blacksmithing calorie burn

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allshebe
allshebe Posts: 423 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm learning how to forge tools and things of iron/mild steel. Today we lit the forge fires at about 10 am and worked fairly steadily until 3 pm and then spent an hour cleaning up and putting things away. My efforts included pounding on hot steel with about a 3 or 3.5 pound hammer, cranking the blower, pounding with a big sledge, filing metal and holding on to hot metal with tongs (while I pounded on it). I logged it as "2 hours of general carpentry" for lack of anything closer in MFP, but I 'd love to have opinions on how many calories I really burned. I made a set of handles for an anvil stand (for carrying/moving the stand) from 3/8" round stock and my first set of tongs from round stock at least 1/2" in diameter. I expect my weight to be up a couple of pounds tomorrow while I repair my arm and shoulder muscles

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  • gingabebe
    gingabebe Posts: 165 Member
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    There is a website I use called calorie lab that will help you get a more accurate calorie burn for activities that aren't run of the mill. I do different jobs on our farm and not everything is in the database here.

    I looked up the burn for an 180 lb person under occupation, steel mill, forging and got 369 calories an hour. I know that's not the same as what you were doing, but I bet you burned more than the general carpentry calories.

    It sounds fun. I just got back from a local festival and was talking to a blacksmith there because I was thinking of buying a tripod for when we cook beans and such over a fire and we were talking about how much effort goes into each piece.

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