I keep soapy water in the quench tank.

[52 Ford]

A few years ago, I noticed mosquitos in my water quench tank. I don't like mosquitos. It isn't like I can go without a water tank and I didn't want to add any "real" chemicals. So, I started adding dish soap (not a whole lot) to my water and I don't get any mosquito larvae in my water anymore. Plus if I get oil in the water, it gets emulsified and I don't end up with an oil slick.

I only change the water out maybe once a year. Sometimes sooner than that. Basically, once enough of it evaporates that I feel like I need to add more, I dump it out and start over. Plus, I usually drop failed forgings/small weldments in the water tank, so it's sort of interesting to see what weird stuff I find when I empty the tank out.

Just thought I'd share that - little dish soap in the water keeps bug larvae out of the water.

 

[Brad Anderson]

It will also keep the metal dust from floating around on top.

 

[Gilbert M]

I do soap and some baking soda to help with rust.

 

[Sean Jones]

The only drawback I can see to this method is if you use your quench water to fertilize your roses in the spring. Roses love iron. When I put my old quench water on them the blooms are amazing. If I remember I'll post some photos of my roses this spring.

 

[SHC286]

Soap weakens the surface tension of water. That’s why the dirty stuff sinks, the oil appears to emulsify, and it actually drowns many bugs/larvae. Causes bugs to sink when they light on the surface to lay eggs, causes the larvae to not absorb oxygen as well.
Mosquitoes are ridiculously adaptive. I bet if you kept enough of them in a contained environment with soapy water they’d evolve to survive it pretty quickly.
This is also why you can kill wasps with soapy water. Their exoskeleton is hydrophobic, meaning water doesn’t absorb into it. Good thing, cause they have semi external lungs called spiracles, tiny pores basically, that absorb oxygen. Hydrophobic exoskeletons keep those spiracles clear to absorb oxygen and expel CO2. The soap in water basically “thins” it enough to coat their exoskeleton and suffocate them.

 

[MTBob]

A few years ago, I noticed mosquitos in my water quench tank.

Simple solution - add some gold fish... that's what we do in our cattle stock tank. The fish grow like crazy eating all the larva...LOL

This is also why you can kill wasps with soapy water. Their exoskeleton is hydrophobic, meaning water doesn’t absorb into it. Good thing, cause they have semi external lungs called spiracles, tiny pores basically, that absorb oxygen. Hydrophobic exoskeletons keep those spiracles clear to absorb oxygen and expel CO2. The soap in water basically “thins” it enough to coat their exoskeleton and suffocate them.

Gotta love this forum... the things we can learn... thanks!

 

[52 Ford]

Good thing, cause they have semi external lungs called spiracles, tiny pores basically, that absorb oxygen. Hydrophobic exoskeletons keep those spiracles clear to absorb oxygen and expel CO2. The soap in water basically “thins” it enough to coat their exoskeleton and suffocate them.

Well... OBVIOUSLY! Lol

 

[golafson]

The only drawback I can see to this method is if you use your quench water to fertilize your roses in the spring. Roses love iron. When I put my old quench water on them the blooms are amazing. If I remember I'll post some photos of my roses this spring.

A bit soap won't bother the roses

 

[52 Ford]

A bit soap won't bother the roses

Probably not. It's Dawn and Palmolive soap... they wash freakin' birds with it. LOL

It's diluted enough that I barely get any bubbles if I slosh the water around. Basically no bubbles. JUST enough to keep bugs away (dead) and keep from getting an oil slick.

I'm not going to DRINK it, but it like you said, aught to be fine for plants.

 

[SHC286]

My wife got me some Don Juan rose bushes for Valentine’s Day. I plan on wrapping the front two poles of my pole barn smithy in 2X4 wire or maybe chicken or Turkey wire to give them something to climb. May get two more and do the same with the other two exposed poles.
I already have several other rose bushes I plan to relocate to it. Some midnight in Paris and several mixed colors. I hope to also get my hands on some true blood blacks and midnight blues.
If, in many years, my smithy becomes its own rose garden, I’ll die a happy man, hopefully inside it with a hammer in my hand.
My smithy is a pole barn enclosed on the back, halfway along each side, and a fully enclosed tool room/equipment room on the back. We just bought the house last August and it came with a huge shop and this barn which couldn’t have been a more perfect set up. No clue what I’m gonna do with the big shop though.
We got it fairly cheap, previous owner was growing tons of marijuana in the shop until he got caught. Don’t lose your temper and beat the hell out of your customers, and maybe they won’t snitch…

 

[SHC286]

Apparently there are six exposed poles total. The place doesn’t seem as big when you’re inside it and moving around!
I’ve set up in the building on the right, the one on the left was the bud farm.
The original owner worked on farm equipment, did tool sharpening and I heard a little blacksmithing too.

 

[Sean Jones]

Probably not. It's Dawn and Palmolive soap... they wash freakin' birds with it. LOL

It's diluted enough that I barely get any bubbles if I slosh the water around. Basically no bubbles. JUST enough to keep bugs away (dead) and keep from getting an oil slick.

I'm not going to DRINK it, but it like you said, aught to be fine for plants.

Good point...I don't really have a bug problem, other than my cats, but as you say they wash birds with it

 

[52 Ford]

Good point...I don't really have a bug problem, other than my cats, but as you say they wash birds with it

I have a pretty serious mosquito problem... 75 feet off the right side and about 100 feet off the back of my forge are 2 creeks and a swamp. I'm probably 50 feet higher in grade, but once it gets humid here, they're AWFUL.

Coal smoke from the forge actually keeps them away. Whole back of the shop is open and if the forge is lit, I RARELY see one in there.

 

[52 Ford]

Apparently there are six exposed poles total. The place doesn’t seem as big when you’re inside it and moving around!
I’ve set up in the building on the right, the one on the left was the bud farm.
The original owner worked on farm equipment, did tool sharpening and I heard a little blacksmithing too.

That's a nice size building. I can assure you, you'll fill it up in no time, though.

I added onto my shop a few years ago. Was GREAT for about a year. Currently, my wood cutting bandsaw, miter saw, and table saw are setup outside and I just keep tarps on them. Shop is FULL. Going to add on again this year. Since I'm on a hill, I'm going to cut the grade down 2 feet behind the shop and have the expansion there. 3 steps down. Aught to give a nice divide netween the metal working area and the general shop space.



Does the "grow house" still smell like weed? With how remote it looks, I don't imagine they were too worried about filtering the air.

 

[SHC286]

Oh my smithy is already pretty full. My actual work area is clean, but I’ve got scrap and material taking up space. I guess that’s a job for the big shop?
It’s pretty remote, that’s one thing I love about it. The shop doesn’t smell like ganja, it had been cleared out for quite a while before we got it. I think this place was empty for a little over a year.
I have neighbors across the road on the other side of a thick stand of trees and they’re great folks. There’s a hunting club on the other side through another thick stand of trees, I don’t care for them as much. It’s more of a social club than a hunting club, bunch of loud ass drunk rednecks. And you know when there’s a bunch of loud ass drunk rednecks there’s loud Luke Bryan and there’s always that one screechy woman who has to make damn sure everyone in a five mile radius knows how much a bad ass she is.
Thankfully they only come out here on the occasional weekend. Still, I’m tempted to burn it down.

 

[52 Ford]

LOL! That's not a hunt club, that's just a bunch of redneck assholes.

Gotta make a compromise where ever you move to. I'd still rather deal with that than live in a neighborhood (no offense to people in neighborhoods - you certainly adapt to where you live).

Especially when it's hot out, I prefer forging at night, when it cools down some. Ain't doing that in a neighborhood. Edit; "night" as is, sometimes I'll be out there till 2 or 3 AM

 

[52 Ford]

It’s pretty remote, that’s one thing I love about it. The shop doesn’t smell like ganja, it had been cleared out for quite a while before we got it. I think this place was empty for a little over a year.

At least you know that you can have plenty of (grow) lighting out there.

Oh my smithy is already pretty full. My actual work area is clean, but I’ve got scrap and material taking up space. I guess that’s a job for the big shop?

I literally LOST an 18" 1/2" breaker bar on one of my workbenches and didn't find it for over a month.

 

[SHC286]

I ain’t gonna grow nothing. Don’t need to, I’ve got a source for that stuff that’ll make ya crap your pants if ya ain’t careful! It’s an extremely rare thing for me though, it’d be just my luck I’ll start blazing up on the regular and get one of those random drug tests at work.

As for the loud ass rednecks…
I’m all for celebrating special occasions. But I don’t really consider the super bowl a special occasion, at least not one worthy of staying up until 0230 making a ruckus. I really don’t consider just a weekend to be anything special. I’d walked over and asked if they would tone it down because I had work and my son had school. The fella I talked to was actually pretty polite when he pointed out there was no noise ordinance out here. Fair enough.
So I woke my youngest son up early the next morning. He plays guitar and he’s really fond of metal and rock. I helped him gather his gear and we set up an impromptu concert in the back yard, decided to see just how loud his big amp can get. The sun wasn’t even up yet.
I also like making sure the kid is exposed to all sorts of music and he’s one of those freaks of nature that can pick up any instrument and play any song he’s ever heard.

Imagine being hungover as hell and suddenly you’re getting blasted by a heavy metal version of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture loud enough to make the windows rattle.

Almost immediately we heard people screaming, it was a bunch of “WHAT THE F###!” Combined with “TURN THAT SHIT OFF!”
I stopped the kid, then yelled “sorry! There’s no noise ordinance out here!”

He had about thirty minutes to jam as loud as he wanted before he’d have to get ready for school so I just spun the knob and went inside to drink coffee.
They’ve been a lot more courteous since then, they usually start to tone it down around midnight, Sunday nights are quiet now, and someone (another woman) got mad at the loud screecher woman and beat the hell out of her so she ain’t been back in a bit.

 

[52 Ford]

I ain’t gonna grow nothing. Don’t need to, I’ve got a source for that stuff that’ll make ya crap your pants if ya ain’t careful! It’s an extremely rare thing for me though, it’d be just my luck I’ll start blazing up on the regular and get one of those random drug tests at work.

As for the loud ass rednecks…
I’m all for celebrating special occasions. But I don’t really consider the super bowl a special occasion, at least not one worthy of staying up until 0230 making a ruckus. I really don’t consider just a weekend to be anything special. I’d walked over and asked if they would tone it down because I had work and my son had school. The fella I talked to was actually pretty polite when he pointed out there was no noise ordinance out here. Fair enough.
So I woke my youngest son up early the next morning. He plays guitar and he’s really fond of metal and rock. I helped him gather his gear and we set up an impromptu concert in the back yard, decided to see just how loud his big amp can get. The sun wasn’t even up yet.
I also like making sure the kid is exposed to all sorts of music and he’s one of those freaks of nature that can pick up any instrument and play any song he’s ever heard.

Imagine being hungover as hell and suddenly you’re getting blasted by a heavy metal version of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture loud enough to make the windows rattle.

Almost immediately we heard people screaming, it was a bunch of “WHAT THE F###!” Combined with “TURN THAT SHIT OFF!”
I stopped the kid, then yelled “sorry! There’s no noise ordinance out here!”

He had about thirty minutes to jam as loud as he wanted before he’d have to get ready for school so I just spun the knob and went inside to drink coffee.
They’ve been a lot more courteous since then, they usually start to tone it down around midnight, Sunday nights are quiet now, and someone (another woman) got mad at the loud screecher woman and beat the hell out of her so she ain’t been back in a bit.

Google "LRAD".

As for the grass - it's legal to grow for personal use in my state, now. I don't, but when it first came legal to do that here, my neighbor ended up getting a bunch of free stuff - like nice, Minn Kota foot control trolling motors and a bunch of other stuff, where I guy cleared out his basement to grow. Guess the guy decided to quit fishing to take up farming?