PeterDE4

Thanks very much for all your replies. You've been very helpfull.

I got the foot cleaned up a bit with a knotted wire brush, as suggested. There are a series of verticle lines about 3/4" tall. there are 4 in a row, a space of an inch and a half or so, then 3 more lines. l l l l l l l Is this any help?

I suppose I could make a crude balance beam with a piece of 2x12 lumber with a 4:1 length ratio from the pivot to the opposite end. Then just stack weights on the opposite end from the anvil till it balances. If I multiply the weights by 4, that should give me the weight of the anvil, or a pretty close approximation. Do you think that would work?

Yes, there are lugs on each end with a hole that I suppose could be used to bolt the anvil down to a base.

There's a bit of rust in that area. I hit it with a wire brush, but I can't really make anything out. I'm a little hesitant to go at it with a wire wheel in an angle grinder.

I'm looking for help in determining the weight of a Fisher anvil. It is 14" tall, and 12.5" wide at the base. The length of the base is13.75", not including the mounting tabs on each end, which brings the total length to18". The face is 21"x5.75", the step is 5' wide by 2.75" long, and the horn is 11" long. Any help in determining the weight of this anvil would be appreciated.

The local recycler charges me $.25 a pound. They don't let the "public" in, but I've been dealing with them for years, so they let me scrounge around when I'm looking for something in particular. They don't handle vehicles or equipment, just scrap metal.

I have a 50mm (2") bore on my cylinder, and I use about 11CFM. A 63mm bore is 58% larger in area than the 50mm, and the 80mm bore is 156% larger than the 50mm. I think the 80mm bore would be pushing it. Good luck with your build!

Well, it looks like the boss is going to let me expand my shop. My current building is 14x18, and I'll be adding a 22x18 section. Due to the grade of the yard, the new section will be 8" higher than the existing shop. I've been using propane forges up until now, but I have a coal forge stored away and I want to be able to set up in the new section. The builder is proposing a block chimney with an 8" square flue liner, and there will probably be a round 8" thimble in the side to connect to the hood. Based on another post I saw on this site, that sounds like it may not be large enough. Can anyone point me to a reference so I can make sure that the flue is sized properly? The current building is on a monolithic foundation/slab, 6" of 4,000 psi concrete that's been in place since 1992. I have a Kinyon style air hammer with a 50# ram that sits on a 1.75" steel plate, 16"x48". The total weight is 1,500#. The base plate is mounted on a double thickness of 2x lumber, so it's about 3" thick. I haven't had any problems with cracking the slab. I don't have any plans to go to a larger or different style hammer. I was planning on doing the same type of foundation/slab, with reinforcing wire and rebar. Do I need to make any special provisions for the hammer, other than letting the concrete get well cured before I start hammering? I'm a little reluctant to pour a special foundation as I may need to move it around to different areas of that shop as my needs change. Any advice would be appreciated.

You might try looking for a "surplus" steel supplier in your area. We have one in our area (Delaware) and they're considerably less expensive than the big steel yards. They also have a lot of cut-offs and pre-cut pieces so you don't end up having to buy the whole 20 foot length.

If I were setting it up, I'd put the forge in the northwest corner. Putting it where the direct sunlight can hit it will impede your ability to read the fire and the color of the material you're heating. I'd also position the anvil on the east wall so that I could pull a piece out of the forge, swivel 90 degrees to my right, and have the anvil right in front of me. Assuming that you have electricity, a 12" shutter mount exhaust fan in the north gable end would be a good idea. By opening the window on the south side, you can pull in fresh air while pushing out smoke and fumes out the same end as the forge. Just my $.02. Good luck!

My only experience with pneumatic power hammers is a Kinyon style hammer I built myself. I used the modified controls designed by some guys at the Alabama Forge Council, which adds a second regulator. Using their system, the control is excellent. I set the main regulator at 100 psi and the secondary at 50-60 psi. Depending on how far you push down the pedal, you can get a light tap-tap-tap or a heavy bam-bam-bam. I've seen videos of the Coleman system, and it is impressive, but as you say, it is complex as well.

You could clean the scale off and weld the cracks. Any of the welding processes would work. when you heat it up to finish the forging, just work the welded area with your hammer, and it will blend right in.

The only way you can get what you're entitled to and the public adjuster gets his cut is if he inflates the claim, which is going to throw up a red flag to your insurance company. If you think that you're being treated unfairly by your insurance company, you can always solicit assistance at that time. Good luck, and I hope you get to rebuild quickly.

Mike, I'm afraid I can't answer that. I ordered mine from MSC Industrial Supply. I just checked the catalog, and it doesn't give any specifications along those lines. They do list a "premium grade", but the wear strips that I bought are not in that category.

I don't use a lubricant with my UHMW guides. I polished the contact surface on the ram to reduce abraison. My expeirnce is limited, but I haven't had any problems, so far.

You'll want a compressor that puts out at least 10 cfm@90 psi. I seem to recall that the Kinyon plans call for a 11cfm air source. !2-13 would be better. My compressor only puts out 6.4 cfm@90 psi and it has to run 100% of the time when I'm using my hammer. I'm using a 2"x10" cylinder. A smaller cylinder will need less, and a larger cylinder will require more.

Jere Kirkpatrick's Valley Forge & Welding in Willets , CA has candle cups and pans. There are 4 sizes of pans ranging from 2 3/8" to 4 5/8". Their phone number is 800-367-5373. They've got a web site, too, that you could find on Google. I've gotten them from this place before, and the quality is good. Pete

That was an innovative way to do it without taking off the existing wedge. It looks strong enough, to me. The point of the wedge is where all the force is going to be, and it looks like it's right up against the 3/4" plate. I'll be interested to hear how it works. Good luck! Pete

You'll need to make a plate to hold your bottom die, and drill a couple holes to bolt it to the bottom plate. A new sliding carriage will need to be made that has a plate to hold the corresponding die. You'll have to check your ram extension to determine how long the carriage will have to be. Where in Delaware are you, by the way?

I think that it would mostly be used for pre-heating metal prior to welding. I usually use a rosette head on my oxy/acetelyne torch, but I could also pull a burner out of a forge and use it as a hand held torch. I'm sure that there are other uses, but that's the first that comes to my mind. Pete

How is your splitter configured? Is the splitting vee on the end of the ram, or does a flat plate on the end of the ram push the log against a fixed vee? How is the plate attached to the frame of the splitter? Since the ram moves slowly, I don't think that you need to be concerned about having a large mass, like an anvil. You'll just need something that's strong enough not to deflect from the pressure of the ram. I think that 3/4" or 1" steel plate would be plenty strong enough, especially with a couple gussets. The plate could be drilled and tapped so that you could bolt various dies to it. If you had a picture of the splitter, it would help. Pete

Michael T I live in the State of Delaware, USA. I'm very happy with the one I built. I need a bigger compressor, as the one I have now runs on a 90% duty cycle when I'm using the hammer hard, and my compressor's not designed for that. The biggest problem I had was getting the cylinder/slider allignment correct. There's a fellow in Canada, I believe his name is Robertson, who builds the Kinyon style hammers with the cylinder mounted from a top support instead of on the top plate. In other words, the cylinder mounts from a fabricated upper support instead of a 4 hole mounting plate. It uses an eye and pin for the connection. This set up looks like it would eliminate a lot of those alignment problems. I have a schematic for the pneumatics that I can forward to you if you want to give me an email address. Pete

I built Kinyon style one last year. Are you using those plans or something different? Pete

I have a Wilton 7"x12" horizontal cut off bandsaw that works quite well for me. MSC retails them for around $1,150, but often has them on sale in the $900 range. The clamp angles 45 degrees, if you need to cut an angled end on a picket or rail. It comes with a coolant system, although you don't have to use it. It also has and adjustable feed. I believe that they're imported from Asia, but it seems to be pretty well made.