yesteryearforge

it was the matches fault , but in reality it was

MY name is Mike Tanner and I hail from central Virginia. Im a machinist by trade and own and operate TANNER TOOL & MACHINE inc. We design and build custom processing machinery for the pulp & paper, tobacco, feed & grain, food, waste water treatment industries. Im 55 years old and have been smithing about 20 years. I enjoy doing things the old way and try to leave the modern way at the plant allthough its hard to do sometimes :? Ive been married for 36 years and have two daughters and one son all grown. My hobbies are hunting, fishing, trapping,collecting hit & miss engines and of course blacksmithing. Mike Tanner YEATERYEAR FORGE MIKE-T

Maybe im guilty of teaching bad habits or if not bad habits perhaps useless habits, but I use different hammers for different uses. Such as I use a brass hammer to cut off with and to hit the chop fuller with which pretty much eliminates any damage to either. I have what I refer to as cold hammers that I hit punches , chisels , and cold metal with. I use a wooden mallet for straightening spirals and twist if they get out of shape I go to the trouble to dress the faces of my hammers very nice and want to keep them that way. Besides I have a plethora of hammers. Most smiths that I know have a lot of hammers , and whats the point of aquiring multiple hammers if you intend to use only one hammer for everything. I take efforts to keep from marring up the face of my anvil and think it only reasonable to do the same with my hammers. MIKE-T

cornhuskers lotion also works well

neighbors and concrete floors can both be a pain in the --------back. I rezoned my place to industrial under a conditional use permit so I wouldnt have to worry about the neighbors. I am like a lot of the older smiths as in I prefer a dirt floor. The main reason that I rezoned the property was so that as my neighbors changed and the county officials came and went I wouldnt have to worry about what I could or could not do leagaly. I am in a very rual county that is sadly starting to experience a great deal of growth and as it grows the restrictions on what I would be allowed to do would most certainly increase without the protection of the proper zoning in place. This way I can open a store , teach or do anything and everything up to and including the uses allowed under the M1 industrial permit. MIKE-T

meco3hp I still do those things with the exception of getting the corn in with a nubber. evidently youre into hit & miss engines also

:shock:

Glenn Posted both times here just fine Thanks

more couples would be like that if the wife weilded a hammer as good as her husband :lol:

John thanks for the site references had been to most of them and looked around but havent found any photos or diagrams of the inside parts. will keep looking / have plenty of time as they are restoring the building also and wont be ready for the bell untill the building is about finished

the town which shouldnt take very long to do , it will just take forever to get paid because

that her pastries and cakes werent that good anyway and everyone is about tired of talking about her all the time because we have a lot of work to do and the list keeps growing Now that the shop is repaired we will tackle the next item on the list which is ----

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone

Very well written / You you should write short stories ! !

Just have fun and enjoy what you do. Charge a reasonable price for what you do / if it takes twice as long for you to make something as the next guy you cant charge twice as much. Keep in mind that what we do is kind of neat but not really that special. There are probally more people practicing this trade now than ever before in history. Beware of the self proclaimed Masters and personal horn tooters for they abound in any trade and you should endeavor to never become either. Let your work do ALL of the talking and let others decide how good you are.

One Rod If you look at iforgeiron.com under [ TOOLS ] then under Vises , you will see three vises that I have in the shop / The photo on the far left is an I beam with plates welded down each side as SWAMPFOX described. This way of mounting a vise is very solid.

Bruce WELL SAID

Irn What was left of the pieses that I tried to describe were part of the orginal mechanism I belive , as I had to cut the broken hanger part free from the bell and although the bolt was steel the wedge shaped piece was cast iron and done in the same fashion as the rest of the castings. The wedge shaped piece held a pivoting part that the clanger rod attavhed to

As far as I can tell the remnants of the clapper is kind of wedge shaped piece bolted in tight along with the hanger. On this wedge shaped piece there was two 1/4 x 1 inch flat bars / one on each side with what appears to be leather stacked shims that would rest on the inside walls of the bell and the clapper would hang and swing from the center of the wedge shaped piece. I assume that the leather shims were to deaden the ring from one swing to the other so as to not let one ring from one side bleed over to the ring from the other side / does that make sense ? / I can see it in my head but being an illiterate one finger typer am not sure if I can convey it in words. Having no experience with bells but trying to imagine the function I also assume that there is a way to tune this bell via. the amount of leather shims and the pressure that they would apply to the sides of the bell. I also expect them to ring this bell when they dedicate the building and mention my name as to the restoration of the bell so I really want it to sound as it was meant to sound. Irn thanks for the photos and drawings but would really like to see a picture of the mechanism that I have described above as I dont think this was your ordinary everyday clanger arrangment. Please keep the info coming. :)

Have been asked to refurbish a rather large bell to a restored condition Allthough the bell itself is not damaged the supports and clangers were broken or missing, which brings me to the problem Have made the hanging mechanism but the clanger and ringing [ lever or wheel ] is missing. It is a number 34 bell that was on the local high school 50 some years ago they decided to remove the copula to make the building look more modern / well they just threw the bell off of the 3 story building which pretty much broke everything to pieces , its amazing that the bell was not broken or cracked. The county has recently recieved a grant to restore the building to its original state and use it as an extension of the community college. Any help with sites / books / photos etc. showing the actual ringing / clanger mechanisms of bells in this general size range would be greatly appreciated. Everything ive found so far only shows the outside of the bells. I could come up with something but want it to be as true to the orginal concept as possible

SWE Karl You might want to try GRANSFORS BRUKS there in SWEDEN for an apprentice position

Can anyone point me in the direction of a book or a source for instructions on the use and adjustments of a 25 lb. little giant power hammer. I have recently purchased one and have no idea how to use it efectively. I have beat the xxxx out of stuff with it but want to know about how to better control it and come closer to replicating a hand hammer. I realize that I will probally still need to put some finishing touches on the piece with a hand hammer but I got it to hopefully do heaver work with, without the effort required with a hand hammer. Right now its sort of like being in an automobile accident / I hit the petal and hope for the best outcome. The results so far have been pretty much a somewhat controlled disaster. Also looking for sources for dies, as I only have a set of plow dies now. Edit: words edited

there are a lot of different types of hickorys / one is a mockernut hickory which is almost all hull and almost no meat. try making banna nut bread with them its one of my favorites

welcome gobblerforge / please feel free to chime in whenever you want

its not elves or leprauchans / everybody knows its the grimlins