Ricka

Lary, Only took the one pic. The hammer is the works of a walk-behind dirt compactor. It amounts to a piece of heavy wall pipe surrounding ball bearings and a shaft with a big piece of steel welded to one side to give it the shaking motion. It's got a piece of 1/2" steel plate welded to one side by which it was mounted to the base of the compactor. The guides I made are lined with strips of phenolic resin and the edges of the plate slide in these. Yeah, the idler is the base, 28" diameter; I figured it would help alleviate the rocking tendency of the counterweight on the car wheel. Rick A

I just finished it; can't say yet. It's the spring I had and may have to be replaced. It seems to hit well to me but I'm no authority. I posted mainly to present the idea of putting together an anvil out of available and free objects, which seems to be the biggest challenge for prospective builders. Rick A

Hi all, Reading forums like this encouraged me to want to build a PH. Since I wasn't going to find anvil material in this area I approached a couple of grading contractors and was given a worn-out idler from a dozer track and a couple of lower track rollers. I filled the idler with well-compacted sand and welded it all together. As near as I can measure the anvil weighs about 650 lb., plenty for my tup which weighs a little under 50 lb. I already had all the rest of the parts so it basically cost me a few dollars for welding rod. Nothing special but I thought it may give some ideas to guys who are having trouble locating anvil material. Rick A

Hi all, A friend literally dug up this hammer here in Hilo HI, an area with no industrial or metalworking history, and we're perplexed as to it's use. I got some guesses on an antique forum but someone suggested a blacksmithing forum, so I'm asking you guys if anyone has seen anything like this. It appears the larger hole was for the handle and the smaller one is what has us wondering. It's cast into the head, is as big as the handle hole on the surfaces, and tapers down to about 3/8". I'm guessing maybe a rope or wire was threaded through it for some reason. Thank you for any opinions. Ricka