SLOB

I bought some recently at the local ace hardware. it was located in the paint/finishing department right next to the boiled linseed oil.

before building or purchasing a helve hammer I would recommend checking out the book "pounding out the profits" by Douglas Freund. it has alot of info on helve hammers and other types of power hammers. the different types and innovations shown are mind blowing.

you will be in shock Aaron, its unreal all the stuff to see (and buy)...I've been waiting on quadstate since I left last year. I'm hoping to get there sometime friday afternoon and stay till sunday sometime.

Quenchcrack, I hope you recover fully and soon.

I'm pretty sure my dad will soon be undergoing a similar operation. i think its L3 through L5 thats messed up on him. he could sit all day without pain but standing or laying down is impossible for him (at least without pain shooting down his legs) is that similar to what you went through? he's about to turn 71 and refuses to listen to anyone including the Dr's telling him to slow down.

not specifically a closeup of the burner but you can see it in this picture. if you go to the gallery and click on it there is a larger image

I had it easy when I tuned my burners....Jay actually did the fine tuning. we kept adjusting in the choke until it would burn smooth at less than a half of a psi. (guage barely moves off the stop)

my choke plate is really close to being closed.....when adjusting it in you might need to adjust the burner jet back out some as it is moving along with the choke plate.

do you have the idle circuit plumbed into your forge?I have some dragons breath from my forge....but not to bad.....but mine is only a single burner forge though.

I wouldn't worry about making a second forge with the bottom in it. I just stuff a piece of extra kaowool in the back to block off the opening.

mine is smaller in diameter than yours and has 2" of kaowool.....I wish I had made it bigger and added another inch of insulation. with 2 inches the outside still gets really hot. I have about a 1" air space on the bottom of my forge and then another sheet of thin steel. this keeps anything from rolling under it and hitting the hot outer surface.

I also used the HF tool cart but turned the forge perpendicular to how yours is sitting. the lenth just fits inside and the door opening on mine is just higher than the edge of the cart. another thing I did with my cart is put a bent piece of round rod (1/4" I think) into the rolled edge of the cart for another rack to hold tongs, hammers, pliers...etc

Jay and I were using his forge to play around this weekend. we used his 3 burner forge (alot larger volume than my 1 burner) to weld up a timing chain out of my jeep......it welded fine with just one burner going. I dont think we turned it up over 6 psi either.

Aaron, cant wait to read your write up.

I'm not sure what the price is now....but looking at the price list I have from last year I could buy a Jay Hayes single burner forge kit for 7$ more than the price of one of the "super" chilli burners. my current forge is using his burners and a shell made from a scrap of sheet metal rolled around an argon tank I had.

all my future will be from him. (my next forge is already being built now)

Jay's email is jay@hrea.coop

Mike,

I dont have any info on the building of that hammer. there is a little more info on another forum located here Power Hammers - Bladesmith's Forum Board look for the posts from Ted Banning. you could contact him and ask him directly for any info.

Rob

I didnt use any of Ted's hammers. I'm not even sure if they used the air hammer that day. I think they fired it up for a little while but I am not positive. mainly they used the press and the rusty style hammer that day.

Ted is a great guy and if I was in the market for something along those lines I wouldnt hesitate to deal with him or ask him any questions. I was hesitant to do anything other than look and take pictures at his hammer in. (still a newbie and I prefer to make my scrap in private) the last time I saw him he was trying to get me to drive out again to his shop to play with his toys in private. I'll take him up on the offer sometime and will deffinatly give all his power hammers a workout.

Jose, I think that hammer is one made by Ted Banning. I know he had some for sale before. here's a picture of the one he has in use at his place. I added some pictures in my gallery of his other toys. pictures were taken at his hammer in held this spring.

I'm really happy with how both my stands kill the ring of my anvils. both of them were fairly easy to make. the one on the mousehole is stacked 2x10s and isnt quite as stable as the wide footprint of the hay budden stand. the hay budden stand is hollow but still feels solid. its made from 2x10s also with the sides made from 3/4" plywood. I thought I might add silicone under the anvils if the still rang, but after mounting them I havent had any problems so I didn't bother with it.

when I was younger and played guitar I had half stack amplifier that I quieted down with old carpeting I found. if you could rig up curtains with carpeting or heavy painters drop cloths around your work area it would greatly reduce the noise level. multiple curtain levels with space between them would help also.

here is a couple pictures of my anvil stand I just made. my anvil rang VERY loudly before mounting it. its truely amazing the difference.....although hammering out on the horn and on the tail is alot louder its at a reasonable level. I might try a layer of silicone calking under the anvil at a later time. I just wanted to try it out and didnt want to wait to run out and get a tube of calking until I knew I needed it. (I'm still undecided if I need it or not)

depending on the block of steel your using as an anvil, it could possibly be drilled and tapped for an eye bolt to chain it down to a stump or maybe tabs welded on to lag bolt it to a stump. that should quiet things also.

I have a tubing bender from these guys Pipe Bending Machine (not this model bender, mine won't do 180

what anvil did you decide on?

here's a couple pictures of my little gas forge. I love the idle circuit.....when the ball valve is closed I have it tuned to idle on aprox 1/2lb pressure....open the valve and its an inferno. I've run it at up to 15lbs (yellow heat, I havent tried a forge weld with it yet) but mainly run it at about 5-7lbs of pressure.

treasures won in the iron in the hat last weekend and yesterday

I plan on cutting the O2 cylinder in two and using half for a doming stake and the other half make a bell out of it.

the tongs will probably get the sheetmetal jaws cut off and reshaped into whater jaws I need at the moment.

I planned on forging down the J bolts to make a bick tool for my old anvil....but when I got my new anvil home this morning I checked, they fit my hardy hole perfectly as is. I just need to weld on something for a stop to elevate it off the anvil trim the extra length off and taper it out.

the pick will probably end up being turned into a makeshift stake

204lb Hay-Budden $300





95lb armitage mousehole, 125 with a post vise included in price. (later traded vise to a friend)

Thanks Aaron
I'm still trying to get pics off my camera from last weekend, yesterday at rice's landing and pics of my anvils, gas forge, post vice and my haul from the iron in the hat.

Rob

I had been eyeballing an anvil thats been in a local swapper paper for months. I had called about it back in feb and thought it was a little bigger than what I was wanting to buy.....the price was ok, but not such a deal that I couldnt pass it up. I decided this week I'd call back on the anvil and check it out....almost made up my mind that it was mine. the same day (before I could call.....wasnt sure about how early to call about it.....figure to wait at least until 9am) I logged onto IFI and what did I see? Fred Rowe asking about an anvil that EXACTLY matched the description of the one I'd been considering. so I PM'd fred and it was the same one.....I didnt bother calling on the anvil after all. went to a hammer in yesterday,....no anvils there......flea market this morning? nothing but a couple pairs of tongs....asked if he had any anvils?? nope so I walked off. the guy with the tongs had been talking with another guy.......the second guy came over after a couple minutes and said he had an anvil at home he'd sell.....all he knew was it was heavy (and that he'd heard they sell for $5 a lb) but since I had a blacksmithing shirt on he'd help me get started.....300 bucks. my wife and I followed him to his house about 10 miles away.....wandered up into the woods to look at it where it was sitting outside. it was a 204lb Hay-Budden, didnt try to bargain with him, the face and horn were almost perfect!! looks to be perfectly flat. counted out the money and loaded it right then. (my back is still yelling at me about that)

so, I'm glad Fred beat me to the anvil. I had mine just waiting on me to find it :D

the 460lb Rathole is about $300 cheaper than the gladiator. have you looked at the webpage for them? steve fontanini home page I wish I was close to having money saved up for one.....maybe someday:cool:

The model of TFS I was looking at is listed as a blacksmith anvil and looks it.

Blacksmiths Depot

I've been planning on and almost have the $$ for the Gladiator but the 400 lb. smithy special is $600 less and depending on cost of freight I could order it today!

I built my gas forge with parts sourced from CJ products (Jay Hayes) he sells full kits and seperate supplies as well. there is info about his kits on the ABA Website. he attends quite a few hammer-ins in WV and some in PA (Rices Landing is coming up) so you might be able to talk about it in person.

Mine is an 18 guage sheet metal tube I rolled up lined with kaowool and one 3/4" burner. I'll try to get some pictures soon. its still unfinished as of now but I have fired it up a couple times and its amazing.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family

maybe you can get 1000 of these 1$ lathes Metal lathe

seriously though.....it sounds like this guy just wants the lathe out of the garage. I dont have room for it or means to transport it or I would have checked it out. I think it was originally listed in the western MD craigslist

Rob