MOblacksmith0530

I just got off the phone with Bob Alexander who had the last of the Ozark pattern anvils and he said Tom was using 8640 for the anvils. He is currently looking for a foundry to cast more anvils.

Thanks Brian for the reply. I had thought that Tom was using S7 for a while but didn't want to say as I was not sure. I know that the last anvils were made of something other that S7 because they were having issues hardening them (this may have been after Tom passed). I was thinking it was 6150 but am not sure I might try to call someone who might know what the latest ones were cast from and post it here later. By the way Brian I was reading an older thread again about the slitting and drifting tools and really appreciated your input on that one. I am going to be making a set of 1/2 inch slit/punch and drifts for the toolbox at teh BAM conference in a few weeks.

Beautiful, The woods behing the Renn faire booth are full on my attempts at "little" pieces. I am just going to admire yours and send them your way when they want one. I really admire anyone who has the patience to execute in the miniature and yours is perfect. I like the Manchurian connection.

Really nice looking twist, you did a bang up job on it. I think the twist on a bottle opener will do fine since you don't use it too hard. I can definitely see the point about the fireplace tool handles, but something like a bottle opener should be fine. When you are making things to pay for the hobby it is good, you can then spend more on experimentation and learning. Just remember to keep telling yourself that when you do the tedius items like the 40 twisted tent stakes I made Monday to pay for the fuel used on the weekend to travel to the Demo. A hobby is a hobby and work is work. If you have to do some work to help pay for your hobby it is only giving you the means to pursue the hobby more.

Thanks guys for the feedback. I will anneal the brass before spinning. I may try to spin a piece or two of copper I have here to try it out and see how to make the lip work out. And will try for the silver solder for a nut.

Hmmm hadn't thought about spinning it that is a good idea. They don't want the spike riveted for transport reasons, I had already suggested riveting and they declined. They have a threaded base piece that I have not seen yet. When I get all the parts in a few weeks we will give it a try.

Okay I don't do a lot of work with brass. I have a request by a friend to dish a small piece of brass for a "targe". This is a shield for those not in the know. It needs to be about 2 inches in diameter, hat a 1.4 inch lip all around the outside edges. I haven't seen the brass they want to use but I would think not more than 16 gauge thick. I know it will work harden while I am doing this so I need to know how to anneal it. Copper anneals by quenching, does brass do this as well? I am thinking of making a form to sink it into with a heavy lip so that I can forge down this lip on the outside. It also has to have a spike mounted into the top of the dome portion and I am thinking about silver solder for that or maybe a tig weld. Thanks in advance for any help.

I believe I have heard of 6150 being used as well. I think you should talk with the heat treater or foundry and see what they suggest as well. Some steels are difficult to harden when they are too thick in cross section. I use 4140 for hammers and water harden with a face quench and it has always worked well. I recently tried a similar quench with hammer dies made out of 4140 and both of them cracked and failed on me. They were thicker in cross section than the end of a hand hammer and apparently that was enough to cause failure. I hardened another one in oil with a complete quench and it worked fine. So I guess I am saying that a heat treater would have a better idea what teh end properties would be after heat treat.

I don't know what brand either but it sure is a niced looking anvil with a nice thick tace on it.

Nice looking hammers. We made one at one of our meetings a few minths ago and I WONT post a pic of that one. It was all done by hand with two strikers (myslelf and another) and one smith who didn't know how I wanted to do it. We had never worked on a hammer together to get our story straight. We have both made hammers over the years just not together. We slit the eye crooked but actually managed to straighten it by turning the hammer and forging mostly from one side. It is a reallly short 2+ lb rounding hammer.

Brian was at a BAM conference several years ago and explained the technique to me. I have used it with great sucess over the years. I will forge weld the pair of leaves, quench them and then throm on the pile on the floor.If they survive that then the weld is good. They get re-heated later them they are assembled and shaped for the project so it stress relieves them. I don't think I have had one fail. They amount of weld is pretty long once it is forged out. 1/2 inch stock 3/4 long times two will yield a couple of inches of welded area when drawn out to 3/8 diameter. In the process of the forging the metal will twist and turn thus making the weld line not straight and thus stronger as it wraps around the diameter.

My latest addition an Ozark Pattern

Like some others have said with shipping it would be about top dollar I would pay even though it is a hay budden. It is pretty beat up. By the time I spent the bucks to repair the edges it would be a loss. In my opinion.

Looks a little like a vulcan but the step from the faceplate to teh horn is too tall. Nothing cast into the sides of the anvil?

Got the last key made, found something interesting when I was doing it. This hammer has a taper in the ram dovetail. I know it is not supposed to but it does about .004 to .006. I had to remove the ram and re-install it backwards so that the taper matches the key side of the die. There is still plenty of clearance to the flywheel at teh rear ram guide so it will run this way. I forged a few pieces today and it ran well. Some minor adjustments but I am not going to worry too much until I put some time on the rebuild to let it settle in. I did forge a piece of 13/16" S5 on it and it did an outstanding job.

My favorite answer to teh do you shoe horses is "nope I can make the shoes but you have to put them on"

Hmm picture didn't appear let me try again.

Okay so the hammer is finally together for any of you who may still be wondering. I have everything done but one key the key for the top die. Ran out of day. It runs sweet and I think looks pretty good. Tomorrow morning I will do the last key and fire up a forge to test it. I have more pictures of some of the details if anyone is interested just ask.

Nice job on the rebuild, I left mine unpainted. I did modify the legs to put two steel antique wheelbarrow wheels on it so mine is portable and what I use for demo's. One difference in the two mine has a rod with open hook ends between the lever and the counterweight arm, it came that way, but was damaged adn I made a new one to replace the old one. I am not going to take any pictures of mine though cause it aint got a pretty paint job on it....... yet!

you know the best part about being a blacksmith? If you don't like it you can remake it into something you do..... If you don't like a tool you can make your own and however you make it, if it works for you you did it right.

Clutch installed and .015 shim put under the key to hold it tight. Test ran without dies and seems good barring adjustment. Got the treadle made and the drop link done. I will do the springs in the morning and hopefully heat treat the dies tomorrow also. Then it will be testing time. I am going to try double springs one on each side to help keep the treadle level, don' know how that will work out. I hope to have pics tomorrow evening of the finished hammer. oh yeah serial no is 2366

If you are thinking about a square hammer shaft, you might consider the way they do it on the tire hammers. They use box tubing for the guids an dthen sheets of uhmw plastic up against the steel and shim it to fit with galvanized sheet. There are keepers on teh top and bottom of the tube that are 1/2 by 3/32 angle iron and that keeps the uhmw ans the shims from coming out either the top or the bottom.

I have decided after reading this whole thread that I will probably do this at my hammer in on Black Friday in November this year. I am in eastern MO. There are many opportunities to slit and drift and It has to be done all the time. If we take a day and do nothing but slit and drift and make the tools for it it will be good. Anyone in eastern MO is wellcome to my hammer in, message me if you are not a BAM member and need directions.

BAM has tons of coal (around 20 I think right now) There will be some at the conference in Sedalia the first weekend of May. Go onto the BAM website and check it out www.bamsite.org.