Wesley Chambers

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~

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

quick and free would be google sketchup can set what type of layout you want, feet/inches/meters and track and use the measurements you want. its very basic but handy in a pinch!

Very true! so much so that I forgot I even had my info on that page hah! well its fixed, Boldly! thanks Mike! Edit: Im about to pull my hair out, for some reason my gallery section is no longer showing my photos lol the flash gallery works for a few min then I check on it later and nothing, no window nada! I truly hate godaddy.

Thanks Bigfoot, I changed the gallery around a bit added some new pics and added flash to give full screen options.

He all, after much procrastination I spent some cash and put my site online. Its not much but its a start, the only issue I know of right now is the slow load time from godaddy for my background image but I'm hoping a few people might have a min to give it a glance and make sure I havent missed a link or have any bad code~ anyway I could use some feedback, any criticism welcome thanks! Black Flag Forge I have a link to IFI in my friends section I hope this is acceptable, please let me know!

Thanks! I dont mind a 6 year window on something over 100 years old! ;)

Not sure how to for the attachment, but I can do it for ya~

Trenton! #342 A86255 I am fairly sure the serial starts with 8 the lower hoop is somewhat larger than the top, but it could be a 3 Anyone able to date her from this serial? Images enhanced to better show detail I took the 800 mile round trip to buy just the anvil But after talking with the seller Don, he ended up filling my truck with all this as well as some new 2" stone wheels, grinders, piles of leaf springs and even a 4" solid brass cannon he made! I dont think he has any idea how happy he has made me! Also I was very lucky to even get this anvil, I guess a few days after I started this post someone contacted the seller and offered them more than I had! but after talking with the family for almost six months they knew I would be a good home for it and they stuck with me till I could afford to make the trip and pay for the anvil. Thank you and your family sir!

a quick shot of her underside before I call it a night

Good news!, She is home safe! some pics now and more to come tomorrow afternoon when I have time to do some cleanup. This is my new best friend Don, the seller, this wonderful man also parted with a number of tools to help me build my shop and I cannot thank him and his family enough and I only wish I could have taken some photos of his gun smithing work, hand made wheel locks, knives, leather and woodwork, all of which were amazing! And unloading the new toy, I am a very happy boy. I have not noticed any markings as of yet, but the base is concave and Ill do cleanup tomorrow along with the bucket full of fullers punches and hardy tools Don was kind enough to part with.