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Congrats on the hammer.. looks like a very versatile design.. I'm following with interest though I can't add to the info..

Yes, be sure and take it easy.. You don' t want to end up with repetitive use injury this early in the game.. Take your time and move up hammer weights over a long period of time.. If the smaller hammer isn't working for you.. Move up to the larger one for a little while then move back down.. If you really need to move metal have a friend come over and swing sledge or keep it handy and you can use it for the bulk of forging the hardie tools.. Congrats on the anvil.. Double horn anvils are my favorites.. With that smaller hardie hole it will allow for so many easily forged or fabricated items for lighter work and then the larger hardie hole for more robust work..

gaylan veater: nice work.. did you insert the jaws or just leave them mild?

At one time stuff like this was thrown away by a lot of people or back during WWII everything went to scrap for the war effort.. if blacksmtihing equipment is still cheap or inexpensive now would be the time to amass your collection.. When I started to become serious about smithing back in the mid 80's , locally it was hard to find anvils over the 150lbs range in good shape, unless you were in the Know.. I missed out on a few I would have loved to add or used.. And unless you get lucky or are in the "know" now the prices are threw the roof..

hook jaw is a pipe tong.. For use like a pipe wrench.. Some came in adjustable sizes..

I personally would rather finish the face to what I want vs what I was given... I like a slight crown to the face vs completely flat and if it were to lower the price some it's all the better for the buyer and for you to increase sales and still make the profit needed.. Also I wouldn't worry about the sprue risers or such of maybe offer a completed unit and a unit one can clean up on their own.. A fully hardened horn, tail and face would be best vs just the face/tail.. I like what you have done.. I'm still partial to the graduated horn but I like the fact you made it conical or truncated with a full tip on it vs docked back/off.. Nice with the side shelf.. Personally I'd like to have upsetting blocks both sides, side shelf and graduated horn like the German style, and 2, 1" hardie holes, but if budget allowed I'd be up for one of these? Few pics of the face perhaps.. the Castings look nice an clean.. I can see why you are busy with work.. Nicely done..

Ben, There are a lot of smiths out there that will never achieve the level of joinery you shown.. It doesn't really matter how long someone works in this trade or craft that produces both a desire to know the material but also to make it as near as perfect as one can.. This key between the masses is the want for a certain level of perfection. VS the it's OK.. To work to perfection is different for everyone.. It's like anything, some people get it some don't.. Some people have the talent some don't.. Some people naturally express and exude this fundamental desire and it shows in the work produced.. When both skill, the desire to make perfect both collide it can warrant really nice work.. I had 3 small strap hinges to make and after making the 3 they were very nice but not perfect.. So guess what I have been making everytime i start the forge..... Welded Hinge barrels.. Make one, cut it off, make another cut it off.. I'll be making welded hinge barrels till each one comes out exactly the way I want it , each time I make one... I am my largest and most brutal critique, as I am only satisfied by perfection.. This is what I had seen when you were making the tongs and now the rocker..

if you have the change gears yours should to the 2tpi.. Also on a vise that big most will be done on the power hammer..

I like a slow long rock also.. We have swivel rockers on the front porch and they are way to fast but still enjoy a good rocker.. AGain great job.. Looking forwards to the other build pics.. Now after this build besides the longer rockers what else would you do differently? I really liked the way you also radiused the Tenons... Did you drift the mortises?

Wow, that is a great job.. Ben is that you in the Photo? Really a ABANA photo show case deal.. Well done.. You have grown into a fine smith.. Is it a fast rocker? How much do you figure it weighs? does it creak at all?

You could forge in the threads but it would have to be done on a closed die setup with a hydraulic press.. I imagine if you were really into it, you could forge them with a swage on the anvil but accuracy would be a thing. and if accuracy was key the time to do it would be rather slow.. Forging a 4" vise is certainly doable and pretty straight forwards.. If you aren't in a rush then all the better.. All of this stuff can be done with only a hand hammer but having a sledger and a fuller and a few other things would make it easier.. Depending on how accurate you really want it to be becomes the key question.. I don't know what your capable of forging as I have never seen your work or your setup.. For simplicity you could start with a 1" or 3/4" X 4" flat for both sets of jaws and get some major hammer work out on the leg jaw. (upset where you want to pierce it for the screw and box). then forge weld the pivot and boss onto the botton of the front jaw. pin and weld the sides or cheeks to the rear leg. Or on the front forge the leg round round after it's been punched leaving the boss on the bottom now in line with the shaft after it's twisted hot.. This would give you 3/4 or 1" pivot boss which is plenty.. Despite the error/mis understand with Frosty, of what I had mentioned before about forging one and looking at how they were done has nothing to do with forging wrought iron.. They made the vises the way they did for a reason. and they eventually started to use mild steel to make them. From the little lip that goes over both the screw box and the screw.. to the pivots, to the cheeks to the location of the placement of the screw box.. etc, etc.. If you'd like come on over.. We could have one forged out in an after noon.. I too have the forging of a vise on the agenda.. a 10" monster German style.. A lot of the older lathes will do 2 threads per inch.. My 13" southbend will do 4 tpi.. the previous gen model with do 2tpi The 8.5" leg vise I have IIRC 6tpi.. on a 2+" screw.. The 2tpi is just the easiest as you can just use 1/4" sq for the box but you can up the tread count and just use 1/8" for the screw box.. I prefer the larger size sq as it just makes it easier when it comes to brazing in the box.. I redid a box on a vise years ago and it worked perfectly.. Drilled out the remains of the old, in with the new. The orginals pulled out and the threads on the screw were mint..

Hans, how do you show and air bank, but not show the air hammer???

Wiser words have never been said..

Columbian.. Nice The screw and box holes were die pressed..

I had one I made and I had one that came out of a carriage shop. The ones in the picture are delicious... I might still have one somewhere but when I moved a lot of the stuff got lost or was moved before I moved all the shop equipment out... I had one for 1" to 3" I think.. And 1 that I made in 1/4" to 1".. If those are ones you Dad made.. He was a mighty fine smith.. From one of the books I read on vintage tools and apprenticeships. These were one of the tools needed before the Master would sign off on the apprentice..

It is about 7ft long and has a 45degree bent in just about 1 inch or so past the depth of the hole.. It fits the hole pretty tightly.. I have a 5 and a 10B.. I"ll take a picture tomorrow if I remember after work.. It looks a lot like a hockey stick, with a shorter blade.

Me to Frosty.. But it certainly a lot easier to have a mentor, a guide or forging experience to the like.. Understanding why they did things the way then did and then mimicking it is key.. or not depending on the results you are after..

I"m not a fan of the rebound test overall.. I can see where it has merit but.. It's just a test.. Real test comes in forging.. A wrought iron anvil with no face will ring very well.. A wrought iron anvil with a partial face can ring very well.. A wrought iron anvil with a full face can ring very well.. I have also found that an anvil that has good harmonic vibrations will ring very well no matter what it is made of if it's loosely mounted and allowed to vibrate.. If the face is loose only and there is an air space with no contact, it will ring like the dickens.. i have also found anvils that would ring 100db loose when mounted properly barely have a wisper (check out the trailer video how tos) this anvil Peddinghaus has 95% rebound and will ring your ear off when just placed on the stand.. Now that it's bolted down and torqued to the stand with 3/4" nuts to about 100ft pound torque.. Well it still has a ring but it's very faint.. Anyhow, I'd still go with the suggestion of finding a forge group in your area.. Fail that and you feel like you can replace it at some point with an anvil of the same weight class sell it and clear you mind.. There is something to be said about letting go.. I was all hung up on the Steam power hammer I was looking at and was driven crazy for nearly a week and a half.. Do I need one.. NO.. did I want one, Yes you betcha.. LOL.. Still do.. But I had to free myself from it.. There are still lots of great anvils out there.. Tell the guy you want 900.00 for it.. If he comes in at 850.00 so be it Or just let it go for the 800.00 put the money into your anvil savings coffee can and put in 5 or 10.00 a week. or birthday money or what have you.. It's how I do it.. I only eat and drink at home.. I don't stop at DD or starbucks.. For each 3-8.00 coffee that is a substantial savings over time.. Tomorrow I'll be driving about 200miles or the course of about 5 hrs.. I'll bring water and maybe a hot tea and then I'll shoot for home when finished.. If it was a really long day I'd bring a cooler with lunch.. again, I'd look for a local BS group there are a bunch of them every where now.. I just looked at the pictures again.. It's got plenty of life left in it.. You might want to look at maybe getting a MIG welder from HF? they have a really nice looking combo machine now.. Its always nice to learn a new skill when working on this old stuff..

a vise can be forged pretty simply .. a 4" jawed vise depending on whom made it can be pretty beefy.. As always its easier to forge out than to upset.. The ideal combination is a mix between the 2.. If you think 4" vise.. What were you thinking of for starting material? Will you weld on a hardened piece of tool steel for the gripper section of the jaw?

Thanks.. I think the martial training comes in everywhere.. I'd like to restrict comment to the video if possible as it isn't Blacksmithing related and I can't say how long the video will be up and it would mean separating out a thread or hijacking this more so, one which has been taken else where.. Thanks..

It's going to.. Lotta good work as been done on smaller anvils... the 275lbs Peddinghaus I have in the trailer is ok.. but it is wider than I like.. but dual horn so have a narrow work section when ever I want it.. There might be some local Blacksmith groups in the area that get together.. You might want to look into it.. The anvil face welding thing is better known now than it used to be.. As mentioned the guy who sponsors it here is always full up on the class..

Its always sad to say good by to a dear freind. As the saying goes when the student is ready the teacher will appear.. It must be time for a new teacher of sorts..

There must be other copies. It ended with everybody putting the hammers down..

Thanks JHCC.. There is so much miss information out there and there are tons of YT videos only showing half truths.. Without proper training the likely hood of a serious injury is right around 100% Serious defined by ones definition.

JNewman: If I were strictly talking about sport climbing or even Civilian repelling or even being an arborist I'd agree totally.. I've done the heat tests when I first purchase the rope and it passed with flying colors.. I don't even know the MFG of the rope i bought as it was a newer product back then.. For sport climbing i wear a harness with carabiner with ACT and use a dynamic rope for nearly all business.. I also when teaching climbing make my students wear all the PPE gear.. Learn rope knots how to belay properly, setting cams, and if doing top mount belay positions proper use of anchor points.. Using a grapnel is a totally different ball of wax.. LOL.. The risk ratio is off the charts as there is no back up safety.. No belay, no anything but, you the hook, what ever the hook is on or not on and the smoothness with which you can climb as a jerky move can pull the hook off, or if used on rock just the swiveling of the hook on the rock can walk it off.. I've worked with Military, Police, Swat, sport (cilivian) and they are all pretty much on the same page except for a little improvisation between Civy and the others.. Dynamic ropes for what I do in training just stretch to much and even if you look at the elongation tags and analysis they just don't work as well for what I am doing.. Again totally different than these others.. But when in Rome you do as the Romans do... I just snipped off some 550 and some of the Spectra I have and the spectra doesn't even burn at all.. The outer nylon sheet burns but the fibers inside which are continuous strand there are probably 1000 strands or more are left nearly un affected.. Don't get me wrong.. We don't repel ropes with devices usually in Nin training.. We will climb down or just using ones own hand will slide the rope but it's a very controlled kind of thing.. The experiment referred to with the using the 550 cord and the shuriken and bo shuriken was a testing to see how it would fair and I was carrying nearly another 80lbs which on 550 cord with no asscenders or prusics (spelling) and just bare hands can be pretty tough even for someone free climbing on a regular basis.. These started out the same length.. On I certainly am not saying to use 1 or the other especially when burnt.. I'm saying there is a heat load that is there.. The study you posted was in reference to the way heat loads are generated in a stretching fashion.. Dynamic ropes are designed to stretch a certain amount to help absorb shock with not only lessens damage to the body in a fall, Unless you hit an object because of to much stretch, but also to the rope itself and as we know a rope that has had a serious fall on it should be taken out of service.. In the photo the carbon on the spectra line is just carbon from the sheath burning off.. The fibers are left intact inside.. Also I have done break away or load testing and the spectra has held 300lbs with only 1/4 bundle left.. 550 doesn't even come close.. Life ending dangerous.. to be taken very seriously as ones life does depend on it. They have tree climbing clubs now where you can go to learn proper techniques.. The idea of someone out there with a grapneling hook without knowing the risks is frightening. Death being the least of it.. being confined to a wheelchair or bed ridden for the remainder of ones life.