clang

This is my all time favorite conference,. It's smaller and It tends to have a larger % of professionals, is more laid back and features camping under the redwoods. This is the "wine country" and foodies are a major force so the food is often quite good. It's a spectacularly beautiful area. Attendance is strictly limited ,so register ahead of time. Big Toby Hickman used the be the voice and a fair amount of the heart of the CBA, especially there. Now that he's gone it seems a little hollow. It's not unusual to be in fog or rainy conditions, this is coastal Northern CA after all. The last few miles in is on a dirt road and slow...Worse when it's wet. Bring everything you might need cause it's a long way to town It's super dry up there now so no campfires are possible. But last El Nino we were hit with 3" of downpour. Tailgating can be pretty good and the crowd is friendly.

I vaguely remember that tribute Alan..A lot of grinning and even a modicum of reverence, (for the very hairy,) as i recall. That conference and the CBA conference there the year before hand , changed my little world! I'd no idea blacksmith associations even existed! I'd been self taught and pretty much working in isolation for more than 20 years before that....never had seen anyone work who knew what they were doing. I drove home with my jaw hanging open and my mind whirling and clanging with ideas and solutions. My shop is impossibly cluttered and taking a decent pic of the TH has proved to be difficult...sorry. Yes, the little quench tank with the linked lid is mostly for punches, shaped chisels, chasing tools etc. My collection of such is pretty extensive and i've sunk a silly amount of time into making them over the years. They allow me to brag that after all these years i can now reliably make metal look like used chewing gum.. Alan, that's a very cute Tommy hammer!

I built a somewhat oversized TH immediately after i saw George Dixon demo it in San Luis Obispo ('89?) ...Got all excited. Started tossing related junk in a pile the same evening after i got home. I really had only seen one TH and didn't know what i was doing. I've modified it a lot over the years but am still using it almost daily. The build is pretty rude. It's a swing arm type using truck leaf spring arms and has about 90# of falling weight and is quite tall. If i need a shorter stroke, there's sockets to take an inserted coil spring. I built it to be vertically adjustable, but have never moved that part. Initially, i used the full length of the top leaf springs of a 2 1/2 ton , 48 Chevy. It laid down a good, sharp, flat blow, but was slow and the side slop was prohibitive. Had to cut them down. The anvil top and hammer head was a built up mass of layered 1" plates, 6X9" , and welded heavily. Same size hardy hole as my anvil. I later replaced original I beam anvil stem with a solid welded mass of used scraper blades also 6 X 9". Burned up a whole lot of WW2 , funky arc rod! More anvil mass helped! Also built a little quench tank behind the anvil with a lid that lifts as the hammer rises and covers the tank when the hammer falls to avoid splashing. There's a rebound spring at the top of the stroke. I use it a lot. The arc of the swing arms, long as they are, is a xxxx nuisance and causes a certain amount of smearing the work. At the same time, i took an old gas saver and worked out the pedal, pop-up torch as a necessary adjunct.. A number of folks have made their own variation of it since i demoed it for the CBA spring conf. Don't know of any earlier. I've also demoed a couple of times on John Mcllellan"s in line treadle hammer s. He sells both the hammers and kits. John@mclellanblacksmithing.com) . When properly adjusted and lubed the friction is minimal, the pedal is easy, and the blow is strong and precise...Good sensitivity. Nice design, and i like that the springs are contained in the back column. The springs on mine are kinda scary ( safety cable not withstanding). The strength of blow and effort requirements are comparable , given the falling weight and anvil mass difference. When i get tired of rebuilding mine, i'm gonna order one.

Jim C: Good moveable handle adaptation!

Ian: Thinking about the hydr presses and the equivalent ambition power hammers.. It seems to me that building for the shock of impact requires considerably more mass and rigidity than a press where the stresses are simpler and mostly tension oriented. Wonder if your woodpecker wouldn't be prone to taking itself apart.. I've seen 2, 100 ton forging presses that excellent smiths had made, in use. It was kinda scary...Those big I beams flexed disconcertingly. OTOH, Fritz Hagist's late 1800s 100 tonner ( literally hydraulic, pumps water), with it's 4, 4" columns and massive top and bottom cast platens....showed on visible distortion pressing a 7" ball deep into a hot piece of 1" x 10" X 10" plate. Had to flip it over and use the press to get it out while still hot.

I'd respectfully suggest that, since you have a severe floor space limitation... You just go out and get a big fat hydraulic cylinder and be done with it. Safer, faster quicker and easier to get it working.

i think it's an adjunct to a hydraulic press, but a potentially dangerous one. I collected a couple of smaller ones to gang up with the right valving. My hope is to charge them up to full pressure and open the valve to get a full pressure surge at the moment the dies contact the hot work...without waiting for the pump to build to full pressure. A major limitation to press forging is the speed that the dies suck th heat out of the work.

Gotta agree with Francis and Trying-it, that the in-line format is superior. It's not much more difficult to make and has several serious advantages. If you do make a swing arm type, go for tight pivot mechanisms and long arms. Lateral slop in the swing arms is a handicap. Put a safety cable or chain on the hammer shaft. If you are going with vertically adjustable, make sure you can really lock that puppy down solidly! Most treadle hammers have much too light an anvil and post. Get the springs as far away from you as possible and string a safety cable through them. The shock of impact, is going try hard to take things apart. Build for that. I write on the authority of some broken fingers and a very crushed thumb.

When i was a little kid, i invented the scroll and was rather proud of it! Imagine my disillusionment when i discovered i was 20,000 years too late.

My father manufactured copper jewelry from the 1940 through the late 60s..bracelets were a regular item. He was always embarrassed when folks swore that they cured their aches and pains..Finally ended saying, "whatever works for you". Made some heavy masculine bracelets for the line. The stuff is a " collectible" now. They used a clear finish that often survives to this day. I never could find out what it was. Brian B is a tremendously talented guy, i like and admire him a lot.

I got to use John McLellan's newest in-line treadle hammer recently, when i demoed for 3 days at the CBA spring conference. It was surprisingly good..struck a good, smart wallop despite the fairly short stroke. His design safely tucked the springs ( dangerous, they can disembowel you when they snap) inside the back column, making a nice, compact unit. The hardy holes, top and bottom, with cross wedge retainers were handy and this oliver was one that stayed solidly in place. Mine has to be bolted down. I'm used to my parallel swing arm style oliver (TH) which unavoidably swings the hammer in an arc, smearing the blow everywhere except right at mid arc. John's inline hammer had no arc to compensate for of course...nice!.. And the mechanism seemed to have little friction loss. My home made oliver has almost twice the falling weight and 3 times the stroke length, but doesn't hit all that much harder. It was kinda loud for the operator, but i should have been using ear protection anyway. I wasn't too fond of the 4" cube stake/spacer that fitted in the anvil hardy hole, but it functioned OK, matched the hammer face, and was easily removed to insert taller tooling. The recovery time between blows was as quick as one could ask and the linkage action was nice and crisp. This is the third generation of these hammers. It has a compression spring that absorbs shock to the foot pedal...lowers operator fatigue. John said he still has a few in stock from this last production run. I reached him at..... McLellan Blacksmithing John@McLellanBlacksmithing.com 916-652-5790 office 916-652-5784 fax 916-539-5790 cell He's a good guy who puts in a huge amount of time for us, both at the CBA and ABANA. Now stop hitting your thumb and move some metal....Clang

Eric Chang; One very smart smith, is writing an article on the physics of anvils and popular beliefs. He said that well welded horizontal joints suck up less energy than generally believed.

Hi Rich: Glad you are getting lots of work. There are smiths scattered throughout the central Valley. Check with the Calif Blacksmith's Assn ( Calsmith.org) i think. Also, go to the CBA conferences where you can pick up a whole lot of techniques in just a weekend...

Tim; A grand thanks to you for taking the time and trouble to ever so politely thank Grant for reminding us to take the time to thank....sigh. Grant may be polite; but he's a hell of an excellent smith despite that. Thanks Grant!

Hi Matt: Nice niche! I forged finger cymbals for belly dancers as my bread and butter item for many years, beginning about 1966 or so. They were all and chased and stamped with intricate little designs. I don't understand why you are importing blanks from china? Most any alloy you desire, is commercially available, in your choice of thicknesses, if you are willing to buy in volume. Needless to say..a range of different alloys gets sold as " bell bronze". Traditional bell founders were extremely secretive. Silicon bronze is most easily available, and while not as brassy sounding, is decent acoustically and very pleasant and forgiving to work. Phos bronze is much stiffer, somewhat harder to find, sounds good and is very durable. Naval bronze is closer to traditional bell bronze in character and works OK. Don't mess with beryllium bronze..it is very toxic stuff! But, i would guess, based on experience, that bell bronze isn't necessarily the best alloy for your application. Casting blanks and forging to thickness is time consuming and you will have to deal with the undesirably coarse grain structure of the casting..as well as repeated annealing. I've done a fair amount of forging cymbals to thickness from heavier stock and it is slow and rather difficult, given the acoustic and longevity consequences of uneven thickness. Are you going to the California Blacksmith Assn spring conference? I'll be demonstrating there. Good luck!

Hi Matt: Nice niche! I forged finger cymbals for belly dancers as my bread and butter item for many years, beginning about 1966 or so. They were all and chased and stamped with intricate little designs. I don't understand why you are importing blanks from china? Most any alloy you desire, is commercially available, in your choice of thicknesses, if you are willing to buy in volume. Needless to say..a range of different alloys gets sold as " bell bronze". Traditional bell founders were extremely secretive. Silicon bronze is most easily available, and while not as brassy sounding, is decent acoustically and very pleasant and forgiving to work. Phos bronze is much stiffer, somewhat harder to find, sounds good and is very durable. Naval bronze is closer to traditional bell bronze in character and works OK. Don't mess with beryllium bronze..it is very toxic stuff! But, i would guess, based on experience, that bell bronze isn't necessarily the best alloy for your application. Casting blanks and forging to thickness is time consuming and you will have to deal with the undesirably coarse grain structure of the casting..as well as repeated annealing. I've done a fair amount of forging cymbals to thickness from heavier stock and it is slow and rather difficult, given the acoustic and longevity consequences of uneven thickness. Are you going to the California Blacksmith Assn spring conference? I'll be demonstrating there. Good luck!

Goofball?? Nah...Perfectly normal...for a smith. I've compulsively played with fire for over 50 years now. Now, i'm going to assume that you want it hot cause you want to forge some small iron right there in the living room, cause i think like that. It's an old American wintertime tradition. Folks used to sit around the fire and forge nails when they were snowed in. But nails get kinda boring really...But sit-down forging can be a lot of productive fun with a small hammer and anvil, a bucket of tools and one of water, and so on. Assuming your fireplace draws decently, the trick is to use dry hardwood and build up a good deep bed of coals. I would strongly recommend considering this sort of thing when you are deciding who to marry.

Hey, come on! This is a blacksmith's site. Smiths have been making crotals for hundreds of years. You could make a couple of curved chisels and cut them out with just a few hammer blows; given some practice. Or, you could make a stamp and die set to do it in one stroke of a small press or a big hammer. Or you could cut them in short stacks, hot, with a treadle hammer...and so on. You guys sleigh me.