Dave Hammer

I don't know about your specific problem, but the absolutely best hand cleaner I've found to use is "Solopol, stock #83187". This is a solvent free hand cleaner. Just Google for it.... Prices are all over the map, but you should be able to get it for around $15 (plus shipping). Other stuff is cheaper, but this is the best!

I've always had good luck with Kroil. I'm not sure what you would use as a tank (I usually use a large plastic trash can for large objects), but I'd take that thing apart as much as I could and use "Electrolytic rust removal" to take surface rust off. If you haven't heard of that method, just Google the phrase. It's safe, easy and effective.

Unless my memory doesn't serve me very well, there are schools of higher learning that teach metalworking and some specifically blacksmithing. In addition, there are MANY traditional arts schools that teach entry level to advanced blacksmithing classes. On top of that, this is a skill anyone can go learn by joining a guild, going to conferences and associating with some of the most generous men and women on the face of this world. Old world apprenticeships were for YEARS of committment (actually servitude) that did result in eventual gain for the teachers, something that is not very practical today. As far as masters dwindling. I don't buy it. I think there are more wannabe blacksmiths moving toward skills that warrant that title all the time. Anyone that really wants to learn this art and has the capability, CAN learn and excell at it. The knowledge is available, whether you choose to pay for education and practice, or study what is freely available online, in libraries or available at guild meetings and at conferences. If you are capable, all it takes is study and practice, just like EVERYTHING ELSE worth pursuing.

You would have better luck getting a meaningful answer if you posted a picture.

I googled to find a picture of your drill press. Assuming what I saw is what you are going to be moving, a pickup would do just fine. If your pickup bed is not long enough, just leave the tailgate open (be sure no great amount of weight is on it though. Personally, I would not disassemble the drill press unless you don't have a way to lift it into and out of your pickup. I would just get a few old tires and put them in the bed of the pickup, then lower the drill press onto them I have moved several old mechanical powerhammers using this method. Tie the drill press down if you can. If not, wrap a rope or strap around part of it and attach that somewhere in the front of the bed. It isn't going to move around if you put it on tires unless you are in an accident (heaven forbid). Good luck with your adventure.

Ray Clontz drives a hydraulic jack with a motor on a homemade press. You can find pictures with descriptions in the photo gallery on forgemagic.com under "ptpiddler".

If you are willing to cut a piece of one of the doors, the easiest way to tell if they are wrought iron is to cut near the end of a bar about half way through, then bend the bar (as if trying to break it at the cut). If it is wrought iron, it will tear beyond the cut (as is illustrated below), and you will see a fibrous texture. If the fibers are very rough, it is a poor grade of wrought iron. The finer the fibers, the more refined (and workable) the wrought iron is. Good Luck....

Quenchcrack.... "If the Internet just a big crapshoot where you can find fact and fiction on any given topic, what is going to set this site apart from the rest? I am not advocating we use forum goons to police the site and remove spurious posts, but there must be some way of identifying a credible source. Do we even begin to think of establishing some sort of hierarchy with distinguishing marks in the user name?" IF the internet is a big crapshoot??????? Of course it's just a big crapshoot, how can it be anything else. You can probably find any position on any topic on the internet, from ridiculous to factual. As far as declaring a credential, that's a crapshoot too. I know professionals with 20 years of experience where their value is no more than a yearly repeat of their first year of experience. I know young and old folks with hardly a year's experience in their areas of interest that I would gladly take advice from. The proof of value of anyone is their product, or the product of the advice they give. I don't think it's all that difficult to find a good answer, as long as it's in the fray somewhere. When someone gets miffed because more than one viewpoint is solicited, it says something about both parties, and I would favor asking for multiple viewpoints. Anyone who thinks the only valid answer is theirs is not someone I want advice from.

Are you going to Blacksmith Days at Westminster, MD this weekend?

I think you might have run into an organization that is suffering from Ignoramus Arrogansus Stupidity syndrome. It happens when someone works at the same job for too long, or sometimes when there isn't an apparent alternative place to seek assistance. In any case, you have several alternatives. How handy and creative are you? 1. If you really are hot for public electricity onsite... Ask.... if you brought the wire to the pole, will they hook it up. They may need to put a meter on your building also. If you can run the wire yourself, find out if the wire has to be run underground or can be strung overhead. If the ground is not too unfriendly, rent a bobcat with a trencher and dig the trench (find out the depth requirements). If the ground is not friendly, and the wire can be put overhead, find a source for poles and dig holes (use a jack hammer if necessary). If you are not handy (or adventuresome enough), you may have to hire folks to do this part) 2. Use a generator.... as you are asking about. 3. Use a small gas or diesel engine to directly run your power hammer. You may need to build a jack-shaft to reduce RPM. If you don't have a pressing requirement for electricity elsewhere in your shop, this would be the least expensive. You could probably find a new Honda gas engine for this task for a small fraction of the cost of other methods. 4. Extension cord (underground rated wire), creatively routed.

unkle spike.... Lighten up a bit. It's no reflection on you if he seeks a second opinion from other experienced folks. In fact, it's a proper thing to do.

I don't remember what drove me to the mechanism I used (could have been space or distances), but there may be a simplier way to do it. This mechanism (diagram), or just a routed cable to the right side of the linkage that is connected to the treadle bar should do it too. You might have to use more springs somewhere to get the pressure on the brake you want.

Frosty Your Welcome... I meant to include the picture below also. I don't recall if you posted a picture of your dies. When I bought that hammer, it didn't have dies. I made this set. There is a lot of discussion about whether or not combination dies should be used on small hammers. Some feel like it's distructive to use one side of the dies or the other. I think they think it puts severe side pressure on the ram and guide. I respectfully disagree, unless of course you are whaling away on cold metal (and if you are, side pressure is the least of your worries). You can use flat dies and make a saddle and have an attachment for drawing, but...... I like to be able to draw and use the flat part of combo dies in the same heat. I know I could have made an attachment which is a combo, but since it would be on the hammer MOST of the time, I chose not to. You can still put a saddle over combo dies for other operations. The drawing side of the dies I made are very aggressive. They worked extremely well for me, but I would recommend (now) that the ones you make, or buy, have a flat spot in the middle (maybe 3/4 to one inch wide).... and a strong relief up to that flat spot. I love old mechanical power hammers. Good luck with yours. When you make your hand held tooling, be sure to make the handles light enough so very little shock is transmitted to your hand/arm.

Frosty.... How one part of the mechanism is fabricated may not be obvious. Hopefully, these two diagrams will help. The first diagram shows the linkage assemblies. The second diagram details the most complicated one. Diagram 1.... 1. Is the bar that goes from the treadle to the break lever. 2. Is the brake lever 3. Moves up and down with the treadle bar. It's anchored to the hammer frame on the right. 4. Is a short piece of linkage connected to 3. 5. Is the linkage detailed in the second diagram. Think of it as a bicycle petal hub assembly without petals. 6. is a fixture that fits over the left side of the bicycle hub that the brake band connects to. Diagram 2 Weld a short length of 3/4 inch iron pipe (item 4) onto a bar (item 5) that will be bolted to the hammer frame. A length 3/4 solid round (item 2) is welded (from the outside end) into a short piece of linkage (item 1). Slip the solid round (item 2) into the pipe (item 4) from the left. Slip the other short piece of linkage (item 3) onto the 3/4 round and weld the linkage to the round bar (item 2) from the end. You should drill a hole in the pipe for a grease zerk before you weld this assembly together. Hopefully, this makes the linkage clear. Good luck....

Personally, my experience is that wrought iron tires run the whole gambit of grade. Some are, as Irnsgrn noted, very poorly refined. Others I have found to be extremely well refined. If you cut, bend and break a piece from one, you can see what you have. The smaller the fiberous characteristics, the more refined iron you have. Most tires I have used would be (my opinion) in the poor to medium refinement categories. I like to make small objects, then etch them so the grain shows. The poorer the refinement, the more the grain shows. If the wrought is highly refined, the grain, although there, does not stand out as much. If extremely refined, it is difficult to tell it's wrought iron using the cut, bend and break method. I'd consider the first example below medium to poorly refined, the second poor, the third is medium.

The brake in the photos does tighten when the treadle is released, and release when the treadle is pressed. If you get plans from SID, the mechanism should be easier to understand. I did get his plans, but I think I may have done a couple things differently. It's been about four years since I made the brake, so I don't remember how much I deviated from the way he diagrams it. If you need it later, I can probably draw a picture of my mechanism for you. No doubt any construction of a wood base that has been successfully used before would be fine. I know folks that have used plywood, but it tends to get beat to pieces. I would not put a plate of steel between the hammer and wood. The bottoms of these hammers are not perfectly flat and it will cause stresses you don't want there when you fasten it down. That, and it would probably sound like a drum. If you can find something like a rubber mat, put that between the hammer base and the wood (like a truck bedliner or a horse mat).

Sparky.... SID, at the Little Giant company in Nebraska (just Google Little Giant to find their internet site), has sent out plans for adding a brake. I'm fairly sure he will respond to any request. Here are a few photos of a brake I made for a 50# Little Giant. I don't have the hammer anymore, so I can't provide better views. The brake is a strap of leather "epoxied" to a piece of 1/8th inch strap iron the width of the wheel. The wheel may not have a perfectly round surface, but it doesn't need to be for a brake on a power hammer. Remove all the paint though. I also put a splatter shield over the top of the hammer to catch "flung" oil off the clutch. It took me a while to learn how much oil NOT to use, but some was necessary on the clutch. I use chain bar oil (all points) on my power hammers for lubrication. The hammer WILL need to be fastened down. Speaking from experience, a six inch concrete floor is plenty for that hammer. If you have a floor in place, you can just drill holes in it for anchor bolts, then use a commercial anchor epoxy. Buy the best anchor epoxy you can find. It's pricey.... about $18+ a tube or so at Home Depot. Make a hardwood base (using threaded rod to hold it together) with planks (on edge) about four inches wide and two inches (or more) thick. Use seasoned hardwood so it doesn't shrink later (not good). Maple is probably best if you can find it, but Oak (more plentiful around here) is OK. If you make a template for the base holes, you can drill the holes in the base before you put the hammer on it (if not, just grind the point off a cheap blade bit and drill the holes in the wood through the hammer base down to the concrete). I used a hammer drill with a long bit to drill all the way through the concrete for the anchors. Get some threaded rod an eight of an inch smaller in diameter than the holes your drilled in the concrete to use as anchor bolts. Be sure you blow out all the dust from the holes before you use the epoxy (use a round wire brush if you have one). Conventional wisdom would seem to dictate to put anchor bolts in concrete first, then lift the hammer over and onto them. Unless you have something to lift the hammer and precisely put it over bolts, I wouldn't try to do it that way. Drilling the holes with the hammer in place and using epoxy to hold in the anchor bolts has given me satisfactory results several times.

BillP.... If you want to head off problems with your stakes, just heat them again and let them air dry.

These are a few I made... The leaf is etched wrought iron. The hat is mild steel. The others are damascus made with a nicholas file and band saw blade materials. :)

I'd love to buy the kit, and may, but if you decide to, be forewarned that it's not a "buy it, do a little machining and put it together" project. I just talked to the company that sells those kits to the re-seller above. He said two castings are provided (and that's it). Everything else that is needed must be purchased elsewhere and/or made from scratch by the builder (drawings are provided). No machining has been done on the castings. It all needs to be done by the person building the hammer. That means you need a milling machine and metal lathe with all the attachments and tooling needed to make precision instruments. Oh... you also need all those other tools that are needed in a machine shop. I'm not sure why the seller says a shaper is needed. It's not that a shaper couldn't be used, but a milling machine for associated operations is more appropriate.

Rich Hale... I might have mis-understood the beginning of this thread, but I intrepreted it as asking if there was a way to keep solder from running onto the blade. I have almost zero experience with knife making, cleaning up or putting fine finishes on layered steel (or non-layered). I don't know all the methods that can be used to clean-up after something stains a guard or a knife, and I don't know at what point during the knifemaking process one would consider the finish finished. What I do know is.... using the gel super glue keeps the solder from running down onto (or into) the knife blade when I solder a brass guard on. There is.... indeed.... a very slight discoloration on the blade (and guard) where the super glue was. I'm assuming that it's there because I don't yet possess the skill or knowledge how to remove or polish it out. I doubt very much that the discoloration has permeated the metals far enough so that they cannot be removed by someone who has greater experience and skill than I. I have to believe that somewhere in this universe of skilled craftsmen, the proper cleaning and finishing techniques and "order of process" exists that will eliminate that 'ever so slight' imperfection. Hopefully they will be shared. In any case..... Using the super glue kept my solder from running down onto the blades. I learned the technique during a demonstration put on by Audra Draper, who is a nationally known bladesmith. I'm fairly sure acceptable blade finishes are compatible with using this technique.

Rich... Read the post prior to yours and give it a try. Worked for me!

That FEELS GOOD!!!! Hit Me, Hit Me.

This works..... 1. Fit the guard tightly. 2. Put a gel super glue on the blade side of the guard all the way around the blade (gel on the guard and the blade). 3. Let the super glue set. 4. Do your soldering, as usual, from the tang side. 5. Clean the super glue off with an appliance that doesn't mark the blade or guard. 6. Re-polish the blade and/or guard on the blade side as needed. The photo below shows the results I had with the very first knives I made. Not perfect, but there is no solder on the blade side of the guards.

It's probably not sitting flat. Any anvil that is sitting on high points will ring more than if it has full contact with its base. I'd venture if you fasten it tight to the stump somehow, it will ring less. There has been some discussion on this forum before about using some type of poly adhesive under the anvil to fill in any gaps. If you don't want the anvil to stick, just put some light plastic sheeting over the adhesive on one or both sides.