Hofi

I Use Two Types Of Hand Treatment
Both Of Them Are Superb Treatment And U Donot Have To Do It Dayly Every Two- Three Days Apart Is Good Enough.
1 '' Neutrogena Hand Cream''
2 '' Bud Wheat'' Oil A Very Natueral Product
Put On The Hands And Rubb In Only After I Finished My Wasahing And The Dish Washing Which Is My Tusk In The Family Mainly Before I Go To Sleep.
Hofi

When In The Older Time I Was A Mechnic I Used To ''oil Heat'' The Bearing
And To Freez The Shaft With ''freezing Spray'' That Was Used To ''freez'' The Place Of Local Small Operations In The Mediecin.
Hofi

Dave M
If U Need More Information About The Construction ,demention ,size,or
Detailewd Foto's I''ll Be Just Happy To Help.
On The Stainless Do Not Give Up. Go And Check Several Offers. U Will Be Surprised On The Big Difference Between Them.
''go Stainless''
Hofi

Ice
My Daughter Lives And Teaches ''permacultuer'' And My Granddaughter Too
The Toilets Are Without Runing Water And On The Very Small Plot Of Land Vegetable Are Being Growen All The Year Around Allthe Garden And House Remaines Are Put In ''compost'' That Is Been Put Back To Fertile The Gardening
We Do Not Use Soap Or Chmicals To Wosh There Are Netueurals Matirials To Do It Better Then Soap.the U Can Reuse The Water For Irigation.
Again It Is Very Very Simple And Right Way Of Life And It Is Healthy Very Healthy Too.
Ice You Are Bombing Us With Those Long Very Long Articelson How To Live With Natuer And Not Against The Natuer ,please No Offence !only From Looking At Those Articales I Get Headache ,we Call It Here In Our Society
'' Rain Of Words On Desert Of Ideas''
''permaculter'' Is A Way Of Life A State Of Mined And Very Very Simple And For God Sake It Is Not A Religion !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hofi

Hello Ice C
I Do Not Understand , Is There A Law Against Using Stainless Steel???
And As For The Sulfor Content ,the Moment I''ll Fined The Ducoment I''ll Send U . I Use Coks Only And In Coks The Sulfor Content Is Very Low.

Hofi

Hello Ted (rusty?)
Thank You Ted !!!
I Am Very Happy To Help .
To ''think Simple'' Is Very Hard And Not Easy To Go ''complcate ''is Very Easy.
Simplicity Is Also Beuty And Less Energy
Be Good

Your Friend

Hofi

Sucsses
I Do Not Want To Go Into The Thoretical Discusion And The Proffetional Ingeneering Of Chimnies. What I Say Here Is Based On Waht I Do And Did At My Smithy And School And It Works Fantastic And Very Symple And Cheap On The Long Run.
1 The Chimny Is 12'' Made Of Stainless Steel Not More Then 0.4 Mm Which Is Aprox 1/64'' The Hight Is 10' And One Can See In The Foto That The Chimny Is Out Of The Building Seating On A Squer Tonnel 13''x13'' That From The Center Of The Fire To The Center Of The Chimny Is 4' One Can See Allso The Cover Without Hinges To Clean The Ash Every 6 Years.
The Squer Tonnel Is 4 Degrees Down And Not Up ,if U See There Is No Hood To The Chimny Because The Hood Is Disturbing The Colume Of Air To Run Up Freely So The 4 Degrees Down Helps The Rain When It Is Raining To Stay Out Side And Not To Stream Into The Forge.
The Tunel Inside The Smithy Or The School In That Photo Is Cut In 35 Degrees So The Upper Side Is Over The Center Of The Fire And Instantly When We Put The Fire The Suction Is Working Very Good .there Is No Hood To Disrurb And No Need For The Hood.
At First When One Thinks That Stailess Steel Is Expenssive On The Long Run No .because Of The Sulfor In The Coal Fire The Regular Chimnies Are Rustting Very Fast And In Many Places Within Two Years U Must Change The Pipes.
The Stainless Chimnies At My Smithy And School Are In Use From 1992 Its
Now 16 Yeas And They Are Like New!!!
2 In Germany It Is A Mast Bylow To Have Possitieve Suction That Is Done In Maney Verssions You Are Not Alowed To Build A Smithy Without Possitieve Suction. To Reason Is That Many Days In The Year The Temp Is To35-45 Degrees And Then The Chimny Is Working Backwords Into The Smithy.
Ingeneering Is Very Good But They Also Make Mistakes.at The School In Berlin That Is In An Urban Area They Where Porced To Put A New Vetilation System With Speciel Filters To Colect All The Dust Ash And Other Chemical Impurities That Went To The Air And Disturbed The Population Around.
And It Cost A Lot A Lot Of Mony. The Moment They Put It On The Hole System Explodes And Went On Fire Luckyly People Wre Only Injured.
3 In Many Places In Europe They Put A Copper Pipe Spirle In The Chimny To Heat The Water That Are Running Into The House Into A Heat Themoss Collector And The Have Hot Water All The Time
Hope It Helps A Bit
Hofi

John N
Just To Remind U The Songs
''my Bonny Is Over The Ocean''
''baba Blackseep Have U Any Wool''
''one Two Tree Four Five-once I Cought A Fish Alive''
And The Last One Was
'' What Shell We Do With The Drunken Sailor''
Now U Can Stand And Sing Too
Hofi

In A L L the languages in the world BABA MAMA MAMI BABI BA MA AB AM ABOOY AMMAK
THE TWO LETTERS B+M ARE BEING USED.
THIS IS INTERNATIONAL THINK ABOUT IT!!
HOFI

SAM
being ther cause I was invited as one of the masters to lead a grup I allready anounced and I am going to do it again THIS WAS THE BEST CONFERENCE that I ever attended and demonstrated for. And u can fined in the gallery more then 70 foto's from the ''ironbridge conference''
And the baba megazine is the best of them ALL
The German ''hephystos'' is next but in German
hofi

Philip in Chaina
those modification are done O N L Y for me and for Germany u can not fined it in the USA
because the late Bob Grahem the former agent in the stats did not want to pay for the changes made.
YOU can NOT find it also in CHINA or else where. for the same reason !!
MORE OVER . now at the factory there is an air hammer expert from our side that is controling evry part and the assembly to be according the quality control specification
that we have decided on when visiting the anyang twice.
a hammer that is not standing the control is NOT shiped.
hofi

Happy Birthdar Richard !!!!!!!!!!!!
Lots Of Luck And Joy And Health In The Futuer
And I Want U To Know That'' The Futuer To Day Is Not As It Used To Be''
Allways Use The ''right'' Hammer
Hofi

Hello Fabien
Eynat And Shraga Are Two Of My Students. Eynat Studied With Me One Year At My Smithy And Shraga Took A Basic Class.
As For The Handle:
The Hofi Hammers That U Were Forging With At The School Came From My Smithy And There Is No Diferent Between Them The Only Thing That May Be Different Is The Type Of The Wood,in The Past I Used Mayple And The Brown Ekume To Day I Use ''rubinya'' Which Is A Rar Better Wood.
According To My Expeaience The Different Wood Do Not Influence The Holding Of The Hammer .i Like My Hendls To Be Very Very Smoose And ''shiny''
And Thin Because I Do Not ''hold'' The Hammer I ''guide'' The Hammer,see The Bp That Explains It.
Hammers Ar Allways ''flying Out Of The Hand While Forging Because Of The Centretugal Moovment Of The Forging. U Can Not Privent It And If U Hold It Tougher And Put This Teniss Rubber U Kill Your Hand.''let The Hammer Go''
While Forging In The Rythem Of Forging And I Do Not Stop For It Or Change The Ryhthem When Raising The Hammer I Bring It Back To Place.
If U Practice That Your Swing Is Easyer U Exercise More Power And U Do Not Dammege Your Hand And Body .if U Meet Eynat Again Say Hello Top Her She Visited Me At My Smithy In Israel Only A Week Ago. Be Well
Hofi

Forgot To Give The Sizes Of The Forged Hammers

2.65 #
3.3 #
4.4 #
For Forging Hammers Can Be Smaller Or Bigger

Striking Hammers

5-8.8 #

Hofi

Allways and EVERY one may ask ME DIRECT
This hammer in the photo is a cast hammer made of 6150 steel weigh 3#
The forged hammers are forged from C45 which is a better German modified 1045
that have aditional 0.40 % Cr and 0.40% Ni which make it tougher .
all my hammers are quenched to HRC 55-60
The handle is made out of ''ROOBINYA'' which is a better wood then the hicory.
I did not want to be involved in the discussion about the pain u have in the kneck.
because many times the paie is not comming from forging bad habits but if u have a basic kneck problam the wrong holding of the hammer will deffinitly increase the dammege
I forinstance have from time to time pain in my kneck because 40 years ago a chyropracter created the basic damede and eversince frome time to time lackily not very often i get the pain ,and this is a type of inflamation, the only thing i do is COOL the place with frozen ''pilow'' for 20 minuts every day for 3-5 days and the pain is of.
more the that i can not help u. The only thing i want to emfesize again DO NOT HOLD YOUR THOMB ON TOP OF THE HANDLE WHILE FORGING. and read my BP on the subject.
THANK U for your attention
HOFI

There is another way to do it and it is not ''cheating'' it was done in the medieval time and i saw it done 4 years ago in a known smithy 30 miles north of Venice.
U make a two half mold from casting clay leave an inlet spout close around the square bar and cast lead inside . when cold take the mold apart for a second use hammer the lead very little and after the painting no one will see the difference .
good luck.
HOFI

Heving A Schhol In Israel For The Last 20 Yeas And Teaching In The Usa ,in Germany In Holland And In Japan ,more The 3000 Student Came To My Classes.
I Want To Reffer Only To On Subject '' The European Apprentice System''
Many Times This Phrase Is Mentioned In The Internet Talks About Studing Blacksmithing.
Ther Is No One ''european Style System'' The Franch ''la Companion'' The German , The English Two Different Systemes For Fariers And Blacksmith, The Italien Style In Venice And The Late Tony Beneton Sccools Are Complitly Different In Their Aproch To The Teaching And In Zcheck Ripublic It Is Eaven More Different. It Very Much Deppends On The Tredition And The Cultuer Of The Country.
In Germany For Instence U Can Not Open A Warkshop Unless U Have A ''muster Degree'' To Gain It Trough The German System U Must Go Through The ''lerling Gissele To The Muster Degree'' All This Takes Between 5 -7 Years And The Muster Exams Cost Is 15000$ ,i Do Not See Any American Going Through This System . For Me It Was Very Emotional To Come And To Teach In Berlin In A Proffetion School In The Forging Dipartment With All The Strong Treditional Burden. I Hed A Meeting With 10 Blacksmith Musters Of Berlin That Every One Of Them Is Having A Very Big Workshop And They Have ''journy Men'' Studing With Them ,in The Meeting I Said I Do Not Want To Change The German System I Just Want To Add To It Another Layer,you Masters Are Not Heving Time To Teach U Are Busy With Planning Mony Bussness And All This Stuff You Send Your Student To Me And I''ll Teach Them ,and This Is How It Works To Day,the Berlin Musters Are Sending Theit Students To My Classe In Berlin And They Also Pay For It , And Because I Teach Basic, Advance ,tool Forging And Free Form Air Hammer Thechnic I Can See The Same Student That Are Coming To Take All The Classes.
In Short What I Wanted To Say Is ;after I Have Initieted 4 Scools In America(the Forth One Is Now Been Astablished In Potland Oregon) And Teaching And Demonstrating In America The Last 10 Years That ''the Europien Style'' Is Only A Wishfull Thinking And May Be A Dream,because It Is Complitly Against The American Individual Treddition.
Hofi

Ice Czar
Go With The Internet On ''sikaflex Usa'' And U Will Fined All The Agents In The Stats .it Is A Very Strong And Elastic Polyurethane Glue Take 24 Hours Yo Set And The I Brush it Out With Rotating Steel Brush The Brush Fibers Are 120 Thou.
One Container Is Good To Handle 25-30 Hammers.
In Israel 7$ Per Container
Once U Open It It Starts To Cure Because The Humidity And High Temp
After I Open And I Still Have Some Glue In I Put It In The Frieezer Tool Be Kept In Very Low Temp Then It Holds For Longer Time ,when Using It Again I Heat It Up With Worm Water To Soften And Use.
If Glenn Will Hold It In The Store Whice Is A Very Good Idea I Heard In Germany That They Have Also Smaller Tubes On Bigger Quantities.
Regards
Hofi

I GLUE MY HANDLES TO THE HAMMER WITH PU SIKAFLEX 11 CF. U HAVE TO WAIT 24 HOURS AND ONLY THEN U CAN BRUSH IT CLEAN. I NEVER OIL THE HANDLE BEFORE GLUEING PROCESS BECAUSE THE OIL WILL RELEASE IT FROM THE GLUE THEWRE ARE HAMMERS THAT I FORGE NOW 17 YEARS WITH AND THEY ARE NOT FALLING APART. ONLY AFTER THE GLUEING AND BRUSHING PROCESS IS FINISHED I OIL THE HANDLE ONE HEAVY TIME WITH WD40 WHICE IS VERY GOOD FOR AND EASY TO USE

One Can See How I Produce My Hammer Handles On Bp 1012.
The Shape Of The Handle Part That Gos Into The Hammer ''eye'' Is Like No 3 Shape On Rt Mail Above The Dimentions Are ; 3/4''x1-1/4'' The Wood Is ''roobinya'' German Wood That Is Far Better Then The Hicory .the Length Is 11 1/2''
All The Hammers From 2,2#-5,5# Are Having The Same Eye Dimention. Only If I Use The 5.5#and Up Hammers As Striking Hammers The Eye Will Be Larger
Hofi

THOMAS- I HAVE NO EXPERIENCE WITH U238.IKNOW THAT THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY IS HIGHER AND THERFORE IT WILL WITHSTAND MORE HEAT AND FOR A LONGER TIME.
AND I DO NOT KNOW IF IT IS BRITLE OR WHOT IS THE NATUERAL HRC IF U CAN GRIND IT WITH A BELT GRINDER OR USE THE LATH TO TURN WITH THE VIDIA-TUNGSTEN BAKED CARBIDE TIPS.
I USE THE TUNGSTEN TANK PENETRATOR THAT I GET FROM MY SOLDIER-STUDENTS THAT ARE COLECTING THEM IN THE TRAINING FIELDES.
THE TUNGSTEN IS HRC41 AND U CAN GRIND AND TURN ON THE LATH.
IF U FINED THE U238 LET ME KNOW THE RASULT
HAPPY NEW YEAR
HOFI

Hello Metal M
I Used The M-4 When I Could Get It .to Day No One Imports This Steel Any More If A Steel Seller Will Import It Again I''ll Use It.
I Have At My School Cutting Tools That I Forged I8 Years Ago Still Going Strong.
Hofi

ALL the cutting ,punching ,sliting, drifting tools i forge are from H-13
you my see them in the galery
the H-13 IS MORE heat withstanding then the S-1 and S-7
BUT the B S E S T of them ALL is M-4
HOFI

The BABA conference at ''IRONBRIDGE'' was the best orgenisede and interesting confference I ever attended and demonstrated in.
and the BABA megasine is the best of them all . second comes the '' hephyystos''
but this is in German
have many photos on the ''IRONBRIDGE'' MEETING will post them one day
hofi

I want to join the ''THANKING CLUB'' YOU make a fantastic job with the site VERY professional and HUMAN and informative simple to navigate and clear. THANK YOU FOR THAT GLENN +ANDREW !!!!!!!!!

As I told you I''ll do always what I can to suport the site with advertising world wide with donations to the site and with BP .

I will never forget that evening that I was attaced by a racist with very bad langvage you instantly took him off the site and apologized to me. It was very noble of you. It did not happen on the other sid of the road.

FROM 6000 MILES AWAY MY BEST WISHES TO YOU.
HOFI