Subject: weather extremes, hammer precautions

From: [email-masked] (Roger Olsen)
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 08:33:31 -0800

i too live in an area where weather is a factor, in eastern washington
about 20 miles from the canadian boarder. our temperatures routinely break
100 in the summer and into the 20 or 30 below range in the winter.
unfortunatly my shop is not insulated, but have helped myself in summer
heat by planting hops on the south and west side of my shop, they are to
the roof by mid june and really help keep the summer sun from turning it
into a bake box. although i must admit even with doors open on both ends my
work day changes when the temps get above 85 or so, then it is work early &
work late, with mid day spent at the river or any cool place i can find.
winter even in 25 below is actually easier to deal with but does take some
effort. i will light the propane forge first thing and put in it a hunk of
3/4 by 4 about 15 inches long, then i will position a heat lamp along the
shaft between the journals of my little giant, and put a heat magnet (the
kind they sell in automotive shops to put on your block or oil pan) on the
spring of my little giant, (we've all heard horror stories about broken
springs, and turning on a hammer in below zero weather is asking the spring
to break), then i walk the 50 yards or so back to the house for another cup
of mud. after about 20 minutes it's bearable, i take my piece of 3/4 out of
the forge which has soaked up a good orange heat by now and just lay it on
the face of my anvil, my slack tub lives pretty much all winter with a
piece of 5/8 by 4 about 2 feet long resting in it with another heat magnet
stuck to in just above the water line, although the ice may get inches
thick there is always a nice thawed area around my hunk of iron. i will now
prepare to work and in time the forge has made the shop area cozy, at times
like that i will look down valley at the falling snow while standing within
the warm reaches of my forge ane realize there quite often is no place i'd
rather be.

i guess i got to rambling a bit here. but the one purpose of my posting
this was really to warn those with power hammers in cold climates to take
precautions, warming your hammer before using is the old ounce of
prevention thing. cold steel will break and flying steel will hurt, not to
mention the cost of repairs to equipment and body. a cracked frame is the
most costly and devastating hammer injury, so i also keep two heat magnets
placed where they make the most sense over night on my hammer.

all for now, roger