Abeck

Frank, I suppose you would. I am speaking of sifting the coal as bought to remove fines. I use a fine mesh hardware cloth. I have heard that you use anthracite to forge with, is this true?

The coal I can get locally has a lot of fines in it. Wether I buy it loose or bagged it doesn't matter. Maybe this is standard? In any event it makes for a messy fire pot. So I started sifting it before loading it onto the hearth. I'm guessing most wouldn't bother but to me it seems to make a much cleaner and controllable fire regardless of the wether I wet down the coal or not. I also sift the contents of the fire pot after removing the clinker but before I start a new fire. This also keeps the fire clean and I believe hotter as well. So the question is, does everyone do this? Is there any use for the growing pile of unburned fines?

Setting up a dupont 50lb hammer. All dismantled cleaned, Lubed and reassembled I had ordered a 2.5" flat belt of synthetic material from mcmaster Carr. I also ordered a paper pulley to drive the system. The hammer specs called for 375 hits per minute. The motor is a 3 hp and drives at a rpm of 1160. I did my calculations and ordered the pulley at 3.5" for direct drive. Now the hammer works, but far from optimally. There seems to be a good deal of slippage on the 3.5" drive pulley which is understandable mechanically but dissapointing from a performance standpoint. Does anyone have experience with a direct drive motor to hammer setup with these kinds of ratios or is some type of overhead reduction jackshaft necessary. I would rather direct drive due to a premium on space. Advice

Does anyone know how to figure the orginal date of manufacture for a dupont model a hammer with a serial number of 1825? It has Barbour Stockwell serial number tags and a Fairbanks type pass through hole behind the ram so I'm guessing it's relatively modern as far as the evolution of dupont hammers went. That said I don't know much about it, is there any info on it in the "pounding out the profit" power hammer book? Just curious about the date, functionally it is irrelevant. Thanks Aaron

Recently developed an ache in my right elbow. Does this bother everyone or is there some hammer technique I am missing which might correct this? A while back I had a shoulder issue but it went away when I lowered my anvil. Suggestions appreciated.

Just bought a 50 lb dupont. Am trying to remove the wedges that old the top and bottom dies. Can someone chime in about the best method for tapping these out without making them tighter? Thanks

Recently descaled some real wrought iron with a vinegar bath. Worked well on the glasslike forge scale, however the piece looked silver under the vinegar but when washed off and exposed to air it turned brown almost immediately. Is there a way to preserve the raw iron grey look?

Need advice on round or rectangular fire pots. The round seem to be less expensive. Currently use a friends forge with a rectangle. However, building my own forge which will be based on the round bottom of an old boiler tank. I could see building the round fir pot into a square duck nest with clay if there is an advantage to the corners. Thoughts appreciated

That thought occurred to me, however I'm not sure what the value of a non functioning little giant might be? Also, my assumption is the dupont would be worth slightly less as there are far fewer parts available.

Curious if anyone would care to speculate about the value of a 25 lb dupont power hammer. Model O. The hammer currently is not operational and has no motor or belt, it is set up for overhead belt driving power so might need some retrofitting to run off a regular motor. I am trying to talk the owner into selling but he seems to think his hammer is worth a lot. I can't really find any comparables to show him. Thanks for the help