rthibeau

too late to take a nap, too early to go to bed ....... always someone here....

HEY, there's a lot of us lefties ......I could use that maybe once a year

ummmm.......women are not allowed in the shop ...so I gotta rely on paper towels and tape .... do have hydrogen peroxide, iodine, and first aid kits

oh, and duct tape.......if'n you can't fix it with duct tape .......ummm......ya know how to dial 911 ??

when alone in the shop and you need to act ....but later you get to do it right ....

now youse done it  Frosty !!!

I don't make blades, but that could be any number of styles

oh, geeze ... thanks for that post Frosty .......I been tryin' ta figure out what Zen thingie steve meant.  None have worked so far ......

good point Thomas.......I painted my soft hammer pink

Seems I have seen $2500 as a common price for a working 25 lb LG.  $5000 sounds high, but depends on the quality of "completely rebuilt".  Either way, don't plan on getting your money back if later you decide to sell, you're pushing the envelope for price.  Oh, wait.......youse in OZ..... maybe prices and availability are different there.

my rule of thumb is to space the hooks greater than the width of your hand....for me that is over 4".....helps in fastening them to whatever

Pearl of Wisdom:  if there are any industrial type businesses in the area that have some sort of self contained breathing apparatus for HAZMAT teams, the air tanks (like scuba tanks) have a limited life.  Find one and get a few of the expired tanks.  Remove the valves, cut the top off, you have an excellent quench tank for oil for long thingies.  Even a Sara Lee pie factory had them, which is where I got mine.  Better yet, find a place where they're getting rid of the old stuff and buying new.......the older tanks are larger.

they're not bigger enough for a combat zone, but the quantity might offset that ....

welcome back, Ted !!!!!   As they say ... "keep on keeping on" ....and hey, that soon after you should not be driving or doing much.......relax and heal (except for the PT)

and here I thought Ted was just being anti-social ........   Hang in there buddy, we need you

yeah Das ......a size reference woulda saved me a shock when I got my frog

oh yeah...you can draw a rr spike out to almost infinity to get small nail size ..... maybe even beyond. .........

Das, are those sickle teeth made of high carbon steel, or are they like M2 and such which are weird ?

after reading through this whole thread, it seems to me that if you can afford it, buy an expensive hand made hammer......if not don't, and be happy with what you have.  Those who have the skill to improve with an expensive hammer can make their own.

okay children......here is a story from Way Back.....(sorry Mr Peabody) ....in high school I was wearing my class ring and while playing basketball went to make a dunk.....ring got caught in the net and I hung there until my team mates picked me up enough to get loose....think I still got the scar.....I don't wear any jewelry  nowadays but that's a different epic

Swedefiddle asked what about the Colour?? or Color???   I personally have some purple hammers and one pink one.

I built a Batson style press according to his instructions, but used what I already had in the shop.  I used 4"x4"x1/4" for the uprights and built it all on a wheeled cart so it was moveable.  The square tube got reinforced as the build went along.  If I was to do it all over again, I'd use heavier steel all around.  A 24 ton press might look small, but it packs a huge punch.  First time I used it, retracting the cylinder tore it up pretty good.  So build heavy and good luck.

is that 3.5" square stock, cut to 1 or 2 inches long.....and 3.5" square stock cut to 10" long??

Speedy Metals is a good online source for small quantities of tool steels.

I've used 1144 steel for tooling..........didn't have a thick enough piece to bother making a hammer though.  Please clarify the sizes you have.

My main shop work table is 5'x9' and 1/4" steel plate.  Usually only half of the surface is available, but I do my drawings on it.  I solved the problem of full scale drawings by not making anything larger than the available surface.  Works for me, YMMV.