clinton

Hard to say from those photos for me. It looks like it had a rough life, but you can surely fix it up. Does it have handling holes? They will be found on the front foot sometimes and under the heel or horn. It looks like a cast base to me and would not have those holes that are used in forging. Can you show pictures of the underside and under horn and heel? Is there a marking on the front foot?

I think that my Trenton has the weight stamped on the front foot. Are you sure that first # is 014? That 0 may be a 2 = 214 lbs they were marked in pounds.

Cold rolled should be easy to get, I have some 2 inch mystery metal that was the shaft from a roll down smoke door. I will check with my supplier on the cost of a piece of cold rolled, better to use a known steel if I am going to put the work into it.

That sounds like a good option, the crank plate is already loose it will come off no problem. What type of material is best for the shaft? I will need to take it to a machine shop to have the key way cut I am not set up for that, but that should not cost too much

I tore the hammer down yesterday so I could get a better idea of the current condition of the shaft and bearings. It looks like someone must have turned down the shaft on the rear bearing side it measures right at 1 1/2 inches, the front end is about 1 3/4 inches and does vary by .05 when measured at each side and middle. Also it looks like someone had a hard time removing the drive pulley, it has a couple of chunks missing- and looks like they fabricated a collar to help hold it together. So I am not too crazy about trying to remove it now in order to fit the shaft in my lathe. So now my question is- do I use this shaft as the mandrel or go ahead and make a mandrel like it? Will the .05 taper make a difference? I think it would wear in quickly and with the amount of slop it was running at before .05 seems like a small amount to worry about.

The fit up for this has to be tight, no gaps anywhere. And you need to wrap it all up with wire before welding so the pieces are not bouncing around. John gives some good pointers here for sure. Thanks divermike, I will try to give more positive feed back in the future.

Ok thanks peacock, I will be working on this in the coming week unless I find a paying job.

At less than a buck a pound you got a great deal, I have an 84 lb Arm & Hammer that I will sell for $300.00 that is $3.57 / lb Mr Postman states,"From my perspective today the Arm and Hammer anvil was undoubtedly one of the finest wrought anvils ever manufactured anywhere." (Page 257 Anvils in America) I think you anvil is 1941 and they did not produce any between 1942 1943. After 1940 they were arc welded as yours at the waist

I think that maybe 2 or 3 x the material may be a good starting point, there were chunks missing before I ran the hammer also one of the top caps is in two pieces and someone fit a saddle over it to hold in place. I will be repairing that before the bearing pour.

I found several examples of the rush holder in Colonial Wrought Iron The Sorber Collection by Plummer. There are examples there that range from 10 x 6 inches, 10 x 4 inches, 14 x 5, 12 x 5 and 10 x5 inches. This is a great book with lots of pictures, descriptions and well indexed making it easy to find items without thumbing through the pages for hours.

I have a Commonsense power hammer that I got running a couple of years ago. When I got it it had no motor and was removed for a barn that was tore down. I got the hammer running and at that time I knew the bearings were shot, but my theory is to use what you have if it works why mess with it. I planned on re-pouring the bearings further on down the road. So here I am further on down the road and i am planning to take care of this repair now and hope that the hammer will hit harder afterwards. So I have a few questions to address before I order the babbitt. How much babbitt do I need? I was on the Little Giant web site and it shows that you need 5 ingots of 4 1/2 lbs for a 50 lb Little Giant = 22.5 lbs if you use all new material. This seems like a lot of material to me. My bearings measure 4 inches long with a 2 inch shaft. Sid's price seems ok on the material at $26.00 for 4 1/2 lb ingot = $5.77/ lb and you know that it is the right stuff for this application. I will be tearing down the hammer this week end and I plan on making a mandrel and collars next week so I may have more questions soon.

CA Blacksmith Org is all up and down the state calsmith.org

<ul> <li>You can build a real good swage block stand with some 4x 8 on end. Make cross braces that are driven in horizontally and diagonally to hold it together. Tom Clark used this method and it can be taken apart then reassembled.</li> <li>Can you post a picture the posting has been deleted</li> </ul>

I know he would have better luck selling them if he knew what they were and posted better pictures

I just spent around 30 minutes reading all the posts and that was entertaining. That being said, it seems to me that the person who forged this hammer either does not have a very good quality control method or one just slipped by. A hammer that is drifted 1/8 off center should be a reject and destroyed before going into the scrap bin.

Contact Neal Steelworks (530)440-1073 email nealsteelworks@gmail.com He has 4 different sizes advertised for sale. Tom Clark had a lot to do with the development of this hammer, it is at the top of my list of self contained hammers.

Look at the Say-Mak before you commit yourself.

Thanks for posting this Brian, and thanks to Thomas for the extra link. I made some of these recently and people really like them, I put a key ring on them- very popular item. I also like the going too far and correcting part (something I do a lot of) I need to make a pair of tongs like that now.

I am glad to see that you came to your senses on this. And the comment that you made in your first post about 800 psi not being too dangerous- (not your exact words) I can punch a hole in 1/2 inch plywood with a tennis ball @ 125 psi. I will gladly demonstrate it if you would like to see

You can buy used tanks on craigslist all day long. 20 lb tanks selling for $20 - $200 right now. Also if you have another tank, oxygen, argon, helium you can trade it for another tank with the gas you need. I had an old oxygen tank and traded it for a co2 at my supplier

Find the right cylinder for the application. There are new 20 lb tanks available for $150 - $200 I would get the steel tank for 200, a damaged tank will not be refilled.http://www.ramweldingsupply.com/products-list.mcic?c=68 I was taught to NEVER mess with pressure tanks. There was a guy that blew himself up when I was in welding school. He went to the local supply house and asked for fittings so he could trans-fill an oxygen tank. They told him it was not safe to do so and would not sell him any fittings. He went out with a bang- nothing left. If you did manage to get a valve fit on that fire extinguisher no supply house would fill it. The tanks for welding are rated at 1800 psi

Those are both nice and 9 inches is big!

At the top of the page click on the forum tab, then scroll down to the "feed back and support" tab and there you will find the tailgating section. There is a flypress listed now

How do you spell- stoopid? I had a friend back in the school days that would fill up balloons with oxy- acetylene and the drive with them in the car down to the river and shoot at them to see the balloons go boom! I never rode in the car with him for obvious reasons

I just picked up one of these wagon vises, it is marked Iron City about 16 inches tall 3 3/4 inch jaws. weighs around 30-40 lbs. The price was right- free, but I gave the guy some stuff in trade as there were 3 vises (one complete, one missing the screw box and screw and this wagon vise)