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I set my camera on the platen table beside the hammer and shot a video yesterday while I was making some chisels. I edited the video tonight and just posted it to youtube.



I work on two of these at a time so some shots are of one chisel some are of the other. The starting stock is 2.75" dia 4340, I used to use 3" but the smaller dia means the stock is longer so is easier to hold. When I use the spring checking tool I have to bite off enough material so that I don't get a birds mouth, that is why I have to cut off material from the shank. I bit slightly off slightly more than I normally do in the video, I normally cut off about 2.5-3".
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The chisels get a piece of pipe welded on them and are used in the coke ovens at a local steel mill. I make some other coke oven chisels that are much lighter that are used for clearing out the standpipes and are used for scraping the charging doors.

The hammer is a 5cwt Massey which has a tup weight of 625lb.

After cutting the end off I still have a heat or two to finish drawing out the end. There is no secondary bevel on these so I have to draw the end out like a wedge which they want square. The thin end loses its heat quite quickly.

I don't know if anyone noticed the spring checking tool is 1/4 round rather than triangular. Some retired blackmsiths from one of the steel mill blacksmith shops told me to make checking tools that way. They are much less prone to rolling than triangular ones. The only down side I can see with them is if you bury the tool and are not careful you could roll the top corner of the transition into itself forming a shut.

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The chisels get a piece of pipe welded on them and are used in the coke ovens at a local steel mill. I make some other coke oven chisels that are much lighter that are used for clearing out the standpipes and are used for scraping the charging doors.

The hammer is a 5cwt Massey which has a tup weight of 625lb.

After cutting the end off I still have a heat or two to finish drawing out the end. There is no secondary bevel on these so I have to draw the end out like a wedge which they want square. The thin end loses its heat quite quickly.

I don't know if anyone noticed the spring checking tool is 1/4 round rather than triangular. Some retired blackmsiths from one of the steel mill blacksmith shops told me to make checking tools that way. They are much less prone to rolling than triangular ones. The only down side I can see with them is if you bury the tool and are not careful you could roll the top corner of the transition into itself forming a shut.


Great video! Might I make a suggestion? If you change the title to something like "Making a chisel under a Massey Power Hammer / Blacksmith" That way when someone is looking for Massey hammer video or a Blacksmith power hammer video it will show up in the search results...


It sure looks great to be able to work up close to the tup like that. Looks like you got an outstanding tooling station and great control of the monster...
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Dynomite !!!

totally awesome vid.. that massey is wonderful
-great forging and nice process

Greg


ps.. i noticed that the camera barely hop's around... nice to have a good foundation and not worry bout the roof fall'in in... ... unlike that other fella :rolleyes:

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Thank-you for the video John.
I have only recently been exposed to power hammers and still have some trepidation and a pile of respect running one.
Is the spring swage hot cut a regular piece of tooling that you would have if you had a hammer ? If indeed that's the correct name for it.
Thanks again.

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The foundation helps a lot with things not shaking but setting the camera on a 2000lb platen table helps as well.

I used two different cut off tools in the video the first one is a common cut off tool that is often used on power hammers. I think Grant makes a version of this tool. Clifton Ralph calls it a scissor tool. The second one has a taper that is just a little bit steeper than the finished taper.

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WOW! Makes my old dinky 25#LG look like a hammer in the hand. :blink:
I usually have my volume set about the middle of the bar but that just about blew out my speakers, do you have any hearing left? :rolleyes: That was loud even with all volume controls set to lowest levels and you work with that all day? You are truly an IRONMAN! B)

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Lets see more videos from you guys. I do have another that I made form behind me of forging another style of chisel it is hard to see things as well. I will have to edit one night.

I have only had this hammer running for just over a year. I have been using a Kinyon style hammer that I built for about 10 years. The checking tool is the tool to create a transition between the heavier section and the shank. If you sink a round spring fuller more than half way you have to be really careful not to get a cold shut when you forge down the small side. The step is 1" but the corner has to be 1/4" radius.
The hammer is not really that loud, the camera sitting that close to the hammer picked up all the noise. I do wear ear muffs and sometimes ear plugs as well. When it is idleing it is not much louder than a small self contained.

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Thanks for the video John, it's always great seeing someone work who's been at it long enough to get good. The Massey makes my 50# LG look like a hobby hammer. That's a good thing of course as I'm mostly a hobbyist, still. . .

As well as picking up quite a bit just watching you work the hammer I got a lot to think about watching you manipulate the tooling.


Frosty the Lucky.

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Nice video John. Brings back a lot of memories :D I too was an industrial Blacksmith at a steel company and have made countless numbers of chisels and such for use in the coke ovens along with countless hooks for lifting lids, and too many other weird and wonderfull tools only used in steel mills. But that is a topic unto itself. What you call "checking tool" we used to call a "necking down" tool. Our were shaped like a piece of Quarter round with two flat sides and one curved side. The flat side was place so that when we forged the shoulder it would leave a square edge on the chisel side and a curved radius on the tang side. The curve on the tang side assured that we would not get a cold shut on the tang and we wouldn't have to use a "Header" block to square the shoulders on the chisel side as you did.
we also did not use a taper block to form the wedge as you did as our hammers were just a bit bigger than yours (1,000 to 3,000 Lbs). We used to draw out the taper (same technique) and then use a Large Flatter to smooth the surface and finish the wedge. Of course with the size of our hammers we had a "Hammer Driver" who ran the hammer, and a helper who placed and held the various tools under the hammer, such as the flatter and swedges.
You have a very good set-up though for a one man operation and you seem to have put a lot of work and effort into setting up your operation. Very well done and from all I saw in the video you are an accomplished blacksmith.

Terry

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