monstermetal

Yep, very cool and nope never seen anything like it. I have seem maybe 300-400 post vises and nothing even close

Washington has a really high blacksmith/bladesmith count... If you can plan on making it to the Western States conference at Mt Hood late this summer. Will be a great show with some top notch demonstrators

Smack it with a fairly solid blow with a ball pein, if it leaves a big dent. it does not have a tool steel top. cast iron ones will mark quite easy (dont smack it really hard, just a solid tap)

There is a accomplished smith in Oregon named Jack Frost, careful you you might hurt his feelings.

When I was in denver a few months back I went and saw the DaVinci exibit and played with this model.... The guy came up with some amazing stuff

I'll do my best to take lots of pictures and post them on facebook.... Anyone who is friends on facebook feel free to repost the photos on IFI

One thing is I bet the jet burner will consume far more fuel than a good venturi burner... I think you could spend the money in propane that a real forge burner would cost in short order..

For sale?

I think its adorable.... Id like to have it just as a conversation peice

I was always under the impression anvils where so cheap in the UK becuase there are no real smiths left over there :P :P

We have been slow in the shop so we have been doing a bunch of fun things. One is building a prototype treadle hammer. It seems to me that most really lack in power and waste a lot of energy in links and friction. I like the idea of an inline hammer but I think you get the most efficent blow from the simple two bar solid link. This hammer has a solid ram and a 400lb solid anvil. It has full width bronze bushings on stainless pins. Ram weight is only about 75 pounds but I think you could get more work done with it than heavier hammers I have seen just because it is solid and has a real anvil. Anyway here are a couple of tests we did today... Punched a 1/2" hole in 1" bar and hot cut a chunk of 1" X 2" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXcRWXJx1Io http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbjvRb5bNrQ

very nicely done..

I dont think he makes hammers out of Atlantic generally although he is a big lover of the stuff...

You dont have to have any taper but I would not soot it if there is no taper in your mandrel. (soot may or may not release on a straight shaft and if it doesnt it can be next to impossible to get the mandrel out) I use a straight mandrel and coat it with anti-seize and have had real good results..

Well you get pretty good at something having made ten thousand or so, I love Brents tools (and I like Brent an awful lot too) every time I pick one up it makes me happy...

I had a lot I tried selling for some time at a buck a pound and finaly gave up.... I have seen guys ask as much as $4/lb but I dont think anyone buys much at those prices.

I had a Champion hammer that had a thin (1/16th?) rubbery flat belt that was kind of yellowish in color that worked really well. I am starting to work on my #9 Beaurdy and would like to source one like it for it. Anyone have any experience with those it know what it's called?

They are worthless junk, not good for anything... Scrap really (Ok, the candle holders have some use but no more than a $3 set from the Goodwill) What you are selling is the emotion attached to them and that emotion is directly proportionate to the level of skill and quality that radiates from it. Its worth as much as the the feeling you can evoke from the buyer. it might be $20 for some and $2000 for another and the circumstances you present it in can make all the difference... Thats what art is... it is useless junk that makes you feel strongly enough to part with your money because you like that feeling and want to hold on to it. You can never ask too much but its easy to ask too little. Often its better to ask three times what you think its worth and expect to get it...

I can answer that in one word... Inertia Why does a 350 pound Nazel hammer hit with 7500 lbs of force instead of 350lb? Inertia. A slow press has no "blow" and will not carry energy though a hot part, A friction screw press has a blow that is closer to a hammer than a press (although not quite like a hammer) I have several slow presses for cold work. I have a 100 ton C frame press, a 30 ton C frame press and a 400 ton H frame press, and a 50 ton C frame on the front of my ironworker... All have electric valves and none are fast enough or suitable for hot work. This press will be for hot work only and speed is the primary concern, A press that is fast and light tonnage will out work a slow but high tonnage press by a factor of ten when your dealing with forging temps. My 400 ton press moves so slow that it is basically useless for forging.

well it will be a bit, I just got a big job that will keep me busy for the next 6 weeks.... I am leaning towards building something with what I have and seeing how it works out...

Well I would agree that a friction screw press really is the thing to have. The issue is that to do the work of a 30 ton hydraulic press you need a 100 ton Screw press. Now if I could find a 100-150 ton friction screw press I could buy reasonable I think Id jump on it but I dont think it would completely replace a hydraulic press either. And the 30 ton machine is still sitting in my yard but Brent Bailey bought it. My current C frame is 40 ton and built on a 18" X 76 lb I beam and it will flex enough to cause significant die misalignment and the working depth is only about 8"

Yikes Kirk, that is pretty ugly. That anvil needs rebuilt. Maybe during a visit home you could bring it up to my pops shop and I would fix it up for ya. it would take a full day to bring it back to life but its really what needs to be done to make it usable. Until then its a good hard place to beat on and you can pick and choose an edge best you can. I disagree with the ones who said not to grind on it. I would use a sanding wheel, not a grinding wheel and square up some places. be careful not to do more than dress it but as it stands I dont think you can make it any worse. Clean it up and use it until it can be redone.

Good deal.... I finaly got my 4B back together as well.... it runs but has some control issues. I hope ol blue runs like a top!

Thanks Kirk... :)

Well a local blacksmith wants to buy my shop built forging press so I decided to let him have it and build a new one. I am kind of torn because I have some big stuff to build a press but not sure if big is the right thing. I have a 30 hp 19 GPM self contained pump and a nice heavy 8" cylinder. That would give me about 60 ton squeeze with a 90 IMP extend and 114 IPM retract. I think more ideal would be a 6" cylinder which would give me a bout 160 IMP with this pump or a 5" which would give me 222 IMP and 25 ton. I have found that speed is much more important than tonnage when punching and forging and really if the thing is rigid and fast you can get a lot of work done with 20-25 ton. If your upsetting large stuff you do need tonnage but I have the 210 ton Williams-White for that kind of work. The other option is to try and buy components, I have made the mistake in the past of trying to do things on the cheap with what I had and not being happy with the less than ideal results. The pump I have is pretty ideal for a small forging press at a fixed 19 GPM @ 2500 PSI but its a huge 60 gal tank and a 30 HP motor. The plus's are its ready to go and I have little money in it, the cons are it takes up lots of floor space and power. The cylinder I have is a real nice heavy unit with like a 5" rod and good mounting options but 8" I think might be too slow. I wish it was a 6" and I would just go for it. I do have a 6" but its like 40" of stroke. I also am up in the air over a H frame or C frame. I really liked the openness of the C frame I built last time but it was not as rigid as I would have liked. I think a H would be easier to build good and solid but you loose some ability by having to pass the work though the machine. One of the jobs I did required tuning some 2" scrolls (made from 2" solid square) a job that you couldn't have done on a H frame machine If I go for the C frame I have some 18" wide 2 3/4" thick plate that I figured I could use for the frame and use a weldment to build the cylinder support and table....