My Etsy store

WWW.ETSY.COM/SHOP/SELLINGMYWARES

I have taken up many different hobbies over the years. 

A few of them I have enjoyed more then others.  

I have found that Blacksmithing, Leather Working, and Artwork have been the three that I keep going to when I get inspired to create something new.

THROUGH THE CONSTANT REQUEST OF FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS I HAVE FINALLY GAINED ENOUGH CONFIDENCE TO TRY TO SELL SOME OF MY WORKS. I COULDN'T BELIEVE THE RESPONSE I GOT!

PEOPLE REALLY DO LIKE THE SILLY THINGS I CREATE!!

I HAD NO IDEA THAT I WOULD GET SUCH COMPLIMENTS AND PRAISE FROM PERFECT STRANGERS. 

THANK YOU FOR LOOKING

JUST FOR VISITING MY SHOP FROM THIS BLOG POST

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING YOU LIKE - HERE IS A COUPON CODE TO USE FOR 20% OFF.

USE CODE - 20PCNT1 

WWW.ETSY.COM/SHOP/SELLINGMYWARES

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR LOOKING AND YOUR SUPPORT!

OLOE

CRIS COLEMAN

Improperly Pitched Gutters Will Cause Problems....

The power of the rain.

When it starts raining outside an incredible amount of water beats down on the roof of your house. Your house principally does the job of protecting your house and everything in it from this rain. Most roofs are sloped in order that the water can run off and prevent heavy collections of rainwater gathering in pockets all over the roof. If this were to happen the roof can become severely damaged and eventually holes will form where the rainwater once was (it would now be underneath the hole that has formed).

The damage that rainwater can cause.

If left to it’s own devices the rain water would run down the sloped roof and subsequently continue to pour down the wall of the house passing over window frames, windows, door frames, doors and possibly onto the water proofing at the bottom of the house. Here it would collect in puddles that would take a long time to evaporate. All in all this would cause damage to the structure of your house, it can rot away wooden window and door frames and cause cracks in paving among other problems. During winter this damage does not take long to manifest itself and can cause further damage itself.

What downspouts do.

The gutter and down spouts are there to prevent this from occurring. They collect the rainwater once it has reached the end of its descent. From there the slight slope in the guttering will encourage the rain water into the down spout, subsequently carrying it down into the drain and safely away.

The effects of improperly pitched gutters.

The effect of having improperly pitched gutters can have a similar effect, and in some cases it can be even worse. Improperly pitched gutters that are pitched away from the wall with even a slight gap is the equivalent of having no gutter whatsoever and you will face similar problems. However if you have improperly pitched gutters that cause all the rain water to collect in one area, this rainwater is then likely to run down one area of the wall.

Instead of all the rainwater from one day or one week being spread over the whole wall it is now being concentrated in just one area. The power of the water can erode the brickwork and the cement work causing serious structural damage and internal damp and rot. Both of these occurrences will cost you a lot more to right than having your drainpipe fixed or even having your improperly pitched gutters completely ripped down and replaced.

The dire consequences of improperly pitched gutters.

Improperly pitched gutters can end up costing you a very large amount of money and it is important that you regularly check that everything is running smoothly. You can easily tell whether a gutter is pitched properly by watching when it rains. However, you should have it checked regularly when you have your roof checked to make sure that the water isn’t running back into the roof because this will also cause serious damage and it is difficult to tell unless you know what you are looking for.

OLOE

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So you want to be a BlackSmith?

Me, my anvil and a burner I made For My Gas Forge.

Blacksmithing is an ancient art of iron and metal craft.  The blacksmith was a very important part of the community.  He made all of the tools and hardware to sustain the way of life of the time.  He  made the farming implements, horse shoes and various other equine tack, hammers, hinges, handles, locks, latches, nails, pipe, just about everything you can think of made out of metal, he made all by hand.  Of course he was always trying to make his job easier, which led to the invention of many, many newer tools.

Tools of the Trade

When you think of a blacksmith, you immediately think about a hammer and an anvil.  These are the primary hand tools but there are many more. He used a forge (the heat source) with coal being the primary fuel source, to heat the metal to working or forge welding temperature.  In the early days he fed the forge air with bellows and later with hand crank or ratchet and paul blowers.  The more air added to the underside of the coal through the tuyere ( the hole in the center of the forge to direct the air to the fuel without letting it fall out of the forge) the hotter the fire.

My Forge

My forge before the blower. With some various tongs.

 Front of the forge.

My modern update to my forge...my arm got tired of cranking

the other forge below. The blower is variable speed.

He also used may other tools to shape the metal such as swage blocks, hardy tools(the square hole in the anvil is called the hardy hole and it accepts many types of tools), pritchel tools(this is the round hole in the anvil ans also accepts many different tools), fullers(different shaped wedges for stretching steel), and various other swages and forms.  

Here is an example of a swage block.

My swage block.

As time went on the need for faster and hotter heat was needed so other fuels were used such as LP gas, and natural gas in insulated furnaces with the invent of insulation just about any heat desired was achievable.

My propane fired forge and it's burner being test fired the first time.

The blowers and bellows lead to the invent of compressed air systems and many different blower and fan designs for feeding the forges, which were then used for many different purposes.

Power hammers were invented for speed in smithing also, these hammers made blacksmithing faster easier and more efficient.  

These pics borrowed from the web.

Other tools consist of drill presses, vises, grinders, sanders, fly presses, milling machines, lathes and many other machines and tools invented by and for the smith.

Please - if you decide to try smithing - BE SAFE!

Wear safety glasses - Work in a ventilated area.

This is just a tip of the proverbial iceberg on blacksmithing, I will have much more to come in upcoming posts.  I hope this interested, and educated you at least a little, please share this post and leave comments or questions below.

Click the +1 button Please.

OLOE