the iron dwarf

deleted my post because I seen yours, did not know it was a fisher but guessed someone who would know would show up soon

NJ answered

hi Kev, im from a few miles north of you in Northants

at my place we teach beginners and make tools and historical items for reenactment, visit if you want

( add your rough location to your profile )

the holes only go about 2" deep but I consider them useful

4 edges with different radii plus the big one on another 4 and 4 sharp edges, some useful holes and divots for riveting and punching, 2 flat faces

well I like it frosty, may have to add that to the wall at my place

you may want to add your general location to your profile as a lot of questions you may ask have location dependant answers

welcome to the asylum

got a bit of 4140 recently and have started work on it

its about a 6" cube ( 150mm cube )

first tried it out and it works ok

next will clean it up a bit and add a different rad to each edge on one face, the opposite face is left with sharp edges.

on one side a couple of holes will be drilled for punching etc and some small divots made for riveting

got a bit of 4140 today 6" by 6" by 13"

also getting some 4" square 4140

going to make a few block anvils

12 hours ago, Henry Irving said:

I appreciate everyone who has replied.

Copper Elf, may I ask what points to Alsop as the manufacturer?  Is the S above the 5th toe common to all or most manufacturers from Sheffield in the 18th century?  And yes, the face slopes toward the 5th toe.  Curiously the face broadens from about 5 1/2 inches near the bick to about 6 inches at the heel.

can you show us a single sheffield anvil with the S mark not made by Alsop, for example a peter wright or any of the other dozens of makers.

and it is a 5th foot not toe ( you may like to check primary sources for that )

The stylized S is the makers mark on early Alsop anvils not on any others

both me and John have visited sheffield foundries and know a little bit about them and their products, what are your sources so we can verify where they got the false details from and can correct them

thank you John, this one has a much clearer makers mark than yours ( which for several cleanings and years of use yours has only recently been revealed ).

will check measurements tomorrow and think it is 154 pounds

made in sheffield England, we have one slightly smaller which is the main shop anvil.

john who knows more about it than me and knows about the maker will prob be posting here later

IF the welding was done perfectly I would still not want to use it for more than a couple of tons and I would test it remotely to double what I was going to use it at and always work out which way things will go for every possible failure point.

on something like that I may go up to 1/4" 7018 rods, thicker metal and better design

table 1" thick with 4 by 2 box on edge on both sides, some triangulation at the top and when testing it use a dial gauge to see if things move under load

9 minutes ago, AdamG said:

Hmmm.  Good to know.  Do you sell yours?  Can't find a website etc.  Even if you do, could you get something like that across a border?  I could look at making one myself, but the point of this thread is that I'd rather get back to forging!

Also, I think that power pack has an internal bypass, so it uses the fast flow/low pressure to get the ram moving, and then the slow flow/high pressure once it hits resistance.  I was going to use electric foot pedals for up and down, and maybe interrupt the signal with roller switches for the top of the travel.

yes I sell them, yes it can go across a border.

yes your power pack with have an internal valve to change speed but that takes time, even if it is a fraction of a second it means it might as well have been on full pressure from the start.

you want limit switches for both top and bottom travel settings and make them easy and fast to set, mine I just spin a nut to change it.

also for slitting or drifting you need to add a stripper plate or you will have hot metal stuck on the tool and the cylinder getting hot while you struggle to remove the tool

that sort is ok for a few minutes use, I tested a similar one a while ago and with continuous use the oil boiled in 8 minutes, mine is ok with 8 hours also that is 2 speed which means time to change over, mine is always on full power and mostly it takes less than 1/4 second from the press starting to move until it is fully in contact with the work which would mean for yours to move at high speed and internally change to high pressure would take longer than mine on high pressure all the time.

you also need to add a double acting solenoid valve to that pump to control it.

will go look at your frame next

if it is faulty take it back to where you got it from if you bought it new recently, air over is never a good idea for forging as they are so slow and have no control.

for each stroke it fully retracts, my press only goes as far as I want in either direction to within about 100th of an inch so all the time yours is moving for a single stroke mine has done several

it does not slow down noticeably when the tool touches the stock, it keeps going until it either reaches the set limit on the relief valve or the limit switch stops it ( or I take my foot off the switch, but at a stroke a second or more it is fast to control on the foot switch ).

overall height of my press is IIRC about 24" and I could have bought a shorter cylinder if I wanted.

I have quick change bottom tools

I can see

JOSHU

WH

DUDLEY

 it looks like some numbers at the bottom and something above the J

made in England

what does it weigh?

check for more markings by lighting it from different angles or rubbing chalk into the marks

thanks Lou, I see you know a bit about it.

Yes Charles spelling is certainly innovative I wrote a book with most of the words spelt phonetically, it was difficult

13 minutes ago, Charles R. Stevens said:

I live for you entertainment, Jerry. (-D

I find your spelling entertaining Charles

not had many visitors from far away places at my shop but a few years ago a guy from australia came to see me at a local event I was demoing at, not because of blacksmithing though, he was a fan of a certain author who has used me in his books and my name was mentioned in the advertising for the event.

he was visiting the town at the time with his wife who came from there, the came over here to meet her family.

upon seeing my name and a mention of the author he wanted to meet me

I can do

my hydraulic forging press either fits on a removable post made to take stake tools or will sit on the anvil, working anything long that is going to be bent and it is normally on the post so it cant tip over

to many here 'old' and 'very old' mean different things than they would to normal people, our main shop anvil is from about 1730 and we have older we think, we have made replicas for museums and reenactors / historical interpreters, recently my assosiate made 3 brass kettles that went to the mary rose museum here in England.

personally I consider 1700 to be 'old' ( of course Thomas was only middle aged then    ) and the 10th century and before to be 'very old' and anything after 1800 is 'new'.

I dont think anyone here was being mean to you Nancy and we only normally make jokes about each other here

you could add what is needed and it will help with speed which is very important for forging, I can get just over 1 stroke per second depending on the job.

near the bottom on page 2 is some pictures of the switches and anti rotation bar on mine

it is also controlled by the footswitch

I can see the control gear there but no linkage to the rod, on mine I can set it in both directions to maybe 100th of an inch