nonjic

The magic is in the heat treatment, The skill is in the balance between the heat treat and a thin grind, one that has enough convexity, or concavity (or both) to prevent food sticking and superior edge retention. Chefs knives are very difficult to get right. Ask to have a look at his favourite knife. If you do not have the skill set to do it, make some excuses and make it when your skill set improves. The last thing you want is the reaction you give to the jumper you get from nan at christmas...... 'its nice'...... There is a reason so few people make chefs knives, they are incredibly difficult to do well, and a chef wont cut the punches if it does not cut properly. Which it wont, even if your only 10% behind the ball. I am grinding kitchen knives to 0.006" - 008" thick, 0.080" behind the edge before sharpening, which is a big ask,to hold consistent along a 9" edge. people go thinner than that, and kitchen knife enthusiasts will still say it needs edge thinning on the stones ! does this Steve sells make kitchen knives ? got any pics ?

2nd blade looks good man ! cant wait to see the 3rd - you will not be far behind some of the self styled gurus by blade 4

Sounds like a tin bucket full of spanners being shaken, but your getting there

Has all the know how on this site really 'done one' ? real shame. Ill go old skool and work it out myself.

Hello ! I'm seeking advice on a type of hammer I don't have a great deal of experience with, hope you can help ! Are there any golden ratios for the pivot point centers (ram and pitman end), arm lengths and toggle lengths on a 'dupont' type linkage for optimal performance, as used on the tire hammers etc ? how is spring rate calculated for this type of linkage, or is it a suck it and see ? When the pitman is at bottom dead centre, spring compressed, should the dies have a small gap between them, with the toggles parallel ? Thanks, John

Looks like you are doing a Rolls Royce job for that hammer Apologies if you contacted me and communication fell by the wayside. We are a small company and often under resourced when several big industrial jobs land at once ! If you have any questions when you get her fired up you can shoot me a mail at john@mass.....com and Ill try and help !

242 lb Massey. Most air hammers have the control to kiss the oil film on the bottom die when set up with a small degree of care. The Massey hammers are an extreme example of control, but i've worked on many brands of 'self contained' hammers (and forged on a good few) and never thought 'this is only good for smashing stuff with, heck, I wish I could be doing this work on a type of hammer that, although industry decided was obsolete 70 years ago, I could make some adjustments whilst the metal is getting cold, and slap it really slowly' The oft cited 'economy' of a mechanical hammer, because it uses a bit less juice, does not sit easily with me either (unless you have a severely restricted electricity supply so can't turn a larger motor) its like chopping off your foot to save on socks. If you are burning 50 kg of propane a day 'saving' 2 kwh of electricity does not make sense if you are even 5% less efficient at the forging end. I like mechanical hammers, don't get me wrong, but industry, 1000's of people, millions of tons of ironwork over decades of industrial development have firmly voted 'self contained air hammer'. Not just my opinion. In answer to the original question in this thread, in my opinion, 1/2 cwt self contained air hammer will do all you need. A smaller air hammer, like an Anyang 15 kg will forge it down no problem, but not so good for tooling work (a bit 'tippy tappy').

3 cwt hammer on test after I gave it a dose of looking at. This video just followed mine on youtube. 10 cwt, not sure if I supplied it, looks like a new installation. The interesting thing about this 10 cwt is it has the 'thought control' method of operation. No foot pedal.

Massey made many hundreds, possibly thousands, of 'mechanical' hammers in many different configurations and designs. edit, They pretty well stopped making them as the air hammers did everything the spring hammers did, and a lot more. The ability to work at any point in the hammers stroke without making adjustments made them much more versatile for the use of tooling, knocking down 'high' workpieces into pancakes, before using a punch etc, before putting a saddle in and ring forging, using swages of different heights etc etc.

Mechanical hammers slow down when you do a light 'planishing' blow, when if anything you want a light planishing blow to be faster. Air hammers have a constant strike rate. No annoying slowing down when you want to 'round up' a tenon or whatever. I like mechanical hammers, they are efficient little things, but not a patch on a well set up self contained air hammer. Lots of armchair b/s spouted in this thread IMHO. i do think that if someone got a quality 'little giant' type mechanical made in numbers in a low labour rate economy (which should cost buttons) they would still have a place in the market, and sell well.

Its a 25 kg hammer, not a 15kg. Your electrician can't be much cop if he cant put 3 phases and an earth to a motor. If you have just bought the vfd, and the hammer has not run from it before (ie, it was on 400v 3 phase before) you will need to swap the bars over in the terminal box so the motor will run on 200v 3 phase. You can start the hammer in 'top setting' if you want, it will just pull an extra couple of amps. i vaguely recall that Tim modified the hammer so the 'tup at idle' position could be adjusted (so it 'tups' a bit when idleing). Easiest thing is to give me a bell again, and I will talk you through it all. Massey are selling the hammers again in the UK and Ireland. I am better at hammers than advertising though........... The pin on the top valve boss is a modification that I made to some hammers, It stops the valve travelling to 'clamp' position, which it does by default (ie, it travels past neutral into clamp) This 'default to clamp' can lead to problems when the hammer is left 'clamping' not in neutral. The clamp function is pretty well useless on small self contained hammers so I disabled it. If you put an ammeter on the motor you will see that the valve is arrested in the lowest current draw position by that pin. The 5/16" copper pipework was a pita to do, think it looks neat though

Sounds like you have got it all in hand ! This was not a specific warning about the hammer manufacturer you have bought from, just a heads up that if you are not up to speed on the paperwork you can get hit with disproportionate charges when shipping LCL

Actual shipping from China is not expensive. What you need to be careful of is the exporter offering you CIF terms, then shipping 'free' or at 'negative freight' - this is when the exporter gets paid by the shipping agent to put the customers goods in the container, and themselves nominated on the BOL. You are then 100% committed to using them to clear the goods through customs, and pay all manner of extortionate charges that they just make up, and heaven forbid that they have to store the goods in their warehouse for a few days once the container has been unstuffed at '!$mygodhowmuch$!' per day, because you have not been on the ball with the paperwork, and they wait until the last moment before they ask you for a *whatever* number that you can not lay your hands on until the next week ! Get into dialogue with all parties involved early about what you need, what you need to do, and when to avoid any delays once that ship docks !

I would describe that Russian hammer as a C41 - I bet its valved nearly identically. We do quite a bit of work on Russian forging presses (TMP - Voronezh type) They were certainly not shy with the amount of metal they put into their machinery !

If someone offered me that Russian hammer for 1000 Euro I would find a way to put it in the back of my car there and then, I wouldn't let it out of my sight

Lots of different factories making 'C41' hammers in China. I have purchased hammers from companies other than Anyang around 3 years ago, and the quality was so comically poor I could not (and really still can't) believe it. Ive still got a new, un-run 40 kg knocking around at the top of the bay here. I should really just scrap it as that would be more economical that making it serviceable for re-sale. It took all I know about hammers to get the other ones I bought running ok. Quality inspection seems to be 'make sure there are no scratches in the body filler under the paint' rather than anything to do with engineering or hammer performance. So, in answer to the thread title 'yes' there are lots of differences between different Chinese hammer manufacturers. The hammers might be better now than the ones I bought ! caveat emptor.

I have purchased power hammers from Manufacturers other than Anyang in China. Quality was a disgrace. A very expensive lesson for me, as I had to make them work, which was a challenge and very expensive (and I know a bit about them). Hammers just did not work properly (barely worked at all, and a couple of them didn't) I know of someone else in the UK who directly imported a couple of very inexpensive C-41's several years ago. They barely worked. Every year or so I get a phone call about one of them that has been sold, or given away. They are like herpes, they pop up and aren't very welcome when they do! I'm not naming the manufacturers of the hammers I have purchased - They were expensive lessons and I paid for them, and am not going to give the information away ( I pay my bills through forging equipment sales and repairs) Ive still a C-41-40 sat at the end of my shop. One day, if I can summon the strength I will photo / video document it. If I don't weigh it in before hand. Any of the smiths I know in the UK are welcome to pop in for a brew, and have a look at the thing and independently verify I am not elaborating on the truth as I sell Anyang hammers. There are possibly other good manufacturers of C-41's in China. You pays your money and take your chance. I would be very surprised if the inspection service mentioned above gave any indication as to the engineered quality of the hammer.

Hi Joe, Looks like a good solution. On the last big one I did we did 2 concrete pours, the first one to the base of the former (ie, the anvil seating level) - then put in the former for the anvil pocket, and the second pour up to floor level. Tied together with some rebar. The hammer hold down bolts went right down into the first pour. Very un-likey to have issues with it in my lifetime ! as you have found very difficult to prevent lift on the anvil former if you go for it in one pour. I knew of a large drop hammer that was put in a couple of decades ago and they tried to do it in one pour *, the former lifted about 3", lop sided, even with dozens of tons of dieblocks holding it down, they were grinding the concrete level for weeks :) (and the gaffer at the factory poured water in the hole every time they said it was level to prove it wasn't!!) * not me, and not my design :lol:

Ive sold loads of Anyang 33# to people and kept in touch with them, and they have had no regrets about not going for anything bigger. I think tooling up to get the best of what you have is the most important thing. All that said, I can see why the bigger one is tempting..... go with your gut instinct - From J'L's many, and informed postings online over the years I would be tempted to go with his recommendations.

oooh, 2 years, this is a quick one !! what you need to do now is get some video for here, and sell it to Josh - he's going to burst if he does not get a new hammer soon, and i think that one would be super perfect for him :)

Heres some photos of one I did a couple of years ago. We also epoxy under the anvil to get it dead flat. We then put fabreeka pad between anvil and epoxy resin layer. Pic 1. Anvil pocket primed for epoxy Pic 2. Self levelling resin poured (the air bubbles will disapear as it cures, and leave a glass like finish) Pic.3 The levelling resin underneath the hammer timbers. Note the 'picture frame' mentioned in my last post to reduce the volume of resin required. note also the timbers are machined (planed dead flat). The object is to get all mating surfaces bedded. Pic.4 ) Ready to lift the hammer over the foundation. Pic 5. Finished installation, hammer grouted in.

I would use an epoxy floor self leveling resin to smooth it off, and then make the timbers that sit between the hammer and the foundation 1.5" thicker. The leveling resin will give a nice bed against the timber and stop things settling over time. The resin is quite expensive, I have found a place in the UK that does a 25kg pack for about £100/ delivered ( $150 usd ) , its a bit of a fiddle though, because you get about 13 kg of solvent free epoxy, and the rest is basically sand ! You can make a 'picture frame' on the top of your concrete from soft pine, so you are only leveling the portion of the concrete where the bedplate timbers actually fit. This keeps the cost down. Ill try and find a photo of one that I have done this way.

Sorry guys, I probably have not helped things along with taking an off the cuff comment a bit to seriously. I try and keep out of lots of threads like this, as there is occasionally an undertone of 'hes got a vested interest' trying to make a quick buck , and I don't want to use forums for 'free advertising' or promoting a product in other related threads, and the references to 'hammer dealers' somehow grates a little ( a bit to much like the car industry ?). I doubt there are many people making much of a return on their time and money selling / making small power hammers ! Its not easy 'staying out of it' sometimes when there are always threads like ' 'i'm going to buy this 'bargain' old hammer' i'm sure it will be great, and lots of people agree, and then people say 'why not make one, its very easy', when what i'm thinking is just buy a decent manageable sized commercial one, and get it making you money next week !!! (not said with reference to this thread though). I visit forums like this one, not to sell hammers, but to keep learning about using them, which I love doing, and don't get enough time doing ! Anyhoo, i'm rambling a bit, hope the gist of what I mean comes across OK in the above !

Wow, Great bottle openers !! At some point in the dim and distant future I'm considering doing a craft show / country show or two with my wife (who is getting into glass crafts) - stuff like this would be just the ticket ! thanks for posting.

The machines in question are good, I have already stated that in my opinion they are good hammers. I have also stated that I can not guarantee the work for what I consider to be very sensible reasons. The hammers were collected from my place by the owners choice of pallet company (less than container load transport), they will have then been moved to a depot in Birmingham, reloaded and then into storage in lincolnshire. They would then be loaded again, possibly back to a distribution hub, then down to Plymouth. If the hammers are damaged at any point and someone buys one, and iv'e not clearly stated the work isn't covered I could cop for 2 days work with an argument at the end of it. I commend your ethics that you would warrantee a 3000 km old clutch to a person that you don't know. How do you know they have not been slipping it and burnt it out prematurely, even though there is nothing wrong with the work? How do I know the OP was provided with a manual, and has undertaken a correct lubrication regime on the hammer? As with cars, if you want a full guarantee buy a new one. I have got them in stock, for about £1000/ more than the 7 year old ones. I did not state this earlier because i'm not 'all about the sale' car salesman type, or you could buy a used one from a dealer who carries transit insurance who will guarantee the machine.