Leah

Ralph,

Thank you for keeping us posted on Dawn. Please let us know as soon as you get the test results. Is Nathan still at home, or has he had to go back?

Ralph, keep fighting. I will keep praying.

Well Jr., you said you thought you would need surgery and I was hoping you were mistaken. Take care of yourself, my friend.

I have fluorescent lights in my shop, the front half of my shop is on one switch and the back half near my forge is on another switch. I did not put a light over my forge, I have natural light from a window near it. This way, I have a lot of control over the light when I am heat treating.

Thanks, that explains some of the wierd things my blower does sometimes.

While we are on the subject of blowers, answer a question for me. I have been told that, on a blower with a rheostat, you should let it come up to full speed on high then turn it down to the speed you need. Is there any truth to this and, if so, why?

I have an electric squirrel cage blower on my shop forge and a hand cranked blower on my portable forge. I may burn a little more coal when I use the ecectric blower but it is nice to not have to stand there and crank it when I am starting a fire or when I have just cleaned out clinkers and I'm trying to get going again.

Ok, I got the hammer home yesterday so now the fun starts. I have a book and a video on the way that might help. There is an article online on "Anvil Magazine" that shows some things on a rebuild, but it is a two part article and I can only get the first part to print. It says that you have to subscribe to get the last part. I used to have an online subscription, but it will not let me re-subscribe and email to them keeps bouncing. Does anyone know where I can get the December 2000 issue of Anvil magazine?

Candidquality,

I will pick it up this weekend and start seeing what I have to do to it. I am not sure that even I could stand that much pink in one place, but you never know... :roll:

Come to think of it, I do call my place the Pink Hammer Forge, who says it has to be a hand hammer?

Katrina, you and Ron are in my prayers. I know that when you do get the call, you may not have time to let us know, but please try to keep us posted when you can.

OOOOH Ralph, you had me going there for a minute. I just knew you had come up with the secret formula for some kind of UV- saltwater- acid rain proof- not to shiney, clearcoat :lol:

Ralph, you and Dawn were already in my prayers. I will keep it up. Good luck

Sandpile, I went to look at the hammer this morning and I think I am going to get it. Thanks to all the information I got from you guys and an email from Sid, I could tell enough to make a decision. I took about two hours and went over everything with a fine tooth comb. There is slack in the babbitt bearing but there are still a couple of pieces of shim under the bearing cap. I THINK I may be able to run it for a while before it needs to be fixed. If not, I have poured bearings before. I do know that I probably will have to buy either the ram or ram guides or both. I don't know how much adjustment (if any) there is. The ram guides are bolted on with three bolts and there may (or may not) be some adjustment there. The thing has very good bones and was covered with years of grease, oil and dust, so I know it had been kept lubed. The first thing I did was to look at the parts that Sid does not sell. All of them checked out so the rest of it can be fixed. I did not even run it. The motor was 220 so we poked the end of the wires into a 110 outlet just to make sure there was life in it. I stepped on the treadle( after I pulled the wires out of the outlet ) and made Steve rotate the back pulley to make sure nothing was frozen. Between my elbow grease and checkbook and Sid's parts list, I think I can end up with a good hammer. By being able to show the seller that his "mint" hammer had some flaws, I was able to get him to knock 1/3 off the selling price. I am really looking forward to getting it in tip top shape.

Mike, thanks for the info on the foundation. I am pretty sure I can get some old conveyor belt from work.

Thanks, I sure am glad to hear that. I did not want to have to dig up part of my floor.

One more question.

My shop is on a 4" slab. If I do end up with this thing, will I need to dig up the floor and pour a special foundation for it, or can I place some kind of boards or rubber mat under it? Boy, all this sure does give an old gal a lot to think about.

Thanks Jr.,

I had already figured out that spring looked like a widowermaker. I guess OSHA was not around when these things were designed. I had made up my mind that the spring and toggle arms were going to be the first thing I looked at before I tried to run it. You guys don't know how much help you have been.

I hate to hear about the fires, Strine. I hope you guys get rain soon. We have had fires a few miles from us this year. Thank goodness no lives were lost. I seems like the whole world is trying to burn up.

Thanks you Thomas, I will check the rpm's on the motor.

Thanks Cory,

I am not going to take a trailer or a checkbook with me when I go. All I am going to take is a camera and a flashlight. I'm sure the trip will be a bust, but you never know. I don't know a soul who lives near me that would know what they were looking at.

I used to use fatwood, then Steve quit deer hunting so I don't get that anymore. Then, I started using the little firestarter cubes that campers use. I finally gave up and just started using newspaper.

oh, I remember now. Valentine's Day will be here soon so I better get started on that...

Thanks Cory,

The serial number is H-8063. I was told that it is a 1948 model but would like it if you double checked for me. Any information will help me a lot because I don't know anything about power hammers. Sid's site is a lot of help. I have sent him an email and may try to talk to him on the phone. I called the owner today and may go up this weekend and look it over and take some pictures of it. I asked the owner more about where and why he is using boards to change the way it ran. He said it was running too fast so he wedged two oak boards against the ram to slow it down. I don't know how long he ran it like this but I am sure going to look for wear on the guides.

Those look great. Many brownie points for you sir!

Ed,

You and Beverly are on my prayer list.

I don't know your wife but I think a nice bouquet of hand forged flowers would earn you a few brownie points.