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I have seens scrap rail used for many things Gate crossings gravel screens to screen out rocks I suded several pieces welded side by side to make a treadle hammer anvil The guild of Metalsmiths made a chime that was america the Beautiful and O Canada was played on at the ABANA 2002 conference. As for the clips carbon content. They need to be some type of spring steel as they are held on by tension. Some of he track that comes through my town is dated 1906 so it had to be 10XX as there was no alloy steel till after WW2 in general use. I have converted some of them into punches and damascus. Most were about 1" square and differrent shaped than the present 1/2 circle out of flat bar

most damascus hammers go into a collecton of tools to be displayed not used as hammers. Tom Clark and Hank Knickmier (SP) did one for the 2004 ABANA conference which was raffled off

Welcome to the list What part of MN do you live in. I am in the south central 84 miles from IA and 84 miles from SD near Redwood Falls. This Saturday Tom Latane' will be demonstrating near Euclaire, WI. He is not a bladesmith but is known for his blacksmithing world wide. I believe he will be dmaking wood working tools so he will be heat treating. Tom uses charcoal at his shop and probably on the road. I plan to attend. This is the badger blacksmith group contact info should be on this home page under groups. As for adding carbon you arent going to leave the steel in the fire long enough to matter. If anything you will get more decarb than adding. To add carbon the iron needs to be put in an air tight container with charcoal hide trimmings hooves ect and left for hours at heat correct?

This is how I do chain. I use garage door opener chain which is about the size of bicycle chain. Cut the chain in about 4" lengths lay the pieces side by side with the side links up. Stager each piece so the rivets are offset and they lay nicely together. I do about 5 pieces of chain. arc weld the chain on both ends so they stay together. Weld a handle on one end making it easier to put in and out of the fire. Start to bring the chain up to heat and then flux. Continure bringing up to welding heat. Bring out of the fire and lightly hammer the flats of the chain. This will take the slop out of the billet. You can also tap lightly on the sides to tighten. Put back in the fire to take another welding heat. Bring out and again strike on the links and a little on sides. Dont burn off some of the links. You should be able to see what is welding and what is not. I reduce the chain to about a 1/4 its original thickness trying to get rid of all the voids. I then use 2 of these billets with a thin piece of high carbon in the middle. forge weld these together and again reduce the thickness to helf squease out the voids. If you want the round pools to show in the finished blade you MUST only work the chain with the links showing. If you make a bundle of chain having the links facing here there ect it would look more like chain saw damascus with long irregular pieces. Once the chain is welded into a blade you could always say it is any brand of chain. The Harley primary chain is like timing chain as the sprocket has two sets of teeth.

I use home made charcoal from 2X 4s A lt probably depends on how big your forge firepot is and what you are forging but it appears I use about 30 gallon trash barrel of charcoal a day. I am using an electric blower. Every heat needs at least a handfull of charcoal. I dont seperate hardwood from softwood what every the pallet was made of is good enough for me.

You installed this on the intake correct My hammer just has a roundish can with no filter on the intake and exhaust. I piped the exhaust outside. It should probably have a filter intake but Tom Clark did not say anything about it I think

I live in South Central MN and am always looking for more tools My email is 781@mchsi.com There should be someone from SD here also but you should list the location in the header and maybe get more local response.

Welcome to the group I think Ohio just had their meeting last week Go to this page home page and click on groups to find some in your area.

I agree with the post above. Kaowoll lined forge heats up much faster but a cast or firebrick forge will stay hotter longer if you put in a large cold piece. If just forging knife blanks smaller forge works well But if doing 5# or larger billets a welding heat cold take a very long time. Tools are like vehicles everyone knows which is better only in there mind and 50% or more disagree Are you using a blower or normally asperated forge? Blown forge should heat faster.

The Knife demonstrator at BAM (I did not get his name) welded a handle on one end and a piece of flat stock on the other to put in the vise to twist with. This made sense as less cable is wasted by not being twisted later. He heated the cable and untwisted it to open up to wire brush the inside. He then retwisted it tighter than original. Fluxed reheated and welded under an air hammer. He had home shop made air hammers that realy performed. I just weld on a handle and flux. I do my welding in a half round bottom swage welding the bar round first then flatten into blade stock. As mentioned in the earlier post make sure it dosnt have a hemp center.

Pure nickel does not like to stick to its self. I use thin sheet nickel and it seems to weld just as easy to steel as steel to steel I always use the nickel in the interior layers not on the outer layer. Try to weld flat a couple of heats before striking on the edge.

Welcome aboard. UMBA has an august hammer in at the steam show at edgerton, WI Some tailgating there but not much Not sure they picked a demonstrator yet Possibly Pat Mccarty from MO Next UMBA meeting is at Haverhill, IA, May 16/17 kGo to the home page and check out groups for more info

Try a touch rod to see what temp is the right temp Draw a point on a piece of 3/16 round. Start heating the larger pieces When close to the heat you think is right heat the pointed 3/16 to the same temp. touch the two together in the fire. If it will not stick in the fire it will not stick on the anvil. Sometimes just puching the touch rod to the other piece will weld them enough you cant get them apart. Doesnt hurt to flux the touch rod also.

Bought two Hoffi/Tom Clark demonstration pieces at the BAM auction Sat night. Tim Ryan said not to brag about stealing works of art at a benifit auction but here goes anyway. Thelma Clark donated several pieces from Tom's private collection to BAM which sold them at their conference auction. The Hoffi only marked piece apears to be made from 1 1/4" round stock. It is a rams head 16" long that holds a large axe The Axe appears to be made from 1 1/2" X 3" bar with a split and drifted eye. Total length is 10". It has Hoffi and TC touch marks along with 3 others I dont recognize. Both are stamped 6 1998 I will try to post pictures later

Call Sid and ask The Son of the blacksmith from my town said his fathers LG used to break springs quite regularly. Not sure What type of adjustment or lack of them was on his and your hammers. Sid and Cari (SP) where at the BAM conference in MO this week, not sure when they will be back to the shop

Dr Jim Batson used to sell plans for a hydralic knife press I see one get used every year at his conference in Alabama UMBA Online has quite a few members in Wisconson or if you are near MN there is the guild of metalsmiths. You can find their web adress by going to this pages home page and check out groups. The next UMBA meeting is at Haverhill, Ia May 16/17 It will be on forging not knives As for powerhammers Clay spencer sell tire hammer plans There is the rusty hammer plans Kinyon air hammer plans Several tgreadle hammers plans

I just got home to Minnesota from the BAM conference. Had a great time but did not watch Mark Watched Corina Mensoff and Lucian Avery Both were excellent I spent too much $$ at the auction but ended up with the Aspery demo items and two beautifull Hoffi/Tom Clark pieces. I will try to post pictures later. The hoffi piece was a large rams head that the feet held a very large axe Both were made in 1998 and donated by to BAM auction by Thelma Clark

dont think yhou will be able to do a decent bark on steel cold unless you have one of those imported expensive rolling machines for hot work I use a top/bottom die made by cutting lines in the dies with a cold chisel. I have also seen ones made by cutting with a thin abrasive grinder

Finn You make good points about the air versus mechanical hammer. I know you should adjust a mechanical hammer but the only time I losened the adjusting nut was when I rebuilt one of my 50# LGs but with my air hammer I can chisel/ butcher, put in top/bottom tools ect. I also know there is not much chance of changing Clifton's way of thinking either. Most of the large hammer people I have watched can trace at least some of their learning back to Clifton Ralph as in at least my opinion HE IS THE HAMMER MAN You listed the people in the DVD Correctly. They were using an Iron Kiss hammer built by John Larson. It was about the only demonstration I saw Nathan Roberson (hand hammer maker) sit through the whole thing. Usually he is out in the tail gate area talking

Of course we keep buying I personally am trying for a two day or longer estate sale after I pack it in. I even keep buying power hammers that I dont need. They might have to have an auction just to get rid of enough stuff to find the rest.

Have you tried the search button on this site?

When planning to forge cable the first thing I do is check to see if the center is fiber instead of steel. If fiber I take the cable apart I sometimes take multible strands of the cable pieces wiring them into a larger bundle than the original cable. This bundle looks strange as I just lay multiple strands next to each other and dont try to put them back into the original cable shape. I use 3 or 4 times the original strands. When ever I weld cable I use a half round bottom swage to support the bundle. I weld into a round bar then forge into flat stock. Sometimes after the welds are made and when it is still round I twist the bar some clock some counter clock. I dont take the cable to white Bring it up to orange remove the air flow to let the center catch up Make the first blows light you can feel the bar get solid then hit harder. This is the same if using a hand hammer or power hammer. Cable is always mushy when first starting to weld I use anhydrous boarax from a chemical wholesaler it doesnt foam up and fall off.

Clay Spencer When he was touring with his treadle hammer (before the now famous tire hammer) showed boxes of tooling that was remade from ball pien hammers Punches, fullers, butchers, chisels everything you needed as a top tool he made from garage sale pall pien hammers. Most of the work is already done by having the eye already made. Not to hijack this thread but Robb Gunter shows cutting the claw off a claw hammer and forging the head into an adze blade. It has a square eye and woodworkers love them for big $$$. He recomended you to give them a high polish. Said wood workers are just like a crow they cant leave a pretty adze lay on your trade table.

Welcome Where is devon

Yes it was John Adolph If you get a chance to go to any demo he is doing GO see him Great talk on flame straightening Pricks Bricks no spell check and bad fingers