beslagsmed

Making tools and using them, for me that's one of the fun parts of smithing. To say "I made it" is great. Good job. If you're like me, after your done you start looking at how to do it better next time.

Here's a pic of one anvil stand I made and how I secured it. Under the anvil I welded a metal strip across the stand, bored a hole for the bolt to pass through. Also between the anvil and the stand I have rubber mat to deaden the ring.

Mikel, that is a very nice looking hawk, especially for your first one. They'll only look better from here on. Thanks for sharing.

I figured out how to post pic to a thread, so here is a pic of what my touchmark is.

Thanks Sam. I stumbled on it once, but couldn't find it. Appreciate the help.

Ok, I got the pic loaded this time. I'm not as computer savy as some!!

This is my first Hawk. It was from a ballpeen hammer in which the ballpeen head had been modified for farrier work, so the other end is not as big as it should be, but the blade turned out fairly well. Although no power hammer was abused in making this, my new Krusty did lend a hand in making it :D

I retired from the Army Reserve as a SGM, so I had a stamp with my rank made, this is my mark.

Great job. I too like the "unfinished" look in somethings. Some knives I do, I don't buff and polish out. I thinki it give the work it's own personality!!

Great lookin work. I will guarentee I will not abuse but will use my power hammer to make one. I know it is a lot of "arm strong" work!!

I really like your axe heads Mikel.
The texturing from the teeth really makes it stand out.
I'm curious, do the teeth along the cheeks and around the eye of the axe ever cause the axe to bind up when splitting wood?

Thanks for sharing.

Sam

While in Idaho I worked as a guide and hunted all the time. When I moved to Denmark I needed to find something to do with my time as hunting over here is not hunting for me. Being a farrier, having the anvil, gas forge it was a natural progression to blacksmithing as a hobby. I later found a coal forge, built different tongs and started doing pieces out of old shoes. I like making knives so that brought me to build the power hammer. You guys know how addicting this stuff can be!!

Just posted(double) of an axehead I made yesterday. I like to make these and give away to people. They are from my old farrier files. I bend it over, leaving about 1" overhang. Hammerweld, then bend the overhang over and hammer weld it giving the blade more bulk, plus when sharpening I don't sharpen the weld. Great for the small stuff.

I've always heard that smithing with charcoal is a blacksmith no-no, so to speak. How did you manage to do it? I've never even bothered to try working with charcoal.

Good job. One thing for sure, there will never be another "first leaf", so keep it or a pic to show where you came from and how far you have gone. Nothing like pounding iron into a shape!!

Glad to have you here. I am from Idaho, grew up in SW, later moved to Salmon where I worked. Forging is great. Have fun, and glad you're here.

Great thread as I am looking at making a new pad for my machine. I was trying to think how to secure it down, but now have great ideas thanks to the posters of this thread.

Belt life is not great in that design, especialy since the motor pulley has so litle belt contact. This could be greatly improved by moving the idler pulley so that the belt wrapped mostly around the motor pulley. The vee-belt slip clutch will always be a weak link though, the belt may last for a year or so. It may have beeb rigged this way purposefully though. Other than that, the next potencial high wear area is the ram guides, there are various methods to reduce this wear.

If one were to build a similar hammer from scratch, it would be good to mount the motor directly under the pitman crank. The idler can then increase surface area to both pulleys upon engagement, yet the belt can hang slack and not grab the motor pulley when at rest.

It's amazing what one can find while driving around. I am a farrier over here. One day at a customer's place behind the shed I saw a portable forge - complete. I ask the lady what she was doing with it. She said her husband was going to haul it to the scrapyard. I ask if I could have it. She said yea, so I got a complete portable coal forge, with working blower for free!!

Will be interesting to see how the outcome if for you.

Maddog,
That's exactly the game plan. I understand great minds think alike!!

Anderson,
I have no idea to your questions, but guess I will find out.

Hi Dave, Welcome to the site, if you go to the groups section on this forum you can see what we are doing as a guild in the UK, or check out our website www.blacksmithsguild.com Although we are based at the other end of the country to you, if we can help then feel free to ask.

Good luck in your new venture.

Looks good, runs nice, I think you will get a lot more done with it once you get it properly mounted. You are loosing lots of energy with it moving around like that.

Finally got my Krusty going today. It took me a while to get it going. Had some trouble with the foot pedal, but got some advice from one of the members. In the video it is a little unsteady as my floor is not as flat as it should be. Once I select the place it will stand, I am cutting out the floor and going to redo it to accomedate the vibration of the hammer.

Hello,
I am an American living in Denmark working as a farrier. In my spare time I like to make damascus blades and fool around a bit. Here is a link to some of the stuff I have done: http://beslagsmed.tripod.com/Page6.htm

I retired as a SGM from the Army Reserve. Been to Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Iraq and many other countries. Just finishing building a Krusty Power hammer. Will post a pic when I get the chance.

Am having some troubles with the foot pedel, but will post in the correct area for that subject. Am looking forward to the site and meeting many of you.

Mikel Dawson