Speaking Of Welding

I know I didn't mention the goose neck plans. I plan something similar for it, but with a 12000 lb Badlands winch. I have a draw bar mount for it that is rated for 12000lbs, but I think a solid mount on the trailer will be much less headache doing things like dragging a shipping container up on the trailer. Yeah, that's something I need to do too.

Prepping the Job:

Still haven't done any welding. Cut the new piece to length and discovered it was bowed. Not a lot, but enough the winch would have set funny. The old piece is about flat, and the new piece was bowed up in the middle. Set it on top across the frame of the tongue and took a ten pound hammer to it. Took three blows. Close enough. I think I'm getting old. In days past I would have set the hammer on the work to measure my stroke before drawing up the hammer, but that was just to darn much work. I drew up from the ground and told myself I just wouldn't miss, and I didn't.

Then grinding off old paint and the protective coat of light rust steel gets here in the desert. I must be getting old, or more likely rode hard and put up wet one to many times. Used to be I wouldn't quit until the job was done, but not today. I'm the one that's done.

Yeah, The Amp Hours Are Worth The Price:

Oh, yeah. Big AH batteries. I mentioned a while back I bought 4 8AH batteries for my cordless stuff because the bigger batteries not only last longer, but seemed to be able to feed current to the tool motors better. I did all the cutting and grind, cutting old welds, sizing stock, stripping paint, etc with my cordless angle grinder and one of those batteries. It doesn't have the power of a corded grinder, but it didn't feel like it was slowing me down either.

Stripping Steel:

You might also recall my adventures with the best disc for removing paint, rust, and scale. I've come to a conclusion. Its a coarse grit hard disc. Leaves a crappy finish compared to a flap disc or a stripper wheel, but it lasts and doesn't seem to glaze over or get clogged up as bad as they do.

You're lucky you can do anything outdoors. I have plans and incomplete projects waiting too, but snow > rain > deep freeze have locked everything outside into a glacier here. I barely cleared the car and shoveled a path to the road in the brief gap between the rain and freeze, now it's a struggle even to bring in firewood.

TV weather: "It's like 2 below with the wind chill." This isn't the best time of the year to import wind from Canada, please wait for July and August.

I spent a grand total of one winter in cold and snow. That was enough for me. I've heard people say you can dress for cold, but you can't dress for heat.

Well, that's kind true, but...

You can dress for cold, but it can also restrict your movement. You can walk down the driveway to check the mail if you have plowed the snow out of the way first, but that implies you can dress for cold, but not snow. In real cold you lose dexterity. Either from gloves, the cold, or frost bite. If there is ice, you can dress for cold by wearing cleats. Yeah, I can walk on ice with ordinary shoes too, but it takes more care, and may limit other things I can do.

Growing up I had summer jobs "chopping cotton," and working in the grape harvest. I wore a loose long sleeve shirt, jeans, and a hat. Under the shade of the packing shed I could get away with lighter gear, but in the sun those who did now have a higher risk of skin cancer. Some overheated and dropped. On a hot summer day I have also lose dexterity when work. I either wear gloves or tools and materials laying out in the sun will burn my hands. You can also get conditioned (to some extent) for the heat, and learn good practices. Drink water before you get thirsty. When you actually get thirsty and push through you are dehydrated and pushing through can make you dangerously dehydrated. It may not be cool in the shade, but a little shade and some water for a short break is all you need if you are conditioned to tolerate the heat. To get conditioned you have to work in it.

In the end I can work more effectively on a 110F degree day in SW Arizona more effectively than I can on a 5F day in Northern Ohio.

However those aren't extremes. On a 115-120+ day in Arizona (yes we have them fairly often) You really need to limit your exposure, and be aware of conditions that are even worse than the ambient temperature. Pulling wire in an attic is so dangerous I used to limit myself to no more than 5-10 minutes at a time up the ladder. Working in a hot black asphalt parking lot is nearly as dangerous. I say nearly, because you can always jump in your truck to get out of the sun for a few minutes. You can't get out of the heat in an attic except by getting out of the attic.

I've never had to work in 20F below, but as restricted as I was a 5F above I imagine its just as limiting as work in a 120F+ degrees in the desert.

I brag or show off my winter time weather, but you won't hear much except complaining from me if I have to work outside in July and August.

As to conditioning... kids are stupid. My friends and I used to play outside in the desert all summer long. Many a time I imagine somebody's garden hose saved us from closer to dangerous dehydration than we knew. We also got conditioned to the heat. Not impervious, but conditioned to tolerate it and knowledgeable about how to manage it. Riding my motorcycle back across the Sonoran desert to get home there was more than once I pulled off at any sign of farming to dunk my shirt and my helmet in a canal to cool off. It dries out quick, but it adds 30 miles to your range. Nearly as much as a drink of cool (not cold) water and a few minutes break in the shade.

The thing I never learned to manage was hot and humid. If there is a way I can't fathom it. In Northern Ohio I saw what I called 90/90 plenty of days in the summer. Over 90 degrees and over 90% humidity. That was just miserable. When I saw temps approaching 110F my grandmother said read the obits in the next few days and you will see many older people without air conditioning who succumbed in their homes. I could work for a little while, but because I had no natural cooling at those high humidities I had to take twice the breaks to recover. I can't imagine living and working in the old south where they see 110F+ and 90-99% humidity routinely.

See, you got me all wound up again Jim. I want to get outside and get more work done before summer.

CORRECTION: Approaching 100, not 110. Never saw temps over a 100 in Ohio.

my

I experienced that - what you call "90/90". I worked in a research foundry. Thing was that onlookers were unlikely to think of - surely when the temperature goes up, with the same unchanged amount of water (moisture) in the air, the relative humidity must go down(?). So sweating works. Problem was "home" - an apartment right under the asphalt'ed roof... Having a friend of the female persuasion around was not for the heterosexually faint-hearted... :-)

Not common here in Ontario but I've seen over 100 several times over the years - over 80% RH. In Zambia 115F in the shade was not terribly uncommon in October - and in Livingstone, next to Victoria Falls, on those days 90% RH was "dry"!!!!

On those days NOTHING got done!!! (In the seventies Air Conditioning was virtually un heard of outside of luxury hotels (and not even common there.) and even Mercedes cars were generally not air conditioned (partly due to taxation issues)

snip

Predicted low tonight is 4° F and we got a WHOLE 4" OF SNOW last night ! Mid August we'll probably see highs near a hundred with 90% humidity . Spring and fall here are freakin' awesome though .

When you said "Hey baby , wanna get sweaty?" you MEANT it ! There's somethin' to be said about slippin' an' slidin' ...

------------------------------------ And the puttering we indulge in when it allows.

Happy days... :-) It was a very happy time, with both working and feeling happy in my time-out.

Thought this "Federal 7mm Backcountry" was interesting. Has been in the recent issues of a couple magazines. Mostly interested in what the case and powder could do for current ammo, like the .223 and such🤔

I just read about the new stuff. Haven't shot a powder burner in decades🙄

Thought this "Federal 7mm Backcountry" was interesting. Has been in the recent issues of a couple magazines. Mostly interested in what the case and powder could do for current ammo, like the .223 and such🤔

I just read about the new stuff. Haven't shot a powder burner in decades🙄

I just read about the new stuff. Haven't shot a powder burner in decades🙄

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Here's a patent on it:

Thought this "Federal 7mm Backcountry" was interesting. Has been in the recent issues of a couple magazines. Mostly interested in what the case and powder could do for current ammo, like the .223 and such🤔

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Standard rifle ammo is little different from what Mauser introduced around

The yield strength of hard drawn/stamped brass sets current ammo pressure limits. It's similar to mild steel but more brittle, and is of course rustproof which matters to the military. Some bolt actions have been proofed to handle 120,000 PSI or more if the cases could. Stronger cases can be turned on a lathe for testing but would be unaffordable in production. Forming the metal cases more or less paced firearm improvement since they were introduced in 1808. Smokeless powder that didn't foul the barrel almost immediately permitted modern action and ammunition design which was substantially perfected before WW1.

That new Federal steel case is designed for 80,000 PSI as the standard load. The material is suppose to be able to expand slightly to help keep the case locked in the chamber and not blow back against the bolt as hard. Can be reloaded too but didn't see any detail on that yet. Not that I went looking for it either.

Speculation was that it will be used to boost older rounds pressure too for newer guns that could probably handle the higher pressure...

That new Federal steel case is designed for 80,000 PSI as the standard load. The material is suppose to be able to expand slightly to help keep the case locked in the chamber and not blow back against the bolt as hard. Can be reloaded too but didn't see any detail on that yet. Not that I went looking for it either.

Speculation was that it will be used to boost older rounds pressure too for newer guns that could probably handle the higher pressure...

-- Leon Fisk Grand Rapids MI

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If it erodes rifling faster it may not become popular, as with the .264 Win Mag. Battleship gun bores eroded enough that the ballistic computer computation included compensation for the number of rounds fired, and the rifling was in replaceable liners. "All Quiet on the Western Front" states that German artillery barrels were so worn towards the end that the slowest shells would fall short into the German lines. I've read that double base powder burns hotter and causes faster wear than single base.

They (Federal) claim it's not a problem🤷

Different subject...

There's a new Winchester .21 Sharp rimfire too. The case is the same as .22 Long Rifle but the bullet is fully seated inside the case, thus the .21 cal. Solves an old bullet shape problem with the .22. It will fit in standard .22 rifles and fire but accuracy will suffer due to poor contact with the rifling. Already a few new rifles available for it.