HWooldridge

I'd use it first - probably over several sessions - before I made any changes. Hammers are a very personal choice and what works for one person will not for another. It looks like this hammer has a radiused crown in one direction only so you'll have to decide if that is what you want.

H13 air hardens in small sections. I usually forge to shape then put the tool in the gas forge and turn it off. This isn't a full anneal but is a good stab at normalizing. I then bring back up to an orange and let air cool. This will yield somewhere around 46-50 Rc. You can typically water cool chisel edges with no ill effects - it's a great steel for hot work. S1 is works well due to the tungsten content but is hard to find in most places; S7 is also good but has more of a tendency to hot check. I use H13 almost exclusively for my hot tools.

Kerosene will work just fine. As I recall, the end of the shaft has a very fine thread that holds the fan so you have to unscrew it. There should also be a jam nut to keep it from rotating out of position.

I made a bunch from some ash. We had a big tree fall in a storm so I took the trunk to a friend who has a saw mill and had him cut slabs for me, let those season in the barn for several months and then ripped them with a circular saw. When I need a handle, I grab a blank and profile it with the belt sander, which is faster for me than trying to carve it. Ash makes good handles but you can't leave it where the termites can find it. Don't ask me how I know...

Once the bearings are out and the set screws are loosened, the shafts should drive out. However, they may be frozen due to years of having been in the same position. I have restored several 400's and I simply turn them upside down then blast the inside with diesel out of a venturi sprayer. Saves taking them apart but still cleans well.

Welcome Nice resort and hotel over on the northwest side of town. About 25 miles from my place across Loop 1604 and up I35.

Sunday's fine with me.

I built mine to the old original ABANA plans. The head is 65 lbs (lead filled) and returns as quickly as I want it to. The anvil is a piece of 4x6 heavy wall tubing filled with concrete so I don't know what it weighs but I'm sure it's not 650 lbs (10:1 ratio). I have used this treadle hammer for over 15 years with no complaints.

Good time of year to be here... I'm about 10 miles south of New Braunfels and about 35 miles north of downtown SA on I-35. Let me know when it gets closer and maybe we can get together. I have a day job so work in the shop nights and weekends but I'm somewhat flexible...Hollis

I feel your pain! We had a full size OED in college (two volumes) and I'm quite sure each one weighed at least 50 lbs - maybe more. The librarians had them permanently mounted to a lazy susan table so no one could drop and bust the bindings.

Excellent work! You should be proud to be part of history.

I use 5 gallon plastic buckets - have never had a problem hiding them if the demo required it.

Yes, I should have noted that it comes from the Latin, "temperare".

Thomas, here is the provenance I found. My compact OED cites the etymology for 'temper' in this context as: 1. "to make (steel) hard and elastic" is from c.1381. 2. "angry state of mind" (for bad temper) in 1828. The word entered English around 1000 AD and originally meant to divide or duly portion. The latter one defining anger actually sounds kind of late to me but that's what the book says. (Sorry, I was an English major in college.)

Colloquial phrases and jargon are related but slightly different. "Losing your temper" is a blacksmith based colloquialism that any smith can relate to - you've worked on that knife all day and then you lose it while tempering, so you get angry. This term has moved into the language and anyone who speaks English fluently understands the definition. An example of jargon might be the word "flash", which is related to various types of molding or forging in a die (it's that little fin on the parting line that occurs where the mold or die halves meet). The average Joe on the street will have no idea what flash means in this application so it qualifies as jargon. Many parts of the anvil are technical jargon: face, heel, horn, waist, hardy, pritchel - all mean something to the smith but would be lost to most of the population.

Every profession has a jargon - "fuller" means something to a smith, both as a verb and as a noun. Telling a machinist to go fuller a 3/4" groove on a 1" picket will only draw blank stares. My grandfather worked in a big agricultural shop in the 1930's that employed many men -very little ornamental work was done, only horseshoeing, repair and rebuild of plows, wagons, etc. When I showed him a tenon set, or monkey tool, he remarked it was for "monkey work", which by his definition was anything ornamental (he also turned his nose up a little when he said it). When I probed a bit more, he said the less skilled smiths were called monkeys in the shop, and not capable of forging and tempering or building something as complicated as a road plow, so were consigned to "easy" work like iron fences and such (of course, he never saw any of Yellin's work but right or wrong, that was his criteria for judging a craftsman during the Depression here is Texas). So, I think a "monkey tool" can be considered jargon, as can a multitude of other words.

What was it that Clifton Ralph used to say? "Well, that one will knock the dirt out of your fingernails..." - or something similar.

Wonder if you could find out where the guy in the video got his?

McMaster-Carr is extremely expensive. We have a local company (San Antonio Belt and Pulley) which will make any size flat belt you want. They are still widely used in some types of agricultural equipment and in fact, I think I've seen a selection at Tractor Supply Co. The synthetic belts last forever and will likely not fail if commercially laced. They also make a comfortable "tink-tink" noise as they go round and round.

The die set is on guide pins and sprung for return - like a stamping die. The slitter could be permanently attached but I would prefer it inserted so you can remove and sharpen or replace. The stripper is simply a bar perpendicular to the work so the slitter pulls free from the hole - you don't have to fight it that way. If you get really ambitious, you can make a three plate die. The top plate carries the slitter, which penetrates thru the second plate when the die is struck (the third plate is the work rest). As the die returns, the work is automatically stripped by the slitter returning to battery. You might want to read up on progressive open forging dies. That will show you basic design and construction.

Thomas, You're not thinking of Bill Epps, are you? I think he may have retired but not sure.

I'd glue and band it then fire the piece in a kiln once it's hardened at atmosphere. If you fire the pieces separately, they may not fit together later.

You offer very competitive prices for the level of craftmanship. One would be hard pressed to find similar work at a similar cost.

Put it in a V-block so you don't have to chase it. You also need a very thin chisel - I would guess about 1/16 at the widest cross section down to an edge. Use H13 for the stock. If you are doing a large number of pieces, think about a die set using a male chisel and female receiver with a stripper to pull the stock free on each stroke.

Karl, You do mighty nice work. It's a real pleasure to look at your creations. May I ask what a piece like this will sell for?