Tony millham

I had a 25# utility which I ran for many years (1974-2009). I replaced the clutch lining early on. I used automotive brake lining which back then was readily available from the local auto supply service. Maybe not so today, so it is likely you might find similar material today on Model T or Model A Ford forums. don't worry too much about the not so smooth fit of the new lining as the clutch spider is a section of a cone and hard to get to lie flat, it will run in. I think those old linings had asbestos as a major component so some caution is advised if you find N.O. S. material. Also, I would not use rubber or cloth belting as I don't believe they will hold up and will certainly be affected by any grease or oil that is slung from the main shaft bearing. I would also stick with the rivets, as I recall these were copper. I recall I used copper leather rivet which have broad flat heads that have tapered head cross section. The hammer has a good adjustable clutching mechanism and should not be grabby.

Arlin: I don't get on this site very often so this comment is probably too late to help you... Good advice about the pulley diameter from Salem and just increasing the diameter of the drive pulley to equal or greater than the driven pulley on the beaudry will help a lot. I have one additional comment which is to relocate the drive pulley shaft so that the pulley is directly over the Beaudry pulley. At idle the belt will hang and run with the least amount of friction/drag on the driven pulley and likely increase the belt life from less wear. Ideally at idle, one should just hear the quiet, rhythmic slap of the belt as it runs freely around the driven pulley. It should also reduce the amount of travel that the idler pulley requires to clutch the drive pulley and make the treadle action more responsive. Moving the shaft is a lot of work, but in my opinion from a log-term standpoint a useful alteration. Also the New England Blacksmiths website has what printed information I had about Beaudry, Fairbanks, and other hammers along with contributions from many others. I have long rued the day that I sold off the complete set of linen original blueprints for the Dupont/Fairbanks hammers last built by Barber-Stockwell in Cambridge, MA. Anecdote: The first time I started up my 100# beaudry I used some leather belting that had dried out in storage, not having the $ to buy a new one. The shop was quickly filled with an orange cloud of leather dust. Once the dead stuff was done flying off the belt lasted another 20 years.

Hello: Since you are an archaeologist perhaps you have some knowledge of the hardware and locks on stave churches? I am particularly interested in the door locks (image attached of a reproduction lock from North Dakota church) of the Borgund stave church in Laerdal. If you have ant suggestions or contacts in Norway like Leif Anker I would appreciate any help you might be able to provide. Thanks!

Ray Larsen still has a shop in Hanover MA. He is semi-retired but still making some tools for sale and some art for himself.

Thanks to all who commented on this hammer. It sold today to a younger smith in Rhode Island.

Dimenickle: Interesting. It looks like you have the original motor mount which was gone on mine. The only other 50# hammer I know of is owned by John Little in Nova Scotia and he loves it. It will be interesting to see how many of these Utility hammers turn up on this site. Barbour Stockwell was located in East Cambridge, MA. My recollection is that the stopped making hammers about 1950 after their foundry burned and their patterns with it but I think they stopped making the utility in the 1930's.

The upper die is 2" wide and 4" long. The lower die is about 2"x 6". Both dies are about 1.75" from face to the start of the keyway.

]I have a 25# Beaudry utility hammer for sale. It is in good condition given its age ~1920. It comes with 4 sets of spare/blank dies. Motor is 3/4 horse 1 ph and plugs into a 20 amp socket; an old/original 3/4 -3ph motor available. I bought this hammer in 1972. I have replaced it with a 25 kg air hammer and though I have a strong sentimental attachment to it, I have very limited space for storage and it is now surplus. There are no cracks or repairs in the frame; the anvil keyway is in very good condition. In the past 5 years I have replaced the pitman, coil spring and the bronze adjustable gib. I replaced the clutch material in 1972 and that material now needs to be replaced with some lining that I have on hand. The spare dies are made from machined die stock from the Beaudry Company, and consist of a pair of long universal top and bottom dies (aggressive fuller and flat), a gentle fuller die and several small blank dies. The spare dies are essentially in unused condition, flat and square. The dies in the hammer are bigger than the spares and have seen 98% of all use, and are probably from a 50# Beaudry Utility. The surface of these dies have been welded from time to time and ground to maintain them. The capacity of the hammer is probably 1" square, though before I acquired a 100# Beaudry in 1978, I used it frequently to forge 1.25" square bar for railing posts. The Beaudry design has excellent access to the dies for forging from 3 sides. I cannot recall the weight of the hammer but guess it is about 750-800 lbs. As you can see the design is compact and does not take up much room in the shop. Price:$2850 Location is in eastern Massachusetts. tmillham@verizon.net; 508-636-5437

It has been a while since I was questioned about setting up a Beaudry brake and asked if ever saw a brake part broken. Well, the short answer is no, I haven't. The longer answer is that I now remember where I got the idea that setting up the brake tight might be a problem: it is stated in the sheet sent bt Barbur Stockwell Co. with a new Beaudry ( when you could get a new Beaudry) hammer as follows: " Please start and stop the machine easily and gradually, particularly while new, as the brake is tightly set up, and too sudden an application of it when the hammer is at full speed may stop the machine so quickly that the working parts will be strained."

Is three years later too late to add to the brake conversation? Perhaps someone will read this thread like I just did. This is probably old news but the original Beaudry brake material was leather. I had an unused, new one I acquired years ago from the Barber-Stockwell company, the last vendor for the Beaudry and for the Fairbanks. I had also heard years ago, probably from Ray Larsen, that the brake assembly was not designed to cause the flywheel to come to a dead stop too quickly. If the brake is really grabby it can cause the casting mounting the brake actuator to the frame to fail.

Thanks for the good suggestions. I hadn't thought of running the bolts through to the upper surface of the sow which may be the way I will go.

The sow block on my 100 lb beaudry has had a 3-4 " piece of its male dovetail broken off since I bought it in 1977. Any suggestions on repairing the missing dovetail would be appreciated. The sow shifts slowly under hard hammering. Does anyone know of a successful repair of the sow dovetail and how was it done? I am thinking of machining the broken shoulder of the remaining dovetail square, machining a replacement dovetail to fill in the missing section which is about 3-4" long and then drilling and tapping upward into the sow block for several bolts to retain the new dovetail. I am not sure about this process: Is mild steel is OK for the new dovetail or might it be too grabby as opposed to cast iron?; In selecting bolts for the repair, do you think that coarser threaded bolts would be better in view of the cast iron sow material? Thanks for any thoughts on this repair.

Many thanks for all the suggestions and especially for the photo added by Lamey Knives which was very useful. I hope to get some kind of guard fabricated forthwith and will post some photos when it is completed. I suppose after todays' financial news that I shouldn't be worrying to much about being decapitated by a spring, although now that I think about it I do have term insurance with AIG. I better check on that.

I have a #100 Beaudry that has been running in my shop since 1978. After a discussion with Dick Sargent this past weekend at the Ashokan, NY meeting, a tale of a broken spring brought me up short. While Beaudry springs do not fail often, it does happen. In the case of the failure described to me by Dick Sargent, no abuse of the hammer was involved at the time of failure and was likely the result of fatigue. The spring failure resulted in ejection of a piece of spring past the ear of the operator, which was not seen but heard, with terminal embedment in a wall many feet away. With that tale in mind I have been looking to fit my hammer with a spring guard. I can't recall seeing one online. If anyone familiar with the design of a spring guard for the Beaudry and could post a photo or description, I would be in their debt.