# Forum Home Renovation Metalwork & Welding  Strightening a spring

## Marc

Sometimes Edcon Steel is either too dear or not in reach ... soo ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jIpzjIlWvY

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## PlatypusGardens

:Rofl5:  
Love the team work. 
"Gather 'round ever'one, today we gon' straighten springs"

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## Bros

What's the point? Other than a number of fools with a poor knowledge of safety when using hot metal?

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## PlatypusGardens

> What's the point? Other than a number of fools with a poor knowledge of safety when using hot metal?

  
I bet you're a lot of fun at parties... 
Ok, everone put their welding masks on and stand back!
Uncle Bros is about to light a sparkler
Outside
in the yard
Next door

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## Marc

I beg to differ, that is a bunch of blacksmith get together and they have handled hot metal for half a century each. 
The point is to reuse good quality steel to forge probably  damascus steel billets for blades. 
Straightening springs to reuse is a common blacksmith practice.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS3fHkISW1w

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## Bros

> I bet you're a lot of fun at parties... 
> Ok, everone put their welding masks on and stand back!
> Uncle Bros is about to light a sparkler
> Outside
> in the yard
> Next door

  Come on cowboy you of all people would know what happens when you don't wear gloves.

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## PlatypusGardens

> Come on cowboy you of all people would know what happens when you don't wear gloves.

  Most of them were wearing denim and flanno shirts, that's enough innit?

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## Marc

And the point of wearing gloves is?
The steel is at 900C so gloves or no gloves you get burned if you touch.
So you know not to touch and use tongs. Like I said, this people have been handling red hot steel for many decades. 
I use gloves on my left hand not because of the heat but because of the hammer blow vibrations. In fact I use fingerless gloves most of the time.
Getting burnt whilst forging is only a matter of time, but it comes mostly from distraction and picking up steel that is still hot.

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## r3nov8or

> ...
> So you know not to touch and use tongues. ...

  Damn you autocorrect! "Tongs"  :Smilie:

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## PlatypusGardens

> And the point of wearing gloves is?
> .

   Gloves is always everyone's answer to everything 
I can't stand them
Too hot, dirt and stuff falls inside them, they're never the right size, they always rub
Not to mention how you lose the "feel" for what you're doing  
Sure I wear welding gloves when welding and plasma cutting, but part from that, I'd rather bleed
As for blacksmiths.....yeh...gloves or no gloves - don't touch the red steel!!!

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## Bros

> Gloves is always everyone's answer to everything 
> I can't stand them
> Too hot, dirt and stuff falls inside them, they're never the right size, they always rub
> Not to mention how you lose the "feel" for what you're doing

  Is that an echo! That was my defence at your age now I've got smarter and wear gloves regularly. 
Try and work on a large industrial site without gloves and see how long you last.

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## PlatypusGardens

> Is that an echo! That was my defence at your age now I've got smarter and wear gloves regularly. 
> Try and work on a large industrial site without gloves and see how long you last.

  I have no interest in working at a large industrial site. 
I'm glad you're smarter than me, good for you.

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## Bros

> I'm glad you're smarter than me, good for you.

  
Stick around you will catch up.

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## ringtail

Gloves or "chick mittens" have their place but it's certainly not for anything remotely dexterous. I used to get apprentices through the workshop and nearly all would whip out the shiny never before worn gloves. Gone after 5 minutes. Welding and skin melting chemicals, that is all.

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## Marc

> Damn you autocorrect! "Tongs"

  Thank you r3nov8or, yes it would be horrifying to have to use your tongue in the stretching of a spring. 
As far as safety in a blacksmith shop, yes everyone has an opinion, but the fact remains that not everyone is a blacksmith. I don't know much at all about safety in avionics, so ... I just scratch my head at best on that topic.  
Reminds me of a story of a guy who was watching a blacksmith texturing a flat bar to make a hinge with a ball peen hammer. He was holding the hammer 2/3 up the handle and giving the hot steel quick short strokes as you do in this case. The guy start yelling that if his apprentice would "choke the hammer as you do", he would fire him. Yes, everyone has an opinion. 
Blacksmithing is an old trade, developed before the time of electricity, welders and even drill bits and when steel looked more like wood than what we know today.  
 Everything is made from scratch and most of the time you are on your own. Safety is common sense and not rules or legislation. Most likely a traditional blacksmith shop would not pass muster in this times of litigation OH&S and assorted over regulations.  In a world that must sell pedestal drills with a plastic screen in front of them, how could you operate an air hammer let alone a treadle hammer legally? Watching through a blast screen and using a remote control? What about the fumes from an anthracite forge?  
i can do stuff like they did 3 or 400 years ago when they regarded blacksmiths performing some form of magic. 
And I can afford, just like those guys, to take safety at my own pace, like most trade did not too long ago. 
Without rules and regulations.

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## ringtail

Cool vid BTW. There is a good one of Alec Steele making a Damascus chisel for the Samurai Carpenter  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPfPdNPSemw

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## PlatypusGardens

> Gloves or "chick mittens" have their place but it's certainly not for anything remotely dexterous. I used to get apprentices through the workshop and nearly all would whip out the shiny never before worn gloves. Gone after 5 minutes. Welding and skin melting chemicals, that is all.

  
If I was to wear gloves as some people suggest I'd spend more time putting them on and taking them off than getting any work done...   :Rolleyes:

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## PlatypusGardens

> Stick around you will catch up.

  If by catching up you mean become a grumpy old fart and say things like...  

> What's the point? Other than a number of fools with a poor knowledge of safety when using hot metal?

  ...I think I'll pass  :Rofl5:    
Anyway, the point was that they straightened a spring while it was glowing red hot to use the metal for something else
I thought it was pretty awesome   :Smilie:

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## ringtail

> If I was to wear gloves as some people suggest I'd spend more time putting them on and taking them off than getting any work done...

  Agree. I hate them. Even when fencing I don't bother anymore. The barb wire eats any glove regardless of cost.

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## Marc

Besides using a long sleeved left welding glove for welding, I got used to have fingerless gloves all day long. Take them off when I finished. Best thing I have tried in years. You keep your dexterity and have a good dose of protection from cuts and punctures. Also good for woodwork.
Should try it. I destroyed a few pairs until I found the right ones. They are "wheelchair gloves" bought in the UK on ebay. The motorcycle ones are useless only for show.

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## phild01

> Agree. I hate them. Even when fencing I don't bother anymore.

   No gloves here

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