dablacksmith

looks good ime also getting ready for a show (ren fare) .dont forget meat turners to go with your utensil sets! good luck!

ok here is a picture of the rr spike after forging out under power hammer heated to beyond magnetic (cherry red) then quenched in my beeswax and crisco mix . set over edge of anvil and hit with hammer as you can see this is hard. this spike is new and is not from the 60s i do not know when or why they made these but they are high carbon . a mild steel treated the same way will bend and not break.

might add some rose buds ... its lookin good tho...got sumthin similar goin as a pannel for the ren fair ....

interesting challenge ... i dont think i could do it in one heat .i rarely work anything that big and when i do its with a power hammer ... ive seen some smiths where it wouldnt be a problem (Pieter Ross comes to mind) not sure it really has much to do with skill tho ..at least part of that is gota be force ...

i have a copied data sheet from the company .. it is too poor to make a copy of . it isnt the same as what is on the websight now . it is from a batch of spikes purchaced by a friend from tuson . he had people say the same things so he brought a copy of the safety data sheet with him to show. i know that when it is forged it acts like a high cabon steel . also did the harden and break test it broke with defenite grain structure (it was defenitely HARD) now i dont think all rr spikes are high carbon ... but i do think there are some that for one reason or another are hardenable . just to prove my point i will forge one out to 3/16 or so harden it in water break it and take a picture .

well i beg to differ... the company Gerdau Ameristeel makes rr spikes and lists them in theyre material data safety sheets as having bolth hi carbon and mid carbon and lists the high carbon as having .9 % carbon content . i have worked these spikes and they do harden i dont own a rockwell hardness tester so can not give numbers .These are new spikes and i am treating them as 1095 . not helpful in identifying used ones but if a person wants to buy new....

if i remember right this was one of the earlier hammers built ...if all the parts are there and its not froze up ide get it! should work well and 90 lbr is a good heavy size... looks good but anything that is broken you will have to make as its a old hammer (1888 patent date!) . I personally like older machines they seem to be built to last! if your not into old machinery tho you might want to pass ....good luck!

looks like a nice guided helve hammer... is it missing the anvil?or is it just not pictured...if the price is right ide pick it up!

nice ! made me look him up on google ... i like it!

aha that ant so bad ya ant got nuthin sharp and pointy to step on...found some scrap i cut with the beverly shears today... had to pull it out of my shoe...

well if you dont have a drill press.... ide go the cheaper one ...eather will work.

the other thing that bothers me is a post asking the same question that has been answered time and time again.. as far as accuracy in answers you gota look at what the person posting answers has posted and figure from there ...

ya keep it up and dont mess with rebar... buy some steel at the steel yard ...It works easyer and you can start with the right size stock ... makes a lot of difference in finished product also ... rebar can have hard spots and other problems ....

nice work! if you wanted the rush lamp a little taler you could get a couple of inches by changeing the curled section a little make the curl tighter at the top and closer (hard to decribe ) i think you did a good clean job ! i like that type of ironwork tho i dont get much call for it... too far out west ...

ya you could join the other Canadeians down here in sunny arizona! never a problem with snow...

finish the 12 lb mountian howitzer !

ime of the opinion that a clean shop is the sign of a warped mind..... But i have had coustomers say my shop was clean or at least cleaner than they remember there dads being....i can generally find my tools and there are clean spots on the floor ... i even sweep it once every few months....

generally the size of hammer isnt going to cause much problem.. before i went thru all the work i would try putting it on boards or maybee a hard rubber mat under it ... ive seen many hammers set up on slabs with little vibration problems but... where do you live ? that can be a problem also i remember a person that house was on a granite rock that connected the neiborhood ! you could use a jackhammer in his basement and feel it 5 houses away...good luck!

depends on the anvil and how hard the anvil is and how much you miss....if the steel is between the anvil and the hammer it gets smooshed but if the hammer hits the face... it might leave a ding depends on how hard the hammer and anvil is.

never figured it worth the time to make my own charcoal .....even with free wood the work is more than what i can buy coke for....

i like that! nice especially for a last minute slam it together!

you might be able to weld it together with oxy acyl ....depends on location and type of crack also you might be able to silver solder it...its kinda tricky to weld /braze...if its possable to silver solder that will probably be easyier to get a good result...good luck

last time it was around 700$ for a ton delevered to my shop bagged and paletized ... it lasts me around 2 years ....

ide rethink the cost of a bag of coal... there has to be somwhere nearby to get coal after all i get my coke from L brand coal and coke out of Georgia...and ime in Arizona!i find it easyier to use than charcoal it lasts longer and dosnt burn the same ...

it would be much easyier to forge the whole thing from a big piece ...