JNewman

When I installed the Massey I poured a 2 part polysulfide from a builders supply around the base of the anvil between the concrete and the anvil. After the hammer had run for a few months I tightened the wedges between the hammer and the anvil, cut them off and filled any cracks with polysulfide caulking. I have not capped them but the treadle guard on the hammer covers the top of the wedges. Judging by the difference in the amount of scale on the hammer since I sealed between the hammer and anvil, a lot was working its way down under the hammer, even though the gaps between the wedges is 1/8" or less.

For starting out and ease of casting I too would recommend starting with the pewter. Why must you braze it on? You could cast a piece of threaded rod into what you are making and fasten it that way.

Could there be something holding the treadle down? I assume the treadle lock for using the hammer for foot blows is not engaged. I actually leave my hammer in position 1 with the treadle locked down to the foot working position, and start it and stop it this way. The hammer has been run this way its whole life, I know this as a retired blacksmith who stops by my shop frequently worked in the shop when mine came in new.

For less than a Coffee a day!! But wait theres more!!

That's why when i was at an auction 10 years ago the 100lb and 250lb self contained hammers went for top dollar. But the 1000lb and 2000lb steam hammers and the 4 huge Rockford planer mills went for $500 ea to the scrappers.

Why would you contradict two smiths who have both coal and gas and have answered the question when you have no experience with coal?

I would strongly disagree with this for forging. You should be able to get rid of gloves quickly when forging. If you accidentally pick up something too hot or you hold your hand to close to hot steel while holding a punch or chisel, your tight tig glove WILL shrink and burn you.

My gas forge heats the shop up way more than the coal forge does. I sometimes use the coal in the summer even if the gas would be more efficient just to keep the shop cooler. If you really want to keep things cool get an induction forge.

I always wear glasses, steel toed shoes or boots, hearing protection, and if I am doing a lot of grinding a respirator. Gloves are something I wear sometimes but not on my hammer hand I don't need to get carpal tunnel syndrome from having to grip the hammer handle too tightly. I also avoid wearing them while using my disk sanders, drills or mills. I would much rather get the odd cut or burn than lose a hand or arm (which could be fatal). Leather gloves can also be much more dangerous than no glove while forging, grabbing a hot piece of steel can cause the leather to shrink around your hand, the hot leather can then give you a much worse burn than had you simply dropped the hot work after touching it. I usually forge in a short sleeved shirt and often in shorts. Unless I am forge welding there are not sparks flying around. I occasionally get scale burns but I have had scale burn through a shirt sleeve so the lack of long sleeves allows me to get rid of the scale quickly. I do wear long sleeves if welding, or working heavy stock or sheet where there is a lot of radiant heat. But for most of the work I do I don't see what a long sleeve is going to protect me from.

I have fixed more electrical things in a shop with an air hose that just about any other tool. Dust and dirt often cause problems with electrical tools. If there is an adjustment for the amount of power output, I would try running it all the way up and all the way down a few times.

I was not trying to make a Pro union argument here. My whole point here was that as blacksmiths we should be arguing that blacksmiths are worth MORE. Not arguing that another blacksmith is making too much. This is actually one of the things that annoy me about unions. A tradesman who usually has much more responsibility, has spent a lot of time learning a trade, and has often spent a significant amount of money on tools only gets paid slightly more than an unskilled worker.

I have as well but to me that does not seem a living wage. I drew NOTHING from my business for a couple of months last summer I understand the lean times. I am not really trying to argue the unions case here but we do not know all the details about this situation and I am always leery of letter campaigns when many of the facts are unknown.

Don't get me wrong I agree with everything Larry just posted above. But I also agree with John B's comment "In my experience a union is usually an active defence against bad/poor management,"

Could you provide for your family at those wages?

I cannot say I am pro union. However I find it ironic that there is a group of blacksmiths here trying to LOWER blacksmithing wages.

This is the sort of project where a block of plastercine is invaluable. Use the same tools you will use to forge the steel to form the plastercine only you don't have to hammer them. This will tell you if you are on the right track for the way you plan on forming the steel. If you go to an artist supply store you can often find plastercine that is harder than the regular stuff. Don't be surprised if you find your forged steel one comes out better. I have found because steel forces you to work slowly I can do much better sculpture in steel than clay.

I nearly bought a Nazel a couple of years ago for about $4000 that had sat outside and filled with water. It sounds like the hammer in CA is in worse shape than the one I was looking at. Bob ended up buying it and I heard that he had a hell of a job fixing it. Last I heard he was using the hammer because he was concerned about selling the machine. I would be wary of paying much more than scrap value for a hammer in that kind of condition.

Aw come on Frosty your just trying to find someone to come up and clear the trees lining your driveway :)

I figure it probably cost me $15,000 to install the Massey 5cwt (600lb ram weight). This includes: Trucking the hammer(and several skids of tools and spare parts) about 2 miles, loading and unloading it. Buying a new motor (I got lucky and found a brand new surplus motor for a reasonable price) Digging the foundation and motor foundation Forming and pouring both foundations Having 4- 1 1/2" and 4- 1" anchor bolts threaded Having anchor plates flame cut to get cast into the foundation About 50 board ft of hardwood lumber to go under the hammer and make wedges around the anvil 60 amp disconnect, starter, conduit, and heavy wire 1" plate, angle iron 1" threaded rod 1" nuts and bolts for motor mount. Riggers to move the hammer from outside shop to inside set over top of anvil. 5 gallons of oil to top up the crankcase Polsulfide to seal around the anvil base NOT INCLUDED is: Buying the hammer Probably $10,000 or more in lost shop production time Wiring done by a retired industrial electrician Neighbours help with his big forklift installing anvil. The concrete driveway in front of my shop is now about 2" lower and broken into many pieces from the heavy forklift driving over it, it needs replacing soon. New grinder to replace the one I burned out grinding concrete. I am glad I installed the hammer, it opened up lots of jobs that I could not do before and made some jobs that I was doing but not making shop rate on profitable. But a big hammer is a big commitment. Every time I turned around I was spending $100+ on all sorts of little things

The tar is probably in there to keep scale out from underneath the anvil. Scale can migrate down under the anvil and actually lift it usually not squarely. So if your hammer is used quite a bit you should probably seal up between the hammer and anvil when you are done installing the hammer.

I do keep an eye on the weather forecast and TRY to schedule forging for the cooler days in the week and other work for the hottest days. I tend to use the coal forge more in the summer because it doesn't heat the shop up as much as the gas forge. I find I get a lot more work done when I am not overheated so I run the air conditioner often turning it on first thing in the morning rather than closing the doors and turning it on once it gets hot. I figure the increased productivity more than pays for the extra power, and I feel better at the end of the day. The entire east wall of my shop is windows which are great for the light and not feeling like I am working in a cave but they can heat the shop up. Somehow I have ended up with bamboo??growing outside the windows which is great because it provides shade throught the summer. In the fall I go out and cut all the saplings and bamboo down so the saplings don't become trees but they are nice through the summer.

620 rpm is not too fast for that small a drill bit. I would go to an industrial supplier and buy a couple of new drill bits the size you need. The quality of drill bits sold at big box stores is in a death spiral. Buy your drill bits the same place as the machine shops do. Rather than using oil use WATER when drilling. The coolant most machine shops use for milling and drilling is mostly water.

I just finished 4 stainless steel strainers to skim dross off the top of liquid zinc. I am finishing a pouring cradle for a #200 crucible. I am also working on 6 foundry patterns for ripper shanks for graders panic rush because the foundry pattern storage burned down and these are replacements. As soon as that is done I have scraper blades to make, hooks and pipes to bend.

I understand what you mean about variety Thomas that is why I suggested bringing one london pattern anvil, and am a huge proponent for the fact that there are many ways to do the same thing. However too much choice when just starting out can cause confusion and overload people. My point about Sam demoing on the block anvil was so that there is no chance of the "well he did it on the REAL anvil and I just have this chunk of steel that's why I am having trouble" attitude. The steel I was suggesting was just plain old mild steel not hardenable, I think Brian was suggesting the same if I am wrong please correct me Brian. What are we talking about maybe 10-20 days/year? For the kind of use we are talking about mild steel will stand up just fine and can easily be cleaned up if necessary. Mild steel is considerably cheaper than steel that can be hardened. I have a block of mild steel that I sometimes clamp in my postvise that was midway between my hammer and press that I use as anvil so I don't have to take an extra couple of steps to the anvil. I have probably trued up over 1000 1" round bars on it as well as lots of other use, I have taken some of the surface rust off it but that is all. The mild steel is also safer I don't know if you have liability insurance for teaching Sam but hardened anvils or cast iron ASOs can chip, I know a farrier with an anvil edge chip embedded in his breastbone. I would rather clean up the edge of a dinged anvil than take a beginner student to the hospital.

I would do as Brian suggests and use blocks made of plate as anvils. You are teaching the basics and that is all you need to start out. I would bring your small anvil but would demo what you want them to try on the same type of anvil as they have. You could buy the plate for less money than the ASO and it will stand up much better. If they get beat up it is easy to take a little off the top and it's good as new. True cut steel which is near the Spectator would be your best bet if you buy plate. They will flame cut it to the size YOU want for less than many of the places around will charge for a piece CLOSE to what you want. You will need to grind the top edge flat or have it machined but I just cleaned up a piece from them for some bending forms I only had to take 1/32 off to get a clean face which I bolted to the press. You are welcome to drop by and see the flame cut finish.