bajajoaquin

I was tooling around yesterday and realized I had something to add. My wife and I recently moved into our new house, and while moving out of my sister-in-law's, her father (who used to live there), said "take whatever you want, I've been meaning to clean out the last of my junk for years." So I got a big butcher knife, a cheap old hatchet head, a chalk line, some jack stands, a wooden mallet, a few extension cords, and a cross-peen hammer. It's says "48" on the head, and no other markings. Needs a new handle, but otherwise looks like a servicable, non-descript hammer. Maybe it will become my tool-striking hammer. Nothing exotic here, just some free stuff that followed me home!

.... and here's mine: an '03 F-350 4x4 diesel. It's one of the "dreaded" early-build 6.0 engines, and I've got 117,000 trouble-free miles on it. That includes quite a bit of travel off the beaten path in Baja California. That's me, tying a rope to the hitch to try and get unstuck!

I totally do, especially if you've got a pic showing it comically-loaded with blacksmithing supplies.

I seem to recall a blueprint or a post by Hofi that stated he preferred the cast versions of his hammers. I don't recollect his reasoning, however.

then, apparently, modify own hammers!

If I remember the diagrams I've seen, you need to be a minimum of 10-12 feet above the level of the roof 2 feet from the chimney. So, if your roof is flat, you need to be 10 feet above it. If your roof slopes (as yours actually does), you would take a level and see if it touches the roof line 2 feet away. If it does, you need to be 10-12' above that level.

Looks like a Mousehole, but it also looks like my Hill. but then, it also looks like an early PW. If I remember correctly, before PW made the change to the modern London pattern, there was much greater similarity. But it looks like a great deal. Snap it up.

I just "met" him recently by phone when we were discussing the purchase of an induction forge. Such a shame a really good and knowledgeable guy. Reminds me of that movie, Stand By Me. At the end, the narrator says of his friend's death, "I haven't seen him in 30 years, but I will miss him." I never got to know Grant, but I will miss him.

That's nicer than the anvil I paid good money for, and I'm happy with my purchase. Spend your time using it, not fixing something that ain't broke.

I agree about returning it. Amy Peih is a real stand-up gal and will make things right.

I'd just stick with a cross-peen hammer. Rounding hammers are nice, but a lot of the beginning instruction includes elements of using the peen as a fuller, and it will be easier to follow the initial lessons with the same equipment as everyone else. If you like smithing, there's no reason a rounding hammer can't be your second hammer.

Thomas, you described what I was imagining. More like a V channel on its side than a C channel. I had originally planned on a separate stand, because I was only going to use the rivet forge temporarily until I build a bigger forge. But I'm looking more seriously at getting an induction forge sooner than planned, so I may be sticking with the rivet forge for longer: that would imply mounting to the forge. Why do you ask? What are the ramifications of the decision?

If you send me the pics, I'll post them up. PM sent.

Thanks. That thread had a comment by Frank Turley, "I have 13 Buffalo fan blowers and they're all different." Seems to be the case here, too. Phil is right, I used the wrong terminology. What I was calling a "flange" is a lip or an edge or something. I had planned on making some kind of C-channel to match that would slide on to the outlet. Not realizing that they were all different, I thought others' Buffalo setups might be more helpful. But here's a picture of mine, and perhaps someone has something out there that is similar and can provide detail photos. Stewart, thanks for the pic, but I couldn't really see detail in it. Otherwise, I'm no worse off than I was before, with a little bit of hemming and hawing to do to get it blowing air!

Does anyone have any detail pictures of how you have your Buffalo Forge hand-crank blower set up? Mine doesn't have any lugs for obvious mounting to a stand, but there is a flange on the air outlet that I suspect is used to attach to the air hose. I had planned on using the bolts that attach each half of the housing together to mount to my stand, and then fab up some sort of outlet flange. But if anyone can show me some existing systems, that would be great. Thanks!

So..... what did you decide?

I mostly wanted to reply to Stewart's limerick with a haiku. But I did have a serious point: If you have had this hammer through at least one other winter, did you have a similar problem last year? Is the thickened lubricant adding to another issue, or just an issue in and of itself?

To understand your Root cause, will you share with us Length of ownership?

Tough to tell from the pictures, but it looks like there's a hardy but no pritchel. It also looks a little Mousehole-ish (or like my Hill, which is similar). Hardy but no Pritchel may indicate a pre-1850 anvil. For that price, if it's usable, I'd be all over it. Hell, if it's not usable, I'd be all over it at some price he'll probably accept.

I never thought I'd say this in IFI, where people post pics that are so freakin' huge, but Stewart, do you think you could post some larger pics? Kinda tough to see what's going on in them.

You could move the fan blades because it's probably a 30:1 ratio. Cranking the handle increases the speed of the fan blades by a factor of 30, but reduces the torque by the same amount. Moving the fan blade, you multiply the torque applied by 30 and overcame the friction.

As I've mentioned in other threads, most of my smithing is done at the local CBA affiliate in Vista, CA. Having just bought a new house in the San Diego Beach area, I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to get a coal forge situated in my limited outside space (inside my workshop is not an option for various reasons). I have a Buffalo blower and a cast iron rivet forge with no fire pot. Once the remodel is complete, I had planned on getting those set up before building a bigger forge with something like a Centaur Forge firepot. Eventually, I wanted to buy an induction forge, but thought of it as a far-away extravagance. However, I just looked at Grant's induction forge page, and saw that the 15kW induction forge is only about 2/3 the price I expected. I've been saving every month to buy myself one, and I now find myself significantly closer to purchase than I thought. Assuming I have to buy most of the material new, I'd like to figure out how much I'm going to have to spend to set up a coal forge. I'm thinking that I might want to take the money I would be spending on a coal forge, and put it into an induction forge, and just have the rivet forge for when coal makes more sense than induction for now. So my question is this: what materials are you using to make your table-style coal forges. I'm seeing a lot of 10 ga and 1.4" plate for the table. Is that pretty universal? What are your leg materials? I know the price of a firepot, but what are the other expenses I should be considering?

January 21: That's plenty of time. I bet there's a swap meet in the Dallas area. You should go this weekend. I don't know much about Dallas, but I know in my neck of the woods, there are parts of town that tend to have lots of older Navy retirees. They have more garage workshops than younger neighborhoods. Their yard sales have more bit braces, files, vises, and yes, hammers, than other places. Any locations like that around you? Spend a half day the next two weekends, and I bet you find a perfectly serviceable hammer. If not, you have plenty of time to go to Harbor Freight, or order one from an online source.

I thought about this on my way to work this morning. Wouldn't ten pieces in a forge lead to excess scaling? One advantage of induction in a production environment is that it doesn't spend much excess time at a scaling temperature. Of course the down side is that they're in an environment that hasn't been depleted of oxygen.... But it seems to be a workflow issue to me. Watching Grant's videos, he has a process set up that involves a constant flow of material from stack to induction coil, to forge station, to stack. If you had a different process, your efficiencies vary.