Black Frog

I'd ask for a measurement, that would be a better thing to guess at weight. You see her foot in one pic, but not sure if she might have small feet or big feet..... A closeup of the side would held identify the markings.

In the Flypress DVD I rented for a bit more info- I see how he uses 1" steel rod (mild steel I think) and puts a shaft collar on the end and welds it to provide the shoulder. Grinds it flat and then welds on his formed tool steel, S1 I think.

really? kick me when I'm down? you could've at least let me believe I woulda had a shot at it.... ;)

It would've been an 8hr drive each way for me, but I would have been willing to do that in a heartbeat. When I saw it, I couldn't type fast enough to get an email off to the seller. Oh well.... I didn't get a make on the anvil, but guessing Budden? I don't see any flats on the feet for a Wright, has a narrow waist and I don't think Trenton made them that big(?), I can't quite see any ridges on the underside of the heel for A&H, not a great picture though, and that's pretty big for an A&H one. My 527# A&H is on the large end of what they made I believe. I don't think any of the lesser-known manufacturers went up that high in weight, so leaning toward a Budden? It has been sold for a while- I think the seller leaves the ad up there to torment me. :angry:

Finding a nice anvil with nice clean face and edges can be tough. Finding a nice anvil that is large is tougher. Finding a nice huge anvil that is over 500# is very hard. Finding all that for less than $1/pound is a find of a lifetime....

sold to lucky someone, but not me.... :( http://nmi.craigslis...3228434956.html

Here's what I came up with in the shop. Fits nicely in the press. The bottom lip extends just a tad below the block holder in my press, so all the forces will be on the top/bottom surface and not on the lip edge. I bored the hole a bit oversized at 1.020" so that if any tooling has some dings on the shaft it'll still be fine. Or if the tool gets quite hot and expands some as well.

Thanks, never looked at them before. More stuff to get ideas from!

Demo hammer tools?

Ahhhh, good idea. Or maybe a 1/4" drift punch hole instead. If I come across some 1" dia tooling that didn't have a shoulder on it, I can still have the tool bottom out in the bored hole and be useable.

Yup, the V the proposed holder matches the V in the back of the ram. I'm oversizing the flat face just a tad, so when tightened all the forces are on the angled side walls, and leaves just a smidge of a gap on the flat back wall. It would be tough to perfectly match what is in there without some detailed measuring, so rather than having things with possible side play, I'll have the V sides center it up and provide the mating surfaces. I'm also deciding on the height of the holder. This will determine whether the shoulder on the bottom takes all the force, or if it is slightly taller the top surface of the holder will take the force. Is 1" bore common for tooling?

Does it have a bottom shoulder on it? Or just a straight cylinder? What diameter? Is the bore for 1" shank tooling?

Now that I have my press all operating nicely, I want to make some sort of tool holder for it. It does have the large block that is bolted in, shown in my other thread: http://www.iforgeiro...me/#entry294151 But now I want to fabricate some sort of quick-change holder that can stay in there. The rear of that "block pocket" in the press has a flat rear wall and then two angled 45 degree sides coming towards the front. I thought I could design something that works with that feature, and then is held in place by the large tool block bolted in from the front. Bore a 1" (or a bit oversized) hole in this holder, and have setscrew hole for the tooling. This design also gives a nice flat bottom side of the holder so that any tooling can have a shoulder on it for support. All tooling would then be made with a 1" diameter shaft with shoulder. Is this a good idea? See any changes needed, or better approaches? I have some 3" diameter round stock in the shop, so that's as large as I can go.

Sure does look machined all over- and since everything else was cast, that was my reasoning for thinking it probably wasn't original. Quite a chunk to start with! 3" thick, 5"x6.5". I'll most likely enlarge the V of the block to nicely accept my tool holder I'll turn and bore on the lathe.

Yeah, I thought the V looked a bit small..... I can do that on the mill if needed. ....easier to take material off than try to put it back on. I'm thinking about machining a holder to fit up in there that will swap out 1" dia round tooling with a setscrew.

Here ya go.... Not sure if this is the original block or not, but fits perfect.

Wow, what a great video! Thanks for posting it. ....and think of the stuff going in Europe in 1935 when this was made.

No tooling, but I was happy that it had the tool block holder with it. Several I've seen don't have it, it would take some time and money for a chunk of steel that size to be fabricated.

Two screw thread, 3" diameter. Beefy....

Got it delivered on a tilting flatbed tow truck, right to my garage door. She's in fine shape, but from working with older lathe and miling equipment I know that vintage gear can perform better with simply a decent and thorough cleaning. Glad I had my overhead gantry crane, that top handwheel is very beefy on its own. Everything came apart nicely. Dismantled the entire press of all moving parts. There's some scarring of the ways in few spots, nothing horrible but shows some use. You can see that in some of.the pics. Some crusted grease, probably embeded with metal chips acted more as sandpaper than it did lubricant in the later years... I doubt this had ever been taken apart since it left the factory, you could tell by the paint lines. Never realized the ways have oil troughs that come down from the top with little 'pockets' to hold the oil at the very top. Cleaned all the internal nut threads, and gave the leadscrew a good scrubbing too. Nut and thread look in great shape... Now that she's all clean, only good way oil for her under my ownership, no grease. Got her all back together tonight and adjusted the ways for a nice fit. I think she's ready for another 100yrs of service. :)

....so now any ideas for any use of these runners? or just scrap them?

Doesn't look like I am that lucky.... cracked like glass:

Well, now you have me really curious.... I didn't think I would be lucky enough to find WI chunks this large, and assumed CI. I'll cut some open later tonight and report back.

I came across a pair of old horse-drawn logging sled runners, or skis I guess. They are about 3.5" wide, maybe an inch thick, and around 6' long. Quite heavy. Wondering what uses I could put them to. I'm assuming cast iron....

Large fly press for sale, but haven't seen one like it before. Anyon know the make or model? The leadscrew is a finer pitch than most, if not all, fly presses I've seen. Of course you'd get more of a pinching effect vs a slamming effect of the ram. I'm not sure yet if this is a double thread screw or not. Would this still be a useable press for blacksmithing work with that fine of pitch?