infinityblacksmithing

Could you, or anyone else, tell me a bit more about the balance. My assumption about the balance is to have equal weight on each side of the eye. I have found that the majority of store bought hammers have more material on the face side then the pein. When I started this hammer I drilled small pilot holes for slitting and drifting the eye so it would be in the center of the bar, length wise and width wise.

My thought on the temper was since it was on the lower end of medium carbon that having it a little harder would be better. If I find it to be too hard I can always redo the heat treating process. I am going to test if out for a few days and see how I like it before tempering the other hammers.

Wesley, Thank you for your concern as I do understand it to be dangerous as is. However, I'm sure you missed it, I did mention that it was just temporary. I just had to try it out and only had about 30 mins left in the shop. That would be why it is just secured with a couple of nails. I wanted it to be easy to take out for the permanent handle.

This is my first attempt at a hammer. I felt like I wanted a straight pein, so I made one. I am also working on a diagonal pein, and a double diagonal pein just for fun. I think this hammer was a great success aside from being a little smaller then I wanted. It is just under 2 lbs, I was trying for around 2 1/2 lbs. Both ends are tempered to a brown, just shy of purple. I didn't want them to hard and am testing out how I like it before I temper the other two hammers. I don't know what the steel was, it was from a 6ft pry bar I found in my Grandma's garage. It's somewhere in a medium carbon range, I've made two hardies out of it both of which have held up very nicely. The handle is just temporary, I want to have a rectangular shaped handle once I either find or make one. Let me know what you all think of it. Also, I would be interested to hear what you all have tempered your hammers to. Thanks for looking, Aaron By the way, the touchmark used on it is my first attempt at one that I posted about today aswell.

This is my first attempt at a touchmark. I'm not completely happy with it, and have decided to make one with a depression instead. So, it would be a square or cicle with the mark raised when put into a piece. The piece I tested this on after I tested on a piece of cold lead was a straight pein hammer I finished today. I misaligned on the second hit so there are 2 marks overlapping each other. It will do until I get time to work on another one. Let me know what you all think. By the way, the image is supposed to be two open ended hearts upside down to each other and overlapping to form an infinity symbol in the middle. The ends are too far apart for my liking. That is where my business name comes from, Infinity Blacksmithing.

If I remember correctly from looking up the info on Peter Wrights when I got mine, yours would be made definately after 1900, or more likely after 1910. The number you think is a serial number is going to be an add on by a previous owner, and the number on the base is from an importer or original seller. I hope this is correct. Aaron

A couple thoughts I had reading this. I personally wouldn't use a plastic or rubber mallet, not really a fan of burning plastic or rubber. I prefer wooden mallets. Also, I would not advise using claw hammers especially as a beginner. Depending on the rebound of your anvil, and your stance and how you swing there is a chance of getting the claw in your face. Just something to think of. Good hunting at the market.

For the hot cut, One I used when I started out before I could make a proper one. I cut the tang end off of an old file, with about 2 inches of the file( you could also use a shaped piece of leaf spring). Welded that to a piece of mild bar the same length as the tang(the tool steel was preheated before welding). The two together made the size of my hardy. Then just sharpened the end. Never bothered to heat treat it. It lasted about a year without much problems, just had to resharpen it 2 or 3 times. The file part ended up braking in half after I decided to quench it one day after cutting a bunch of 1/4" x 2" flat bar. The next time I used it it snapped in half.

And why did I not find that one?? You paid less then I payed for my 113lbs peter wright. I believe I speak for many when I say we need some pictures.

You will enjoy learning from him. If you can manage it try and take his basic and intermediate courses. You will learn a ton of stuff from him, and he is more then willing to answer more questions that you would have.

Where are you taking classes from? If your going for a propane forge, I would suggest going and making one with David Robertson. I made one with him that I have been using for over a year now. It runs great and gets to welding temps without a problem. If you check out his site he recently put up a video making a damascus billet. He also does weekend courses, in which you would learn useful things like making punches, tongs, etc. Good luck with setting up your shop. *Just saw that you already said that you were going for a class to make your own forge.

FYI- that video is from David Robertson here in Ontario. He's the guy who taught me how to smith when I started out. Great guy and an amazing teacher.

Definately unusual with an elongated neck and jaw area. Outside of that it has alot of the features of the PW post vises I've seen, So I would guess that it is a PW.

I'd agree with what everyone is saying about seasoning the pieces, as that is the time tested method. However, you could also use a high temp paint for parts that won't be touching the food.

If you complied all of them to hang on a wall or an a stand somehow you could easily get an art gallery to put it on show. Would be really interesting to see them all attached around a pipe or something similar. Post a pic if you do it, I'd like to see.

Makes a different looking finish. I saw a straight peen in similar condition that I wanted to get at a flea market but they wouldn't budge on the $15 tag, so I left it. Sucks cause it was the first straight peen I've seen in 2 years. Oh well.

Another thought, though it limits it to having to be attached to a stud is to use forged nails instead of screws. Hope it helps.

Just a thought for you, take it how you will. A good way to get your body back closer to a proper state is to go on a strict vegan diet for 3-4 months. Then after that time slowly reintroducing meat, eggs, cheese, milk etc. back into your diet. It allows your body to recover itself, which it is built for. If you do it and cheat you will really feel a difference in how you feel after eating meat. Makes you wonder if thats how you regularly felt. I've been doing it for a couple months, not strictly, and I feel so much better. My energy is way up, my weights going down regularly without extra exercise outside of work, my insides feel much better. etc.. It is quite hard to do but seems worth it. You could even just try for a week and see if it is worth it to you. You'll already notice a change after a week. Its alot easier if you like beans, lentils, etc. Hope this helps. Aaron

If you were near me I'd sell you the one thats been sitting in my shop for the last 2 years. However, now you've given me an idea on what to do with it.

Have you thought about just getting a smaller leg vise for the setup. One of the short ones that are around 30 or 40 lbs would be portable enough. You could even create a mount for it that could swing up to lie on top of the setup when moving it, or have it attached in a way that could easily be taken off. I saw one portable forge setup last year I think at the Rockton fair. The guy had probably a 70lbs vice mounted near the corner that would sit on the ground, then when the handles would be lifted to push/pull it around the leg would lift off the ground. Seemed like a good idea. Hope this helps.

I'll let you know tomorrow what I come up with. I'll be getting them in the morning and bringing them back to my house. I told them that anything that is over 12" diameter that they cut in 2' sections I would take so we will see what they did. There was I think 4 trees that they cut down. Also a correction on the type of tree. They are Walnut trees, so still good wood for stumps.

Hi Everybody, I'm going on Monday morning to collect a bunch of pieces of a willow tree that were just cut down today. I talked to the crew and they are going to cut them all roughly 24" long, some will be a bit smaller and some will be larger. They will all be at least 12" diameter up to maybe 16". They should all be cut fairly parallel. I got one piece today that they cut for me thats about 24" X at least 18" diameter and its almost perfectly flat. There cutting it like nicely for me since its actually saving them work because they don't want to haul around the larger pieces. So, if any one wants one or more just let me know. They will just be sitting in my backyard for when people want them. I already got the ones I want, then told them I would take more to help them get rid of the excess amount of wood. There will probably be about 12 of them. They are located in Brantford, but I would be willing to haul them to any of OABA meeting that I attend. Hope this will help some of you.

One thing I have not seen anyone say is to eat fruit throughout the day too. It helps me feel restored alot of the time. Also, make a hammer rack on a skinny long table that can hold a big box fan. You can sit it to the side of you where your working on your anvil. Just far enough back that its not blowing on the anvil, causing your hot bar to cool to quickly. Seems to work for me.

Looks pretty good. The artist seems to have some pretty good line work.

Looks alot like a peter wright, but the ears seem a little short. The end of the leg seems to have broken off at some point. Same with the end of the bell. As doctor said it really isnt anything special to make a new spring. I made mine of mild steel, just a short 1/2" 90 at the top that catches onto the bracket. Then curved enough it will hold pressure against the other leg at its fullest open position. Easy way to do the ears is to fishtail out the last 1/2-1"and form over the chamfered part of the leg. I ended up taking the screw out and opening the leg way up and bending the the spring further to hold more pressure. I hope this helps. Aaron