FieryFurnace

Yeah I'm not sure if my hammer could withdraw the punch. I wonder how you would tell without making all of the tooling and then blam, FAIL! I do want to sell my air hammer and build a new air hammer that's larger.....maybe 100-150 pounds. (Depending on what my compressor could run.) But that's another topic for another time. I don't see a punch press anywhere in my future budget. I suppose I could build a hydraulic press, but they are a bit slow. It'd take a honking press to punch 2-inch + material as well. One of these days I think it'd be awesome to get two GOOD strikers and two GOOD directors together and forge a couple 12-pound sledge hammers in the Brian Brazeal hand-hammer style. Metals calculator says a 3-inch solid 4140 billet 6.375-inches long would do the trick. I figure it would take one person holding the billet, one holding the tools, and two striking. Plus an entire spectrum of customized tools. It would be AWESOME though!

Building forges ughh! I've built a half dozen or so in my 7 years of smithing. All of them needed tweaking. You learn every-time. There are some minor things that I don't like about my newest forge, but it is WAY more AWESOME than my last on, because I eliminated everything that I disliked about that one. The thing with masonry forges is they look awesome. That's the up side. The down sides are as follows. You can't move them You can't really alter them much They are bulky You can't sell it unless you sell the whole shop They require a gigantic hole in the roof They are a pain to disassemble and a other than learning the hard way, are a total loss monetarily. The bads out-way the goods. The only way I'd ever build a masonry forge is if I'd designed a steel forge that I loved EVERYTHING about. Having used your forge and seen it in person, I would advocate a total rebuild, but this time in steel! If you make one and don't like it because of this or that, sell it, and rebuild.

Ok Yeah! That's what I'd need! A hydrolic press would be the nice way to do it.....in the absence of a punch press that is!

Awww you found me out! Durn! I was trying to keep that a secret! LOL No girlfriend, no wife, no kids.....and definately no grandkids! LOL Anyway, I'm of the pursuasion that they will only touch it once! :D

My old fire pot was 3/8-inch plate. I used it for two years and although it shows use, it's got a long life still left. 1/2-inch or 5/8-inch is better. Mine here is 5/8-inch. The forge plate is 1/8-inch sheet metal. This works fine but the area around the fire pot needs to be supported by 1/4-inch x 1-inch x 1-inch angle or larger, because the heat from the fire pot will warp the sheet metal if it is not supported. Swing on by sometime Pugman! Will fire-er-up!

Stripper plate? Please define! I'm not familiar with that. I've got the new handle finished and the faces polished up. Thanks for bringing up these suggestions....it's really improved the hammer. Black walnut handle with white oak wedges!

I forged for quite a long time with a 2.5-pound cross-peen that cost me a similar amount. round the edges on the face starting with a 60 grit sand paper, then 80, then 100, then 220. 220 grit paper will not give you a mirror polish, but you don't need that. 80 grit would actually probably be all you really have to have. Just round the edges. Those sharp little grind lines (called facets) are not good for forging. Round everything off. (If you've got a corded screw gun with a disk sander attachment, that works great. Just finished one of my hammers like that the other day. Switch out to the hickory handle! I believe natural materials are much better and comfortable. Also, I find that a rectangular handle with the corners rounded is the most comfy. The little wavy action that the store-bought handles have are not comfortable, plus those handles are too big around. A simple horse-shoe rasp is all you need to square the handle up.

I did wrap the handle up in 1/4-inch round after JohnB's critiques there. My pipe currently is even with the ridge on the roof, and the prevailing winds usually come from over the roof. That's why I mentioned trying to up the height of the pipe.

I would like an upper H13 die that is the punch. Bolt it on! The bottom would need some form of alignment tooling as well as stops to keep the billet from sticking in the punch. The problem with the alignment tooling and the stop, is the expansion caused by punching the eye. You have to be able to get the billet in and out, easily, to conserve time and heat. You would also need the alignment die to be adjustable in all directions and on all sides to allow for different sized billets. Sounds like a job for some heavy all-thread.

There will always be a need for customized forged iron-work, in some form.

Hi there! I've take 9 weeks of classes from John C Campbell folk school and I've spent five weeks working with Brian Brazeal (a notable teacher who is a member here.) I'm west of you about 2 hours, and I offer classes. PM me and let me know what you are wanting to learn. I'm trying to put together a group class with some locals right now, which would keep cost down per person.

Perhaps a hatchet or claw hammer like you said, but in these forging hammers where you typically choke up, I think it would probably fell a little awkward.

I'm using an 80 pound air hammer, single hit method. It's hard to line up and move around, which is most of what slows it down. But it is just down-right big stock for the hammer too. I took out the oak handle today and did a wavy-grain walnut handle with two crossed white oak wedges. I'm staining it now and will post pics when done. I also polished the face with 220, 340, 400, and then scotch bright. It's mirror finished now. Brent Bailey's work is quite nice. I got to see a lot of his stuff out at ABANA and I've used one of his sledges at Brian Brazeal's place.

Interesting info....especially see that I'm supposed to be on the mailing list for KBA if they ever got together. I've got some interested locals, so I'll contact the Maynards and see if I can't get my email lists transfered to them.

Thanks! I gave your email address to the guy that is handling emails for me. Once we've established a date for the meeting, I'll be rounding up some folks who are willing to bring extra equipment so that everyone has a chance to bang on metal. I can set up three forging stations, and 10x10 shade tent. I could use more forges, tents, anvils, tongs, hammers, vises. Once we establish a date, I'll put my phone number in the general email, so that anyone with portable equipment, who wants to bring it, can arrange it with me before hand.

Isn't that when you crack open the air gate to heat up a piece your about 3/4-the way done with, and you forget about it and you hear it sparkling across the shop over the noise of the blower and band saw running? Just sayin'!

I certainly do take Brian's post as a complement!!! I hope that my reply was not misunderstood to be negative! Anyway, I just wanted to make sure the mods are aware that I will follow the forum rules under any conditions. As a student, it's an awesome feeling that one of my instructors would want to buy a piece that I made (with Chase's help,) that he taught me how to make. Hmmm Alec! I kind of liked the flare! Especially in those 2-inch x 3.5-inch billets. You need to try one of those sometime! They are neat. Speaking of grinding, I need to get a good belt grinder. I used my dad's belt sander but it is designed for wood, not steel.

Agreed! I'm working on some other stuff today, but sometime this week I'm going to rehandle it using black walnut with two perpendicular wooden wedges made from white oak.

I see there has been semi recent activity on this thread. I've had a lot of semi-locals express interest as well. Things took off last year, and I had a job-opportunity out of state that came up shortly after I started the thread. Then the Young Smith's 2012 trip to ABANA, and then fall craft shows. You folks that do this for a living as well, know the drill. Anyway, I've got a friend who is going to start working on compiling an email list of interested people.

LOL! Well uhhh!

I appreciate all the comments and critique. There are some interesting thoughts on the handle. One of the things on the guild's checklist is functionality of pieces that are supposed to be functional. In order for the hammer to be functional it needs the steel wedge. So what to do? I'm thinking about knocking out the oak handle, replacing it with walnut like McPherson suggested, and pre-cutting a slot for the steel wedge like I do on the wooden wedge. This would allow more control of wood displacement when the steel wedge is driven through. I'll also clean up the wedge and make it nice a shiny. The faces will also be polished. As far as pattern-welded billets and silver inlay, I neither have the skill or materials for that as of yet.

I did it on the power hammers. The only thing that really goes slow, is the punching. Even with the extra 20-pound weight on my 60-pound air hammer it took like 6 heats, which is CRAZY! No touch-mark, the reason being it's a blind jury.....any and all marks must be removed or covered. I center-punched the side of the eye that the handle goes in, and left it at that. Not sure about the polish. It's got an extremely worn 80-grit polish on it right now, and is perfectly ready for any and all forge work. I might brighten it up a wee-bit for show though. But like I said, it's ready for work as-is. I'd about agree with that sentiment Frank Turley!