Hans Richter

That would indeed not be a nice discovery of the main flywheel and the brake of the hammer. If the broken-out part of the flywheel is still present, you can still rebuild it with cast iron electrodes (stickwelding) or fill it up with cladding. In the worst case, the flywheel must be replaced with a newly turned part. Also pay attention to the brake lining of the hammer, which may be made of asbestos. If you want to spar on the whole issue, skype my or send a PM is happy to be at your service.

Hello Ausfire, thank you very much for the kindly response, you can hardly imagine what this means for me. After all, you are the real teacher and I may be a reasonable apprentice. As for the Anglerfish, the Cassowary and the Mosquito, these are spin-offs of works where I got my inspiration from highly regarded artist colleagues, and tried to interpret them in my own interpretations of steam-, diesel-, and atomic punk version 2.0. As for the shark, dragonfly, fire ant and owl, these are self-contained sculptures that were created solely on the basis of macro photos and entirely made from my gut feeling. Now I'm waiting for better times to exhibit the entire animal collection and sell some of the work. Since all works are finished in such a way that they are suitable for body contact, they were therefore very laborious and took a lot of time and work. A curse and blessing at the same time because they can be placed both indoors and outdoors and the public to paying customers here in Belgium is quite thin. Have seen a lot of nice new inspirations from you again (bullheads, business card holders etc.) and do not get exhausted to indicate my own interpretation here as well. You will continue to follow closely and are grateful for all the inspiration you give us (the IFI community).

Very funny, a spring hammer from Karl-Marx-Stadt in East Germany find his way to Minnesota on your side, and a Columbian Anvil from Ohio stays right now in my Belgium workshop. That’s what called globalising. The only nasty thing at the same trail is followed by Covid-19. But XXXX happens vice versa.

Hi Jennifer, in this case end because of the small size, I put the anvil base in the centre of the stand. Try to make sure that the stand legs and their radius are the same as the ‘staking out parts’ of the anvil (this take care of stability without stumbling over the legs). Pushed and beat on them (horn and heel) as well (while stack welded) to see if hi will react instable. No way, and I can use pritchel hole and hardy hole to stick long material in them. Count the weight of the whole stand around 50lbs. Gives still a good rebound of ca. 85%. Silenced the 'crying little baby' with a rubber plate below the base, and a double twist op 1 ¼ “ anchor chain. Will use this anvil together with the UAT to give some workshops to students and public, both are ‘light’ enough to carry in the trailer or car trunk together with the already known field forges. Carry on with the very promising axes , I soon have to make some scout knifes for the kids of a friend of me how already paid me with al delicious ‘French whiskey’ (empty now after Covid) an looks forward to the products.

Welding lock down –running out of gas, running out of wire. Finished the new anvil stand with stick welding -much more intensive and requires more grinding and finishing. Glad with the second mobile anvil configuration. The many for the UAT 140lbs anvil prepared ¾” hardy’s and springer fullers fit also very well in to the ¾” hardy hole of the new 120lbs Columbian anvil. So I’m prepared for the hopefully upcoming events up road .

Almost done, the new pedestal for the Columbian anvil. Assembled the construction and provided it with tack welding. This morning, fully weld, deburr, degrease and apply a coat of paint as it should be. As known, the tripod and the racks for the tools. Glad the hardys also fit well.

My new toy, 120lbs Columbian anvil, first one with english pattern in my collection. Rings like a bell and just bussy with a treepod anvils stand

Thanks, Hoop that the reality fulfil wat the pictures promise

Yip Yaye, tomorrow I will pick up my first own English style anvil. So far only 4 anvils in my possession with a double horn and German pattern (brand and weight previously described in this thread and some of them much too heavy for displacement) but now a Columbian of around 160 pounds take my attraction. Found it at the local CL. Will only buy it for the requested 243.36 $ if rebound (> 80) straightness and ring are Okay. Until now, always been on the road with only the 150 lbs UAT and an extra anvil made from railway track (50lbs), but soon possible with two full-fledged anvils and accompanying equipment and mobile blacksmith fires. Wish me luck. FG -that is a special anvil an honor for your craft and the resurrection of the brand 'Made in USA'

Already working on a next project, the 'mechanical boar' a combination of bones, ironwork and upcycled scrap components. Not really a tasty picture, but ready for further processing after bleaching and disinfection in hydrogen peroxide. Regarding the lights, good idea :-)

Hi Ben, I'm definitely not a Sir, just one of many seekers like all of us. According to many German forging forums that I consult, you will run a beautiful spring hammer that has many similarities with an Ajax-Hammer about which you can find more on the worldwide net (search also for WMW). Here, especially the stroke control and the cold brittleness of the spring package (age) are a controversial item. In my golden memories, I especially like the jar of beeswax that was necessary to prevent slipping of the flat belt while switching from the neutral disc to the drive disc. By the way, it is very amusing how an East German spring hammer finds its way to Minnesota

Sweet indeed , that's what their marketing department thought to. The little ants will be placed on metal bases shaped like their hard sugar cubes with plasma cut company logos. Will post some pictures here if they are there.

Chris, I understand you all too well. A funny puzzle to find the right lateral lines and their connected collection wells. in our case we also suffer from too little slope in the pipelines, which in my case means that I have to clean every two months with the Kärcher high pressure sprayer around the entrances to the central sewer in order to transport our excrement to the central reception. In this case, a well-known American personality was completely right, Belgium is indeed a xxxx-hole. Be glad you only have to do it every 21 years .

Hi, maybe some additional information with you hammer. The nameplate and the brand name mentioned state in any case that the electric motor was produced in the former East Germany (my parent are married in 1967 near to the company). In my early days in 1988, I myself forged many of fence post with a UHF 50 ("50" witch means the 'Bär' weight) that was properly equipped with this electric motor. Unfortunately, little information can be found about the UHF company in the city of Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz) that produced these hammers. Wish you good luck and hope to have been a little helpful. Cheers, Hans

Hello Ladies, and gentleman, Very happy that I was able to continue working all this time. Numerous audits performed in REMOTE means long distance. I am now well aware of numerous features and possibilities in MS Teams and Skype for Business, also thanks to my experience at my previous employer where this way of intercommunication (international) has long been for Covid- 19 was common practice. Very tiring and you miss the sense of "non verbal" communication even though the video chat is on. Not that I applaud the situation, think everyone is partly suffering from the isolation. This is pleasant for me because, in addition to a working day of +8 hours, I could save a travel time of (sometimes) 4 hours per day. Time that I could now spend in my studio instead of in a traffic jam. See the result the 'Jet boosted Dragonfly' a new sculpture added to our oeuvre and hopefully to be seen in a public space soon. Happy to have inspired many Scrap items again, but go on a journey of discovery yourself. Just like the ant collection soon at a well-known Belgian sugar refinery. Cheers, Hans

Keep on rolling, ............... Another bronze cast, this time a female torso and a the next ammonite. Nice finish but like me with several imperfections. Tomorrow I will take care of the worn out Raku-furnace to prepare him for the next firing after Lisa and Diana made up a lot of new biscuit

Try this, and dig a little bigger hole. Time enought

NO space on the floor anymore because of overcrowding sculptures there and luck of expositions at this moment. So I placed the little crawlers on the walls. To protect them from oxidation (in the wet outside atmosphere) and give them a place at our home. As you can see on the pictures there is also a new stock for Raku-firing of Lisa’s owls and other primitive clay ready to dry for the next biscuit-firing.

David, good move -but even than it will be fragile while welded with under matching welding consumables ?! Picture 1 looks like a combination of mild steel and rebar so for me no reason to concern

Congratulations, welding is always an advantage when manufacturing more complex workpieces, preparing fittings and Damascus packages. However, an important tip from me. While welding a handle to a forging piece in my garage, sparks or possibly a hot piece of welding slag fell into a remote plastic container. Inside the container were epoxy residue that burned when I was out and was forging on the fuel forge outside. Coincidentally had to get something in the garage and was just in time to prevent the small fire from spreading on the garage interior with a bucket of water that was ready. Since then, I have a separate place in the forge to weld that has been cleared of flammable materials. SMAW (stick) welding is also possible outdoors with GTAW (MIG / MAG) and GTAW (TIG) unfortunately cannot.

Enjoy, life and forge happily ever after

Kozzy, at least you are save!!!!

Yo, what do I want to do in the upcoming days of our celibacy is a lot (at least in my optimistic point of view). There is the new 150kg anvil that I would like to put on a new and mobile (metal) anvil pedestal. There is also a new project 'Bones & Sprokets' in which I want to unite bones and mechanical components into a new sculpture 'The hybrid steampunk boar'. Hopefully, the bacteria have done their job of ridding the skulls and bones of all flesh during maceration. For a forthcoming exhibition I am also working to bend the spheres of a fairly large iron atomium, which again contains bones that have been extracted by a fellow artist from road kill and other sources. In addition, I will of course dig around Diana's vegetable garden, set up the greenhouse for the tomato plants and lettuce plants and yes, I will sculpt with Lisa to fill the raku oven with new work.

Hi Chris, made these tongs for my raku firing and to place the glazed work in the reduction canisters. Maybe an idea to produce a number of suitable tongs by bending and welding that help you to produce the intended wrought iron tongs. Tongs that are suitable for handling delicate ceramic work will certainly also be suitable for your intended purpose. Big hug to the little wife en stay healthy. Cheers, Hans

Ants sunbathing