HWooldridge

Most everything we dig out of the ground around here is either flint or limestone (or oil <_<) - some areas have more of those materials laying on the surface than usable soil for agriculture.  Must have been decent material for the ancient Amerindians as the stuff is everywhere.  Walk over any plowed pasture after a rain and you are liable to find some type of flint tool or point.

Re the OP question; some flints are much better at throwing sparks than others.  I have found some pieces that almost look like a grinding wheel spark spray when you hit them on a steel - others might throw one or two sparks over several strikes.

Outstanding! I love pole barns - they are about all I'll build these days.

With regard to poles, I'll share a trick I learned from a Mexican rancher about 30 years ago - which is to simply set the poles plumb and tamp them. I haven't put Sackrete in a hole since then - but I do drill to 3' with a PTO driven auger. The moisture drains away and the poles don't lift when the soil heaves. There is a cedar post fence a couple miles from our place which was built in the 1920's and it was set the same way, i.e, no concrete.

I like your floor - good choice for a forge shop. Mine is the natural caliche we have here and it's pretty dusty in the summer - puffs with every step unless wetted down frequently.

My shop is 26x40 and as NJA said, it is too small. I'd love to double the footage but am sure that would just fill up again. About the only thing I would change is to add some skylights to the roof.

It's not an impossible job to reharden the face. There is some info about doing that on this site.

Is there enough adjustment left to re-machine the tight end ?

Part 1 - pre-bend the bar to the angle that would put the tenon in the correct plane then block out the tenon across the tangent points and finish.  Bear in mind the balance of the bar will swing up and down while rotating it - you might hit the floor or other equipment with insufficient clearance.

Part 2 - not sure I am following you on this one but I'm thinking to make the two half circles then lay out on a table and draw out the assembly with chalk.  Should be easy to line up the two elements then take your measurements for the balance of the parts.  If you are worried about putting the holes in the wrong place, make one sacrificial piece out of lighter material and take measurements from that master.

A drawing or sketch will help...

Frankly, I need to disassemble the pieces and measure everything. I suspect the bronze gib is the worn piece but won't know for sure until the metrology proves one way or the other.

The 300 series stainlesses are typically non-magnetic but I would not characterize those as "low-grade". They probably would make good tongs.

Here's a list my wife sent me a while ago - she is a master seamstress so gets to hear these kinds of comments at shows...

My wife gave me an antique Atlas pasta making machine in almost new condition - and boy, am I excited! I love to cook so this should be a lot of fun.

The terms "sow" and "pig" came out of the casting industry because the gates and runners on open molds looked similar to a sow hog suckling her pigs.

Matt,

That's probably the most concise response I've seen in this thread.  Bravo!

HW

I never got into the habit and don't tap.  I tend to lay the material on the anvil, hit it however many times it's necessary to do the work, then I quit.  I used to do a lot of production forging with a hand hammer and believe it's much more important to learn how to relax and swing without engaging any antagonistic muscles (similar to what Hofi teaches).  A tap may help some folks on the upswing but I would not teach a beginner to do it unless they took to it naturally.  However, as stated above, it does no harm and should not be discouraged - just like being left-handed.

I've also read the old smiths did it because the sound warded off evil spirits - so it may have gotten started for that similar reason.

You might think about a muffle design, possibly with the addition of exhaust baffles (similar to a heat treat furnace).  The parts to be heated are separated from the heat source by a partition that more or less encapsulates them but allows the heat to enter through a constricted area.  You can then push a lot of heat into the box without worrying about hot spots and house the thermocouple in the muffled area.

Could also run the burners at full fire and dump some of the heat through an exhaust port with a baffle - although that is admittedly more wasteful of fuel than controlling input.

Hi Dave,

I once bought a 25 lb LG that was completely disassembled for $150. It was my first PH and I didn't know anything about them other than my own common sense with regard to normal mechanics and I was able to reassemble it with no problems. They are pretty simple machines so treat it like a used car - trust your gut if the old antennae go up for any reason. Otherwise, most things are easy to repair. The sow block dovetail eventually broke on my hammer so I built a new one from a big piece of steel shaft - worked perfectly thereafter. Don't try to overthink it; little hammers are much easier to clean up than their big brothers just because of their smaller scale.

Good luck,

Hollis W

My 100# Beaudry came to me with a lot of wear at the bottom end of the ways (I've owned it over 30 years so this is not a new issue).

The hammer had half and half dies on it when I bought it, which I am relatively certain was used for repointing jack hammer tips for much of its former life prior to landing in my shop.  At any rate, it has a great deal of play at the bottom of the stroke (maybe a half inch wiggle or more) but it is tight at the top of the travel so the ram binds if I drop the bronze wear rail to tighten the side to side movement.

I was thinking about fixing this with Turcite or Moglice but was wondering if anyone had done this in the past on a similar problem.  It also seems to me that UHMWPE would probably work since the application is nothing more than guiding the ram and isn't nearly so precise as a planer or lathe bed.

The other option is to scrape all the ways just like it would have originally been done at the factory but that is obviously a lot more work...

Re using an engine: Used to be a blacksmith shop in Castroville, Texas that ran everything in the shop off a jackshaft powered by an old Lincoln welder that was converted to a flat belt pulley. I don't think those engines made more than 35 hp but this one ran an air compressor, power hammer, grinder, drill press, etc. with plenty to spare.

The only problem with running one engine is that every tool is down if your power plant fails...

Frank,

People knapped flints by hand - it was a cottage industry like nail making. Women and kids, men who couldn't perform heavy work, etc.

Your small hatchets might have been intended as a toy for children. The safety nannies have only been around for the last 40 years or so - whole generations of kids grew up with pocket knives and belt axes.

Fun to find - nice collection.

Hollis

I built a guided splitter jig for my power hammer that works well on hot material. It cuts from both top and bottom so 2-3 hits and I'm done, although I sometimes will have to hot rasp a few sharp burrs. I have used it to split crosses (just never made 150 at one sitting).

For "a couple of cuts", I would buy a good hack saw and a pack of high quality blades. Might be surprised how fast you get through it; stop and rest if you get tired; cut from both sides if necessary.

I've cut 4" round shafting by hand in less than ten minutes. It's a good workout.

I've knapped a lot of flint points with nothing more than a deer antler and a hammer stone - but when flintlocks were king, people burned through flints like the English archers consumed arrows. The flint needed to be sharp and square so these types of tools were used to dress the stones. Depending on the rock's origin, you only get a few shots out of a flint before it needs changing.

I have a few flint dart and arrow points which were found in Central Texas.  An archaeologist told me they dated to at least 1000 to 2000 BC, perhaps older.

I'll have to add pics later...

I think the Europeans view ironwork (forged or not) as a legitimate trade worthy of the same respect an electrician or plumber gets.  Here it is often perceived as a quaint thing to see at craft shows and folk festivals.

The UK seems to have higher numbers of available tooling and perhaps more of a general appreciation of the craft among the buying public.  Germany might also rank near the top based on the same line of reasoning.

However, I'm also prejudiced to our own USA so the above comments are certainly not a criticism.

'The Beverly Hillbillies' had a character named Bolt Upright - I always liked that one... :)

Am assuming you have flat dies.  If so, a "slapper" is simply a piece of half round stock with a handle welded to the end.  The radius is used to draw then the tool is flipped over to smooth out the fuller marks.  You do want generous radii on all the edges so no sharp cuts mar your stock.