monstermetal

First off there are a number of air hammers that are of use forging.    True Jackhammers, chippers and scaler's are probably the least useful.    What is useful are the large (and small) rivet hammers.      Chippers and jackhammers have a on/off switch,  Rivet hammers have a throttle you can feather to get slow, soft blows

Grant had a 100 lb air hammer built from the hammer on the back of a IR 52 upsetter.     There is a video of it on youtube.    I tried to post a link and it said I didn't have   permission

Jerry where you at Western States?     I would have liked to say howdy....

That is a beautiful repair,     It might be awful for the hammer, but its still beautiful.

Honestly I would not buy such a machine without disassembling and inspection.    It may be fine and it could be scrap iron and you wont know until you open it up and do some digging

Its going to be tough to use that thing upside-down hanging from the wall like that.     Getting it turned over is the only repair I see needed   :-)

Brent makes tools that are a joy to use.  Every time I pick up one of his tools in the shop it makes me happy.

Be humble and direct and be willing to eat some crow and do some work.

I used to call Grant Sarver all the time and ask questions.    Often I would ask how he did a particular thing.   He would tell me he didn't remember.   I would then try it, have mixed results and call him back to explain what I learned.  He would then open up and lay it all out telling me exactly what I needed to know.     He wouldn't give you all the answers though until you tried to work it out on your own.

regardless of how they work, they are a thing of beauty, well made and clever.   Id be proud to have a pair on my rack even if they never saw a fire.

Looks great man.    Solid build and from the video I bet a real workhorse

Very cool,  Thanks for posting!

Very nice!

For a few bucks more you can get a Penddinghaus   Search

Steves Rhino anvils seem to be pretty good though.   I know several folks with them that love them.

Steel is real man,  I am always disappointed to find something "empty"    The weight of a sculpture adds to its value and allure

I think there are rare exceptions that just have a innate ability.    I know several that within a few years were doing world class work.        Maybe one out of every thousand who embarks to learn might just find it to be second nature.       That being said it is pretty easy to fake a video,  After all that is what movies are all about.  Making something that is not real look convincing

I have a similar story about sirens and railroad right of ways,     They are farily narrow minded about you picking up bits next to the track.

It might be more efficient to burn dollar bills directly….. :-)

That is super cool man,   Very fun and nicely done.

I could not find a number on mine.   It might be a Champion, not a Buffalo ?

Not sure why the picture is turned either.   It was the correct way on my computer prior to uploading it.

Just a thought, but one thing that I notice most blacksmiths don't do that they should is to put their touch mark on their business card, and website.

 

Even better if it's embossed on the card.  A major selling point of blacksmithing is that it's hand made by a professional.  The touchmark is a very tangible indicator for customers to latch on to.

Fantastic idea....

Very cool.     I have watched Will on Facebook,  He does some beaufiful work,  Bet that was a great time!

Great stuff,   And Thomas I think your overthinking it.   With modern materials and good heattreat that hammer will never spall and even if it did minimal dressing would solve any issues before they became an consern.    If it was made a hundred years ago with what they had it might have been an issue.

Sorry to kind of highjack your thread here,  It seemed relivent because its the overhead that is killing me.   I didnt mean to turn it into this.

Sounds great in theory but does not work so much in practice.     I have several hundred tons of equipment and material,  A 6600 sq foot building crammed full of several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of equipment       The only way I could take on a regular job would be to have an auction and liquidate everything,  which I have considered.     It would mean assuming huge losses on inventory and machines that most likely could never be replaced.   I have around $40,000 worth of steel inventory that would likely bring a few grand at auction.       I have three 40’ containers full of parts and equipment and a half acre yard stacked 15 feet deep.      Just closing up and going to work for someone is not really an option.           I have thought a lot about what to do and the answer always seems to be just to keep doing what is in front of me.   Its my own fault.    If I would have stayed small and agile Id be in a whole lot better shape but when times were good I just kept buying equipment and expanding.   My gross is now about 60% of what it was in 2008 but my overhead costs are up by 20%.       There is no simple answer  :(      If someone would offer me a GOOD job (something making 75 grand a year or better that was fun and had a future)  I probably would simply call the auction folks and call it quits.

Great finds,  Hope you had fun.    My Dad is milling around down there someplace.  He has a engine in the "big engine" building that he runs during steam up.

You make bow's hu?   I am a few hours south of you and would be willing to trade a nice hand made bow for a several hundred pound chunk of steel for an anvil.  :-)

Ric I am kind of stuck.   If I was able to just downsize and move I would have done so already.    I have plans to move to rural Idaho, where I grew up,  but it will be many years before that can happen.      Real estate prices here pretty much rules out me buying a place with a shop I can work out of.    I have looked for years and once in a great while something turns up that seems suitable but I can never seem to swing a deal.    On top of that the bank wont give me a mortgage.     They don’t care what your cash flow is, only now much money you made, which if you add up the profit from last 5 years the number has a minus sign in front of it.     I can’t move from the area yet because we take care of my wife’s mother who is blind and has a routine here that makes her life livable.    She is too old to force into a new location.    I have tried to convince my wife that we could mover her with us but she says not gonna happen.         I cant even “downsize” really because the cost of moving and setting back up would nix years worth of rent savings.        I have really struggled mentally with what to do.    Of course the shop pays for a lot of things that would come out of pocket if I had a wage slave job so its not like I have nothing to show for working but It still is hard to get excited about taking on work that you know in the end the money will all be eaten up by expences.