On 9/17/24 07:27, Gregg Eshelman via Emc-users wrote:
I don't know where his shop is in the UK but visiting Alec Steele's blacksmith
shop might be fun. Here's his latest video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-3l1yau5aU
Wow! He does like to play with fire. Back in about 1954 I was a bench
tech at Woodburn Sound in Iowa City. Iowa daytime and building hot rods
at night. I took gas welding lessons from a retired Navy guy with a long
stack of military welding certificates in his billfold.
The big mercury outboard, the big 6, has a magnesium block. Came in with
a 3" hole in one of its crank pockets where a broken con rod had come
thru it. The outside cowling caught the piece so he had the stuff to
plug the hole. Took the block out of the building and 50 feet down the
sidewalk, set it up for the weld. Using an oxyacetylene torch, he
proceeded to weld the pieces back in place, and had us inspect it,
looked like it had been heliarced, it was that clean. The block had been
checked, it was warped beyond a simple line boring being able to restore
its main bearing alignment. So it was scrap metal. After we had all
looked at it we were instructed to put our masks back on, and he lit one
corner of it. It lit up that corner of Iowa City, burned thru the
sidewalk, the fire dept arrived and he had a hell of a time convincing
them to let it burn. Water just supply's the the O to feed the fire.
From that point, I have stayed the hell away from magnesium.
The City sent him a bill for the sidewalk, but it was 70 yo junk anyway
so by the time the bill arrived he had already had a contractor replace
that whole block of sidewalk. What was funny was that the city sued him
for the damages complete with pix of the hole. When they had presented
and it was his turn he laid a pix of the new sidewalk on the judges desk
and the judge told the city to go pound sand but in more direct language.
Its my understanding that it will burn very vigorously underwater.
[...]
Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author, 1940)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
- Louis D. Brandeis
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