Subject: Re: Vise spring

From: [email-masked] (Katana ---/-----------)
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 02:53:33 GMT

>It's not too bad of you.  but I hope mobody starts sending poetry about 
>vises.  I hate if it I hear or see visa versus.   :o)))))) 
> 
>Rusty 
> 
I was just reading you article on Solar Furnaces. I was trying to decide on
wether to go out to the shop and hit my hand several times with my 3 1/2
lb. hammer or read your article. Since I'm English I like pain (They're the
only country I ever heard of that had to pas a law against masochism).
Seriously, though - a man with your credentials and experience shouldn't be
corrected in a silly spelling mistake by a young whipper snapper like me
(I'm 48). I'm an Electronics & Process Engineer, but am now smithing full
time (not really by choice).  
   I wrote back to our heliostat man about using gold desposited mirrors
(like used for CO2 lasers) as in the infrared they get upwards of 'bout 90%
reflectivity. He wrote back that they just use more mirrors 'cause they're
cheaper. That's not because of the gold - it's only a few molecules thick,
costwise about 50 cents a mirror. They cost more (only about 20% more)
because the market is not yet there for them, and if he keeps up it never
will be. I think for something like it to be used it has to be smaller and
more efficient or it would never be used. 
-- 
               Bill Wyant 
   Bladesmith / Art Blacksmith 
Avalon Ironworks, Ft. Wayne, IN 
    [email-masked] 
Ignornace can be cured. Cranial Rectomitis is Forever

---

From: Tom Vincent <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 23:37:20 -0500 (CDT)

We started playing with the notion of a solar furnace partly to placate 
the neighbors (someting about that thick yellow smoke on a stiil 
morning), but mostly because I wander in and out of developing countries. 
Of late in the international development field there have benn those who 
have noticed that war generates a lot of scrap metal, and that 
blacksmithing would be a handy skill to reintroduce into many areas as a 
way to foster economic development and self sufficiency. Unfortunately, 
in any of these same countries appropriate fuels are either not 
available, way too expensive, or hard to keep in steady suply. Has anyone 
seen the pictures of Bosnia where whole areas have been deforested trying 
to keep warm and cook food? Even though this thread has not been too 
hopeful, for many people the discussion is not theoretical, it could help 
turn lives around. Keep up the good work.