terribly difficult process, but you can trip yourself up easily.

"Amazing what chimney sweeping can teach us, no? Keep your fire hot and
your flue clean."  - Ecurb Noselrub

"I'd be incensed by your impudence were I not so impressed by your memory." - Siz