petere76

I'm with you on the Swedish pattern, they work well. I have a good range of sizes (2000, 1500, 1000, and 500) in the shop and the design does move metal, particularly with the peen side, they are very effective. I tend to favor the American machinest straight line handles over the ergo-Europe shape. I get more control with the straight line configuration. It just works best for me and I usually dress the faces and change handles on new hammers anyway. Peter

We have two post vices in the shop. One is attached to a piece of structural tubing with a 1 in top plate. It's a large, forged, HD vice does move about some when its being used. The flexibility of being able to move it outweighs the aggravation of its unintended movements. Another smaller vise, 5 in, Indian chief, is mounted on any of the (5)- 2 inch sockets located on the underside of the tables perimiter. The sockets will mount any tooling fitted with a 2 in square tubing spud. The table is about 900 lbs and it keeps everything steady. The modular set up allows a great deal of flexibility and it will always breakdown to a clean flat surface for lay out work. I have always tried to keep the shop modular so we can fully utilize the open floor space. Anything fixed hems in you dance floor. The power hammer is stationary but all else, including the coal forge can be moved should we need to. Peter

Hey Dr94, Welcome to the madness, I'm confident you will enjoy the journey. Maine is prime smithing country. We.have an abundance of scrap sources, experienced smiths that will lend a suggestion or two and an art community that encourages all sorts of undertakings. Maine is home to many recognized smiths, more than few in your own back yard. We also have The New England School of Metalwork, under the direction of Derek Glazier, which is located in Auburn. The school is world class, no nonsense and it fits the needs of all students or experienced smiths looking to better their metalworking skills. Dereck is a top of the line professional smith and an educator, you will not go wrong there. The short intense courses and workshops are perfect for working smiths and students alike. Get on board with the New England Blacksmiths Association. They keep up a data base of local smiths, they have quarterly meets and they are a good source for tooling and technical support. NEBA poc would be Bob Menard at the Ball and Chain Forge in Portland. My own forge, Carrabassett Valley Forge, is located in western Maine. PM me if you have any questions and welcome aboard. Peter

Sam, Nice job on the exercise...first class work. Peter

The backing plate is a good acccent but it looks heavy. Is it a wall mount or part of a more ornate display? Peter

I like it and it looks good, certainlys qualifies as "yard art" in our corner of the world. Its abstract, has natual elements and ikt comes with it's own stand. Good luck with the judges. Peter

Gents. Take note, this might well be a snap shot of our own future in a very divided nation.

May peace be with you and yours. Peter

Royce , On the Spencer hammers I have seen, the die sets are bolted (socket head, cap screws) into the tup and the anvil in two places. I am sure you could use any number of other configurations that suits your needs. Two bolt points seems to work pretty well. Peter

SJ243, Updraft is actually defined as negative pressure. You get it in a stack pipe by increasing the velocity of the hot gases being carried up the pipe. Hot gasses are not as dense as cold gasses but they like to move to where the pressure is less. Thus if your shop door is open and the stack pipe is cold the easy way out migh be into your shop rather than up the pipe. Smoke acts like a solid as it moves through the pipe. It has mass and it creates a negative pressure by moving upward. The faster it moves the greater the negative pressure. Things that effect updraft are the diameter of the stack pipe, the height of the stack pipe and the number of transitions in the pipe. Any mass flow device suffers a loss in pressure when making a transition. The position of the stack piper outside you shop is another issue. Below or above the roof line? Next to or sheltered by another building or structure? Both factors will negatively impact draft because they create pressures that your exhausting gases have to work against. Does your stack have a cap? Sometimes the design of the cap will creat reistanace and add to the forces that the gassses have to work against. There are simple devices to increase the leaving velocity of the gas that will increase draft. As your gasses leave the forge and enter the exhaust pipe, is the available opening (squuare inches) less than the square inch open of the exhuast pipe? You want a smaller opening feeding the large pipe such as an 8' feeding a 10 ". By somewhat reducing the inlet side of the equation you actualy create a venturi effect of sorts and this will in turn, increase the velocity of the gas going up the stack. The "super sucker" side draft design is a good example of this simple design principle. Lastly, there is a wealth of information on stack dimension, design and hood styling that you can read by doing a search in the Forge section of this forum site. You should be able to solve your problem relatively quickly after some research. Breathing smoke all day is is not a good idea. Good luck. Peter

Royce, The Spencer hammers are an excellent design and have proven to be very servicable. I have a CS hammer in my shop (Number CS-343). It was part of the NESM orchestrated build in 2011. If you have the opportunity get involved with a team build as they offer the best use of everyones particular skill set and it reduces the time required to finish the project. I haven't experienced any deficencies or operational issues with my own unit. As finished, they need to securly mounted to something soild. They are a 300 RPM recip device and they will oscilate if you don't bolt it down somewhow. I chose to mount my own on a 4x4 steel plate (@ 800 lbs). Tooling does require some creativity because of the relatively low lift height. In this regard, Upon review, you get a stand alone, proven mechanical design produced for something in the neighborhood of $2000.00. The unit has a reasonable finished footprint, low overall height and it is somewhat portable. If noise or vibration is an issue in your shop, fill the upright stantion with sand and oil and or mount the hammed on a section of high density stall matting. Good luck with your project. Peter

TM856 2K or less ...just buy it, you will not do much better. Clay's hammers are a great machine at a reapsonable price. We did a 12 hammer build in Maine and I believe the cost of materials alone was around 1K. Mount the hammer, its a recip machine so they will oscilate. Mount it on piece of 1" plate if you can find it or go with concrete but make sure its bolted down to something or you could have a bad day. Good luck. Peter

Tubbe, Nice touch with the detailing on the hinge roll. Excellent work.

Traditionally cargo vessels had hulls and frames made of mild steel. Size was a safety factor thus the scantlings were large. Thicker was better and the vessel could and did remain in service for 30 or 40 years. The trade off on dimension is the dead weight you have to push around and the cost of the fuel required in the process. Cargo pays the bills not the weight of the hull, components or the fuel Many modern vessels are constructed with high tensile steel, this is to reduce the hull component weight. High tensile steel tests out between 50K to 80K on the deformation scale (pull test) . The drawback to HT steel is that it essentially work hardens in service and tends to crack. This factor was the cause of any early demise of many tankers so constructed in the 70s and 80s. As Thomas noted, there is a mixed bag of other metals as well in any vessel being scrapped. If you shop scrap steel look for yards that wreck old government hulls as they would likely not be HT steel. The wreckers in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh do most of the worlds marine scrap work, no environmental or safety regulations whatsoever) and for the most part, they ship the scrap to China. Peter

Iron, Thank you for sharing the information. I'll be making a set of those fullers for my own tire hammer. Peter

Ironsmith, Good job on the tooling. A few questions. Did you forge out the fuller set for the tire hammer or weld it up with round stock? What is the finished dimension on the fuller radius. I have been thinking about doing the same thing with my own tire hammer as working alone and using hand held tooling is somewhat unsteady. On the punch, is the upper end the same dimension as your intended hammer eye or do you finish out the hole with another drift? I usually punch-slit and then drift to a specific finished size but your punch looks as if it will do both in one operation. Peter

May you and Patty find strength and your brother David peace. Thoughts and prayers. Peter

Eric, If you decide to go into production, weld the back side of the tenon to the plate. It makes for a joint that will not loosen up in the weather. We made a bunch of knockers using both methods and the welded ones held up much better. The riveted joints as a hinge were the tightest and they worked the best. They also felt the best when folks were testing them out. i attached a few photos of some of the joinery and styles we produced for your review. Peter

Gents, Something I see more in demand of late is a striking block, a simple swage of sorts. The big swage blocks are good to have in the shop but they aren't always used, they take up space and they aren't cheap if you can find one. Using your working anvils for heavy striking has its obvious pitfalls. I have seen a lot of PW anvils in the 130 # range with broken heels, likely the result of heavy forging gone astray. Must really make for a bad day when that happens. The New England Blacksmiths had a production run of striking blocks made that sit atop your anvil center of mass and can be effectively secured via a strongback, chain and threaded rod arrangement. They have two hardy holes. A very simple, effective, and economic solution that can be readily integrated into almost any shop. I picked one up from Bob Menard, he organized the production and did the distribution for the NEBA out of his shop in Portland. Many thanks to Bob for thinking up and supplying us with a very effective tooling solution. I use this block all the time, I keep it on a spare anvil along with a cone. I can move it around the shop where and when it is needed and it works great. Photos attached for your review. Peter

It's not about how many toys you die with, but rather what you do with them while you are here. 500 anvils are only a decoration akin to yard art if you aren't using them. Peter

Tim, That's a great platen, I am always on the look out for one of those in Maine. Peter

Dave, 2 forges....serious production. 10 in will suffice for the pipe if the rise is straight and you go above the ridge line. If you are at least 10 foot off the ridge read up and see what the recommended stack height is. The issues with inadequate up draft all occur when you are close to the peak and don't extend the stack high enough. You can save some bucks and use stove pipe for the long run inside the shop and convert to metal-bestos for the roof penetration and the exterior stack . The cost per foot on the metal-bestos sections is pricey but it holds up well in the weather. Stove pipe will not last long outside. Also the metal-bestos roof (jack) penetration packages have real a good flashing kit and they don't generally leak. You will get tired of climbing up on the roof with silicon sealer fixing the leaks if you just go with a no frills stove pipe penetration. Peter

Dan, PC world is a little over the top, don't you think. I have never heard of the Monkey tool called anything else. I guess you could call it a tenon set tool. PC terms seem to get the better of us wherever you turn. A fag used to be a cigarette and gay according the dictionary on my shelf actually means happy. Today it seems like the tail is wagging the dog, try not to give in to the stupidity or encourage the pc police out there. Peter

Brasel, Seriously, the welds don't look right and you are working with big forces in immediate proximity to your body. Be responsible for yourself and others that may be near you when you work this thing and fix it. You will be at fault if someone other than yourself is injured using this thing. Bob is right about your family as well because if you get screwed up they will have take care of you. Rule of welding...if it looks bad it probably is bad. If you cant weld, that's all right, just get someone to help you out or hire the job out.. Don't pass off bad welding jobs as good enough, people get killed this way. Peter

Quality job. Modular design, balanced and the hooks are made well. The use of traditional joinery adds a very distinctive touch. Nice work sir. Peter