hicks

ah sweet good job sir,, i was going to say at the bottom of the forum list is forums for the different guilds and such there is blacksmith guild uk which i think john b runs in devon seems like a helpful guy, try a post in there ! yeh i wanna see post some pics up! hope she burns hot man, take it easy

hey man!! glad to see you on here mate!! well you know im in the same boat as you and cant offer you any work experience but hope that works out for you ,, did you get that tue and bosh sorted before you left? are you up and running? i just got my system running with the bouncy castle fan you are welcome to come and have a rip on the old beast! hope you good man and ill see you in a coupla weeks matt ps i thought you mite be saxon you know...

great stuff!! nicely done!! im gonna have to get practicing!!

those are a decent little pair of tongs you have there mate, as you say they re widen after a couple of hours use ,my only suggestion would be to make them stoughter!!there is nothing wrong with the pair you have made ,, at school we constantly dip our tongs into the bosh -quench tank to keep them cool, to stop them deforming and also to not have the heat start to burn your hands and so you dont singe the nibs of your tongs this will probably fix the reopening effect,, at school we always make the tongs the same way by doing three sets, the first we set the nibs down and draw them out a bit, then we knock the nibs to the side by placing the nibs over the far edge of the anvil at 45 degrees and squish the hinge plate area down then then we place that over the far edge and set down into the hinge plate squished area to form the back of the reins then we arduosly beat the rest of the reins out on the horn , next we round the hinge plate up or knock the edges in so the hinge plate is kinda diamond shaped , punch drift etc ,, they take a while to beat out the reins by hand on the horn but they will be a nice chunky pair of tongs that should last well its just the pain of beating the bar down there is nothing wrong with the pair you have made ,, at school we constantly dip our tongs into the bosh -quench tank to keep them cool, to stop them deforming and also to not have the heat start to burn your hands and so you dont singe the nibs of your tongs as regards to using high carbon steel that doesnt sound good to me sounds like the nibs will crack off eventualy like many bought tongs here ,, one other thing on the issue of tongs which i see with bought tongs is the reins flex and it does my nut in !! so you are squeezing them and getting not much grip on the nib end,, im just a fussy fool!! regarding quenching blades it depends on the steel you have im not as keyed up as many people on here but i would use water up to something like .5-.6% carbon over be safer with oil good luck man!!

hello there glad to see another sucked in 1. did you make your set of tongs out of hot roll stock or spring steel, or just high carbon? whats the best material for tongs? at school we make them from mild steel hot roll usually 16mmm sq or 20mm if we are making bolt tongs or so 2. best style of all around tongs? what should I make to encompass the most common needs? in my opinion it would be bolt tongs to hold say 12mm sq and also a pair of flat bits with round bar fullered into the nibs in a cross that way you can hold flat and small round and square with them and hold larger round and square with the bolt tongs,,, square hollow bits hold round and square whereas round hollow bits only hold round. 3. what style of hammer is your favorite all round use? personal preference here man, i started with a 2lb german style hammer but have now made a larger swedish style cross pein i like them both possibly the swedish more 4. anyone know of a source of blacksmithing tools/supplies in the state of washington? (western Washington) eerrrr im across pond sorry bat 5. pros and cons of charcoal vs Coal fuel. there is loadsa threads about this on here main pros and cons are charcoal is more expensive, burns up quicker leaves some ash, when a little piece drops into heart of fire it send an army of flying embers into the air in an unpredictable manner to attack you!(bbq charcoal possibly kept a little damp) if you go for a cuppa the whole hearth will burn itself up however charcoal makes a cleaner fire it may be harder to get as high temps for welding but in essence it is better for welding, no nasty fumes and tick black smoke,, in fact standing next to a charcoal forge is just lovely you can cook your eggs in the knowledge they are clean and good coal is cheaper ,easier to get heat will build up clinkers in your fire and smells , however when it is coked up its pretty clean and sweet hope this helps man

ive only done a few but i agree with dave it sounds a bit too long ,, also when i open them back out its never perfect but you can tweak them to be even with some scroll pliers.. i do one of the following either start with two say twelve mm rounds at say 30cm long then bend them both in half and slide them into each other so they hold each other tight , (hoping you get me there ) so the faggot is now 15cm long (6inches) and each end has two ends of a rod and a bend , then fire weld both ends and square them up twist him up and untwist in the vice while pushing down on it to spread the basket , then just spend ages faffing trying to make it look sweet the other method is the same except cut 4 or 6 or whatever at 6inches and cut two slugs of same size about one inch long and place them inside the basket ends where they are to be welded this helps to keep the basket more wide and open but you have to tack with a welder or be good with your wire to get it to stay put to weld it up. hope this helps

thanks for all your input guys! well im hooked on the tyre hammer plan i think it may take me a while to get underway, but i will just collect hunt the scrap piles around for what looks good for the moment starting next week!! the hunt is on!

i think it is some of the clay spencers tyre hammers builds videos that have swayed me totally to the tyre hammer some look as if they run as sweet as the air hammers in college with nice control. as i thgt if i do spend however long trying to knock one of these up then i may aswell spend some money get some plans and a decent motor i dont want to run for the first time after 6months or so and find its not up to it and needs faffing with loads i dont know if the college would let me knock one up or not there is certaintly the kit. im in uk so this van may not be available im sure i could find something else or make something thanks for the input

thanks ted do you mean the rusty style or the tyre type? or just any home built 50pounder, i have used a blacker and two other power hammers at college one is a massey i dont know of the sizes , and agreed they are amazing thats why im dreaming from the videos i have observed the tyre hammer seems to behave much more similarly to non shop built power hammers and gives more control and i want one ! but could you use a 1/2 hp motor for a tyre hammer?

ferrero rocher a jumper and 2o quid but im happy cant say im a little jealous of all that great stuff good work biggundoctor your christmas sounds very humbling dont think ive had much coal as a lad you guys must have really ticked santa off

hey all, hope everyone has had a merry christmas and enjoying festivities well ive spent most of my time dreaming about making a small power hammer after finding out about those rusty things, im not sure if i will be able to build one using college equipment but the dreaming hasnt stopped ive grabbed myself a little 410watt motor out of a washing machine although it looks a little skimpy compared to all the others ive seen on line but it should still be half an hp right?if one hp is 746watts or so i have no idea of speed and it most likely isnt suitable,, anyway after dreaming and checking out all the bearings i would need etc etc i found a link on here about the rusty and dusty hammers needing adjusting due to the stock size you slap in its teeth and then i noticed how obvious that would be , then i checked out the old tyre hammer type hammer and it does seem as if you get a lot more fine tuning of the beats through the treadle it looks as if you could just pat your work down lightly or gnash him up a bit with no adjusting rods and what have you ,, so it is looking somewhat superior also if you have a chunk of big flat then if you adjusted the height on the rusty type to hit him heightways you may not get to hit it on the flanks in the same heat ? i was wondering if you guys could give me some advice on this ??? is that right?? , also i was thinking of making a large tank area on the bottom so it could be filled with water and the hammer part would bolt on top (with adequate support under anvil bit and such) making it a little more portable and hopefully really heavy(could even slap a little tap in the bottom to drain it !!) this is all dreamy and i may never get round to making something that works or even making something but hey,, hope any ideas and feedback is well recieved, thanks again guys

i would stick with the coke fire as then you know its all clean , i dont know if someone has mentioned it but i often see it mentioned about removing the clincker before you go for a weld to make the fire cleaner, i would also mention that if you have plenty of meat in your stock then it can help to get it to welding temperature and instead of going for it let it stay there for another ten seconds or so wait till she starts to spark a little (i know many people reckon this is a no no ) if its mild and youve got the meat it wont hurt ,, you could also try making an open fire this will blind you up pretty bad if your doing a lap weld but it will let you watch the metal become molten on the surface i usually do this after ive made the weld to dress the scarves in. to do this compact around the fire hot spot and adjust the air so the odd little white hot coke pops up you will notice the area get really hot and after watching it to me it appears bluish white and so will the metal dont keep staring at it keep looking away ,, hope this helps

i can most heartily agree with that ,, dont get me started on the shrimps and barbies heheh you too sir have a good day and chrimbo my ozzie friend,, and be carefull with those crappy plugs!!

thanks for the info rob,, much appreciated the slowing down of other tools seems like a sweet idea to me thanks i had a little perusal of your site the other day , you have a list of interesting stuff on there and id like to say nice one for your efforts in keeping the smithing alive and well ,, would like to make it to some of those shows and events other than the royal welsh and the three counties this year. all the best matt

those are the most suprerior plugs on this planet my friend!!! no little round sticks that look like they fall out of the wall and shock you when you look at them ,,,they slam in to the wall!! pure quality hehe looks can be deceiving my friend i dont follow the cricket but i know my plugs why do i talk so much rubbish