HWooldridge

I probably shouldn't have used the term "one hit". A perfect hammer and die setup could be one hit at each station but it might also take multiple blows to reach complete die fill with a smaller machine. As Thomas said, you could either inspect for dissimilar materials or spark test it but of course, some of the patina would be removed during the grinding. Not sure if this is a deal killer on axes - but I know collectors don't want anything changed on old guns or knives. It does not look like a wrought body to me but who can say?

Drop forging normally has progressive stations so it's seldom "one hit-one axe". For example, this one would probably be one hit for the basic wedge, one hit to finish the shape and form the choil (I guess it's the same name as a knife?), one or two hits for the eye, one to trim the flash and maybe cutoff in the same lick. This would be done in one big die with all the stations OR on a couple of smaller hammers with reheats for each cycle.

The "void" may actually be the beginning of a cold shut. During forging, the material on the surface can flow faster than the material in the center of the mass. This is common with too light a hammer so happens more frequently with hand hammering but can also happen with a power hammer. I can't say more without hands-on inspection, but I think this axe was forged on a drop hammer or in some sort of progressive die set. If done in England, this could have been early 1800's forward. Do you think this axe is pre-1800?

The cast steel process was not widespread during the Indian trade heydays and cast iron would not hold an edge so I doubt very many were made that were intended for heavy use (other than maybe a war axe - which this one might be). Of course, cheap was the operative word on trade goods so maybe this one falls into the category. Could this be an ice axe intended for "civilized" use?

I agree - don't know about lead screws breaking but the cutters will bust and walk out of the collet. The cutter pulls itself into the work and causes potential headaches.

Here's a pic to illustrate the point: The top pair I made many years ago. The reins were forge welded and are 3/8 round. They will hold some things but do not bite very hard. I still have them on the rack but they don't get much use. The bottom pair is more recent. These are made from a single piece of 1/4"x1" stock. Each end is laid out on opposite sides and the reins cut apart with a chisel. This gives you a natural taper. This pair is easy to lock with a ring and holds anything from 5/8 to 7/8 and the work does not slip.

Your work looks great - I especially like the hammer. I'll give you some generic tips on the tongs...I have found that some taper in the reins, largest at the hinges and tapering evenly back to the tips, seems to work best on holding power. Reins that are more or less the same in width have a tendency to bend under heavy work. That is not always apparent when hand hammering but you'll see it pretty quickly if trying to hold something for the power hammer because you really have to clamp down hard to hold the forging. In addition, I'm sure the tips of the reins are comfortable to hold by hand but it would be tough to slip a ring over them to act as a "vise grip". These comments are not criticisms. The tools are well made and it's obvious you take pride in your work.

My old galvanized tub holds about 50 gallons of water, give or take. I had a half whiskey barrel but it grew some little nasties - some kind of worm, don't know what they were but I poured the water out and didn't go there again, looked too much like "aliens"... I've got an ancient 5 gallon galvanized milk can for quenching oil and it works great as you can flop over the lid if a flash fire starts.

Well, they have uses in a blacksmith shop. Beyond that, it comes down to your intended purpose and it's somewhat difficult to put an objective conclusion on subjective comments. Cheap is somewhat relative if it helps you produce something in a a cost efficient manner. Power hammers, lathes, saws and all those other 'gee-whiz' tools fall into the same category. I would like to get one but have been getting along without one for 25 years. I missed a small P1 for $300 a couple weeks ago - just couldn't get there in time. On the other hand, I really could not do much work without my treadle hammer so I'd recommend that over a fly press if you didn't already have one. Probably just a personal decision, one way or the other.

That depends on a few factors. A lot of this work is done by hand so it is not necessarily faster or more efficient to do multiples. However, any jig or assembly device that takes a while to setup might be helped by running more parts across it in a single run. Much depends on the part process. For example, the per unit cycle time for me to produce J-hooks is no different to make 10 or 100 but it is more efficient to tumble 100 than 10 because the tumbler uses the same amount of electricity no matter how much material is in it.

Use the term "Friedrich Cross" in your searches.

Call yourself, "Form - Out of Chaos" (no charge for the name...:-) I have a website and it has brought in most of my work - maybe 90%. Craft fairs didn't work for me and I never made more than $500-$600 over a weekend. I know three professional smiths who worked the craft show circuit and all made decent livings - however, they started in the late '70's and are now all doing something else. The plethora of hobbyists and pressure from overseas made it a losing effort for them. It might vary some from place to place but you will eventually get tired of people whispering "I can't believe he wants $10 for a steak flipper!" I now do mostly architectural work and have more than I can handle. I also have a day job so BS work is part time but I am in the shop most every weekend and weeknights to 10:00 or so in all, I probably put in 20-30 hours blacksmithing and 45-50 in my day job so I don't loaf much. This year, I probably grossed about 12 grand so reckon I made about $10 an hour (I'd be quite broke if I did it fulltime). Of course, my total time includes designing, running for materials, job site visits, installations, etc. and I quote $50 an hour but it's obviously not enough. However, I get a lot of work and stay busy. I have been doing this part time for 25 years and don't plan to stop until I'm dead or feeble. You need to decide where you want it to go. A hobby is just that - maybe sell something once in a while but no deadlines for the most part. Trying to make consistent income will require an exponential jump in equipment if you hope to get any throughput. You could also go the knife route but that too, will take time and effort to develop a style and loyal following. Decisions, decisions...

BT, It may always be possible to find stress cracks in used leaf springs and these can occasionally manifest themselves in the final product. I have not had this problem in the past but have been told it does happen. If I did notice it, I would take a right angle grinder to the stock prior to forging and remove 20-30 thousandths per side. This should get rid of anything you might encounter. You can heat the stock to a bright cherry red and visually look for cracks because they will become apparent due to differential movement.

I had a set of leaf springs off a crawler excavator that were an inch thick, five inches wide and about four feet long. Plenty of stock for most anything you could think of.

It could be that your forge isn't hot enough - larger stock does take more BTU's to get hotter. The steel type has no bearing whatsoever. A fire is a fire, it does not care what is put there except that it will act as a heat sink.

Well, I can say that my comments are based on firsthand experience - not beating a drum but I have repaired over ten but less than twenty anvils - can't be more specific because I didn't keep track. The main "battle" anvil I have in the shop now was completely recovered with a high carbon plate and heat treated over twenty years ago and has held up to heavy regular use with no cracking or breakage. Surface cracks can be successfully welded with MIG - and 7018 - and probably a few other things. Old anvils are basic alloys so are pretty easy to weld to but the high carbon in the face can leave a heat affected zone which may break out later. The simple wires/rods have a tendency to blend well so you don't have a weird color zone like you might with a hi-alloy that contains manganese or nickel elements. Every one I repaired needed some prep so the grinding and cutting will add some preheat but I used to spot heat cracked or broken spots to about 300-400, what I call "spitting temp" - or where it will sizzle water drops. Not very scientific but it seemed to work every time. More importantly and seldom mentioned is the need to clean the crack thoroughly. At the very least, it should be wire brushed, sand blast is better. Active rust under a fresh weld can make it fail. There has been a lot of info posted on this subject. You might want to do a few searches for some additional opinions.

I had a Fisher with similar problems and took a right angle grinder to it. Set on edge with a thin grinding disc, you can dig a furrow 3/8" to 1/2" deep. Grind until you hit the end of the crack and then reweld. Plain old MIG solid wire (ERS70-5???) and shielding gas works well.

Cell phone has worked a couple of times for me. The only problem would be if I was overcome by something and passed out or was knocked unconscious because my wife doesn't check on me. I can go out and not come in for several hours without her noticing.

Yes, it is not an uncommon recipe and gives a nice lustrous, natural appearance to iron. You can apply when the piece is warm so it runs a bit and then buff when cool. This last part is important so any loose graphite is removed or driven into the media. However, this finish can still leave black marks so it may not be the best choice for a high traffic area where people are brushing against it with any regularity.

Frosty, no offense taken - I have a very thick skin and I'm quite certain you'll never have to worry about me being in your shop. We need to learn from mistakes so I posted one - I didn't have to do it and no one would have been the wiser. I have been running this hammer well over 20 years but this is the first time it bit me...and yes, I have been reaching into the dies that whole time and no, I probably won't stop but I promise I won't complain to you if I lose a hand. The basic problem in this case is that the ram could slip even with the motor off because this hammer was apparently setup incorrectly from a long time ago (I confirmed this by setting the ram at halfway to see if it would slip). I fixed that tonight by installing a counterweight on the back side of the idler. Anyone who has worked on a Beaudry knows what I'm talking about. On most hammers, the idler actuates the brake on the left side but my hammer has a self-contained jackshaft and motor so it's on the opposite side. I'll post a pic at some point but suffice to say that the spring that pulls up the treadle allowed the ram to slip because the brake did not fully actuate. The counterweight I added solved the issue. Next time I'll go to the emergency room and keep my mouth shut...:-D

The soreness and swelling are about gone 24 hours later and it's not bruised so the injury wasn't too bad. Funny you mention guns, I always hunt with a loaded chamber - so it seems I must have a habit of trusting mechanical safeties to some extent. I was taught making sure where the muzzle is pointed is more important - but it's perfectly OK if nobody wants to hunt with me...;-)

Another alloy that will work is linotype lead - especially if you simply need a little extra to replace the old stuff. Linotype used to be available as scrap from newspaper printers but it's getting hard to come by now. Used wheel weights will also work in some applications. I repoured a 25 lb LG with straight linotype and it worked just fine. A lot of what makes babbitt work over the long term is proper lubrication.

This was on a 100 lb Beaudry. The ram will stop in any position due to the brake and I usually stop at the top of the stroke because that is maximum die height. The saddle tools go on and come off there. In this case, the crank pin was a little past vertical on the downhill side Although the belt runs slack until the treadle is depressed, there was enough grab to make the ram slip because the brake lining was oil soaked. Glenn, the motor switch is close and I was able to immediately kill the power - but I could not raise the ram under power without finishing the stroke (which would have smashed my hand for sure). This hammer was designed to run on a line shaft and killing the power every time I change tools would be a bit excessive since I can switch configurations several times per minute. However, a block is a good idea. I was forging acorns for a job and kept working last night after the incident but it was spooky being caught like a rat in a trap.

Was working tonight in the shop doing some real normal, everyday stuff and wound up mashing my left hand under the 100 lb power hammer. Nothing broken but it does smart a bit. I use a lot of saddle tooling and was removing a butcher tool when the brake slipped and the ram dropped. Was more of a slip than a blow but my hand was stuck and not coming out. I grabbed the cell phone and called my wife from the house, who came out and found a pry bar. A quick lift and the hand was out after about a 5 minute clamp. One of the veins on top is broken but no worse for the wear, although it could have been a bigger problem if no one had been home. The brake is getting new lining tomorrow and some adjustment since this has never happened before and I don't want a repeat issue. The lesson is...PAY ATTENTION - even on routine tasks...fingers and hands can't be replaced easily. Have fun but be careful...

I could go on all night but here is one I learned in my teens about being gullible. I had about $3500 saved up from working by the time I was 19. One day, I wanted some new tires for my truck and told my mom that's what I was shopping for. While driving around, I spotted a 1966 CJ5 at a local dealer. It was pretty ragged out but I couldn't see any of that at the time. The sales guy saw a sucker coming and marked it up so he could give me a "deal". It had all sorts of problems but I bought it anyway. It gets better. The Jeep had red vinyl seats and no top. After I paid cash for it, the sales guy tells me there might be a top laying around somewhere in the back that I could BUY. Of course, this was the red vinyl top that already belonged on the Jeep but I had to cough up another $150 to get it. Since he already knew I was paying cash, I'm convinced he just stuffed it in his pocket and never told anyone. I showed up at home with no money, a decrepit jeep and still didn't have tires on the truck but I rolled it around in my head over the next few months and decided it was a lesson learned...hopefully, I'm a little better at buying vehicles these days and not so quick to trust used car salesmen.