dablacksmith

i use bolth depends on how big a ring you want to make ...the ring roller is nice for big rings but not so nice for smaller rings (say 12 inch and under) .. if you are going to make smaller rings i would just find the approprate size pipe.... i have a bunch of sizes for this kind of job .. good luck!

looks good for a first project!

i always figured green flames were copper burning off but i could be wrong...

you might see if you can get coke! ive used it a lot lateley almost no smoke and no sparks like charcoal... and talk to the neibors you mignt be suprised and they might like it! ive had a shop in a neiborhood with trip hammer almost on the property line( within a foot or 2 ) with neibors house as close to the line as law allows (i think it was 10 ft setback) had no problems they liked my coal smoke better than the other neibors male goat!!! if your carful on fireup to keep the smoke to a minimum build a good tall chimney you shouldnt have a problem... i know of a shop that was in down town seattle and they were running a coal forge... the chimney was real tall alway up building but it worked good...good luck!!

I heard the old timers used to use it to forge weld wrought iron... haveing said that i dont think it would work as good with modern steels...

get it hot hit it hard!! you got the basics now make stuff ! ya might make a bick so ya can do round stuff easyer ... you can clamp it in the vice cause ya ant got a harty hole... have fun!

nice knife ! what does put it on my table mean? you at a show ?

I would say YES ... I just bought my 30 lb Macgowan & finigan perfect power hammer for 1500.00 in the same area as you and if i hadn't i would be interested! 1200 is a good price in my opinion... If you get it and decide you don't like it in 6 months let me know .. i will have money again by then :D

irnsrgn You are hilarious!!! and dead on!! as far as ash ime gona put it in the garbage ..havnt had much yet in new shop but its finally gettin big enuf pile to start messin with ... first bit i used to fill in around the pavers...i dont end up using many chemicals (occasionally acid for damascus echant) i neutralize those with bakeing soda and dump um down the drain...other than that dont use anything to dump... ide put the ash on the ground but its not my property(museum owns it)...

ya ive paid 18 $ a twenty foot leingth for 1/2 sq..... it has affected my sell prices even for little stuff ..I hope it dosnt go the way of gas or were all in trouble!

just wondering what you sell your spike hawks for... ive made a few over the years and made a few for this season ...i was figureing 45.00 ..yours is nicer than i usually finish mine so...

should work great! 12x 16 is big enuf for a good shop ! I would go with tin roof.... fireproof cheap and holds up well...

ide keep it simple .... Ive done a few of these type demos and they have a short attention span ..ide stick with forgeing and leave off the brazeing might start wit a real simple project like nails then make a rams head to wow um also bring some pre made stuff to show .. have fun!

btw anyone know if there is a direction of rotation on this hammer ??? clockwise or counterclockwise? ime getting closer to getting it up and running ..and have the shafting for the flatbelt drive but wondered about direction ... probably does not matter but.....

defenetly one of a kind ... nice!

probably to cold but also are you useing a used leaf spring? they can sometimes have flaws in them ... i do use old leaf springs but if its gona be a fancy ( time consumeing) piece i go with new steel.. i had nice falchon i made that had a hidden flaw in the steel had it completely built and finished was cutting some kindling with it and 'ping' broke at abput 3 inches from crossgaurd...you might want to just bite the bullet and buy some steel closer to the size you plan on working with ... forgeing leaf spring down from 2 in to 1 in is hard work without power hammer... or heat the leaf spring flaten it and let it cool down slowly to aneal it then cut it with saw ... good luck

avoid real big citys (chicago, new york..... ect) and you should be ok... arizona has some wonderful places to ride but this is starting to get into the hot time (it is better to ride in the winter here at least in the phoenix valley) ive not traveled to the deep soulth but havnt heard of any real bad places anywhere except in big citys because of traffic mostly... have fun!

hookd of all types sell as well as dinner bells ... forks for barbeque and meat turners door pulls ...theyre are a lot of things you can make ck websights and books you will find something!

no real hard fast rule but what looks good .. usually strap hinges are much stringer than they need to be for a particular job i would use 1 1/2 by 3/16 strap iron for door hinges and 1x 1/8 strap for shutters have fun!

well you are right about blacksmiths = farriers in most peoples minds but with the kids it is more than movies ... its video games! a lot of the role playing games have blacksmiths makeing armor and weapons ! I had a kid ask me the other day " where are your ingots! " I explaned that in real life blacksmiths use bar stock not ingots and turning ore into iron is usually done by a specialist in big furnaces and not at the forge like a game! he took it well and i do make swords once in a wile so he got to see a " real" sword so he was happy and got to learn something new! it is a constant teaching job when you demonstrate and we need as many people doing it as possable to teach the public the truth !

for armor work you might think about some type of press.... If you have axcess to welder you can make some type of press useing a bottle jack .. for dies you can use wood for bottom die and various ball dies for top die (traler hitch ball and possably shotput ball ) it would be practically noiseless and is a quick and accurate way to move metal .. if you have metal shop try turning top and bottom dies of various diameters .. I had a friend that made armor for a liveing this way .. havn't seen him in years but I remember his setup it worked well and left the armor tough also (work hardened) I am kinda reading between the lines as you said cold working and hammering I figured armor... anyway good luck !

it usually ends up in a pile somwhere.... ive got a few boxes layin around and i dig thru it once in a wile to make stuff (tools ect) as far as scrap yard I usually only haul in car parts (minus springs) there... never had enuf scrap to take to a yard and if I did ide probably bring back more than I took...

easyest fire is propane ...once its going you dont need to do much with it ...where in arizona are you? there is a arizona chapter of abana.... there are a few smiths around here ..If your close to apache junction stop by sometime.... Ime setup in the superstition mountian museum and am there tues - sat 10-4 for another month or so then I head north to (relitively) cooler climate..

really! I will have to play with that! I am going to replace the springs as one is broken and the previous owners just clamped it back on! I thing this one is a 40 pounder and its a early model (small crank plate) .

Just got a hammer for my shop at the museum ! Its a macgowan and finnigan perfect power hammer. It was built between 1903 and 1906 so it fits what i am trying to do (trying to keep this shop as around 1910) Got to set up a line shaft for it .. and its gona take some cleaning and maintenance but... it was running so YA I got a hammer again!