CMS3900

Ouch S.Wright!

I'm not from Jersey, but I am assuming you mean the Del. Memorial bridge? Up by you there is the NJ Blacksmiths association, and your still within (at least my usual) driving distance of the others I listed. The clubs are a great way to meet local smiths and find people who teach, or do open forge nights for club members.

My 100 Lb LG had a hollow base, best way to tell if you have enough stock is to flip it on its side and see if it's hollow, and measure how much material is there. I know LG does a service where they saw cut the sow block and machine a new dovetail for a removable block, so there should be a bit of wall thickness there. What I am confused about with your post is your saying you would "mill" it down, and bolt the new die on.  If you have a piece of equipment big enough to fit the casting in why not just fix it?

The things I would be concerned with in your plan are if you plan to bolt directly into threads in the cast iron, the cast might not like that abuse. The hammers and presses you ran probably fastened a steel die into a steel base. If you weld a piece of 4140 on top of where you could thread and fasten too, the weld is a fail point between two dissimilar metals.

I would try some basics and make it serviceable, it's hard to tell how bad it is without a picture. If those basics failed I would look for shops near you with the capacity to put it in a big horizontal. Even a smaller one like a 3" can set that whole casting on the bed, be indicated in, and the dovetails re machined after a good, solid, weld repair is done.

Hey Kunkle,

I am in Townsend, and I know of some other smiths in the area.  While I don't attend monthly meetings either, I would suggest finding a way to get to the Blacksmith Guild of Central Maryland, and The Mid-Atlantic Smith Association (MASA) events when you can.  The next event is The Annual Bill Gichner Memorial Hammer-In in Cordova, MD  January 6 – 8 hosted by MASA. 

The Dupont Fairbanks book says the die gap should be one inch on small and medium sizes. I would also check the anvil.  Some pictures of the whole machine sitting with the die in the downward position would help in diagnosis.

Heheh The idea of a demo rig like your talking about has been rolling around in my head too, on the back of a Ford TT truck with a hit and miss. Fortunately I have a lot of steam and gas shows in my area so I think it would go over well.

Other than the greats like Bill Moran and Bob Loveless, I like the style of contemporary makers Wick Ellerbe, Joe Seabolt, Glen Mock, and the House Brothers. Bob Kramer too, as I love to cook.

Welcome to IFI Elliot

I would ask the seller how much they think it weighs. It looks to me to be similar in size, capacity to a Buffalo 1/2 or 1-1/2, both of which can be handled with a 10,000 lb trailer.

As far as insight, history, I would refer you to this post:

One other thing I see is that the Striker sends oil to the front and back cylinders. James now only oils the rear cylinder, and caps the oiler in the front, finding that blowing more volume of a lighter oil through from the back to the front of the hammer worked better than fiddling with both oilers. That web page says "As an example, I set my STC-88 oiler at 10 drops of oil per minute for the rear compressor cylinder and 8 drops per minute for the front ram cylinder. " So that's one drip every 6 seconds for the rear, and 7.5 seconds for the front, with James's setting at one every 3-5.  In the end I really think there a lot like Harley's and Jeeps. If it isn't blowing oil out, the oiler is empty.

I actually switched to air-tool oil (CRC Sta-Lube). It's more expensive then cheap oil, but the hammer wasn't cheap to begin with. It's equivalent is ISO 22.  I want to try ISO 32/SAE 10wt. in it the next time, as it is a bit cheaper and see if the performance changes.  This is with one drop every 3-5 seconds.  Comparing this to the oil on the page KRS posted, it is a lot thinner. Chevron Rando HD ISO 220, which is listed on that page as the preferred oil, is as it's stated there a SAE 50wt. oil. For comparison sake, James recommends 30wt Non-Detergent as a starting basis for his hammers. Now this could be due to tolerances in manufacturing, with the Striker being looser than the Anyang but I would still try some lighter oil and turn the oiler all the way up and run the hammer and you should see a difference immediately.

+1 for Kroil, and yea.. a 900 RPM motor will be more difficult than it is worth source. Most folks find a 1850 or so RPM motor and pulley it down to speed. For the maple contact local lumber mills, or even better lumber mills that sell specialty lumber to furniture and cabinet makers.  They can probably get the timber you need, cut the way it needs to be. If you were in the PA/NJ/MD/DE area I would suggest someone like Hearne Hardwoods. As for cushions I am currently on a crusade to make some, progress of that should follow in another thread once I am confident on the size for each size hammer. 

This thread needs more pictures!

What type of grinder are you using this on?  Usually the flat platen wheels are flat, and tracking is handled by a slight crown in the drive wheel and the tracking wheel.

Man that looks great! The guard really flows with the clean lines on the blade.  How did you do the owl pendant in the handle?

What oil are you running in the hammer, and in what shape is the oiling system?  My Anyang (very similar design to the striker) did that when I first got it, and after consulting with James, the Anyang rep for US, I switched to a lighter oil and ran the hammer. It immediately started working itself back up at idle to where it was back to normal. Now it hits hard and works like a champ.

The three main epoxies I see people use are West System G Flex, Normal West System, and Brownells Acraglas.  There are also some blade maker specific epoxies out there now like Bladebond that I have heard positive things about.  I have had good luck with normal West System, having used it in the past on boats. For knives I use the 206 slow hardener to give plenty of time to assemble and wipe down.

As for thinning, if you need to thin epoxy, your best off to heat it. Read more here: http://www.westsystem.com/ss/thinning-west-system-epoxy/

Bar tops are done the same way, once the epoxy is poured, you feather the top of it with a heat gun to remove bubbles, no harsh extra chemicals needed.

Always Mix on a flat surface too, not a cup. 

As Frosty said, always wear PPE.

Steve, take a pair of calipers to your cushions and post some basic sizes of them.  I wonder if their close to a 100# hammers. 

I have had a bunch of snakes, and had a shop goat for a while that I brought to the farm in the trunk of a Impala, but the best we have had was a grey african parrot that must of escaped someones house locally. We ended up having to call a bird rescue to come get it and find the owner.

My wife bought me a tungsten band that would shatter theoretically if it got stuck, but I never wear any jewelry of any kind in the shop.  My father, a machinist, drilled into me from a early age that jewelry=bad.  In 63S training in the military they showed us a bunch of crypt-keeper bone only fingers as JHCC said where folks got their rings caught.  I like my digits.

Latticino is right on, get a pipe nipple for the valve side and a fernco, or I used automotive exhaust adapters. 

Page 22: http://www.walkerheavyduty.com/downloads/english/catalog/2014-2015-WalkerCV-Accessories.pdf

Call around to major scrap yards in your area and find one that has a metallurgical testing gun, or XRF gun, and how much they would charge to ping it for you. Most major scrap yards have them for positive metal identification.

Sounds great Steve, can't wait for some operational pictures!

I think the set looks great Daswulf, and the slightly different twists add character.  I think the hardy tool turned out well too.  It would be sweet to make a negative of it in a press.  On the note of sand paper though depending on your time period it might actually be historically correct, with historical documents placing it for sale in Philadelphia as early as 1755 by one John Bayley.

That looks great!

What Thomas is saying is, regardless of how much opulence you spend on your forge, the lining will need to be replaced at some point.  If you do 2 1" layers instead of 1 2" layer you can replace one layer vs. the whole thing.

Latticino, are you you saying that because the blower is hanging below the forge is somehow it is less effective?

I wonder if the Cannon on the USS Constitution, from Principio Iron Works, have stone weight.

Run a side blast/draft forge.  Take the hot water from the bosch into a radiator with a small fan.  Heat+Forging.

I would definitely add a windbreak or some sort of insulation.