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A near miss at the Rockford hammer-in last month changed my forge setup

I was demoing a simple leaf spring knife when my slack tub, a plastic barrel, gave way. The hot steel hit the wet ground and shot steam right at my leg. It was only about 6 inches from my boot. I realized I'd placed it too close for a quick quench. Now I keep my quench tank a full three feet back from the anvil. Has anyone else had a close call that made you rework your shop layout?
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3 Comments
the_joseph
the_joseph1mo ago
Seriously, was a little steam that far off really a near miss?
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faith_thomas
Oh man, steam and smoke are totally different things. Steam is just hot water vapor, but smoke means something is burning. If her forge was putting out smoke, that's a real sign something was wrong or clogged, which is a fire risk. So yeah, that's definitely a "near miss" worth paying attention to.
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young.nora
young.nora1mo agoTop Commenter
Remember when my old forge vent clogged and filled the whole shop with smoke?
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