stevomiller

Darn you have done your homework and lab time too! I also cleaned up a neat little Champion blower, parallel gearbox like the Buffalo, I’m guessing it was for a portable farriers forge. All cast iron, quality made, not the sheet metal like the small BufCos etc. Anywho thanks for sharing your knowledge of the different models and their variations, and I look forward to your future thread. I agree that if a person has access to some shop tools you can keep these old machines running pretty easy (as long as you understand how they work and are clever).

It’s been years ago, but when I rebuilt my Buffalo 200 ( unknown vintage, repaired before Gore invented the inter webs), it only had bushings on shafts and gears. If I remember correctly two shafts tho ha a single ball bearing inset on the end as a very rinky dink thrust bearing! I had to remake one of the shafts and fab brass bushings as there was a lot of rust damage, it came from a cattle ranch junk pile. The old oil turning to tar, and the squirrel that used it as part of its nest kept some water out tho! One shaft that I remade had a tapered pin hole drilled at an angle to fix one of the gears, that one I traded some work and had a gal I knew that was a tool and die maker replicate for me.

Jen nice depiction of sizes of the actual fans/impellers. First time I took one apart I was surprised by how much smaller the impellar is than the housing, they definitely aren’t like regenerative ring blowers or vane pumps!

I’ve used a nice set of great double lung bellows ONCE, and agree they are pretty awesome to use. Good luck though throwing those in the trunk of your compact car to move around! Hah! And I get your point on gear drives for the Champions/Buffalos and their construction, being about top of the design heap, but for a small time operation very difficult and costly to replicate properly. Chain drives can be 95% efficient (not that that matters in this application) and can be very robust, and very minor alignment issues that would either lock up a gear drive or strip off the teeth won’t do the same to a chain drive. It’s a matter of scale of manufacture how you approach DFM etc.

Nice score, it appears to be in good shape!

Nice work thus far Mr Dwarf. In a previous time of life I managed a bicycle shop. If you use one of the dry lubricants (wax with PTFE or Moly) on the chains it will help with keeping the chains tidy, although oiled chains and gears are somewhat quieter. Roller chains are interesting and counter intuitive, as efficiency goes up with increased tension and lubrication doesn’t improve efficiency as much as other drive mechanisms (although cleanliness and lubrication will radically improve chain an cog life). Are you laser cutting the gears due to cost, or for availability of the mounting features etc you require? Are you second operation I gotta the beveled top op the teeth, or just going with thinner stock and debuting? I ask as gears for#35 drive chains are not too costly here in the US, not sure on your side of the pond. I think Jen’s input on possibly allowing set up for direction of rotation (as well as over orientation) might be nice, to allow variety in poisoning due to shop lay out and whether the Smith is right handed or south paw.

Are you hoping to start manufacturing these for sale? Or planning to make the plans open source to the community? Wishing you success either way, entrepreneur or blacksmith philanthropist, both worthy goals.

Ben it’s fantastic, I’d be stoked to use it (and proud if I’d made it). I love the curved pipe pieces you made to support and fix the anvil in place. The clamps are fine, heck just paint the galvanized boltsblack so they don’t stand out. Or not, you really did great work designing and fabbing your stand.

Yeppirs like Thomas sez that’s how most vises were made, in a multitude of sizes. The parallel jaw bench vice is a relatively new thing (well last couple hundred years). The pivoting jaw style was far easier to produce until castings became stronger and also closed die drop forging was common. If you look at Steirisch (Austrian, Styrian) vices they made them well into the 20th century, babies like this one up to big 100lb monsters. They tend to have the German style box and side plates added extra lateral stiffness.

I’m guessing here because I’ve never done jewelry, and I’m not sure what other finish work you want to do at the bench. How about the Old World Anvils 4” cube of 4140 hardened steel? They are $100 shipped. They also have their Austrian pattern starting at 7 pounds moving up in about 5lb increments. I also see smaller flat jewelers block/shaped dappling blocks etc on Ebay starting at $25 or so. Various machinist set up blocks, 1-2-3 blocks, v blocks etc? Most are smaller than you’re requesting but they’re hardened and usually polished. Lastly, it’s bigger but I bought a 66lb anvil on eBay $140 shipped. Italian pattern, hardened steel (ruined a good file trying to radius an edge before switching to 4” angle grinder with flap wheel). It has about 90% rebound with a 1” bearing from a foot drop. I can post a rebound pic or video if wanted.

Welcome aboard! I know even less than enough to be dangerous with gas burners, I’m just plain dangerous! However I’ve learned a ton from these gents about burners, and one thing that they say is so true (from my own experience as R&D mechanical engineer) is whenever possible START WITH KNOWN PROVEN METHODS, then deviate, and usually one aspect at a time so you understand the action of introduced variables. On that note, if the Hybrid burner is your muse, then follow it closely. Your sketch shows a rotating choke which they have abandoned because it doesn’t work as well as the sliding choke: they say so one their website, and folks on our forum have proven this fact on burners that are operationally similar. So, I’d change that ASAP. In the Burner 101 thread there’s good info on the 3 vs 4 air inlet slots, and some good information on the shape of said slots end shapes, why using MIG tips help both the gas jet shape/flow but also how their tapered external shapes can maximize air induction, etc. It is a ton to read and process, but there’s a true method to Mikey and Frostys designs and ideas (even though one wanted the most expedicious good burner and the other wanted the very best performing burner he could design regardless of effort involved). Also, Mikey and others have stated that certain burner types work better with some forge designs than others. Since you are still in the burner design or shopping stage, let folks know what sort of forge design you want to go with. IF you give them all the details, have done your footwork to make sure you ask as pertinent as possible questions, they will help steer you straight.

I agree with the JABOD or Tim Lively washtub forge style based on what you are doing. Also if you look at traditional “Viking” style forges with the tall wings and narrow fire area (the Nepali Kukri makers still use this style) you will use far less fuel and heat your stock easier and with more control. As everyone here stated, charcoal needs far less air than coal, and a ton less than commercial coke. A manual air source is ideal for it. Coal barely burns without air blast, hard coke goes out, but charcoal goes on happily burning and spreading if there is extra fuel near it. Fire should be narrow, deep, and no longer than needed to heat the stock you can work in that “heat”. Also your turbo air source actually robs heat as it can’t all be consumed, so it blows on your stock cooling it and causing it to scale more, especially with high carbon steels.

Stumps only work for straightening stock like you have or forming dishes etc in sheet type metal, not for changing cross sections of stock. Other wise hot iron is still WAY harder than wood, plus it will burn into the wood,meaning the wood will always win. As stated use a solidly mounted sledgehammer head, or heavy chunk of steel. Look in this sub forum at High Tech Anvils andthe Improvised Anvil threads for ideas. If you use a rock make sure it’s solid without flaws and wear a face shield with safety glasses, because if you chooose poorly you can have a rock missiles coming your way. Have fun, be safe, and save your stump to mount your “anvil” .

If I REALLY WANT IT? I will NEVER give up. BUT, I have to be careful I don’t get consumed and give more than I previously determined was fair. WANT has a way of getting me like that, even more than NEED. Nice anvil BTW ,I want theflatters too.

BTW I just saw one vendor dropped the price on the 165lb forged Kanca to $825 before shipping.

What Glen and others said. Maybe $400 without the base, as nice as it is. If your willing to spend that much toss a bit more in. The Hoffman 110lb double horn anvil with side shelf is a beauty, and very versatile shape. The Hoffman Colonial 110lb has a big sweet spot with a lot of mass under it, nice for knife making. $660 will get you a Kanca forged 110lb anvil, $25 shipping. 100-110lb is fine for knives and other light work. On sale if you search about $1000 will get you a Kanca or Ridgid Peddinghaus 165lb anvil SHIPPED. These two will grow with you and are big enough for most shop work too, and a 6-8lb sledge (used properly) isn’t going to beat the snot out of them. This would be nice if you start doing more pattern welding and you have a helper striking for you when working larger billets. But that’s just me and how I’d approach it.

A thought: if you can cap your wood anvil stand with a piece of 1/2” -1” steel plate, you could then either weld your upsetting block to it, or tap blind holes and screw it from the underside. If your upsetting block mimics the side profile of your anvil and fit between the feet the whole thing will be tidy and very robust. The weight of the anvil on the plate, especially if siliconed and bolted to it, and the plate lag bolted to the wood, it would be the next best thing to an integral block. As for upsetting on the ground that’s great for long pieces, and short pieces are fine on the anvil face. None of my anvils have upsetting blocks but there are times they would have been very handy , I believe, for those inbetweener sized pieces.

Ben, sounds like a good plan! It has to work for YOU. A few hours at work and it will tell you all you need to know.

I like it too, very robust and solid! One suggestion I’d make, and it’s just what I like, is I’d cut the top to just cap the large OD pipe. Sometimes I like to get in as close as possible to the anvil.

Good results. Whats its effect on brass? Lots of pocket knives have brass liners and bolsters. Curious If this will damage them, or pollute your solution so it doesn’t work? Sorry I haven’t looked the product up online. I use CLR and Lime Away to remove rust and make a rustpreventing grey finish, they both have phosphoric acid in them. I will add Evaporust to chemicals to keep around, thanks for the review.

Don’t know the maker, I’m sorry. What is that black junk flaking off? Was it buried in mud? Buried in old vegetation that rotted? MAKE SURE THAT ITS NOT BURNT MATERIAL ON THERE. If it was in a barn fire, tossed in a bonfire, whatever, you will need to testextra and pay close attention. Im not trying to be chicken little with the sky falling, I can’t see the pictures well enough on my phone to tell what the black stuff around the heel is. Also ask if you can wire brush it real good, appears to have a super heavy oxidation layer, you want to know what is going on under there.

My two post vises (4 and 6”) have steel jaws and wrought iron bodies, without a doubt. You can see and feel the difference in materials. Cant speak to all post vise manufacture tho. I bet the latter drop forged leg vises are all steel, and they probably flame hardened the jaws, but just a guess.

Frosty great point on cutting the stock. Im not actively forging or gabbing these days, but when I was it was EXACTLY as you said. Stock was always sitting on the roller bench with the cold saw. I paid once for cuts, never again because of what you stated, even that time the guys in the yard asked me if I needed any other cuts. If his yards different, put a box of donuts in next to the hack saw, you may not need the saw. And if you do that time, probably not the next if the same guys always work the saw and load out.

You can buy Tempil sticks that melt at different temperatures which is helpful if you don’t have temp control, or a thermocouple affixed to the hammers face with some heat transfer paste on it, or nonflammable grease. The more alloying elements in your steel, or if not perfectly clean of oils, the more variation you will have in temper drawing colors. Also, if available, a high temp oven is really nice especially with alloy steels. Unlike plain medium carbon steels, they do better with multiple longer tempering cycles, where as medium carbon steels can many times get by with flash or quick tempering cycles. I’m not saying the other methods do not work, just what is better and easier to get consistent results. Be careful of “blue embrittlement” which affects many alloys, and the temps are different for each: you can research each alloys heat treating specs, try multiple sources. There are time when 100* higher temp will NOT make your tool tougher, but actually more prone to breakage. YMMV, Steve