brian robertson

I wonder if it was made on a monday morning after a holiday or the day after the Quality Control guy died.

you got to give him credit though for truth in advertising...

You can fund some nice ones, 3" & 4" round, on the internet for about $15.

I wish I could put my finger on what I did wrong with these 2 out of the 6. I didn't mark them so I don't know if these 2 are the first,last,middle or apart. What's weird is that the blade portions ground and polished exactly like the other 4. Not too hard, not soft. I suppose I could always epoxy them in their handles.

I'm trying to do a salvage procedure if possible. The heat treat on the blade portion on these 2 are right on the money. I'm looking for a trick to anneal only the tangs.

This A2 is an "air hardening only" steel in thin cross sections. These 2 tangs are so hard, they ate my 9/64th carbide bit and spit it back out,barely putting a mark on it.

Recently forged 6 blades for hoof knives using 1/8"x3/4" A2. This is the third series of these blades over approx 5 yrs. The heat treat went well on 4 of the 6 blades. I don't think I did anything different from the past. On the other 2 blades the tangs are way to hard to drill for the pins. Any hope of spot annealing the tangs? Will this thin stock take a do over and perform well? Write it off as "the gods were angry"?

Decades ago, when Bill Gichner came to visit my shop, one of the first things he did was run a cable through the middle of my LG 50lb spring. I forgot all about till yrs later when that spring broke but all the pieces stay on that stringer. When I replaced that spring, that cable went back on too.

Waiting to see the 3pt anvil stand...

what is a Boss hammer? any pics/? location?

I dunno, it looks alot like an early Trenton farriers pattern I had, with the narrow face, thinner heel and pritchel hole near the edge.

Thing that are easy to carry, have a good "feel appeal" and are in the $10 to $30 price range

know anybody who has run one? Likes? dislikes? thinking about making an offer...

anybody know anything about a hammer like this? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290648935483&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123

If the dies aren't potmarked and the air cylinder/air lines aren't leaking and the guides aren't gone; there really isn't much that can be wrong with these hammers. Call Josh at Big Blu and ask about the new upgrade option. I did my 155 this fall and it's sweet. The additional airlines to/from the cylinder and the dual valves have really improved the performance and reduced some of the air consumption. It was worth the money for me. Check out Andy's presentation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5QeofqTVhc&feature=endscreen&NR=1.

I have used 1" white nylon dowel pins in place of candles in carriage lamps that are on display. These are available from industrrial supply houses. They look like the real deal.

I wasn't clear in my response. I know a frosting up tank is not a problem. The problems arise when everything between the tank and the burner is frosting up.

If you are "frosting up" everything every time you're running your gasser; you must have money to burn and are very,very lucky. Just because you have "gotten away" with this doesn't make it wise or safe. I've even seen horseshoers put their frosted up 20lb cylinder in front of a running gasser, because they pressure had dropped off. The frosting up occurs when you are pushing way more fuel than what your system was designed for. You can only burn so much propane in a enclosed space (your forge). If you excede that finite amount, the propane will them combust outside said enclosure; Your forge will Not heat your stock well but heat your work space and not very efficiently. Plus if you are frosting up, the excessive unburned propane will actually cause the temp inside your forge to drop off. The frosting up does damage to the rubber diaphragm and rubber hose and can initiate leaks at your fittings. Speak with any of the commercial forge manufacturers, any service worker in the propane industry or fire marshal. They'll all tell you it's a, bad thing

You are drawing too much propane at too high a pressure. The frosting is expensive in 2 ways: it damages the diaphragm in the regulator and it's a sign of too much unburned fuel. Dial back the psi until the forge get up to forging temp then only if you're going to be welding crank it up. Call Nc for recommended psi settings.

Just tell her, she's perfect the way she is and doesn't need that scale anyway...

First off, make something nice for each of your neighbors every so often; secondly don't run the hammer after 9pm or before 8am or on Sunday. I live on a 70ft deep clay layer (think of a bowl of jello), my former 50lb & 100lb Little Giants would rattle the dishes in the neighbors' china cabinets and the bases for those hammers were 2 & 4 yds concrete respectively. The 155 big blu hammer mounted on the 4yd base will also make the neighbors' dvd players skip. My engineer friend said the solution would be to drive pilings down to bedrock and set foundation on top of those. My solution: smooze your neighbors as best you can; it's alot cheaper. The litle old lady says, my forging makes her china sound like soft wind chimes and she likes it. The folks with the skipping dvd player said they shouldn't be waqtching so much tv anyway. So, it's all good...

L brand forge coke=no black nose boogers & gets big stock very HOT in a non oxidizing fire.

will these hammers be running on steam or compressed air?

I have found that brazing ring gears can be problematic. If allowed to heat or cool unevenly they will crack in new places. My successful repairs were preheated using an oven set at 450 f for atleast 1 hr, support the pieces in a bolt on frame to maintain proper alignment, laid on a 2" blanket of Kao wool, brazed, returned to the oven rewrapped in kao wool and slowly allowed to cool down over 3 to 6 hrs depending on thickness. I've brazed parts for pumps, steam engines, farm impliments and tractors this way no call backs to date.

any word on the fate of these hammers?