Ten Hammers

Good vid Wesley. there is absolutely nothing like making a run of 20 or a hundred to teach you skills.

Rusty, be well. Hang in there my friend. Prayers your way.

Congrats Steve. Nice lookin rig and will pay you in spades.

Nice work Tim. Simple and to the point.

Yes Jim, I have a Boss hammer. I have pictures of it somewhere. Lemmie see if I can find them. OK, I bought the hammer as a wreck. I did large machine work and built other pieces. It works very well for me but has been stored at a friends until I can get the other hammer moved. Looking forward to getting the Boss home.

147# HB here at home. 115# HB in the trailer shop ( along with an 88 # likely Mousehole colonial ). 137# Arm and Hammer at Threshers shop.

Awful far north for swamp people but hey, it's all good Sam.

kills duplicate post.

Good luck Wes.

Depending on what you are doing, the height of your anvil and your approach to the issue can make a major difference. This meaning that you may be forging large stock and using large hammer (or not). I have forged my share of 16" plates for production work (14 guage) in 4-5 heats each. This is work but can be done. Please don't ask for pictures because I haven't any. This was proprietary work I did for a customer for several years. Some here have been to the shop and seen some of the other stuff I did. Regardless, the tooling stand used for this specific instance and many others is anvil height prior to attaching any tooling. 2-3# hammer(s) used normally. Sore elbow some yes. I found ( and find now) that a piece of bridge plank ( about 2 feet long ) placed on the floor beside the stand gave me an altitude gain of roughly 3". This gave me power on the down stroke. Could kick the step out of the way when not needed and stow it easily beside the file cabinet. This plank is roughly 8" wide and easily dealt with ( not a trip hazard ). There are a few other issues I may use the step on the anvil to gain power. Some have room for an anvil set at a lower height ( for plow work example ). I deal with my issues in a small crowded shop. Regardless, most of the sore arm issues left with this solution. Actually it helps to gain momentum ( think of aerobics or isometrics using poor technique. You CAN hurt yourself. I sometimes used a welding glove on the tong hand for this work simply because of the large heat involved. Never a glove on the hammer hand. Make yourself a shovel for coal. There will be several plans for them here on the site. Good exercise in skill building. Good luck.

Tim ! :)

Actually the only carrier I was on had a wood flight deck. U.S.S. Ticonderoga. Agreed Mike, it was cool.

Red Wings rock. I get 5 years from mine and I ain't light on my feet. Everbody different. 11 d.

Junk store or garage sale. Find some stainless mixing bowls. Acid in this, stock in following. the bowl on the coal fire ( just settin on top) in the wintertime. Yes the vapors drift. use care. Yes cheap dollar store white vinegar ( gallon ) is fine.

Just so we are all on the same page. Galvanized is some nasty stuff yes. Forged, stick, mig or torch welded. I have welded it with a shop vac suckin the smoke and I have welded it on the table, outside or whatever. Here is the thing. I will NEVER weld it again. Another thing. Plasma dust is not only nasty it is fatal as well. Protect your lungs. Bein sick from shop stinks yes.

Woody, glad to hear the good news.

I just used a Roger Lorrance pot but home growed is fine too.

Nice rig Dave.

Bites his lip on the hijack of the thread. Suffice to say that we don't need any more of this here.

Yes there will be a few secrets left. I have stuff I produce for a customer (14-15 years worth). Some of it I have developed but mostly it is their stuff. Come to the shop and you will see tooling for a lot of it hanging around. The rest of the tooling is buried. You also may see tooling or first parts or fixtures for a lot of other things. All you have to do is ask and I will try and explain them. In my youth, we had blacksmiths that fixed farm equipment, we had welders, we had a machinist, we had mechanics and we had one particular fellow that was in a class by himself. His name was Loren. He was a brick mason, finish carpenter, framer and also was a gunsmith. He made firing pins from broken ( warrantied) Craftsman screwdrivers. He knew the craftsman salesman and got the broken stock from him. this man also made his own springs for gun use. The technology and skills to build these springs was passed on to him by his great uncle. His great uncle immigrated to the USA in mid-late 19th century and was hired as a clockmaker for a company in Des Moines Iowa. Loren had success with the use of the knowledge and skills. Loren passed this on to me. Will I attempt to write what I know about it? Not on your life. I could type for a week and my time is not the net. I have passed this information to a few folks. Some will agree with it, some will not. Big deal. I'm not stingy with information. Stop by sometime and we can do the work. I know a man that used to frequent a couple of smithing websites. He was (and is) a vast well of knowledge. After a few years of the net and the personalities involved with it and the arguments, he just quit coming around. This is unfortunately our loss. Kids and grown men that are new to a given skill will ask a lot of questions and then proceed to question and argue about the results sometimes. Timothy covered this problem fairly well. So did Steve. Alec, good on you and the other young smiths. You fellers are the future.

Can't for the life of me understand why someone would give you this advice. Assume this was given in person ?

My friend you have a very nice group of work there. Thanks for the pics.

no idea why it double posted

You will indeed go through a lot of charcoal compared to coal. Just going to depend on your situation, needs and coal availability.

Rich, your inspiration was no doubt Bob for this exercise. Thanks for the pics. Ruben Funk (RIP) used to forge a fork and a knife from drop shoes (just to show it could be done). I use drop( and new ) shoes for many things related to camp.