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How many Cu inches are in 1" long 3" heavy C channel?

anvil, I'd still love to see a video of your method.. It's intriguing.

Nice work.. here comes Etsy..

I measured my main forging hammers.. Overall length is 17" including the hammer head. It doesn't matter weight.. 1.5 -6lbs.

Crazy to think it's only really 5 months away.. I haven't done anything in line with what I am supposed to teach.. LOL.. I just set the trailer into a spot I can work from. I dislike winters.

.850 per foot on 1/2" sq hot rolled. I get 17lbs per 20ft length on 1/2" sq. Is my math off?

Nearly all the industry here is gone.. Most scrap now is pretty slim..

It's crazy in the area now.. 30 years ago there were scrap yards everywhere with great stock.. Many used to keep metal lathes, bandsaws and other metal working equipment on site for sale at scrap prices.. Today within a 40mile radius of centeral mass there is not one scrap yard I know of that will give a deal.. But first you have to get past the front door.. those days are long gone of going to the scrap yard for metal.. Now you have to know someone who knows someone.

Sorry to hear it Thomas.. New diet?

1/2" roung it's .6676 per foot for hot rolled.. .6676X 120ft= 80.112lbs.. 125.00/80.112=1.56 per pound..

Your going to make me do the math huh.. No slip?

last 1/2X6" I bought was $0.77lbs The Structural C heavy was $0.91lbs

Yup, same notice.. I'll be there..

the cost here is based on the steel product.. A36, 1018 HR or 1018 CR.. And on shape.. flats are usually the least expensive. Cold rolled always comes in 12ft lengths.. Hot rolled A36 or 1018 which is getting harder to find is in 20ft lengths.. Neither metal supplier I use charge for cutting to length for 1 cut.. Cutting a bar in half or to a length requested. Cold rolled is always more money but is carried in more sizes and is 1018 Hot rolled is less money but there are less sizes and some only stock a certain size in cold rolled.

You guys watching TV together?

What are you watching that has Leonardo Dicaprio in? Sounds like you have gotten stuck in the twilight zone.. Or you need new glasses..

cheechwizard, love the anvil, and belt grinder.. What did you end up using for a motor? I know its from a treadmill, but what horse power? Max RPM?

BillyBones.. YT video? since this thread is really about hammer techniques. If you have a video link it might be useful to see.

Your eye on details and exactly what you want to accomplish is excellent.. Its the reason your work is as clean as it is.. Well done.. And correct, on hammer size, it depends on what you want to get done.. Thanks, I don't think about form anymore.. As to getting going: it is typical to open up (elongate) when hammering hard.. As Anvil says Nose to Toes in movement.. this opens the rib cage for more air intake and it acts as a recoil strategy for the body in full motion. As the needed impact gets smaller so does the body. or movement. If you can check out the josh Greenwood video and Hofi.. Its all really interesting.. Got to have a talk with Josh at the 2018 ABANA Conference. he over heard me talking with another smith about hammer technique and chimed in.. (((So I'll put this here: Every smith I have watched in a hammer swing when the metal is hot hits nearly identical. they hold the hammer nearly the same, they swing nearly the same).. (((The nuances of spring, hand grip, 1 finger 3 finges, pinky , etc, etc.. Doesn't start to be applied till the metal gets cold enough that there is spring back into the hammer))))) Hofi's method of holding the hammer and flexing the wrist is the only truly different technique as he does it all the same no matter the temperature of the metal.. Whether you are bent over or standing straight up.. Watch the swing of the hammer and grip and how the body is in motion.. You will see them with a full fist wrapped around the hammer until, they start to get some rebound at the colder temperatures.. Well unless they are welding .. But, this is a technique thing which has to do with getting the flux out and increasing the temp as the point of hammer impact.. (different topic really).. Many smiths who have been at it awhile will stand up straighter as time goes on.. Usually because of accidents not associated with smithing.. Both the guys I knew in their 80's worked at the anvil just like Francis or any farrier would.. https://video.unctv.org/video/folkways-fire-forge-blacksmithing/ Hobbyist today make up some of the largest percentage so getting in shape muscle wise is maybe the smartest thing one can do.. Here is a short video of one of the journeyman smiths, then the lead smith of the blacksmith at Williamburg, VA and then Jennifer Horn at the 2018 ABANA conference. https://youtu.be/DFxMfvhQwJ0 I thought i had some video taken of Mark A. but can't find it anywhere.. I have several thousand of folders from videos and stills and still have not figured out a great way of organizing them. What do they all have in common??????

Its what works for you.. that is all that is important.

Hofi has a video out on his method.. He shows holding of the hammer and such.. The largest problem with holding any hammer is it goes against the natural movement of the wrist.. Hofi holding method and useage of the hammer brings the wrist back into line with the correct movement.. This can lead to less wrist soreness, but it also changes the whole dynamic of the hammer swing and is the reason why his hammers were designed short, stout with short hammer handles.. He moves into weight vs velocity as the means for moving metal if looked at from simply a leverage ratio. CGL, I posted a video awhile back with hammer movement by Francis Whitaker, the video with me working on the chisel, The Hofi video and there is a video or 2 with Mark A (who stands perfectly straight at the anvil and does not bend over at all) I've seen him in person several times. And Josh Greenwood. You can look them up on YT and see for yourself how they swing hammers.. it can be confusing but again, It becomes your own style/rythym, etc, etc.. If you have been forging for awhile you would have started to make your own style and for the most part there are 3 different styles.. Old, new, and Hofi.. Old is what Francis Does, New is more in line with standing straight up (be it bad back, or knees or what have you) and Hofi.. Of course there are thousands of others but each of these 3 have the same things in common and sure it can be nit picked but its a waste of time. Each person has a particular way of swinging a hammer.. it's interesting to note.. That most or nearly all the old blacksmiths I have ever seen or worked with a swing the same way Francis Does. Or I do when warmed up.. Farriers are a different breed and swing a hammer like Old production blacksmiths.. AWesome sauce for sure. Anyhow, Watch the videos and check back.. Its interesting for sure and getting to work with these guys in person or in videos can lead to information that might be known to you , but just not understood in a way that can be put into words. In Realty I use all the methods of swinging a hammer. they are just used when the time is appropriate and there is no 1 right way. Also of note.. Any long time blacksmith have moved from traditional handle designs to a skinny handle (fits the hand and hand can close on it) with a longer handle that is skinny.. Most smiths that have been at it for 30 or more years also rarely use a hammer over3lbs and many are 1.5 to 2.5lbs with a very long thin handle.

See your all ready a hammering fool. One of the best forms of conditioning. Do you switch hands so both will become able to forge with?

It's one of the nice things about producing the videos.. It shows some stuff.. When I am forging for a while.. I mean when I am forging every day.. By the 3rd day I start to migrate into my natural swing rhythm and movement.. My hammer stroke is not from the elbow but from the whole arm and body in a circular, driving the hammer into the metal kind of motion. I like Hofi's take on it, but have never been one to implement his swing or lack of. I also can not use his type of hammer.. I smash my pinky as I have a tendency to work over the anvil and very much inline and close to it.

John McPherson to add more info to your post: European anvils (German, Czech, Swedish) had thick face plates.. some had plates up to 1.5" thick.. 1" seems to be standard... In the UK they seemed to get a little thinner and then in the USA they seemed to be between 3/4" for a large anvil to 3/8" for some standard production models like USA Trenton and the one with Arm and hammer on the side. Different makers have known problems.. Eagle anvils (fisher/norris) used W1 from what I was told and were very hard on the edges so one will see a lot of chipping on the edges of abused anvils.. Abuse is any hit with a hammer. intentional or otherwise. Trenton anvils of German make were very hard in the face and also suffered chipping on the corners.. By the way chipping of the corners was a rather large problem for all early anvil MFGs and there were many adverts with companies claiming they had fixed this. The American made trentons faired better.. Hay Budden had some material problems on the 3rd gen and I think they might have used a hardier steel mix.. From what I have seen the 1st gen with steeled wrought iron did pretty well as did the 2nd gen with crucialbe cast steel 2 piece designs though some wil show light corner cracks. It does seems that Peter Wright and Henry Wright used harder face plate materials so these can show some corner wear. Anyhow this could become it's own book.. Anvils today are actually softer than older ones unless you buy a Peddinghaus or a Refflinghaus.. These are some of the hardest anvils produced today both MFG in Germany and coming in about 59Rc.. Most other anvils are in the 55 range.. The softer the anvil the less corner chipping you will have and can be a safety margin. On high Rc faced anvils there are a bunch of problems that come in with missed strikes these lower Rc anvils don't have to worry about. One other factor that is rarely taken into consideration is the steel used in hammer faces.. Back in the day.. 0.60 to 0.80C was considered Hammer steel and can reach 60Rc.. Today 1040 or 1045 is considered hammer steel and can barely reach 55Rc and even with the best quench and maybe 58Rc it is a shallow hardening steel so will dent vs dent the anvil. My 5160 steel faced wrought iron comes in about 58Rc in the center and is hard enough to cause some serious carnage if I have a missed strike anywhere on either Peddinghaus or Refflinghaus. Not only with a chip of the anvil flying off but also of the hammer face coming apart in shrapnel. Usually when anvils are in really bad shape its from abuse.. But there is also Erosive wear.. Scale is very much an abrasive and if one produces enough hardware or forged item on the anvil and uses the same spots all the time it will erode the face of the anvil and you will see this.. The largest difference between cast steel anvils and wrought iron anvils is : Cast or forged Steel is not compressible... Wrought iron is compressible and is the reason why they sway.. Steel anvils will not sway in the face..