nonjic

Lovely looking hammer! Seems you have sorted one of my big :wacko: about 'utility' hammers, their silly high horsepower requirements for a given amount of work ! Please dont start selling them in the UK.... ;)

Those big dies look nice!

I use the tig cooler that grant reccomended on my 15kw heater. Very occasionally it does not build enough pressure. (the unit will not operate with low pressure) I have found that a slight flow restriction in the coolant return lines ups the pressure in the induction heater, and it then functions fine. (ie, nip the hose a little!)

Very tricky project, Owen Bush who posts here makes (specialises in) them, Ive seen some of his and discussed them with him, some seriously complicated geometry, and spot on heat treatment required. I would be very cautious of trying to make one as the risks are very high when you get it wrong! (take a real cheap plastic ruler, then hold it infront of your face and bend it untill it nearly snaps..... if you dont wince or squint you probably have the stones to fire a questionable quality crossbow :D ) Be nice if Owen posted some pics of his bows (please!) - I dont think I have seen any online........

Good work John! I can appreciate how much effort must go into building your hammers.

Sounds to me like hes only asking the scrap price, ie all it is really costing you is the transport, I would bite his hand off :D

Great Info on the moly Ptree, Thanks for taking the effort to write it down for others. Ive recently seen the light Moly wise, and happily spray 'dry coat' on anything thats gonna rub! On threads I spray moly, then often put a dab of oil or grease on top of the dry coat, dont know why really other than psychological, it takes the tenths of backlash out I suppose. We allways use moly paste, or spray when 'interference' press fitting components. Worth mentioning that lids should allways be replaced on lube containers in the shop. One bit of grinding grit can make a real mess when it matters!

Im sure his hammers are good, but I find some of his marketing a joke. http://phoenixhammer.com/castfever.htm The day he can show me a 3000 lb phoenix that has given trouble free service forging aerospace alloys for 16 hours a day, for 50 years (as I can cite many examples of hammers manufactured by my company) I will accept his statements that Massey hammers are inferior to a machine made from a piece of flame cut plate. Whilst I am obviously biased towards Massey hammers, the same holds true for Nazel, A&O and all the other Industrial hammer manufacturers globally.

It all came together nicely when I welded up the tip on my first sword blade,

Amazing piece of kit - nice to see its ready for another few decades work! Ive stood next to a '12' forging undercarage legs etc in a single push, makes you feel very insignificant when you walk between the dies.

If you make the top and bottom die the same face dimensions you could have a nice big radius on the 'handlever side' (for working as you normally would, accross the hammer frame) and a much smaller radius on the front faces (ie, for feeding the metal in towards the frame) Congrats on getting the hammer going!

The little Massey Springer was born in 1947 - Notes from the machine construction file state it is a special 'low speed' hammer at 250 bpm, and it was finished to 'exhibition standard' & had special wide dies, and a steel 'loose top' on the anvil.

Basher has hit the nail pretty well on the head there. When I started playing bladesmith a few years ago he was one of the guys who was generous with the advice and hints (perhaps not allways spoonfed me information, but made me ask enough questions to myself that I got there in the end ). On the bladesmithing ive got quite a few of the processes that just seemed a mystery / dream a few years ago pretty well sussed now, and am happy to pass on the knowledge online if I think the person is serious about giving it a go. It seems to go full circle.

I get a bit annoyed by people getting annoyed by posts they dont like... weird eh, I should stop reading them! My take on it all is people should be encouraged to post more photos of their work. If a new member asks how to make a 'sord' I will be much more inclined to give some pointers if they post up some pics of horribly mangled bits of metal vaguly knife shaped... ie they have put in some effort already. I am more likely to take advice from a 'pro' if I have seen some pics of their work and it is actually any good. Sorts the 'can-do' guys from the keyboard commandos. High post count means zip.

This is an intersting topic for me, I think the long and the short of it boils down to the 'I wanna make a sword' guys ability to learn, and their aptitude at making things, Im probably not a lot different to most other people drawn to this craft, I am an information sponge, and pretty good at making stuff in general, At the moment I have no interest at all in making 's' hooks, etc. I like making blades. I taught myself to patternweld (by reading all on the subject online) and got the basics of welding down in a few months by trial and error. Blades and blade steel is where it is at for me! Anyhoo, long story short I decided I wanna make a sword - so I did, a 10 bar anglo saxon viking esk one (my first try), and it worked out just fine. My hours at an anvil were spectacularly low when I made the sword. I had good advice online from some guys that really know their onions (Mick Maxen and Owen Bush, and some input from others), and I used Owens heat treatment facilities and had good guidance from some experienced bladesmiths with it (thanks ) - I am confident that I could have heat treated the sword with equipment I gathered had I not got the oportunity of using Owens kit. After completing that blade I realise it has some shortcomings in terms of weight and balance, but nothing another couple of days at the grinder would not sort out (its had its 'hours' and there are other projects that are more exciting for me at the moment). On the back of that one blade I was asked to do a lecture at University college London to the archeo metallurgy department (they also wanted to commision a blade based on the radiographs of an actual blade). I tried to make a 'horseshoe heart' a couple of weeks ago, it was out and out shockingly embarresingly bad (it is still in the bottom of the quench bucket laughing at me) - I can forge blades though! I suppose the purpose of this ramble is that anyone can make a sword, or a very close approximation of one without that much prior experience. You just have to read, and understand some data on sword blade geometry, some metallugry, have some aptitude and common sense, and have a very steady hand at the grinder, oh, and a lot of patience for finishing work I happily state my hobby as bladesmith, inevitably people draw the association with anvil and fire and ask me if I can make them a gate :D

Looks like a fantastic use of garden space! I dont wanna be 'that' guy, but if it were mine I would line it with plasterboard to keep the sparkey stuff away from the potentially burny stuff!

Make sure you understand just how thin pro kitchen knives are before you take the commision!

I drive a Mitsi 2.5L diesel crew cab pick up, its hauled a lot of small power hammers around the country! averages 26 ish to the (uk) gallon, im heavy footed though. The white 'shed' is also one of mine, a 20 odd year old disco - does about 30 to the gallon (rebuilt engine) - engines in bits at the moment, they dont work well when the coolant falls out of the engine - the temp sender is at the higest point of the cooling system so with no water in them they show cool on the dashboard right up untill they go bang!

This little (well, not so little, the blade is about 9") thing took more welding and effort than anything I have made from modern steels, Im having some time away from the glitz of udderholm in a quest to understand it all a bit more. This blade contains many times refined blister (shear steel) I made (I grew some of the plants last year used to carburise the iron!), wrought iron, pure ni and some good old simple w2 in the backing bars, the gently undulating wavey line is an attempt at a wolfs tooth pattern, but it got a bit more elongated that I originally planned! I had a lot of fun making it, Im getting more drawn towards the idea of making blade from dirt in the next couple of years! Thanks for looking, all comments appreciated,

Lookin good Richie Carefull though, the 'heaty beaty' side gets a bit addictive :)

Sweet press Jessie! I ran flames down a piece of steel once a couple or 3 years ago, never managed to get them looking 'lit' like this again. Its was 3 steels, one of them 4% chrome - it should never have welded, but I diddnt know that at the time , of course it destroyed itself in heat treat and this shoddy photo is all thats left in its memory! edit - this pic was just a rough ground billet - hence all the muck on it, it etched like that un-heat treated at 120 grit..... would have been nice finished..

Great shop! I wear lots of layers when working in the cold (we had -18c in the UK last winter!) My factory gets cold, then stays cold due ot the large lumps of metal in there. I usually wear a sking 'base layer' , jeans , heavy cotton boiler suit, Tshirt, thick jumper and hat ! good quality thick socks make all the difference. Ive just got a 'heated' bodywarmer for Christmas, that runs off re-chargable AA batteries. Ive not tried it out in anger yet as we are having a mild winter (so far!) it looks promising though.

Could you make a set of dies that orientated at 90 degress to the current ones so you can work the hammer from the side whilst facing the long edge of the dies? If you looked down on the die if would be a 'cross' shape. I vote for a booster cushion of railway sleepers aswell. Ive just done this on my 2 cwt Massey install and it has worked nicely to raise the height.

Good advice above. The packing is 5/8 x 3/16" section. I get the kevlar packing made up special now, I had a lot of problems with off the shelf kevalr packing, some works, some just turns to snot. The stuff thats kevlar with rubber in goes snotty after a couple of shifts and blows out. I only sell the packing in 15 mtr coils, so try and tap Phil up for some! You may need to shim the slide blocks out on the stuffing box to take up some of the clearance. a 2 cwt should only have a couple of thou per flat. You will struggle to get it that good unless you machine or grind off the flats on the end of the ram where it does not wear. Pull the valve out. Check it for sticking or broken discs. The valve portions should be able to turn on the spindle but have no end float. Dont lock the valve porions up solid or you will get problems when the hammer is hot. The top of the valve tube will be stamped ( +1/8 , -1/16" or whatever) this is the position that the top of the valve should be in when the handlever is fully depressed (full work position) - its the first and most basic check on the valving. It gets complicated from there on in. You need the page from the manual which states all the spacings between the portions (its a common to all hammer sizes chart so one of the Massey owners who have posted in this thread might help you out with the info) * If you can get the hammer working right on the handlever its a simple matter to set the footlever, floating quadrant and footlever throw over stop to suit. Its unlikey to be a piston ring problem - if you check the skirt of the compressor piston you will find a couple of tapped holes, that may or may not be plugged. these bypass excess air on a new hammer. As the hammer wears a bit you can plug these to send more air to the front piston. If you over plug them the hammer will get flighty. If you are strugging for a happy medium you can put in a plug (I think they are 1/4" gas on a 2cwt) with an 1/8" hole drilled through it. These plugs make a suprising difference to the hammer. Hope this helps a bit - if you have any specific questions Ill have a shot at answering them. * - I sell copies of the manual, Dont mind giving a bit of my own time away to help, but when im at work ive gotta charge the rate to cover the overheads :D

Very few men will ever acheive the levels of knowledge Grant did, even fewer will give that knowledge away so freely, with such grace. I tried to read all he wrote, and was never dissapointed at the no nonsence way he approached a new problem, or would show how he overcame this or that issue in the past. He made a lot of it look easy (effortless), now thats somthing that only a person with a lifetime of skill, at the top of his game can do. Me and David (youngdylan) were itching to get induction heaters a couple of years ago in the UK and diddnt know where to start, We were conversing with Grant by email on and off for a couple of months and we were happy to buy from Grant ( OCP ) , He jokingly answered questions with questions knowing how interested we were in the technology, then one day he just gave us all the information for his suppliers, technical specs, the names of the guys to talk to etc so we could buy direct, with nothing more than a wink and instruction to ask him if we needed any more help. Wouldnt take a dime from us. Just a small example of the mans generosity. I never met Grant but felt like I had, and am deeply saddened that I never will. Rest in peace Grant.