jason0012

I had a dozen items on ebay. Sold two today and funds were put on hold. Pending delivery? I am no longer on ebay as a result- and they were really not helpfull. Is there a better sales site?

Trip hammers just got displaced by better technology, like 8 tracks or beta max. They work , and worked steadily for centuries, but a steam or mechanical hammer is more versatile. Just ad the modern preference for air hammers pushed mechanical hammers out. I always wanted to get to see some good info on them. I have hunted for, and come up short, into on commercially produced trip hammers. Pratt and Whitney built them at one time. That was probably pre civil war. I have seen a few (very few) photos of them

I have always run my forges from bottled gas supplies through a propane rated hose. Now I am looking at permanent installation in my shop with a 1000 gallon tank outside. It is currently plumbed for the hvac only. I am going to need to run a branch line to run the forges, either copper or iron pipe from what I can tell code is indifferent. What I am a bit fuzzy on is the connection between the hard line and forge. Am I ok using the rubber hose, or is there something better? ( more legal) I se absolutely no mention of hose at all in the code aside from the metal flex hose used for residential appliances.

I would pick the little giant. The blue is an air hog. A 5hp compressor may not be enough. Little giants did not originally have a break on the flywheel. Many of us have added them to gain control for tooling. A 50 pound lg is kind of small but will do a lot of work. It will run on a motor as small as a 1 1/2 hp, though bigger is better. My experience with utility hammers like the blue is that they run well if ( big IF) you can feed them an absolute crazy amount of air. They have awsome control- far beyond self contained hammers, but getting there costs a lot of input power. The ka75 is one I often forget about. I wouldn't mind having one myself come to think of it...

I have been fighting to get some order in the new shop and the power hammer tools have been hard to keep track of. In the old shop I had about 200 nails driven into the wall that they hung from. Here that isn't an option. I have two shelves, two tables, an as yet unused coal forge, and various buckets and milk crates. It can be difficult to find what I am looking for when I need it. Picking up today I found about 30 hacks! I do have a habit of just making more, which doesnt help much with the clutter

For anyone with a newer 250 than mine, how much vertical adjustment does your hammer have ? I am looking at putting a more modern style cross head on mine. It looks like there is plenty of clearance.

3 1/2 inch is pretty big to sledge out by hand. I guess it's possible (?) But that sounds like an awful lot of work. If you could locate someone with a press it would be well worth buming some time in someone else's shop. For stock that size my 250 pound could do it, but I dont like working that big under the 100. It is really kind of big for even the 250. A press works big stuff more effectively. The easiest approach might be to lathe down your taper and weld on a hardy shank

I have wondered how much overlap there is here. NOMMA membership has been on my to do list for quite a while.

My die block is in. 4x9x15 4140. Now to cut 5 inch blocks out of it

I am tempted to add a cross head with vertical adjustment, just not sure if there is room. I would love to convert to a rear clutch, but a 3 1/4 shaft is pretty big. I would feel a lot better to have new Babbitt anyway.

Odd, the video posted yesterday, now it looks like its gone. 20190404_100021.mp4

This video is from the first time I powered the hammer. The clutch was locked up from many years of storage, but it gives a fair sense of the hammers operation. Video did not work

It was the first year. They figured out that it needed the hight adjustment about 1921 I think. Sidd apologised for the lack of info on this one since there apparently are very few like it. That is one reason I have been trying to post as much as I can about it. It is an oddball. For example, it stalls completely if it gets grease or oil in the clutch cone. It wont move at all, I can stand on the treadle with both feet and the clutch just spins not moving anything. Clean it out and it runs fine. No telling what sort of material the lining is, i would assume leather or composition belting. It doesnt look any different from other little giant clutches.

The reality of the rebar availability is online the website says they have it but the folks at the store of course get that glazed over look when you ask about it. I have some of the higher grades rebar from a construction company. I ran a few pairs of tongs and have to admit I am disappointed. The texture is kind of a pain, but it just is not up to being the weight I want. These pick up tongs work fine, but, aside from thier being extra fugly, weigh about twice what they should. This stuff just doesn't have the spring to it that I am looking for. Oh well, back on the trail for tong stock. If all else fails maybe some of the quarries will have old sucker rod. ( I havent seen it, doesnt mean it isnt there)

Upset and squared to roughly 3.5x3.5. Started 8.5 finished at 5 inches long

I have been trying to source tool steel with limited success. It seems a lot of folks around me use Alro, but my contact with them has left me with serious sticker shock. I would like to find a reliable source for 4140, 5160, 6150 or similar. I have some scrap sources which are fine for my own shop tools but for product use I would like to have new stuff. Is 4140 really $28 a pound?

How about drilling a round hole that the hardy tool will fit through then bolting a plate over it with a square hole. Several sizes can be made , and it avoids having to cut a square hole through 2 inches of cast iron. Or you can make a bolster block the size of your hardy and clamp it to the table

Forging some blocks for hammers today. Starting stock was 2.5 inch hydraulic hammer bits. The gun end with it's weird cut squared up really nicely. I did not get to the 10 pound chunk today. I was planning to try upsetting with the corner of the hammer, but am not comfortable with putting that kind of abuse into my 100 year old sow block. Much to my surprise, the hammer will cycle with it between the dies. Tomorrow I will square this up. I am not used to having this much stroke. ( this hammer has no vertical adjustment)

Again, not 4130, but near enough. Its astm not ansi, but here it is

Why on earth would you look to the MSDS for alloy data? I was looking at ansi spec for grade 60 rebar. It is for high stress applications. Grade 100 and 120 look real interesting , and there are higher grades. Grade 60 and 80 are pretty commonly available. Buy 30-40 tons at a time and 4140 gets cheap. I dont want that much and am not ok with paying alro's $415 mark up on a single bar. That is why I use old springs. I hate to have to process that extensively, but for the money that bar stock is off the table.

Which steel can you get a ton of cheap? That's the best to use. I like H-13 for punches and chisles but everything else is a mix of 4140,4130,4150,5160,1045,6150,9260,1095, and W-1 depending on what is available.

This one. It is not 4130, the chromium is too low but it has nickle, vanadium, and molybdenum. Actual properties should be pretty close to 4130. Rail clips are not a listed alloy, but are very near either 5160 or 9260, they have some Si and are just a smidge lower in Cr.

Where I live sucker rod is about as common as moon rocks. I would hate to try forging tong reins without the power hammer.

I just recently was put onto rebar. It used to be made from bumpers and beer cans, but construction graded rebar has regulated composition. Grade 60 is pretty close to 4130 (though not quite). I have always made tongs from rail clips- I used to have a good source, but it dried up. I called Alro about some 3/4 inch 4140 and am a bit shocked by the $430 price for a 20 ft bar. #6 grade 60 rebar is $13 and change for a 20 ft bar at menards. Rebar is still experimental for me, but thus far it looks good.

Having been through a modern blacksmiths apprenticeship, I can say it is not quite as austere as you make it out. Your description was an exaggeration, but not entirely off base. The number of such positions is pretty slim, and they are not " bill paying jobs". Most full time smiths just dont have the means or desire to babysit. Classes at the various schools are a better route and definately set up tools at home and try things yourself- it wasn't to long back that many of us started with junky old tools and the three or four books that were on print back then. Regardless of your source of instruction, you will likely destroy lots of iron before this gets easy. On the up side, iron is cheap- be glad you arent having to fumble around with gold. Groups such as ABANA and its local affiliates can help and there are groups in most parts of the country that can help get you started. There are links on this site that can help you find them.