<story><title>Blacksmithing is alive and well in Kentucky</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/special-series/blacksmith-craig-kaviar-louisville.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mkii</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m hesitant to get into physical project hobbies (e.g. low-voltage electronics, wood-working, 3D printing) because I&amp;#x27;m afraid of all the hazards that I don&amp;#x27;t know about. Seeing these warnings (while greatly appreciated in a theoretical sense for me) just reinforces this fear I have.</text></item><item><author>1letterunixname</author><text>Cookie-dough coffee can forge*: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;FmEb1YZScxc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;FmEb1YZScxc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;DIY induction heater**: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;wKFnk4R54ZQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;wKFnk4R54ZQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;* Unsafe because it depends on combustion and creates nanofines&amp;#x2F;ultrafines&lt;p&gt;** Unsafe because there&amp;#x27;s no current limiting, no temperature limiting, no grounding, and no crucible confinement</text></item><item><author>bcks</author><text>Took my daughter to check out a blacksmithing class in Brooklyn and was pleasantly surprised to find there was no open fire at all. The iron and steel are heated by an induction machine. Just use the tongs to hold up your material near the coil and press the pedal and voila, it soon starts to glow red hot. The space is small, maybe 3 students at a time plus a teacher, but it was bright, tidy, and clean. Not at all the dark, sweaty cave of fire and fumes that I&amp;#x27;d imagined, and interesting to see tech slightly more modern than fire.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mauvehaus</author><text>Do woodworking. The whirling blades are pretty apparent. Wear a dust mask while sanding, and take comfort that Jesus was a carpenter and didn&amp;#x27;t die of respiratory illness&amp;#x2F;failure.&lt;p&gt;Don&amp;#x27;t do your own rigging or wiring, and you&amp;#x27;ll probably be fine. I do much of my own on both and I&amp;#x27;m still ok.&lt;p&gt;Watch the tommy bar on your vise, and mind your marking knife. The apparently harmless things will get you because you pay them less mind.&lt;p&gt;Source: am a furniture maker. I still have 10 fingers. Haven&amp;#x27;t died of respiratory illness yet. Nor have I burned my shit down or crushed myself moving machinery. I have definitely made an unplanned trip for super glue after slicing myself with a marking knife.</text></comment>
<story><title>Blacksmithing is alive and well in Kentucky</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/special-series/blacksmith-craig-kaviar-louisville.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mkii</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m hesitant to get into physical project hobbies (e.g. low-voltage electronics, wood-working, 3D printing) because I&amp;#x27;m afraid of all the hazards that I don&amp;#x27;t know about. Seeing these warnings (while greatly appreciated in a theoretical sense for me) just reinforces this fear I have.</text></item><item><author>1letterunixname</author><text>Cookie-dough coffee can forge*: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;FmEb1YZScxc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;FmEb1YZScxc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;DIY induction heater**: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;wKFnk4R54ZQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;wKFnk4R54ZQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;* Unsafe because it depends on combustion and creates nanofines&amp;#x2F;ultrafines&lt;p&gt;** Unsafe because there&amp;#x27;s no current limiting, no temperature limiting, no grounding, and no crucible confinement</text></item><item><author>bcks</author><text>Took my daughter to check out a blacksmithing class in Brooklyn and was pleasantly surprised to find there was no open fire at all. The iron and steel are heated by an induction machine. Just use the tongs to hold up your material near the coil and press the pedal and voila, it soon starts to glow red hot. The space is small, maybe 3 students at a time plus a teacher, but it was bright, tidy, and clean. Not at all the dark, sweaty cave of fire and fumes that I&amp;#x27;d imagined, and interesting to see tech slightly more modern than fire.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>seabird</author><text>Those hazards usually take a long time to kill you. It&amp;#x27;s a problem for people who do it 40+ hours a week, but a hobbyist is going to struggle to reach the level of exposure needed for it to matter. You&amp;#x27;ll learn about them and mitigate them long before it becomes an issue.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve been swimming in all sorts automotive and manufacturing fluids and fumes and forces for years and it hasn&amp;#x27;t caught up to me yet. I know a shitload of people that have done it for decades without a scratch, and a lot of them didn&amp;#x27;t even try to be safe about it.</text></comment>