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Hammbone

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Posts posted by Hammbone

  1. Yes jack I can give you a Japanese web site, My pictures are so hi in resolution they wont fit on this forum. My daughter in law translates for me, or I wouldnt be able to make much of the web site either. Here's the site toyokuni.net There are many blades there. Sorry I cant be much more help.. HB

  2. I have studied that knife from japan and noticed that a tanto has a pin or 2 that holds the handles together. Then wraped with a woven cord. The pins are tapered to be wedged into each side of the handel.The only need to have 2 small holes drilled into the tang of the blade. Making a snug fit is the most demanding part of construction of the handel. I perfer the original way of making the handel, It makes the Tanto more authentic if peroid construction methods are used,and I think make the tanto more valuable.
    Having a son thats in the navy that married a lovely Japanese Gal, I was persented with a Tanto, Made of Tamhagane steel, It is constructed just like a Katana handle,the way the Japanese do. This blade is priceless to me and Ive sent many pictures of the blade to other web sites that judge swords and tanto's. They place the value of the finished blade at around 1000.00 U.S. dollars.Tamhagane is only sold to licensed blade makers, it cant be bought and sold in the open market. Making the tatara and manning it takes days to do, Only one Major corperation in Japan still does that,that I know of.
    I suggest you look at the many web sites that sell and explain the art of the construction styles used. Dont get me wrong you have made a beautiful blade and have a very welll made knife. There is only one like it and it's a proud effort. I'm just tring to give you ideas here and not tring to knock your efforts, that is not my intention.. A very Nice example in deed!

  3. now that I have a working power hammer, I have played with several layers of knife blades. I have some with as many as 2304 layers. I started with a stack of 9 layers of spring steel (leaf Spring) and a general mild steel. With each folding you double the layers.Very Time consuming. My question is; Is there a limit that the eye can see when the finished blade is etched? Or is it better to limit the layers? I have powerful forges to do the welding with and just yesterday did do a 2304 layer blade. I just wanted to hear from all of you as to what is the norm.

  4. Thanks John B. I guess I will have to find a tractor hitches turn buckle. I stopped by the local Fasenal and the sales clerk looked at me as if I was an idiot. She asked me what in the world I was use such a bolt for. I walked over to the display of turn buckles and showed her. She appoligized for thinking I was nutz and went to work looking in the many books and catalogs. No luck. She explained she was new to the job,and several people had nothing to do but to make this poor girl run in circles looking for things that didnt exsist. Kinda like on board a carrier asking a newby to find a yard of flight line. or asking one to find a bucket of steam. You know..

  5. Yes Peacock I do see what your tring to explain, Are you saying that I would get more power from the hammer set the way you explain? When I drilled my crank I made one hole at 4 1/2 inches and one shorter at 3". Yes I do need to experiment with it.and I appreciate your welcomed input,beleave me I do. When I first started to use the thing I thought for 100# weight it was hitting a little soft. I'm heading to Fastenal tomorrow we have one in town and get a new bolt and nut left hand this time.. Total travel is around 9" and thinking that free fall from 9" should be hitting harder. Yes my foot was not stepping completely down on the trip. I'm going to lower that and inch or so to get a better feel. It is placed at the upper limit,not knowing how the belts would wear. I made some shinny belt guides that hold the belt slack forward so I dont get to much rubbing and the smell of belt. It was much easier to make the motor rock back and forth than to set up an ideler wheel and so on. I have used a 100# little giant and it wasent small by any means. As I recall there about 10-12 ft tall and it hit hard. Lori also had a 50# giant and it was nice too. but I didnt like the thought of repairing the old hammers. Cost and so on. I needed a hammer and needed it now. Should I try the shorter stroke of the crank that would free up an 1 1/2" ? John B In In Illinois,, Mattoon and we have a rural king supply, I hadnt thought about a tractor turn buckel thats a great Idea.. Peacock, the upper and lower springs are about 4" away from the center spring. I was lucky and got both sets of springs from the truck. When Lori Sims taught me about welding the old fasion way it got me bit bad.I'm hooked, lCourse when she showed me how it was with a coal forge and I made one of them from pictures too. Took Ideas and incorperated them into what I wanted. I have a enlargable firebox on my coal forge,an insert I can lift out and the firebox doubles in size for larger forgings. But gas is the way not having to play fireman and smith at the same time.

  6. Thankyou all for the nice comments. It makes one feel happy when you Senior Members
    say nice things to a new comer. When I joined up to I Forge and made the statement to gleen the net for pictures, I'm sure some said under breath good luke, or I wanna see this one. I started the night I made that statement way back around the first of June 09.Planning,snatching pic's,foridging for parts,and designing from just pictures,I had a good idea from the start. Having worked in heavy industry for nearly 40 yrs and being 55 yrs of age.I think it all worked out well. My father and Grandfather fixed TV sets, I played in the shop with a battery charger welding razor blades together with the 36 volt charger and pencil leads as an arc and twist tie wire for filler. 2 pairs of sunglasses and a small tray filled with cold spray to keep the O2 away did the trick. age 12-13. Grandpa seen what I was doing and he was speechless. After being scolded for abusing the charger my next birthday I was presented with an 80 amp welder. 7/64 and 3/32 rods and a real welding hood. I was bit and bit hard and ever since then it's been a welding life for me. I dont do razor blades any more but my tig welder with .010 electrode I can do beer cans. I still have that old welder and it still works.After Grandad past I have the battery charger too. I love working with steel.I make almost all the things I need.And the power Hammer is one of my best attempts. Thought and planning do make a difference,It's just placing those thoughts in mind to steel that takes the time. One other funny thing was my wife Alice, I told her about the hammer and wanting to build one and after seeing how much money the real McCoy's are going for she approved the project. I will admit it did take alot of thinking.no working drawings to go by. The springs were the first to find, Then the base was made.The lower anvil base was made. All these sub assemblies were made and stored on my big table.A month goes by and Alice comes out the garage and says wheres this Hammer your building. I didnt say a- thing at first, She blurted out "Your just out here hidding from me" LOL I couldnt keep a straight face to save my life. I had pieces made,only things wernt going together just yet.No plans alot of thought as to what steps to do so I dont have to drag out the Carbon Arc,,Yes I have one of those noisey things and only have used it once or twice.But happy to have one when that rare case comes along. After My Son seen what I was doing He asked me," Well Dad what ya going to name it. It's a bloody Power Hammer,Havent thought of a name,really wasent going to name it. But thoughts kept spinning around in my head and it came to me. Seeing that my loving wife of 24yrs thought I was hidding from her we will call it "Alices Folly" That went over like a lead balloon,under breath remarks and a few sign language signs and the name is cemented. I for the life of me made one mistake and it didnt involve the carbon arc yet. I made a turn buckel and used 2 right hand nuts and bolts, I guess if that's my only mistake,I consider my self lucky. Any of you know where I can find a 1" left hand bolt and nut? That's going to be a hard find! It's an honest mistake I guess and if thats the only one I made I feel pretty good about the build.
    Next is paint,I hate machine green,It needs to be bright. Any ideas? Maybe a bright yellow or blue or black and yellow . The latter always worked well for my hi speed RC planes I use to build. One fellow on here did a hammer in blue,that looks cool. But in any color the Name will be a bright contrast to the Hammer. I guess I have rattled on enough and thanks again for praises and complements

  7. Ok;
    Frosty, KeyKeeper, It is placed on youtube, Name, Power Hammer in action, by Hammbone2. it hasent been processed yet but should be soon. there for I cant give you a link. Enjoy,,, It's suppose to be in the How To section. I dont know how long it takes youtube to process a video..

  8. Imrie-Gielow out of St.Louis is a great place for Hi-temp riszer tubes. I bought 2 -7" tubes for 19.00 each and there sticky I-G Cerachrome caulk is great to fix cracks in the riser tubes. I use a product called itc-100 to line the tube and on the bottom of the forge I use a compound called Bubble Alumina Refractory. It works really well and is the best Ive used to date for flux drips in the forge. ITC is great for adding to the hi temp riser. It alone will give weld temps from propane at 5lbs on the regulator.My burners are simple straight pipe with a bell reducer welded to the fuel end with a small drill for the propane to pass. The need for expencive burnners are not needed.unless you have money to burn (get the pun) lol My burnners are 1" pipe with a 1x3" bell reducer. The gas pipe is weled accross the face of the bell reducer with the hole in the gas pipe pointing straight down the 1" flame holder pipe. Cheap and works well enough for me.

  9. Hello all; Well my project is complete I have a 100# + power hammer up and running. I'm using a 1 1/2 hp. motor 2 jack shafts for reduction and better power. It strikes at 150 blows a min and I can change that with an easy pulley and belt. All working joints and hinges are 1" stock with zerks for lube.
    The ram it's self is 2 pieces of 1x6 24" welded together and the connecting arms are 1x3 x 18". 3 leaf springs are used.about 50" in length cover springs are shorter. Anvil base is an old 300 size O2 cylinder capped with 1 1/2" plate and a solid 6" dia round stub with the tops of railroad rail for anvil faces. It is a solid machine,If I over built it,it's because it will last a life time with no down time except for lube and tighten check the grade 8 bolts. The motor tilts to tighten the drive belt easier than adding a idler wheel and spring and so on.
    I only wished that this site would allow larger files to be viewed have made 2 videos of the working hammer but there 28 and 34 meg files. My camera takes
    8 meg pictures so I cant do that either. anyway it's done and i'm using it most everyday making billet stacks soft,hard for folded knife blades.

  10. Thankyou guys for the warm welcome,as with my first post I mentioned I was making a power hammer.It is now complete and up and running.And from using the old trip hammers from Lorilie Sim's 5 points Blacksmith shop I can say I have a nice Hammer. Thanks to the wonderful internet snaching pictures was all it took for me to design my own. I'd post a video but the site wont take a 30mg file.;)

  11. Hello all; I'm Kinda new to all of this but have had some experience. I have had the privlege of working with Lori Sims out of Charlston Illinois for a few yrs. She is a Great smithy and learned alot from her. I learned forging ,and forge welding,and fuller work from her and I refind her welding skills.It was great to learn from her and she learned from me also.Since I have aquired my own tooling and outfitted my own shop. I have machine shop skills,lathes,milling machine,surface grinder,drilling, shaper,and welding skills.I was certified 6-g ASME back in the late 80's.I started welding with stick when I was 13yrs old.My grand father bought me an 80 amp welder way back in 1967 and I'm 55 yrs. young. I live in Mattoon Illinois with my wife of 23yrs.
    I'm wanting to build an Appalachian Power Hammer and have gleened much Information from the web. I'm hoping to find more Information here at this forum.
    Hammbone

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