ertwdan

Gobbler, What size of spring did you use on this hammer? Approximately how much did you preload the spring? I've seen on some other tire hammers that had an adjustment for the spring. Does anyone know if this is really helpful? Is an adjustment on the horizontal arms helpful? I'm trying to determine how complex I should try and make the linkage for my hammer. Sorry for the flurry of questions, but I'm almost ready to commence construction.

ertwdan combines my first name (Dan) with one of my favourite obnoxious Acronyms from university. ERTW (Engineers Rule The World). As a mechanical engineer I think it's funny.

I would recommend trying to track down the Western Canadian Blacksmiths Guild. They used to have a great website, but it has disappeared recently. If I remember right, the guys at Fort Edmonton were decent. Heritage Park in Calgary also has a potential contact point. There are lots of schools and courses here in Ontario, so if you're down this way there could be some good learning opportunities. There is a Blacksmith Museum on Lacombe (not too sure how far away that is for you) which could have some resources for you. My final advice, read everything you can here on Iforgeiron, ask questions, and then get out and try it. This group always provides good advice and of course, encouragement.

My wife asked me about the coverage for my shop now that I have a coal forge operating in it. We've been through the wringer before with our wood stove and I've been a little reluctant to mention too much to the insurer as there is a chance that the adjuster wouldn't understand the finer points of forge installation. Wood stoves actually have a certified installer program (WETT) here in Canada and the regulations are very stringent. My forge is a different beast altogether. I'm a firm believer in "I'd rather beg forgiveness that ask permission". I guess my question is "If you are running a small hobby-shop, do you carry special insurance" Has anyone had any good (or bad) experiences with insurers? I'd sure appreciate any advice if you guys have any.

What was the offense? I'd hate to say the wrong thing and be banned as well. If it was deserved....well, as a community we need to be reminded that upholding a clean forum is also important. The subject is metalworking and metalworkers....and those subjects are 'dirty' enough.

Junk-Yard is an affectionate term that I apply to all home-built hammers. The Tire hammer (much like the Rusty/Dusty) is always open to the interpretation of the individual smith. The best way to build one is to take one of the courses. Not everyone can make it to, or afford this method. That leaves guys like me to rummage through the scrap bin at work and prospecting through the junk-yard for materials that will come close to the Spencer designs. The real challenge in any home-built hammer is to construct something that is safe and effective. Good luck building whatever you want/need, just ensure that they're well built and well-guarded. There are a lot of forces involved in one of these hammers, make sure that they never get directed at you.

If you're going to put in the effort into a hammer you're better off looking at building the power hammer and ensuring that you encorporate a brake on the wheel. This will help you control the hammer to deliver 1 hard blow for using dies or set-tools(like a treadle) or full-on drawing down (like a power hammer). Also check out the Clay Spencer Tire Hammer. It is also a junk-yard hammer, but it requires less of a footprint in your shop. The treadle is a good starting point, but you really won't put too much more work into a power hammer and you can do so much more.

Mechanical Engineer in an underground salt mine pays the bills Blacksmithing keeps the soul intact. Salary has many forms....

Publius Varrus, soldier, blacksmith, leader, creator of Excalibur Good stuff....You can never go wrong with a kick-xxx blacksmith lead character.

Absolutely the best forging music is Metallica - get it up loud enough to drown out the anvil the rapid-fire drumming and attacking bass and guitar...nothing gets the old hammer moving faster and better than that. Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, the Mudmen (mudmen.ca..yes that is "Lost" you heard on the Black Donnellys - World Champion Pipers with Heavy Metal), and of course AC/DC.

I started up the new forge this weekend using charcoal to start and coal once everything was up to temperature. There was no appreciable levels of smoke and due to the fact I have a large chimmney (10" x 14") the was a certain amount of dilution. This seems to be a good way to keep from drawing the wrong type of attention to your hobby.

I looked at at using a wet scrubber. The big drawback to any type of scrubber or precipitator is that you need to use a hot-gas induced draft fan. This is a fan that is in the hot side of the flue and sucks the flue gas through the scrubber. The flue gas won't travel through the scrubber without some force. Doing this cheaply is not easy. The real issue is keeping bearings in the ID fan. Most cheaper fans (like the furnace variety) are made to run in clean air. The grit and temperature is hard on fans as the remaining fly ash will stick to the fan blades and possibly upset the balance. An unbalanced fan will wipe out the bearings fairly quickly. I've seen this on a large power boiler....not pretty. So, gas forge it is......but only if the neighbours won't let you keep burning coal.

Etienne, Try using charcoal to get the fire started and up to forging temperature, then mix in the coal from the outside of the fire, pushing into the centre. As the coal "cokes" the volitiles will be burned off by the heat of the charcoal fire. Eventually you end up with a coke fire, with little to no smoke. A good stack is essential and there are a lot of resources online that will help you out on the road to designing/building your forge stack. Also, check out Thak the Blacksmith &Armourer- Ontario, Canada Thak (Robb Martin) sells smithing coal in Canada and due to his location, he has worked out a deal with Home Hardware to ship 70 lb bags to any of their locations. E-mail Rob and he will let you know how to approach you local Home Hardware dealer (I believe you have one in Granby) so that he doesn't think you're a nut. Your insurance company are proabably the only one's that can cause you real trouble. Things get ugly if they deny you home insurance because you have a blacksmith shop in your backyard. Little trinkets (like hand-forged bottle openers) are great "bribes" for the neighbours. I've also tried to let the neighoburs know that they can have things built and repaired at my shop for a very small fee if they like. If you neighbours are customers, they usually a little more reluctant to cause a stir. Well....Bonne chance

Looks good...I was quite worried about draw on my chimney design but now that I see yours working I can see that I'm probably going to be ok. Let us know if you have any draw issues.

Here's one froma Newfie buddy of mine "He's 'bout half a bubble off level" If you're proud of a job well done then it's "Smart like a smack in the face" Gotta love Newfoundland English

I figure that these hammers look a lot like the old walking-beam engines on the old paddle-wheel steam ships.....hmmmmm now if only I had access to a boiler.....

Thanks Mark...I'd actually been looking at your creation online for something to follow. It is impressive. If you could, I'd love to see more pictures from differnet angles and if you want to share, any "if I could have done something different" stories I would certainly enjoy hearing them. I'm really torn between the tire-hammer and the spring Helve.....decisions decisions.......

Thanks for the info ....now you have me thinking...always a dangerous thing to do to a guy who engineers by day and blacksmiths by night....If you have any pictures or even rudimentary sketches of you tire-hammer (other than the ones on Anvilfire) I'd sure love to see them. Perhaps even submit them as a Blueprint here on IForgeIron (see I'm helping Glenn) hmmmmm now it's time to head back to the shop and start sketching.......

DonS...you are awesome....Thanks for all the specs...This is helping me out when it comes to the design of my own hammer. I had a 30 spring and now I'm definitely going to use a much bigger one. I'm also going to look at the boneyard here at work for a suitably sized flywheel/pulley for the hammer. I think I 'll go ahead and tray and built the Appalacian style....toggle arms are a litttle daunting right now...I look forward to you pictures when you get back off the road......

Thanks DonS Keep the info coming....it's starting to make me lean towards the toggle link head instead of the Appalachian. Have you guys ever tried the differential/emergency brake - based drive that Anvilfire shows on their JYH. I'm wondering if that might work with the toggle-arm of the NC hammer. DonS if you have a picture of you hammer I'd love to see them as the pictures on the Appalachian site is not all that clear. Is the hammer/slide a piece of square tubing inside square tubing arrangement? I also agree with you on the mechanical aspect of the hammer...if it's not making noise and present at least one method of getting maimed it's just not that interesting. Besides that the only compressor I can afford is the one's from Canadian Tire and I know that they don't have the service factor to maintain a long session of forging. Please let me know everything you can......as you guys in Edmonton know winter is coming and there's 6 months of darkness to try and keep busy through...

Thanks for the info... I really wish I could go to some hammer building clinics but NC is over 3 days of driving from where I live......one of the the drawbacks to living up in "God's Country"...it's a long way to anywhere...If you guys hear of anything going on in Northern Minnesota I'll definielt have to try and make it...

I don't currently have an air compressor so I'm limited to a mechanical style hammer for the time being.....I'm also a mechanical engineer so I'm a little partial to the rotating machinery