Wesley Chambers

could use a pic or two to see what your making offers on but sounds like you could have some options

Good advice Spears, I think at the moment I'm lucky enough to have neither the money nor the space for a hammer and as such I am forced to apply patients to my situation. I hope that by the time my lady and I are looking for our second home it will be one with some land and space for a more powerful ( and louder hammer ) Till then its back to window shopping and reseach~

I love the rubber stip, Im guessing old tire? used in place of a spring, this is fun stuff

Thanks as always Bob, I do have a guy "Bones" that I bought my 38' school bus from, but xxxx if Ill find that number again, looks like its time for a trip "To a van Down by the river!!"

Found a nice Tire Hammer vid on the tubes, older vid but new to me and finally a clean video!

You never know what you will find when you visit a junk yard.
What used to be a pot belly stove with grate could easily be a forge.
They cut the rr track into 4 foot lengths, ready for planting in the ground and being used as an anvil.
This hunk of steel was about 3-1/2 feet wide, and I would not date guess at the overall weight. Great anvil there.

Anyone know of a good actual "Junk" yard like this in the central KY area? all I can seem to find is vehicle dumps! I know there are a few nice place in Ohio but its a bit far for pickin

I think my only fear with the tire hammer option is that I tend to over engineer some of my projects to a point that it would either not get done at all or explode on completion! But I think your right this may be my quick fix~

If you look and are prepared when the deal arises you'll get a good hammer at a good price...

Nail on the head with that one, I always seem to go broke a few days before I find a good deal! I bought a new truck once and a week later three estate auctions popped up with 200+ lb anvils and a computer store held a going out of business sale, I was so depressed hahah I missed out on so much junk

But thanks for the advice all!

That hurts to read I fear my luck is not this good, and prices I see tend to be triple that~

If you can stand it good for you! I used to do this to battle my insomnia but my wrists and joints could only take sooo much.
I did manage a shirt and coif set of over 15k rings and countless pouches and balls/hacky sacks for friends, all of this before theringlord.com was around or at least popular. I would spin my own rings on a mandrill and spend hours clipping and spreading, one gallon bucket of open rings, another of closed then I would set off for hours at night watching bad movies, it becomes like knitting after a few days you don't even look at the work!


Edit: Also I got lucky enough that a friend of my father machined me a ring shear, was very nice to have clean cut rings on the final product, I think I still have it somewhere if your still interested after a few weeks of chainmaille

I was worried this might be the case, my lack of PHammer knowledge proceeds me~

I would say I'm after a mechanical anywhere from 25-50# or more depending on price, not sure what you mean by utility or self contained and as far a location I drove 800mile round trip to pickup my 340# Trenton, long as my 2500HD Silverado can haul it Ill go! ( this is all hypothetical as I am still broke ) But I do appreciate anything you can teach me.

I was wondering if anyone could spare some time to put together a small price guide for those of us uneducated in power hammers. As my lady and I are just buying our first home I am totally broke heh but I would like to have an idea of how much I should look at saving for a used hammer. I gather anywhere from 1500-4000 and up but to have an idea on makes and prices. Something like a Good/Fair/Poor condition for Anyang/LGiants/Blu/Bradley... I duno the general used hammer market? something to give me a better idea of fair market value when I begin my hunt!

Thanks for your time!

I think ya got me wrong here Tom, Im not saying forge welding was a flaw, I was talking about a welded tang being weaker than a solid piece. As for the ren faire thing I follow more along the lines of Paul Champagne ( RIP ) than the omg ninja kewl samurai blade can kut threw'n engine block cause its been folded a billion times!

I love reading the research on ancient blades and there makeup, from the basics of wrought iron to the discovery of nanotubes in ancient Damascus swords. Though I hate the term "wrought iron" anymore as wrought means nothing more than shaped or worked, so its slapped on so many commercially mass produced items much less how much "damascus" is thrown about for anything pattern welded.

So please don't take my thoughts as an attack in any way on ancient craftsmanship, I know how these "conversations" can escalate, anyway this thread is getting a bit long in the tooth~

This is true bob I do it myself in the horseshoeing business we braze on calks with copper all the time, I think the difference is leverage, a half inch heel calk can withstand the massive forward force of a horse in gait but Im betting you changed the length even by a little and that leverage multiplier goes through the roof that poor braze wont hold.

Im hunting the local markets for a blower at the moment and this is great info and pics! thanks!

As a renaissance faire blacksmith heh trust me I know what ya mean about "historically" accurate materials and methods that some people want and enjoy, thats why the comment confused me a bit, a blade wouldn't have be constructed in two pieces especially at the tang which serves as a huge fulcrum point you would not build it with a flaw. Also so much time and effort was put into historical blades I just dont see it happening, especially when you had to make your own steel and didnt have as I do 5 steel suppliers within a 10 mile radius. Im not trying to be touchy or start anything lol I'm just wondering, as far as a wall piece replica sure a weld on tang would be fine, just like 99% of budK or other low cost imports~

Except when you are replicating the originals that did have a low carbon tang forge welded to the blade; then doing it *exactly* the same should *raise* the price!

Who would have historically done this? ever?

I know what your saying but I cant see what your talking about in those pics, and I have fairly young eyes hehehe

But they are very helpful in low wind situations!

I gotta agree with everyone else, higher carbon lower weld heat, But this is a good thing, with your mild steel you can cook it all xxxx day to get it up to welding and as its only the tang not hurt anything about the piece. Now as I type this I wonder if your forge welding or if you were just going to kick on the welder lol the latter being the easy way heheh. I do see a LOT of people tack welding a mild steel "handle" to forge a billet, I dont like the loss you get from this method but its done.

In the end I would avoid any weld in a blade, while it costs a little more in time and material a full one piece tang can almost always sell for more and is much stronger. just a thought~

hahah thanks Bill I love your drunken GM

Chyancarrek- thanks man, I thought I knew how physical the job was going to be when I decided to go to shoeing school but I quickly learned I had NO idea lol much less how much the anatomy & bio-mechanics come into play, from a basic trim to a corrective job.

Brian C- Sadly I only have my small backyard shop at the moment, and my fiancee and I are moving to the Richmond Rd area near Lowes, I cant wait to be able to afford a shop and some land but heh small steps for now.

My Two Cents:
Coming from the Kentucky Horseshoeing School as a student and employee I used a number of different anvils but the ones we had the most of were JHM's. Mostly Journeyman 125# or Competitor 250# and I must say after over a year of seeing a ton of students bashing out homework with little to no hammer control these anvils can take a lot of abuse! The competitor 250# start around $1000.00

Personally I love my 340# trent but I wouldn't let a student "play" on it lol

The ovals are what is called an "Egg Bar" and is a therapeutic shoe ( generally ) and is used to isolate the hoof while adding heel support. Think of it like a set of ski's with that long protrusion out behind you your able to lean way back and not fall down, but not nearly as severe as the "Fishtail" bar shoe that is normally used in severe tendon injury/laceration.

Also the reason a lot of my shoes have been creased is because with a therapeutic shoe you want the removal to be as easy as possible, just a quick squeeze with a creased nail puller tool and they pop right out, not a lot of yanking and tugging on an already sore foot.

Good get! Forge and Blower look to be in great condition, should make for a much easier start then a lot tend to have, myself included!

Nice find! Hunting for a blower myself hope I have the same luck!

Thanks a ton everyone, I hope to have more to add as the weeks come. Also! if anyone has a site and would like me to add your link to my friends page toss me a PM and Ill add your site/info if google still works the same way, the more links OTHER people have to your site the higher your score. Thanks again!

Wesley