esensible

I prefer square shanked hardy tools since I also use them in my fly press and vice and square is simple. Most of my hardy tools have quite short shanks. I have a broken heal on my anvil, so made my own solid bolster for hardy tools. The bolster is a 2" thick slab welded on 4 upright 3" bars about 10" long. To make the square hole, I drilled a bunch of small holes and then chiseled it out. At 5", you have a much thicker piece of stock, but if you run hardies with a small shank, there is no need to chisel a square hole all the way through.

I have made a stand alone hardy holder since the top plate on my anvil is broken off diagonally through the hardy. The height is not adjustable, but it is heavy enough & could be made adjustable. I started with an 8" round disk around 1.5" thick then drilled, cold chiseled and finally drifted (just to clean it up) a square hardy hole. On the bottom I have welded 4 x 3" diameter by 12" long bars. The whole thing is on a stand with caulking to kill vibration. The whole thing is a good concentrated mass and is very quiet - better in both respects than a traditional hardy.

I have a hand-cranked rivet forge which doubles as a BBQ. I just drop a grill on top & it's good to go. Needless to say, I only ever burn charcoal in that particular forge. The really great thing is that with the hand-crank, it goes from cold to cooking coals in a few minutes - much better than the webber!

Are there any details for the hammer-in available? I'd like to see what he does with all those big hammers! andrew

Hofi, are you able to elaborate on where you learned the craft? You must have had at least a few influences on your thinking over the years? I've only ever read about how completely different your technique is and how your tools are not related to any traditional style. Given that several of the people mentioned were in fact your own students, I don't see how their technique can be so COMPLETELY different - or are you saying they were just bad students?

Mines a large blower with an integral 3ph motor. Not having 3ph, I stripped the coils, rotor etc from the shaft, turned it down and fit a pulley. Cut out a slot in the 2ph case for the belt to come out & drove it with an old pump motor from the dumpster of a pool place nearby.