twar

Makes perfect sense, but I've thought of that.

Thanks! It was specifically the curved top I was wondering about. Your "arc of the arm" explaination makes sense.

Thank you Thomas.

2kg. Forsbacka hammer from a weekend fleamarket in Sweden - ca. US $7. Forsbacka is a old steel town, 45 mins from another Swedish steel town - Söderfors. I have not seen this shape before.

This press is from L. Schuler (Schuler Group) in Göppingen, Germany. The company was established in 1839 and is still in business.

No, this is not mine. Mine is just a child’s toy by comparison. I wonder how much the thing weighs?

In western Norway, this press is currently on offer for free to the first person who can come and «pick it up». It’s German-built from 1934, and it’s rated at 540 metric tons.

I'm no expert, so my advice is real cheap. In Europe, all standard out-of-the-wall electricity in a house or office is 220-240V/single phase. We don't always agree on the shape of the plug at the end of the cord, but the juice coming out of the wall is the same (everywhere I have ever been in Europe). Did the motor come with bridges or ties you can put between the posts? Your brown wire will run to V2 and the blue wire to V1, and then you tie U2 and V2/V1 and W1 to run CW (clockwise) or U2 and V1/V2 and W1 to run CCW. My old drill press is (almost) set up this way I think Clarke still makes motors, so they should be able to confirm this.

Thank you Frosty. I was just curious about the brand and history of the vise. It looks solid and I’m interested in old vises/tools. When I drew a blank, I thought I had overlooked something so I asked the group. When you too came up empty, I googled Penn and the German word for vise, «Schraubstock», and Bingo! Penn is an Austrian company (penn.at), and they continue make vises to this day. Thanks again.

Here’s a picture of the #515 1/2. The owner says it weighs just shy of 75 lbs.

I've found a solid-looking bench vise for sale, a PENN 515-1/2, but I have been unable to find more than a couple a references to Penn vises. Does anyone have more details? (I've seen a picture of a 515, but the one for sale is a 515-1/2 ) Tom

Thank you.

I just bought my first gas forge, a single burner BECMA. It’s insulated with untreated/coated ceramic board. The instruction say to open the doors and heat it up slowly/carefully and the allow it to cool a couple of times before actually using the forge to heat metal. It says nothing about rigidizer or ITC or any other treatment. I already have some rigidizer and ITC, so my question is, do I treat the inside of the forge before or after «breaking it in» with the careful initial firing, or does it make no difference?

Good advice. Thank you.