Real-Life Communication
You are a self-employed blacksmith who is about to start work on
a new project. Your customer has asked you to build a wine rack to fit in
her new kitchen.
After spending much time looking through pictures
and design books, your customer has finally decided upon the style she wants.
She has brought a picture to show you and you can tell by your first glance
that it is going to be a time-consuming piece to make. Once completed, the
wine rack will stand about four feet high and will hold 48 bottles of wine.
This
is the biggest job you've ever taken on, and you're quite excited about it.
The only problem is, you may not have enough tools to do the job properly.
You can't afford to mess this job up, so you're going to have to do some careful
planning before you begin.
"Having the right tools is essential," says
Dorothy Stiegler, a self-employed blacksmith. "You can't hold on to hot metal
with just anything."
You read over the wine rack specifications so
you can determine what tools you're going to need. This is what you see:
- The wine rack is going to require three different widths of iron -- one-eighth
of an inch, half an inch and one-inch thick pieces of metal.
- The base of the wine rack that sits on the floor will be made of the iron
that is one inch thick.
- The vertical pieces that will form the sides of the wine rack will be
made out of round iron that is half an inch thick. They will be curved in
shape.
- The horizontal pieces that will actually hold the wine bottles will be
made of iron that is one-eighth of an inch thick and will be formed at a 145-degree
angle. These will be forged to the vertical sides of the rack.
You have some tongs in your shop that you've made or purchased through
second-hand shops over the last few months. You decide to take an inventory
to see exactly what size tongs you have, as you don't want to stop partway
through your work to buy or build a new set of tongs.
Blacksmith Dorothy
Stiegler says if you have to stop and build tongs while you're working, it
costs you both time and money. It takes you longer to do the job and it may
not get done properly. Be prepared before you start.
After your inventory,
this is what your tong collection includes:
- Two sets of round tongs, one-quarter inch and one inch, that are used
for holding round pieces of iron
- Three sets of V tongs, three-eighths of an inch, seven-eighths of an inch
and one inch, that are used for holding and shaping angled or round pieces
of iron
- Three sets of flat tongs, one-quarter inch, half an inch and one inch,
that are used for holding flat pieces of iron
The rule of thumb of choosing the correct size of tongs is this:
If
you're working with a one-inch round piece of iron, you'd use a one-inch round
tong or a one-inch V tong. If you were working with a one-half inch piece
of iron that was angled at 45 degrees, you'd use a one-half inch V-tong. And
if you were working with a three-quarter inch piece of flat metal, you'd use
a three-quarter inch flat tong.
After reviewing the wine rack measurements
one more time, you've determined which tongs you're going to need to build
before you can start the project.
Do you know which tongs you'll need
for the project and which one(s) you'll have to make? Explain your answer.