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My new home-built treadle hammer


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This is a treadle hammer built specifically for chasing and reppouse. All major pivot points have bronze bushings and oil holes for extremely smooth movement.

I built the hammer for a total of between $400 and $450 and about five days of work or less. That price includes the cost of the materials I had on hand as well as the welding, cutting, and grinding supplies.
The immediate outlay of money came to $290.

I am guessing the hammer weighs somewhere around 300 pounds. The hammer head is steel tubing without any added lead and probably weighs 30 pounds.

I am not going to list all of the information here. I intend to organize and double check all of my pictures and information and then write a blueprint thread for the hammer. It may be a month or so before I can complete that task.

The hammer is based off of the measurements of Mark Gardner's chasing and reppousse hammers. The materials I used are different sizes, but the important measurements are (as far as I know,) all the same as Mark's hammer. He gave me permission to share the info in a blueprint on this site.

I am SUPER pleased with the results of my hammer, it works great, and I look forward to putting many hours of proper use on this new tool. It works so smoothly that I can operate the hammer with my pinky finger.

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Thoughts?

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Thanks all!
Iron Quake, look for the BP before starting to build. I like the inlines but there are some design features from this hammer that make a lot of sense, so you might want to consider carrying those features over to the inline if you build one.
If you are wanting to do chasing and reppouse and have a treadle hammer for hard hitting, this hammer will do both.

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  • 4 weeks later...

That's a really sweet hammer Dave, well thought out and well executed. You don't really want an inline treadle for hand tooling work, parallel anvil and hammer pretty much amount to what you really need. An inline is terrific for die work, especially closed dies.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Nice looking hammer Dave. I really like the safety chain, the light work like repousse is where treadle hammers shine and being able to safely use handheld tools under it is nice. I used to put a block under the treadle to do the same thing, however if the bottom swing arm or a bolt ever failed I might have been in trouble. You might want to trow a block under your treadle as well, That way the chain is a backup safety and you have redundancy in your safety systems, in case a weld or chain ever failed.

I agree that a swing arm hammer is all you really need. A TREADLE HAMMER IS NOT A POWER HAMMER!!!! I made that mistake about 18 years ago and built a treadle hammer for drawing out and it is not the tool for that, I can draw out faster on the edge of the anvil. The inline designs make an already inefficient tool even more so. They are great for top tooling, chiseling, drifting and repousse. They will give you a heavier blow than a hand hammer but much slower.

I sold my treadle hammer a couple of years ago and I still occasionally miss it but I needed the space to keep my smaller power hammer. If I ever put an addition on the shop I will probably build one like yours Dave.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hmm, what if...a person used that design with these changes.
Where the head is on the top photo was a roller guide (rusty type arrangement) attached to the post with side plates so the tie-rod could pass through to mount on a leaf spring above. The leaf spring arrangement would be something along the lines of sam's compact rusty. If it had a shackle on the back like gearhartironwerks kinyon, one wouldnt need the rollers in the front like the rusty needs. Say about a 28-30 inch leaf spring with eyes both ends.
It would be the same layout otherwise. Maybe with some adjustability built in for hammer travel and such. Could be able to reposition the shackle on the post.
Now, since I like making multifunction tools, I want a small power hammer too. So, it would have a motor to spin a flywheel, and figure in the jackshafts and pulleys in there between the anvil and the post.
When I want to change over from treadle mode, I'd disconnect the spring and the tie rod at the bottom, the tie rod would bolt to the powered crank, and the treadle would drop down into a lower position and operate the idler pulley.
See what happens when you ask for thoughts? I'll stop now before I get myself in trouble, and have to build another contraption.

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Hmm, what if...a person used that design with these changes.
Where the head is on the top photo was a roller guide (rusty type arrangement) attached to the post with side plates so the tie-rod could pass through to mount on a leaf spring above. The leaf spring arrangement would be something along the lines of sam's compact rusty. If it had a shackle on the back like gearhartironwerks kinyon, one wouldnt need the rollers in the front like the rusty needs. Say about a 28-30 inch leaf spring with eyes both ends.
It would be the same layout otherwise. Maybe with some adjustability built in for hammer travel and such. Could be able to reposition the shackle on the post.
Now, since I like making multifunction tools, I want a small power hammer too. So, it would have a motor to spin a flywheel, and figure in the jackshafts and pulleys in there between the anvil and the post.
When I want to change over from treadle mode, I'd disconnect the spring and the tie rod at the bottom, the tie rod would bolt to the powered crank, and the treadle would drop down into a lower position and operate the idler pulley.
See what happens when you ask for thoughts? I'll stop now before I get myself in trouble, and have to build another contraption.


Bill Gichner, revered old fart, told me to always buy the first one...let somebody else do the initial development. What you have described above is pretty well the historical development of the Blacker Hammer which started out as a treadle and was then powered, do a search!
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Hmm, what if...a person used that design with these changes.
Where the head is on the top photo was a roller guide (rusty type arrangement) attached to the post with side plates so the tie-rod could pass through to mount on a leaf spring above. The leaf spring arrangement would be something along the lines of sam's compact rusty. If it had a shackle on the back like gearhartironwerks kinyon, one wouldnt need the rollers in the front like the rusty needs. Say about a 28-30 inch leaf spring with eyes both ends.
It would be the same layout otherwise. Maybe with some adjustability built in for hammer travel and such. Could be able to reposition the shackle on the post.
Now, since I like making multifunction tools, I want a small power hammer too. So, it would have a motor to spin a flywheel, and figure in the jackshafts and pulleys in there between the anvil and the post.
When I want to change over from treadle mode, I'd disconnect the spring and the tie rod at the bottom, the tie rod would bolt to the powered crank, and the treadle would drop down into a lower position and operate the idler pulley.
See what happens when you ask for thoughts? I'll stop now before I get myself in trouble, and have to build another contraption.


The combination of a treadle and power hammer would be a good idea for the serious hobbiest. Doing it to this particular hammer might not be the greatest idea in the world.
This hammer is designed specifically for ultra smooth function for TONS of light repeat blows used in chasing and reppousee. When you start adding pivot points, points of contacts, attachments, and weight, you are going to decrease the function of the hammer as a chasing hammer. If you aren't looking for a chasing hammer, no problem.

I've not bailed out on the BP or anything, I have just not had time to do it right. It's a lot of measurements, a lot of drawings, a lot of pictures, and a lot of writing. I've been really busy in the shop, and also been working a little part time at the local saw mill to help them out. I'll get to it!
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