Jim Kehler

It shouldn't get too hot as the air is cooling it as it goes through. That said, I have had one of mine glowing slightly which I took to mean that the flame was inside the burner. I shut down and let the air cool things down and restarted. It was fine after that.

I'm not sure if coal fines and coal dust would be the same thing , but that said, I have used coal fines mixed with water to a mortar like consistancy without any issues.

I believe Brent Bailey uses or used shop air for his forge. A fancy regulator isn't needed, a regular gate valve as used for water piping would work fine.

Lee Sauder has a technique that should work well for you. I t should be findable on-line .

Talk to John Nicholson at Massey, they are in the UK. That's the first Massey mechanical hammer I've seen.

This sounds like a job for an Upset Forging Machine or "Upsetter". These come in sizes from 1/2" to 7". They are rated as to what size round bar they will put a rivet head on in one blow.

I've seen a Star, but not run one. I would think it would be similar to a Little Giant. Mine has  1 1/2 HP motor set up to turn the hammer at somewhere around 300 to 350 rpm.

Nice looking hammer!

My Buffalo 1/2 weighs around 4000 lbs. this one is probably similar.

If you want some hard firebrick, I'll sell you some for cheap, close to Steinbach. PM me for my phone #.

Hi John, it's been awhile but what I remember from using polymer quench was that it was messier than oil, I think most of the maintenance was from drag-out, and I didn't care for the smell.

To prevent scaling.

In his book; "the hand forged knife" Karl Schroen describes using a saturated borax solution to lightly coat his blades before heat treatment.

That is very similar to what I have been using on my press for quite a few years, mine came off a truck with a hydraulic dump box.

Good looking hammer, how does she hit?

Nice looking machine, Love those old mechanicals.

I've repaired a fair number of couplers, we used FCAW (flux core gas shield) with a 9018 equivalent wire. The couplers were quenched and tempered after the welding and grinding was  done.

Another impressive work of art, thanks for sharing.

I  think we used A-36 to make track plates (I used to work in a railway blacksmith shop) at any rate they were never heat treated. As an aside; all the holes were punched hot in one go. If you measure them they are probably 5/8" x 3/4".

Thank you Michael.

If I remember correctly from a previous discussion somewhere on the interwebs, he is throwing sawdust to act as a release agent to keep the forging from sticking in the dies.

I haven't seen anything like this on-line but during my apprenticeship (in the early 1990's) we saw an industrial training film that showed high speed steel blanks being forge welded to carbon steel Morse taper shanks to make large twist drills.

I was told by Don Hawley 20 cfm per 100 lbs of tup, should be enough especially if you're in that size range. In my experience you don't need that big of a receiver, can actually create a lag in your system if your compressor is the right size.

I think that the straps connecting the ram to the springs need to be tighter, so that they stand straight horizontally when at rest. I hope that makes sense. On edit I see that you've figured that out, a spring shop may be able to reset those springs.

That should get him smiling.