JHCC

Even if I'm only getting half the acceleration (which is quite possible; I haven't actually measured it), that's still six times the force. As for Mark getting the same amount of work done as you describe, that wouldn't surprise me in the least: he is, after all, a much better smith than I am.

Umm...no, twelve times the force. F=ma where m=hand hammer mass, and F'=m'a where m' =treadle hammer mass. If m'=12m, then F'=12F. (Not taking into account skill and efficiency at moving metal, of course. This is simply a fancy way of saying that *my* shop is a lot better for having the treadle hammer. Were I a professional with the budget for something with an external power source, I'd be all over it like red on rust.)

The last couple of hammers I've made were from jackhammer bits (yes, yes; I know they're technically "pavement breaker bits"), and if memory serves, I punched the eye all the way through in two or three heats. The tongs I made last Sunday went from raw bar to finished tool in a bit more than an hour, and splitting the reins was a breeze. Next time I have the forge fired up, I'll see about doing some tests for you.

IFIFAF?

Personal connects are great for just about any of our sources of supply. Bottle openers also open doors.

No, it's a total game-changer. If I'd known, I probably would have built it sooner! (Actually, that's not quite true: back then, I didn't have access to the materials and tools that went into building it.) Advantages: Hits a LOT harder than I can hit with a hand hammer. The biggest hand hammer I can use for more than a few minutes is three pounds; the head on this weighs 36 pounds. Since the mass of the treadle hammer head is twelve times that of a regular hammer and it travels just as fast (remembering that force = mass x acceleration), it's hitting with twelve times the force. There's no way I could get that kind of oomph with a hand hammer. Less tiring. Rather than using the smaller muscles of my arm, I'm using the big extensor muscles of the leg. These are some of the strongest muscles in the body and are designed for sustained effort. Better handling of tooling. I can use this with top and bottom fullers, spring swages, hot-cuts, my touchmarks, you name it. The flexibility is great, and you don't have to juggle tool, workpiece, hammer, and hold-down. Convenience. It is right there when I need it. All I have to do is take off the safety chain (which keeps it from moving while not in use) and shorten the linkage between the treadle and the arm, and I'm ready to go. When I'm done, I lengthen the linkage, which drops the treadle to the floor and raises the head towards the ceiling, giving me lots of room to maneuver around the anvil. If I'm in a long session, I'll sometimes leave the safety chain off, and put only put it on at the end of the day. It's just an insurance policy, not something that has to be there to keep the head up and out. CHEAP. Other than what I've spent on welding wire, grinding discs, and a few bits of hardware, the only expense was a set of legs off some piece of industrial equipment. These became the column at the back and the horizontal pieces that connect the column to the anvil stand, and I got them from a surplus place for $15. I've never properly calculated my total outlay, but I've got well under a hundred bucks in the thing (and time, of course, but that's the advantage of being a hobbyist: any investment of time gives a return in pleasure). The rest of the steel was donated and salvaged, and the lead in the head was a gift from my dentist. Disadvantages: Reduced access to the back of the anvil. Just can't walk around it the way I used to, and can't do smith-and-striker on the Mousehole (aka The Undisputed King of Anvils). However, I do have my striking anvil for that last. As Jennifer noted elsewhere, balancing on one foot and stomping with the other can put some strain on the stabilizing muscles, especially if you're not used to using them. Not a huge deal, and warmup exercises and stretching help. A bit noisy. Since I switched to a quieter blower, I sometimes forget to put in earplugs. At that first hit with the treadle hammer, I remember! Human-powered, so not as reliable or consistent as a power hammer or press. Since I'm not full-time, that's not a big deal. This is something that I need to tweak a bit. When I first built it, the head and the return springs were perfectly balanced, so the acceleration of the stomp translated directly to the head. I've since modified the back of the arm to be slightly longer and at a different angle, which necessitated removing one of the springs, and I'm not sure the balance is as good as it was before. I also want to add some more lead to the head, which will probably mean putting that spring back on. We'll see how it works out. That said, does it have as much snap as a power hammer (mechanical or air)? Probably not. I've never actually used one, so I don't have much of a frame of reference. I do know, however, that it is a great improvement over not having it at all, and I would not have been able to get into making hammers and split-rein tongs without it.

If that pipe is galvanized, get it out of your forge NOW. Zinc oxide fumes are REALLY bad for your health. Black iron pipe is definitely the way to go. You're headed in the right direction. Keep at it.

A lot of restaurants have deals with companies that take their used oil to convert to biodiesel. Don't be surprised if you get turned down a lot; DO be grateful for anything you're given.

Yeah, tinsel doesn't have much strength at all.

Can’t hurt to try. Report back here on your results.

Sounds like you're on the right track. Make sure you mount your anvil plate vertically, to get the greatest mass underneath the hammer blow. If you haven't seen the thread on improvised anvils, check it out:

Looking forward to it!

Yes. Generally speaking, a harder punch will move through the hot metal with less distortion or abrasion of its tip and is less likely to deform inside the hole. This both makes it better for punching a particular hole and for lasting long enough to punch many holes. If you think about it, we ask a lot of our tools. Steel changes its properties when exposed to heat and shock, and both of those are present in spades in the forge. The "best" tool steels (and "best" is very much relative: all have advantages, and none is perfect) are those that are much less affected by heat and shock, and thus the force applied to (or with) them is directed into shaping the workpiece rather than distorting the tool, however incrementally. That's all a fancy way of saying that a mild steel punch can certainly do a job to which it is suited, but since it is likely to distort (under the influence of heat and shock), it is not suited to heavy work nor should it be expected to last.

"Forum" has been in the English language since the fifteenth century, and "forums" has been used as its plural in English since 1647, in Stapylton's translation of Juvenal's Sixteen Satyrs. "Fora" is the correct Latin plural, but its use in English is an affectation most common among classicists and those who have been hit on the head with birch trees.

And now you work in the trailer!

You’re still a young ‘un yet. Keep in mind that there are three signs of approaching senility: loss of memory, and I can’t remember the other two.

Samuel Yellin In Context by Richard J. Wattenmaker. Flint Institute of Arts, 1985. ISBN 0-939896-06-3. 35 pages “Almost singlehandedly, Samuel Yellin achieved, during three decades of intensive work, a rebirth of ornamental ironwork parallel to, but independent of, contemporary developments in Europe.” This little volume contains an essay written on the occasion of the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts) exhibition Samuel Yellin: Metalworker. While not a catalog, it does contain twelve pages of photographs of Yellin’s work, much of which was included in that exhibit. While the photographs themselves are excellent, the real value of this booklet is in the text. Neither biographer nor hagiographer, Wattenmaker places Yellin within the broader context of the revival of historical architectural styles in Europe, especially through the work of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and the neo-Gothic. He makes a convincing case for how this technical and artistic flourishing would have had a profound effect on Yellin in his apprenticeship and journeyman years in Europe, perhaps a somewhat more realistic picture than the narrative of the sui generis genius. At the same time, he describes how Yellin generally resisted the fashions of Art Nouveau and particularly Art Deco, preferring to exercise his talents in bringing fresh life to older styles. “Comfortably established in this later, looser version of the revivals in Europe, Samuel Yellin gave free rein to his ideas within a framework of familiar traditions in which he felt as much at ease in improvising as did the architect. The eclectic architectural interpretations he was called upon to serve required of him no aesthetic adjustment whatsoever...” (p. 27). From the extensive description of the European revivals to his overview of Yellin’s parallel careers as metalworker, teacher, and collector, Wattenmaker covers an enormous amount of ground in a very short space. By describing Yellin in this broader artistic and personal context, he not only highlights the particular character of his special talents, but also hints at other avenues of possible exploration for both smiths and scholars alike Highly recommended.

Stopped by the steel supplier to see what might be in the drop bin. In addition to some 1/2” square, they had this yard-long chunk of 1/2” x 1-1/2”, which I nabbed. All my split-rein tongs hitherto have been made from 3/8” x 1”, and I’ve been wanting to try something a bit beefier. This should do nicely.

Leidenfrost effect aside, my main concern is that if SQ does harden an otherwise unhardenable block, would I be running the risk of the outside shrinking too fast and making the block crack?

Well, isn't that the whole point of the wetting agents in SQ?

Yes, O1 is the steel, O2 is oxygen, and O3 is ozone.

Reviving an older thread, I just welded up an anvil block from a big chunk of (what I assume is) mild steel. I'm going to do some tests with some of the offcuts, but before I go mixing up a batch of SQ, would it be appropriate for something 2" square? Most of the discussions of it that I've seen seem to revolve around knives and horseshoes, not something with such a larger cross-section.

Also, be on the lookout for people throwing away leather-upholstered furniture. The back, the sides, and the seat and back cushions can yield some substantial pieces of leather, although sometimes in rather odd colors. If you keep a blade and some trash bags in your car, you'll be ready when the opportunity presents itself.

Side note: back in my furniture selling days, I visited a factory in Texas that did made-to-order sofas. Since hides are irregular and "uncorrected" hides show the natural grain, range marks (barbed wire scars), brands, color variations, etc, it takes a fair amount of fiddling to figure out which piece goes where. This gets even more complicated when you're doing a custom order of, say, a sofa, a loveseat, a chair, and two ottomans, all of which have to look consistent across the entire set. So, this factory had a setup where they would spread a hide out on one half of a big table with a built-in vacuum (like a huge air-hockey table in reverse) and flip a switch to suck the hide down flat. Then a guy with a mobile computer screen and a joystick would pull up all the pieces needed for this particular job, select the part he wanted to lay out, and a laser mounted above the table would project the shape on the hide. He'd rotate it and move it around to find the right spot, lock it in place, and then select the next part. This would continue until he'd filled up the entire hide with pieces to be cut out. He would then hit a button and move to the other half of the table to start laying out the next hide. While he was doing that, a computer-guided knife on a CNC carriage would cut out all the parts exactly as he'd laid them out. It was an amazing melding of human skill and judgement with technological precision.

Look up "rodded handle".