2002-09-26 - 1:03 p.m.
So yesterday was a quiet day.
Not really sure how to better explain it. It was just quiet. I was quiet. But that left everyone asking me if I was ok. Folks were thinking that I was depressed, angry, sick�or something. Guess telling someone that it is just a quiet day isn�t a good enough answer. Perhaps it is because the rest of the world just doesn�t have quiet days. I dunno�
Spent some time at the forge yesterday making tools. I am now the proud owner of a good center punch, a straight chisel, and a gouge�all for hot or cold metal work! Gotta tell ya, they turned out GREAT! In fact they almost look like they were store bought. I tell ya�I love making tools. On the down side I burned the shit out of my hand. How you ask�well I was stupid. Very stupid�As I turned to place one of the chisels on the anvil I saw a spearhead that Badger was working on sitting there. So in a rush, and without thinking I grabbed a hold of it to move it. Much to my surprise I found that it was at a very pleasant black heat. Now for those of ya who don�t know what a black heat is it can be anywhere from just a few hundred degrees to around 800 degrees. I am thinking that the spearhead was around 500 to 600 degrees when I picked it up. Why do I say this? Well it not only cooked the pad on my fingers, but the damn thing stuck. Now here is the odd thing. I have found that my burns at the forge vary greatly. It depends on where I am burned, what I burned myself with, and how long I was in contact with the object. For example, When forge welding it is not unusual to get a bit of slag to land on the back of your hand. Now this shit is up around a thousand or more degrees when it comes spitting out of the weld, and when it lands on the back of your hand you have 2 choices. Stop what your doing and squeal like a cheerleader while trying to dislodge the crap from your hand, or ignore the pain and smell and finish the weld. I am in the finish the weld camp. So this means that at any given time I have these little 3rd degree burns on the backs of my hands and arms. Ok no biggie�they really don�t hurt all that much�well after the initial burn that is. Then there is the Whoops I just got that Bright red piece of steel up against me�that is going to hurt burn. Now these never seem to be all that bad. They don�t tend to blister, or throb for very long, and I am not sure why. I am sure that they are a much worse burn�hell the metal is much hotter�I just don�t get it. The burn spot just hard and crusty feeling, and in a week or to it peels real bad, and then I am good as new. That is what happened to my hand yesterday. The pads are just all hard and crusty now. Is there such a thing as a 4th degree burn? I dunno�Well as ookie as it sounds, I tell ya, I would rather burn myself anytime than cut myself.
Hmm�new topic. Now!
I am beginning to realize that there are some wonderful perks to being an adult education teacher. I get gifts. In fact I just had a student give me hockey tickets for this weekend. What a shame�no really�hehe.
Well I reckon that I ought to get back to something that looks like work. It is a quiet day here, so the sooner I get a few things done, the sooner I can go back to reading.
Today I learned that dropping a cast iron skillet on your big toe hurts like a Bitch! No it didn�t break anything, or even bruise my big toe�what it did do was tear off a big ole chunk of the nail, and now it feels like I have a tack or something stuck in my toe everytime I put weight on it�Sigh. Why couldn�t I be made out of �organic steel� or something a bit more durable?
Well you have heard plenty of gross stuff from me today�but that still doesn�t let you off the hook. What did you learn?
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