Johnny Woolsey

I have been forging pretty regularly for more than a year and although I feel I have always had good coordination in other tasks I have never been satisfied with my hammer control.

Thanks to all the opinion and experience on this forum and especially Mr. Hofi and Mr. Brazeal. The discussions about gripping the handle with basically the thumb and index finger finally sank in in the last week.

I practiced the grip and very quickly realized I was GUIDING the hammer instead of SWINGING and my hammer control is very much improved.
( And if it reduces stress as it obvious does its a win/win deal.)

Thanks again to all whom meet and freely share their knowledge here at Iforge Iron. I consider all of you my Teachers.

Humble Apprentice:)
Johnny

Beautiful work!

Very well done, Nelson.
I hope the wife is now well. The emotion you describe is the dividing line between Fine Art and Craft in my opinion. If you can continue to express emotion so effectively through your work you enforce the connection between the Artist/Art and the viewer. I believe this connection is the most important reason people purchase Art.
Again, very nice work!
Johnny

Thanks for the kind words. All the great work I see here at IFORGEIRON really helps me strive to raise the bar.

You'all are pretty good company too!

I LIKE it!! What is the finished height? The photo angle makes it appear quite tall

Just finished this pc. I used 48" of 1x2 for the body and 5 pcs. of 1x1x14" for the leaf elements. It is all mortise and tenoned to the fabricated base.
Johnny

Very nice! ...I must practice, practice, practice,...
Johnny

Very nice. The rose is outstanding and I really like the floating effect of the detailed arrows.
Johnny

Neat video! I am curious as to the final drifting for the nail size. In the video this was done from the back side. I did my first header from the top and if I don't leave enough material it would squeeze though. Seems like drifting from the rear would solve this problem?
Johnny

On my first spring helve I stayed pretty close to the design from Jerry Allen.Seemed to need more mechanical stroke to achieve an effecient hit.
When I built my second hammer I beefed up the bottom of my spring stack to get the hammer up with less "flex". I was able to increase the speed and shorten the mechanical stroke. In my opinion this was an advantage because my hammer seemed to flex more than I was comfortable with.

Warren, I appreciate your engineering challenge exercises and agree that the "Homemade" spring helve can be improved on.

Thanks for your help guys. Where I'm at in Southern Utah there hasn't been ANY used forging equipment available since I got the bug good. Looks like we can get the best return on Ebay.

Johnny

I've been asked to help the widow(2003) of a local bladesmith to help value some tools she is ready to let go, as she feels He would want the tools to be used. I need some help establishing value as I am interested in buying some of these tools myself.
1) Champion blower #400 . Complete in excellent shape ( looks to have original legs) dated july 30 1901
2)30# or 40# post vise in excellent shape. Original or authentic mounting
hardware, only missing the spring.
3)#0 size post drill that is free (turns with handle) and appears to be complete. Looks to be in good to excellent shape.
I am not rich but I am honest and I knew this sweet lady's husband and I want to be fair. Any help would be appreciated.

Johnny

Great photos Stretch! Do you know the make of this hammer? Or age, history,...?

Johnny

Don, the longer springs were pretty flat to start with and pretty heavy.(old chevy Blazer front.) The shorter ones I straightened cold on my Fly Press. I marked out 1" increments and used 1/8" "blocks " on both sides of a 1" fuller that I bumped in the middle. Could do the same thing with a shop press too. My Dad said he used RR track at a side or switch rail and a sledge to straighten springs.
By the way, just because their are no guards on my hammer doesn't mean they aren't necessary.Ptree has a similiar design in the gallery that is properly guarded if you need some ideas.

Good luck
Johnny

This is very beatiful and well done. I'm curious if you could share technique?
I really admire the work of (the late?)Chris Ray and he used some very creative tooling. This peice reminds me of some of his work.
Again, very nice and thanks.

Johnny

Nice stand! I need to show this picture to my wife; I need just a couple more hammers.:)

See KA Power hammer?

So many options...eh, Frosty. With the metalsmithing the limits are imagination.With blacksmithing it's my lack of ability! Guess we all need something to keep our heads from getting too big.

This was done with a rosebud, respirator and LOTS of ventilation.( Ruined a good 1" welding table in the process.)

Thanks Guys. Yes sir, Tech. It is scap. I did a large architectural signage job and ended up with about 1500# of 1/8" and 3/16" drops. Darn it!

These peices are done using a teqnique I'm calling "Puddled Brass" with some simple forged accents.

Johnny

I thought about it but figured it would be more weight to get moving. Don't know if I made the right call but hammer seems to work well as is.

I hadn't seen it on an Appalachian style hammer bfore I made my first one. Folks seem to really like the control on the "tire hammer" and I could easily install a brake( abig deal to me ) I have since seen a couple hammers with this drive. Jerry Carrol has a photo in the gallery of his hammer.I wouldn't even begin to compare my ideas to the GIANTS of past generations or the Elders in my own. Even the Idea for the adjustable portion on my hammer is something I saw on a Manenkal Guided Spring Helve I saw on Google under "power hammers". I saw the lever on the front and assumed this is what it was for. It did take some time to figure out how to accomplish this. I only broke one design before this one and I can already see some improvements can be made to the geometry.(The vertical link arm loses vertical lift at the top of the arc. I think the pivot point needs to be in line with the actuator level)

Apprenticeman, Im not sure how I attach a photo to an email through this forum.

I can't seem to get the photos to load. I went to manage attachments and selected the zipped photos but it doesn't get past uploading files...

This is my second home built hammer and I tried to improve some flaws I found when I went to a 100# TUP.

1) Heavier anvil 800#? (8"x12"x32")plus the caps.

2)Pulled the column closer to the anvil to eliminate the flex in the guide.(I decided I would rather have less flex than more throat)

3)Made the height adjustable from the front. ( I saw a picture of an India made hammer and figured the lever was for this adjustment.)1" at rest die clearance with an addtional 1.75" available with lever.

4)Made stroke easily adjustable.

I think 100# is about the limit for the spindle off the passenger car. It flexes as is and will probably fail eventually. I think I'll try to replace with a forged crank ASAP.

I am running 4" of mechanical stroke and 8" plus of realized stroke and hammer behaves very well. Not sure on BPM but the drive is as follows; 1760RPM motor with 3.125 flat sheave on a 22" dia. tire. Combo dies from Big Blu were only thing I wasn't able to salvage.

I welcome all comments and especially ideas for improvement.

Hillbilly (Johnny)

I will try and attach photos.

Hello Frosty. This is an INCREDIBLE site and I am very thankful for those who obviously spend a huge amount of time maintaining this forum( especially Glen).
I am somewhat computer challenged but I will try to post some photos. This is part of my initiative in de-lurking. I just finished my second power hammer (JYH)and wanted to share the design and maybe get some additional ideas.
I have a 100# friction drive spring helve with a simple lever actuated stroke height adjuster.(Jerry Allen inspired) Works really well with honest control. I'll try to post a photo and a new thread over in the hammer forum asap.
Thanks again for the warm welcome.