larrynjr

Can anyone tell me what weight of hammer this one is? I used this at the course I took back in Oct. and would like to get one of the same weight.

Welcome Bronc, where are you from? Click the User CP at the top of the page and add your home town.

Very cool video.

always different stuff, classic rock, bluegrass, reggae, hiphop(Black Eyed Peas) Radio if I can't decide what I want. Sometimes just the sound of the hammer hitting steel!

Talk about a Steel Pulse!

I didn't see it anywhere, it was on a shelf with some odds and ends. One of the guys said to look him up next time I go, he had some tool steel, possibly some Chrome Moly from some machine that I might be interested in.

Now, what could I make from Chrome Moly...............................

Just got home from the scrap yard and found these in the back of the van! Got a sprocket for some small swageing, a couple of pickaxes, looks like a jack hammer blade, big forged hook, a small piece of spring steel and a bit from a big lathe.

I didn't start smithing till I moved to Washington. I grew up in Winterport and went to school in Hampden though! Small world.

Though I've never worked with a coal forge that looks like it will do the trick. How hot did the charcoal get for you?

Hello Firegnome, where in Maine are you from? I'm from there originally and know one smith in the Bar Harbor area.

Larry

The week before Christmas, when I was in the process of re-injuring my neck and shoulder I had a small bit blow up under my safety glasses from my chop saw. Apparently it wasn't hot enough or it only hit the corner of my eye because I was able to remove it myself when I finally looked in the mirror. I switched to safety goggles immediately though.

I just don't want to go there!

Welcome, Chuck. What aerospace firm are you with?

I haven't really learned much of welding yet, how often or how much of a problem is inadvertently welding your project to your metal table? Would a non weldable surface be preferred?

I believe I paid around $80 or so for mine. It has been a decent anvil for that price. It is soft faced but has more mass than an equivilent length of RR track.

My neck and shoulder are better this week, maybe as much as 50% better but I still want to have them checked to see if there is a root cause. Maybe a herniated disk or what not. Doc is supposed to set up an MRI for this week.

My son is disabled and in a wheel chair full time. At this point he expresses no interest in much physical activities. He'd rather play video games. (who'd have guessed!)

One thing that springs to mind if the potential smith stayed in his /her chair, is hot metal dropped on the floor, melting / popping the tires of the chair. My son's primary chair is a power chair with air tires.

Depending on that potential smith and their mobility, I think a power hammer would be most useful for forging. It would be much harder to get the correct angle and power to hand hammer from a chair. Not impossible to overcome but just more effort in initial shop set up.

I think some sort of overhead chain / cable system to help hold the weight of hot steel as it moves from forge to anvil would be useful too.

The way my neck and shoulder have been for the last week, I'd much rather have sore legs! It might even help keep me in shape for skiing!

I have a possible line on a new anvil and if that comes through, I might use my HF Russian anvil as the base for my Treadle when I am able to build that.

When I try to save my info for the push pin map, I get an XML error. Not sure if it 's me or the site.

Where are you from Mikeldigra? Go to the User CP pages, then edit profile, and enter your location and save. let us know where you live.

Welcome to the community!

I think a solid anvil will give you a LOT more efficiency and remember optimum anvil weight should be about 15 times the head weight.

A tube filled with sand just doesn't do it for an anvil.

How does having a heavy weight base / anvil on a treadle help? I can see for hand hammering how it makes a difference but on the treadle, while it would be good to have the heavy anvil, I would think that the extra force of the treadle hammer would make up for having a equilalent weight base. None of the plans I've looked at and pictures I've seen here indicate that a much heavier anvil plate should be used.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have one yet myself and if it will make that much difference I will make sure I get a heavy enough base / anvil / strike plate. I'm just looking for more info. :)

I hear you on not being bullet proof, I'm not "old" but not a young guy anymore either. I can see if I don't get this taken care of now, it could keep me from smithing and many other of my activities that I enjoy. Last year I was starting to get some lower back pain and problems but the wife and I started doing weight watchers and I lost 40 lbs. last year and I haven't had any lower back pain since. If I can get the root of my neck pain taken care of, then focus on proper smithing technique I think I might be ok in the long run.

my propane forge definately helps to heat the shop while I'm there. It's been freezing or below for weeks now. I've got a 25 gal. propane tank and that will give me close to 100 hours of forging time. I've never tried to track it very acurately yet. Maybe this time I will.

That's some great work that you're doing with just a torch!

I will definately vouch for the bad taste, haven't been able to get all the pills down at once and it's nasty! Haven't had any extreme hunger issues yet. I only have about a 10 day supply then down to a non steroidal anti-inflammatory. Hopefully the worst of the pain will be gone by then.

Thank you all for all your suggestions. I stayed home from work today the pain was so blinding this morning. I called my doctor about the pain and to get set up for an MRI but all they heard was MRI and never called back about the pain. So I went to a minor emergency clinic and talked to the doc there. He thinks it could be a herniated disk or possibly arthritis. He said get the MRI but also set me up with some Prednasone and Vicodan. The Prednasone won't start helping for up to 36 hours so the vicodan will help me sleep tonight. I'll keep you informed of how things go for me.
Larry

I have been laying my thumb on top of the handle as I hammer. Since I first read Uri's BP regarding hammering technique, I've been trying to keep my thumb wrapped around the handle but obviously haven't been successful enough. Before I can put any of these to the test, I need to get past the pain. Last time it was almost 6 weeks before the pain started to fade. But again that was the time that I discovered the neck posture exercises. Hopefully the pain will receed much more quickly this time!

I know what part(s) of the problem are. One has been overgripping as you all have mentioned. I'm working on loosening up, I think I've located the "sweet spot" on my hammer handle but until I use it again, I won't know for sure. The other issue that I read about in a post here, from Hofi I believe, is not placing my thumb on the handle as I hammer. I'm getting better about not doing that but still I find it on there at times. This problem is one of the reasons I want to get a treadle hammer built.

I appreciate all your advice. I did the xrays for the doctor and his next thing was an MRI but I haven't done that. The exercises were helping so I thought I had it licked.