Chain mail

[Sorcha Griannon]

And since it was stainless steel, it wasn't magnetic. So it was a bit harder to pull out...

All I can say is, OUCH. Full mask time, definately full mask time...


Sorcha

[RK-REX]

used crankcase oil. It helped harden the links up a bit.

If you want them a bit harder, use 80/90 weight oil. It's for front and rear car/truck differentials rather than a floating bearing system and it contains much more sulfur and something else I can't remember exactly right now. When I was serving my tool and diemaker apprenticeship, we hardened a lot of stuff this way.

Also check out http://www.brownells.com/ I did a bit of custom gun work for a spell and they have a product called tough-quench that works really well too. They have lots of neat hard to find tools as well.

Look around to some of the gunsmithing sites and you can find out how to heat treat your material for color as well as hardness.

[cwr89]

I'd finish a piece, then take it over to a buddy of mine, toss the mail into his heat-treating kiln, bring it up to temperature to burn off the zinc from the steel (galvanized steel is a PITA - it gets white and fuzzy after a bit) and drop it directly from the zinc burn-off temperature into a bucket of cold used crankcase oil. It helped harden the links up a bit.

Don't try that at home, BTW. Zinc fumes == ickiness. Hence the use of an outdoor kiln that already had a ventilation system.

I know you see that galvy is not the greatest for health. I primarily use galvy for it's ease to aquire and it's cost. I don't normally yell at people on forums, but NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER DO THAT AGAIN. if you want to live.

check this out for the reason to my yelling: (I can't get the pictures but if you want to you can check it out on www.anvilfire.com in the Iforge section under Saftey Demo III)

This is the second safety demo by Jim "Paw-Paw" Wilson based on real life events. Sadly this will be his last. We are presenting it the way he would have wanted.


Paw-Paw 1940 - 2005 Well folks. This is a hell of a way to do a demo. I did something stupid that I knew better than to do, thinking I was tougher than a little smoke. Well, I miscalculated and now I am dead.

My friends will have to finish this for me. . .

Sheri, I love you. Please forgive me.


Figure 1 We will never know what Jim was thinking that day. He was probably just trying to get a job done the quickest easiest way he knew how.

The parts to the right were 2.5" galvanized pipe. They were to be welded up as part of a stock rack we think. To weld them they needed the galvanizing removed.

Jim burned off the zinc in his gas forge.


Figure 2 Burning zinc looks similar to burning magnesium. It flares off white zinc oxide smoke and leaves heavy soot like yellow and white oxide deposits where the smoke cools. In the metal working shop we are often exposed to small amounts of zinc smoke without ill effect. It is common in brazing, casting brass and ocassionally welding.

However this was not a small amount of zinc smoke. It was thick enough in his well ventilated shop that Jim wisely sent his helpers outside. Why he stayed we will never know.


Figure 3 There was so much zinc that it reacted with the refractory lining causing the ITC-100 coating to flake off. Around the door gasket area there were 1/16" thick deposits of zinc oxide. There is no question that Jim was exposed to significant amounts of zinc oxide smoke as he removed the flaming parts from the forge and quenched them.

Two weeks later when the forge was fired up it was still generating zinc smoke and fumes.

JOCK
D After this event Paw-Paw was very ill for a couple days. He thought he was over it and went on a road trip. A week after the exposure he came down with double pneumonia and had to be brought home. A week later he was dead.

Prior to this Paw-Paw had problems with emphysema and this is a factor in his case. However, metal fume fever can kill the young and healthy or leave lasting effects.

I will say, I have a ring cutting maching that I used to use to saw cut my coils on a drill-press. until I got it too hot, (ran out of the tap oil drip) and I can tell you first hand that gavlinazation poisoning is very very terrible. its funny I actually had to tell the doctor at the urgent care that I have been exposed to heavy metal fumes, and unfortunately they don't like coming out once they're in.

so be careful. I hate to see things like what happened to PAW-PAW happen.


Caradoc, sounds like you had a whole ring rig. good to hear.

BLAZN, how does one open and close 14g copper with fingers??? thats crazy, I made a fountain curtain from 14awg 3/8th ID rings, and I would never have done it by hand.

once again sorry for the theft.
~Casey

[Caradoc]

I know you see that galvy is not the greatest for health. I primarily use galvy for it's ease to aquire and it's cost. I don't normally yell at people on forums, but NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER DO THAT AGAIN. if you want to live.

Yeah. I've read Paw-Paw's story.

However, at the time I was doing the mail, I already knew that zinc offgassing is *bad*.

That'd be why we did the heating to burn-off in a heat-treating kiln primarily used for bladesmithing that contained a scrubbing system in its ventilation.

The guy who built it uses it for historical reproduction works involving hazardous materials, including mercury, arsenic, antimony, and other nasties. It works very well for heating things that you really don't want to breathe (negatively pressuring a kiln is an interesting exercise to say the least.)

[cwr89]

Yeah. I've read Paw-Paw's story.

However, at the time I was doing the mail, I already knew that zinc offgassing is *bad*.

That'd be why we did the heating to burn-off in a heat-treating kiln primarily used for bladesmithing that contained a scrubbing system in its ventilation.

The guy who built it uses it for historical reproduction works involving hazardous materials, including mercury, arsenic, antimony, and other nasties. It works very well for heating things that you really don't want to breathe (negatively pressuring a kiln is an interesting exercise to say the least.)

thats one sweet sounding kiln!!! well, in that cercumstance, I guess it was ok. don't feel bad, I've done some very dumb things myself, (about a month ago, I was trying to cast some ingots out of lead... in my basement. . so, I've had a fair share of heavy metal exposure. and worst of all... I am only 17. (I would say that general assumptions about teenagers being a bit on the slow side are true. ;) )

~Casey

[elitekiltedcommando]

Hmmm... To make chain mail to wear with my kilt or not....

[cwr89]

Hmmm... To make chain mail to wear with my kilt or not....

is it really that hard of a question? hehehe.
be careful, maille is the wosrt drug ever, because it is addiction from the start, there is no negitive side effects, and it get expencive quick!

~Casey

[elitekiltedcommando]

Yeah. But I don't have the time...

[Weasel Mender]

Caradoc and others
Be VERYcareful burning off galvanizing of metal , zinc fumes don't just==ickiness they can ==death!!!! on the anvilfire website we lost a valuable friend in Jim"PawPaw" Wilson to zinc poisining so please be careful and useHUGEamounts of ventilation when burning off galvanizing i am discovering many new frinds here and don't want to say goodbye to any of you like I did JimI didn't see the earlier post with the quote from Anvilfire so this is just to pound the point home