AndrewOC

Nice!
Great proportions and patina on the copper, how'd u do that?

I rotate my pics when they are saved on computer, after extracting from camera; so the pic file is right way round when shot of to iforge.

regs
AndrewOC

Hey Grant, great photos! I'll assume it isn't of you

Seriously now.
I would add not leaving round bar on the floor where it can be stepped on- we've all seen film sequences of marbles on a floor. Round bar acts the same, you step on it and it rolls out underneath you leaving you plummeting to the floor (back of the) head first.

Ian Lowe taught me a great demonstration of the dangers of black heat. Have two identical pieces of steel 'at hand'- one which is black hot. Hold up to the demonstree (is that a word?) asking can they tell which is hot; then cook a sausage (finger-like sample) on the hot one!

PS how big a perspex sheild should one have for around demonstration shops? I mean height- 7' at the top and a 18" air gap to the floor sound good? What do the experienced demonsrators swear by for public safety?
have fun now.
AndrewOC

Thanks for posting that, Mike. Chances are i won't be able to get there on the 5/6th, maybe someone could pick-up for me... hint, hint.
Best wishes to Alan and Helen, i barely knew them but heard of their good work. Pass on my regards if the opportunity arises.

AndrewOC

Ahh nice to make the day worthwhile, comes with being organised!
At Moony's it seemed all i made was round bar.. out of round bar. To busy yakking.

Rob, did u use a power hammer to draw out?
AndrewOC

Welcome Bob. We look forward to hearing your experiance, sound like a very handy fella to have around.

What kind of hammer do you think you'll build? They all have their pros and cons, which have been discussed here lots... go nuts with the search function.

by the way you can put your location on the profile page for you, then its easier to find helpful neighbours.

have fun
AndrewOC

well jeremy, i'd love that monarch! But then i do have a soft spot for large cast iron machines...

Are those broken gear teeth really a problem? Do they just mean you have one less speed?
I'm sure there is a post about pinning and building up broken gear teeth somewhere here.

With a machine that solid you could turn up anvil horns and skim the face

Give it turn and tell us how it goes.

AndrewOC

Double check the price before you travel; they were very friendly over the phone but i still got a shock! Tell us how you go.

AndrewOC

Another fan to keep a look out for is the squirrel cage-in-sheetmetal-snail from electronics cabinets. The one i scrounged has a handy 4" square outlet.

good luck seeking!
AndrewOC

Eric, solid fuel forges definately are easier to build; a tray with an air pipe into it will get you started. In addtion to the other guys wise ventilation advice is the experiance of a fellow smith i know.
He took the opportunity of borrowing the local fire brigades gas detector, and measured hazardous levels of CO2 especially during the first 15min of starting up. Now he fastidiously shutters up the forge after lighting it and works in the other end of the shop while the fire grows and the smoke clears. His is a purely coke forge, electric blower.

Have fun
AndrewOC

Hi Jack,
welcome to iforge forum!
Even a cast iron block comes in mighty useful, so don't fret on that point. In my humble experiance, a perfectly squared and precision ground anvil is rarely needed- it all depends on your intended useage.
May i suggest just grinding off the sand cast impressions of the top surface and say 1.5" down from the top on the sides; also 'break' the arris. No need to worry about flattening the camber from the parting line; get to know the anvil first and what you need from it. Some users find such a feature useful.
Form radius on the edges as you find out more about them- what you want and where.
My favorite implement for such work is a 9" angle grinder but they are to be used ONLY with experiance and great awareness.

after all it is your anvil

AndrewOC
ps there would be many other more worthy discussions about 'anvil dressing' on this forum, check out in a search.

yer, that had crossed my mind!
AndrewOC

didn't hurt to much, just looks spectacular and i felt silly!

There is a much repeated tale that the navy smithy in Sydney made a standing order that rubber stoppers had to be put on the horn when they weren't used! Reportedly this was due to a ridiculous number of compo claims.
AndrewOC

okie dokie, lets try this...
AndrewOC.
ps
Rob; sorry bout the prang, was looking forward to meeting you. at least you can be assured there will be more events next year!

:D
sorry! Cat was on my knee, so didn't check details at the time.

Put crudely G15 is a spray on goo.
It is a product of australianinhibitor (.com.au) developed (it seems) by another company Daubert Cromwell of the USA.
G15 is the trade name of the Aussie version- i can't figure out which of the many D.C. products it really is!

Ours is called 'Ferro-Pak G15' a 'soft film- long term rust preventative'. A tool club member gets the aerosol cans wholesale; we buy them for $15 (aus).
Check out the websites, they are detailed.

Having said that, i'm interested to hear how the auto wax works as well; i'd assume dirt doesn't stick to it like g15.

AndrewOC

Well that was a good haul! i dunno how you managed to fit the steel stand in a Mini- is it a recent BMW derived one? Do you guys have the ute/ pick-up or van versions of the original Minis? They are very rare but popular here in Oz-tralia.
AndrewOC

Another spot one could try is youtube.
AndrewOC

A product i'm trying at the moment is 'G15'. It's strong point is sticking to metal but can easily be rubbed off. Others in the trad tools group are quite pleased with it, even on outdoor items. Bad points are dust sticks to it and i haven't tested it for flamability yet!
I believe G15 comes from north america, maybe someone else has experianced it?

AndrewOC

Thar we go.
In the second group of furnace photos there appears to be something large mounted off the side. Is it a blower?
Very nice tank on the bike, btw! How did you go sealing the rivet seams?

If you look on your personal profile page there is a function to put in a location, suburb/ town level seems sufficient on this forum. Its helps with gaining local specific knowledge; for example another long beacher might know a helpful furnace engineer

have fun, post us more pics of nice metal work to!
AndrewOC

Roy,
You never know with old welds. Cast iron/steel isn't the easiest stuff to weld but it may have been done well; looks like plenty of weld beads there any way. May last forever or already be broken- like you say regular inspection.
good luck and enjoy.
Andrew OC
fellow broken-welded-hammer owner

or could it all just be a virtual myth generated by my/ other computers that think i need a friend ??!
Andrew O'C

carefully pick out what you can see with dental pick/ fine scriber/ o ring pick. Lay a bright electric torch on the surface so it shines across the letters, try different angles. Sometimes lightly wiping chalk over to pick up the high points helps.
Andrew OC

re missing jaw face.
Yeah, great forging exercise. Draw out some tough alloy steel to match the remaining jaw, anneal, drill holes and voila! you fixed what many don't!
Andrew O'C

I just saw this and had to jest... my vices came free!
sex drugs and rock 'n' roll just cost dignity and self respect!
A.

I've recently got into looking out for jack hammer 'steels'. 7/8 and 1 1/4 hex are handy for tool making; generally shock resistant steel that will hold a robust edge.
A couple of months ago i bought a pair of 2.5" skid-steer moils, now just got to get them to Moony's hammerin' to reduce to a handy size! Price was less than that of steel stock.
Over the years i'e built up a fabricators/engineers marking out kit i'm proud of- for a fraction of new prices.
I dunno how experianced you are at buying,but my favorite guide would be - be patient. There are lots of rat bag dealers out there, then you'll come accross a genuine vendor who would like to offload stuff to a good home.
Have fun; i love markets and swap meets.
Andrew OC
ps excellent advice above this post!

Hi Roy,
In 'Pounding out the Profits' Douglas Freund has nearly 5 pages on Kerrihard hammers and the company of the same name. Throughout the rest of the book Kerrihard's frequently rate a mention in comparison with other mechanical hammers. I very much value Freund's book for its history, illustrations and development aspects; however it isn't much of a technical book. I would expect to get more of that from this forum and other recognised experts like Sid.

In my limited experiance you can make whatever bottom block fits and is sensible. For the top clearing moving parts and not going overboard on weight would be my first considerations. I must admit not knowing exactly what 'over-weight' allowance can be put on the tup of any hammer- i'd stay reasonably close to the rating (or in my case- guessed rating).
Looking at the illustrations might give you some idea of the die size in preportion to other parts of the hammer; you are lucky you have pictures- for mine (with obligatory worn blocks) has no pics...yet. By the looks of Douglas' pics the blocks are twice as high as the width between the dovetails (approx of course).

Eventually you will find someone with the least worn out example of your machine to copy specs from.
Great to hear of a spring hammer that isn't an LG
... maybe a virtual hammer-off in the future??
Have fun,
Andrew OC