The Hidden Bummer Factor

Dave Barry wrote a humor column for The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005 and also several humorous books. From one of his stories about doing a plumbing repair I picked up the phrase “the hidden bummer factor.” Unfortunately I have found it useful on quite a few occasions.

The hidden bummer factor, HBF, is an extension of Murphy's law typically presented as "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong". After it has gone wrong we discover the reason it went wrong was the hidden bummer factor.

The HBF can appear in almost any form, mechanical failure, unfavorable weather, another contractor falling behind schedule, backorder delay, illness, schedule priority conflict, etc. I’m not sure what the best formula is for including the HBF in planning a project but some time and expense must be allowed to cover it.

In my experience, the mechanical type HBF crops up most regularly when doing installation work, especially if it is out of town and and in a location far from any commercial district where corrective equipment or supplies could be purchased.

Often the HBF initiates the purchase of new or the replacement of old equipment. This year I replaced an extension ladder and a hammer drill and added a portable generator. This adds value to the capital assests ledger but certainly doesn’t help the bottom line.

Obcessive contingency planning will to some degree corral the range of the HBF and seems to be the best strategy. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty and also profitability.

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Forge Welding

I had been experimenting with blacksmithing for about two years before I ever went to a meeting and saw a smith do a forge weld but I had read about it and tried to do it without success. In the fall of 1999 my shop building was finally completed so I had the setup to start working seriously but still no luck.

I joined the GPBA group, now CSMA, http://gpba.abana-chapter.com/, and went to a meeting at Matt Will's shop in Conway Springs in November, 1999. I saw a lot of interesting things, met some nice fellows and generally had a great day but what stuck in my mind was the forge welding demonstrations. Enough time has passed that my mind has probably edited the actual events a lot but this is my current version of the story.

I'm sorry that I can't recall the identity of each of the three demonstrators. The first one went through what I think if of as the standard teaching - form the scarfs, heat to orange, brush away the fire scale and flux, heat evenly to welding heat, quickly get to the anvil and mate the scarfs, tap lightly to tack the weld and extend the weld area with gradually increasing force blows, reflux, take another welding heat and complete and shape the weld. It made a nice weld.

The next demonstrator did essentially the same thing but proved it wasn't necessary to use flux. Again a nice weld.

The third demonstrator showed that he didn't need flux or scarfing to make a nice weld.

I started thinking that I should be able to do this and tried it every time I had a chance to work. I didn't have much time to forge in those days, still having a very time consuming job. I started each forge session by attempting a forge weld as the warm up exercise. I tried to carefully think about each step. Still no luck but as time passed I think I stopped thinking so much and just relaxed and watched what was happening and suddenly I could weld.

The type of work I was doing didn't really require any forge welding but I did want to get better at doing it. Bob Patrick, in April, 2000 came to Kansas and did a forge welding workshop which I attended. Unfortunately, I had injured my right shoulder rotator cuff the week before and had a difficult and painful couple of days but it was worth it.

I still don't do much forge welding in my work but I do a lot of welding with a MIG tack followed by torch heating and completing the weld with hammer on anvil. Mostly this is small stock 1/8" to 3/8" round or similar. I don't use flux.

A few years ago my friend, Clell, visited and had no blacksmithing experience at the time and still just forges a few times a year. I told him I would teach him to forge weld. It was literally the first forging he had ever done. I guided him through each step and on his first try he made a weld. Now, when we're together and the subject of blacksmithing comes up, we manage to work around to where it fits for Clell to say that most of his work has been forge welding.

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Quench Tub Sieve

My main quench tub is a steel tank of about 40-gallon capacity which I hauled home from the scrap yard. I rarely actually quench anything as in the sense of rapidly cooling steel through the eutectoid point to harden it. I mostly use the water to cool steel that is still a bit too hot to pick up bare handed.

Too often a tong-held work piece would slip free and settle to the murky bottom where I’d have to retrieve it with a shoulder-depth plunge and finger search. I finally tired of that so I equipped all my quench tubs with handled sieves which can be easily lifted. The big one is in the forge room and there are three other smaller ones at other work stations.

In each case I used a ring roller to make a ring of strip stock such as 1/8” x 1” that loosely fitted the inside diameter of each quench tub. I then welded on a piece of expanded metal and cut around the outside of the band with the torch to remove the excess. A cross bar was welded for added strength and to provide a place to attach a vertical handle near the center.

I once stuck a sharp pointed bar into one of the tubs and poked a hole in the bottom which caused a leak and required repair. At the time I thought about cutting pieces of stall mat or some similar tough material to line the bottoms to protect them but so far haven’t gotten around to doing that.

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Nol's Mushroom

A few years ago I purchased a 3.2 pound Swedish pattern forging hammer from a conference vendor. At home I tried using it and was disappointed and soon quit using it altogether. Then a year or so later in August, 2004, I was at the Rocky Mountain Smiths conference and watched Nol Putnam use a similar hammer very effectively. At a break I looked closely at his hammer and noticed that the cross peen was somewhat mushroomed which softened the sharp radius a lot. I asked him about it and found he had intentionally made the modification and liked it.

At the time I couldn't quite remember what I found dissatisfying about the hammer but decided to check it out. Back home I tried the hammer again and the face seemed to work fine but the cross peen was so sharp it was too severe to use in the manner I usually needed. So, I decided to modify it and try again.

I heated the cross peen with the torch a few times and struck the anvil until I felt it looked about like Nol's. I'm just guessing, but I think, the radius changed from .25" to 1.5".

That seemed to make all the difference in the world in the usefulness of the cross peen and today it is my most used forging hammer. Subsequently, I purchased two of the 2.2 pounders and modified them in the same manner.

I'm a believer in keeping the hammer and anvil faces smoothly dressed and have a linear bench workstation set up for touching up the hammers and other tools - bench grinder; belt sander; Scotch-Brite silicon carbide deburring wheel; hard felt wheel with polishing compound. A 120-grit flap wheel on an angle grinder works well on the anvil face.

I have made hammers and have helped students make their hammers, but now it seems to be nice exercise in craftsmanship but not a cost efficient practice for me and I might never make another. On the one hand, my hammer assortment is considerable and, on the other hand, those who specialize in tool making can make a nice hammer for $35-$40 and I can't, if my time is worth anything. Business is business, time is money and all that.

At this address http://www.anvilmag.com/smith/blcasabs.htm you can find "Blacksmithing as a Business" by Nol Putnam. It was published in ANVIL Magazine, January, 1996.

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Good Help

A long time ago someone told me. "If you're looking for a helping hand you'll find one at the end of your arm." Certainly, self sufficiency is a trait we're all expected to develop, but when the job exceeds my ability I still have to ask for help.

As soon as I acquired a forge, anvil and a few tools I started getting requests to do old time demonstrations for various historical celebrations. A friend and organic chemistry professor, Ken, stepped up and offered to help me and ever since he has been available when needed. He's developed good blacksmithing skills and comes many days for two or three hours.

My wife, Betty, has helped in the studio from time to time, too, but mostly she takes care of correspondence, billing, packing, shipping and other management aspects of the business.

As a result of layoffs, so prevalent in the economic downturn, I acquired the help of Hector, a certified welder with many years of experience and also young and strong. For a few years he could come most week days for several hours and build equipment which allowed me to take on some larger jobs. It a big loss for me when he returned to live in California again last winter.

On some weekends and nights my friend, Scott, comes to work in the studio and has also helped with some demonstrations. He is in the young and strong category, too, and has a penchant for organizing and cleaning. His grandfather was a blacksmith and he is learning the skills to carry on the tradition.

Recently I was visiting with friends at a local engineering company and was asked about how I got a ton of coal out of my pickup and into the coal bin. I said I used the amazing Scott Miller machine, they are well acquainted with him and the comment got a good laugh.

It's true, I've benefitted a lot from good help and I hope it continues. In addition to the obvious assistance with the work the socializing and conversation is really enjoyable.

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Now, you boys be careful

The last time I went to the welding shop I was warned there will be an acetylene shortage for an indefinite time due to a recent fire destroying the only producer of calcium carbide in the US. This started me thinking about some childhood adventures and how much the world has changed.

I don't recall how I was introduced to "carbide" but it was readily available and inexpensive. I suppose I was about twelve years old and that was old enough to go to the hardware store and make a cash buy of a quart tin of it and a few feet of dynamite fuse. Blasting powder was also avaliable. The clerk would dutifully caution, "Now you boys be careful with that."

The clearest recollection I have of using the carbide was blowing up mole runs. We would insert some dynamite fuse into a run then open up the run several feet away and put in some carbide and water and cover up the hole. After a minute or so we would light the fuse and soon the explosion would rip the top off the tunnel.

This rather pointless activity eventually focused our explosive interests toward making model rockets and rocket fuel. From 1959 to 1961 we made and launched a series of experimental rockets and recovered all but one. I still have all the photos and drawings and other records from those projects which provided many hours of fun and education.

Today we have become so risk averse that most of those experiences couldn't be repeated. Some of them would surely land us on a terror watch list. I'm glad I was a kid at the time I was and got to deal with dangerous things rather freely and develop a sense of risk that was based on experience. I suppose I should also be thankful too that my luck was a good as it was.

Doing blacksmithing means I still live with danger. I believe my senses of risk and responsibility are pretty well developed now but it pays to keep hearing the the back of my mind that clerk saying, "Now you boys be careful with that."

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The Pickling Bucket

Almost all of the hardware I purchase, lag screws, nuts, bolts, machine screws and such are galvanized. That's fine for general use around the shop but if I want to weld it or create a special black, rust or bronze surface finish the galvanizing must be removed. I have always called this "pickling" but that might technically just apply to removing oxidation and this process should be called degalvanizing.

For several years I have been using a simple outdoor setup to do it. On the north porch just outside the forge room door I have a 5 gallon plastic bucket about half filled with muriatic (hydrochloric acid). When not in use I keep it covered with an upside-down rubber 3 gallon feed pan. A sieve device makes it easy to remove and rinse the cleaned pieces.

The sieve is a plastic container with about two gallon volume which originally, I think, contained kitty litter and easily fits inside the five gallon bucket. I cut away part of the top below the handle, tied a rope loop around the handle for hanging and then drilled about twenty 3/8" holes in the bottom.

It works like this. I put the galvanized pieces in the sieve and lower it into the acid. There is a screw in the wall on which the rope loop can hang so it doesn't fall down into the acid while the pickling process is taking place. Initially there is a vigorous boiling type action as the acid dissolves the zinc. After a few minutes this stops and the sieve can be lifted and drained. I run water from a hose into the sieve to rinse away the acid, dump out the hardware and let it dry on a newspaper. The sieve hangs on another higher wall screw and the lid is place over the
bucket to keep out rain and debris.

As the hardware dries a thin rust film forms - oxide - which usually seems to complete the passivation process. There have been a few occasions where I actually rinsed a more complex workpiece in a dilute baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) solution to assure the acid action was fully ended.

I have used the same acid for at least three years and it still seems to have the original potency but has changed from a clear yellow color to a deep rust color. A few times I have been distracted and forgotten to remove the hardware until the next day and the steel has survived well.

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Coal Bin Design

Yesterday I drove my pickup to the coal mine and returned with a ton of stoker coal. My assistant scooped it into the coal bin on the north porch and we're set for several months. I'm hoping it will last six months so I'll be on a convenient April and October refill schedule.

When I switched from buying bagged coal to buying loose coal it required the construction of a new coal storage space. I measured my pickup bed dimensions and calculated it would easily accommodate 45 cubic feet of coal. I looked up the density of coal and picked an average figure of about 50 pounds/cubic foot. So that figures out to be 2250 pounds - a bit over a ton.

I chose the location for the bin on the porch just outside the door to the forge room and checked to see how the pickup would line up for unloading.

I did some calculations to see what dimensions would best fit the porch space and hold at least one ton. The final decision was to make it 8' long, 4' wide and 2' deep just for ease of construction (64 cubic feet). I designed an angle iron base frame to raise the bin up 16" so I could continue to use the space underneath and also be able to place a 5 gallon bucket under the chute opening for easy gravity fill.

I cut the pieces of 5/8" treated plywood and screwed the wood together with drywall screws. Then I cut and welded the simple base frame. Finally, I forged and fabricated four strap hinges for the lid. There are undoubtably more clever and artistic ways to accomplish this but I am quite satisfied with the utility as constructed. It's easy to load, easy to empty 5 gallons at a time and only 15 feet from the forge. I made a couple of special rakes so as the bin is worked toward empty I can reach in and pull more coal toward the chute door.

I looked it up and found the angle of repose for my size coal to be about 40º but once armed with that number I still couldn't figure out any way to use it. Sometimes I just need to know what time it is, not how to build a clock.

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Using the Hydraulic Forging Press

As each successive year nibbles away at my strength and endurance I am alert for opportunities to make work easier. One side of the equation involves accepting less strenuous work and the other side involves using more powerful tools.

While I attended the BAM conference last May in Sedalia, Missouri, Don Nichols invited me to his stop to see him operate the hydraulic forging press he constructed. I had considered making one for some time and his demonstration convinced me this was the right time.

I don't have formal engineering training and had never used hydraulic equipment other than a Bobcat skid loader so I started with a lot of reading. I downloaded several articles from the internet and I consulted friends at the farm and ranch store about components. The whole project stretched over a couple of months with the planning phase about six weeks and the building phase about two weeks.

The first major decision was frame style. I chose to make an "H" frame design rather than Don's "C" frame style. Now I see how I could have made a hybrid version where one limb of the "H" could be removable when more clearance was needed. It could be bolted to close the "H" again when working smaller stock.

The second decision was to place the hydraulic actuator cylinder below the ram rather that above. This has the advantage of lowering the overall height and weight of the machine but I was somewhat concerned that it might feel awkward like working backwards when forging. In practice it doesn't seem noticeable to me.

The series of subsequent mechanical decisions progressed with each selection somewhat forcing the next. The force required and ram speed required influences the cylinder size and pump size. Operation cycle influences reservoir design for cooling the hydraulic fluid.

Other decisions involved safety. Keep the center of gravity low. Minimize possibility of damaging the hoses. Keep fire scale away from the components. Provide both hand and foot control. For smooth operation I made the ram glide on greased 1/4" x 4" brass plates.

I'd say I'm still very much climbing the learning curve in testing and discovering it's potential and limitations. The first thing I would emphasize is, like most other aspects of blacksmithing and metalworking in general, there is inherent danger. This is a very powerful machine. I am happy with the closing and opening speed and my ability to control the pressing operation precisely. I suspect that happy result may be largely the result of good luck.

I have used the machine mostly for die making and pressing hot blanks into dies. The operation appears mechanically pretty safe as long as the work pieces are at a high forging heat but the die quickly sucks that heat away and the end of the ram travel will stop when the workpiece temperature falls below forging heat so the ram direction should be reversed before that point.

Cold bending/straightening is done easily but, again, this is cold work and I do it very cautiously. Cutting stock to length cold has worked well but I have been conservative in what I will attempt. I don't plan to do this with stock more hefty than 1/4" x 1". In my experimenting I quickly learned that to sever stock the "scissor" edges should not be very sharp and should be designed so that the stock doesn't completely separate but a 1/32" bridge remains so it can be snapped off by hand rather than severing and shooting off somewhere.

I will not use the press for cutting or veining with handled tools. A single test with a squat S-7 treadle hammer chisel bent the blade as the tool was pressed through the work piece and the cutting saddle before I could stop it. There now. That's enough for me.

This was also a good illustration of the tradeoff between ram speed fast enough to avoid loss of forging heat and slow enough for fine control.

I built an "H" frame type but after some experience I can see there are times when the "C" frame design would be useful but, overall for the work I do, the "H" is probably the more useful.

With practice I am able to decide which of my custom dies will work best with a power hammer and which with the HFP (hydraulic forging press).

There are lots of possibilities for making the top and bottom dies. I had two Little Giant flat dies so that is what I used. I fabricated sleeves which fit over them and have set screws to lock them in place. They have faces which are essentially disposable and protect the nice die faces. I have found this essential with cold work but advisable most of the time.

Probably my machine is overbuilt for what I need and I can see how I would change the design for "the next one" but that just won't happen any time soon. This dog will hunt and that's good enough.

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