Dillon Sculpture

Michael Bondi used to sell them, not sure if he is still. Nice product you have :)

Working for yourself is not going to release you from working for someone you do not like or doing work you feel is beneath you. A professional blacksmith, tradesman, or proprietor of any type business has a duty to their customer. If you are willing to fulfill your obligation it really doesn't matter... A blacksmith business can encompass many things that can not be taught, that which only life experience can. I would suggest selling something, anything, to someone and see how it goes, if you do good you will sell another and build on your experience as a business man.

Thats a great find from the rubble of history! My good friend just put a nut and bolt on the loo doors in his pub, does that count?

Neat little unit, looks as if some was forged and some of it was cast? How would you rate it, In stones?

I've seen them called sculpturing dies, for severe isolation and spreading material really fast. They are radius in the long dimension as well though, the sharp corner can be an asset or not. Such extreme radius have been know to spit stuff back at you, so be aware to have as much hanging off the back as you do the front. Being able to bolt on whatever is a great advantage.

Way too steep for drawing, may be able to do some cool sculptural stuff though. I have around 3 or 4 degree from center to edge of the die for drawing, this allows for blending.

One of my favorites was Edgar Brandt, he creating beautiful works of art by hand and hammer. Creating does't come from the hammer, it may come from "under" the hammer. Most novice smith tend to beat the xxxx out metal, advanced smith try to do as little as possible. I think this is not only due to practice but also being able to visualizing what the smith wants to say or make, then finding the most direct route. This direct path is where the power hammer shines for me but I also create this way in clay and drawing. You are not going to find your vision in a tool but they can defiantly inspire :D

Do a little port and polish while your there :D

You have 3 phase in your new place Patrick? Looks like you have an original motor stand as well. I'll bet those dies would chop a horseshoe in half pretty quick...

Can you just sleeve the one you got, with some thin sheet metal?

Ahh, I didn't read page 75. :) What size is the motor, rpm/hp? Last pat. no. sept. 14, 1909

Tag photo. Not working :( :( :(

Sorry Triple post

Sorry double post

Patrick Udaman! Saving another, way to go. Yes I would say that anvil looks bigger than mine, never did weigh it but we calculated 5000? Unfortunately mine did not have the number stamped weird... 9 ton for the entire machine from the book we figured the top to be around 8000 and the bottom 5000? Bradley merged with Edlund Machinery Co. of Cortland in 49 and was moved to Cortland in 52 production was probably shut down shortly after the war? Didn't Wallace metal work buy Bradley from Cortland? They tried to sell it to me at one point...

I would say we are all winners! Yours has the safety springs on the bottom instead of the safety cap, not sure if there is any advantage either way. What kind of tooling you get?

Yea kudos to the buy out, soo how much did you pay? I still want to have the record for the cheapest steam hammer B) Your sow is much prettier than mine... I had my anvil, sow and die on a scale, it weighed out at 5500 lbs. I'll measure the diameter today but 20" sounds the same.

Thanks, Interesting I gave my first public art proposal about 20 years ago, before I even had my first real shop. Part of my proposal was for the city to rent me the old fire station to use as my blacksmith shop. Probably would have been a different path entirely if I would have received that commission. One council person shot it down because I wanted it to rust as the finish, her suggestion was to build it out of stainless. Funny how things work out...

Matt, can you get a few detailed shots of that treadle set up, linkage? What is the piece on the back of the trailer?

Sounds like a keeper Matt, where are the pics?! I had a 1 ton jib on the backside of the Niles the first time round, poured integral to the hammer foundation. Running a hammer that size is a production in itself from heating to tooling may as well just consider renting a big compressor for a week or so. Should be able to forge a few ton in a week :huh: I'm glad someone can use this info, could be a trend :lol:

Well Matt now you've gone and done it, this is really to bad! Good luck getting any work done ;) Not sure the air you have will push it full tilt but two dozen full hits will do an immense amount of work, I would gang as many tanks that you can find. My air compressor is a 6 cylinder 90 hp. 375 CFM unit that will run my hammer full power at 100 psi. which has only been done a handful of times. If the Niles is a steam hammer (very likely) and not a air hammer (mine is) you will need more air because of the clearances. I don't think you will be disappointed though, I run my 200 off a 13 cfm all the time for tooling work. This is really where these hammers shine anyways, you can draw out on one of your other hammers. Hey at least you have a good idea how to install the beast! :D

Wait, what hammer are we running where? Matt, I weighed the ram and die in this thread somewhere? Never did get a weight on the piston, somewhere between 700-750 I'm still waiting for the KZ200!

Mmmm.... An arch hammer sure would be nice B) Here is the Chambersburg info. Chambersburg instruction bulletin.pdf

Hey John, I thought my load out of a half ton in less than 30 min. was pretty good, I don't think his jewelry made it out that fast! Sure was a lot of work, I was enlightened how much of a lifestyle it is doing these shows. I also had a person give me a laser pointer during the show, unfortunately I think my age deficit showed up when the other exhibiters started getting the red dot treatment... :ph34r:

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