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I Forge Iron

old style treadle


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Here's some pictures from a build I just did for our shop at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. I still need to stain and paint it but otherwise it seems as though everything is working fine. The base is made from 6x6's and the hammer arm from a 4x4. The hammer head was a 20lb sledge that was welded into an angle iron box and then fitted to the arm. For springs I used unfinished but tempered sword blades made from 4130 - I figured if I can use my swords for springs it has the added benefit of demonstrating the temper. For the anvil I had a little 60lb Fisher sitting in the shop collecting dust so I put it to good use. An added benefit is that I can make dies to connect to the hardy. I'm still unsure about the treadle which is made from 2x4's but I'm really hesitant to go to angle iron because of the added weight - the springs are working perfectly and I'd rather not change that. A few lengths of manilla rope attaches the springs to the hammer arm and the arm to the treadle. I hope to get some time tomorrow so I can make a short video. I did get a chance to fire up the forge just to try it out with a piece of 1/2 square and it made very short work of it with very few hits. It's not as nice as a little giant but I tried to keep it as historical as possible for the era I'm limited to.

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I like it. I'd be afraid that a 20 pound sledge might be too much hammer for that anvil, though.


I was thinking along those lines as well - I'm not overly concerned about that particular anvil, although it's still special to me, it was my first anvil but it was also free -- it's primarily demoted for use as an anvil for leather work if I take the time to put it on the workbench. I have a 125lb that could replace it or I could go a different route and drop a cement filled square tube a few feet into the ground with a few inches of plate welded to the top. I'm trying to work with a certain design and footprint in mind so anything large enough to need a stump is pretty much out unless I feel like cutting a 10x10 and digging a hole to sink it 20" into the ground, which I did for the 6x6's and don't really want to dig through the years of clinker mixed with clay. I'll give it a good try tomorrow just to see how everything handles the stress.

-J
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Looks quite usable and handy to have around in a smithy.

Have you given some thought to re-do it in a more renaissance mode sometime in the future now you have the bugs worked out? Lots of great construction ideas in De Re Metallica!

Just exchanging the 1820's anvil design for a large chunk of steel and hiding the arc welds will help.

I'd think about making the anvil a large cube of steel and have one side milled for drawing and then make the sledge head reversible and have one side ground for drawing too.

There are multiple examples of helve hammers in art from the renaissance, (Venus at the Forge of Vulcan usually has an example in the background) but treadles do not seem to have been used as a hoard of trained strikers was the norm see Goya's "the Forgers". I call my powerhammer my "smart apprentice" as it does exactly what I tell it to do!

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That poor anvil heheheh I love it, btw is your water wheel off a pump or do you have a wonderfully amazing setup out there? Sadly I've yet to make it to Penn Ren


Yeah, as much as I hate the extra work, I may just dig another 20" hole and drop an 8x8 in it for the anvil. The base as is isn't secured in the least - hell, I didn't even level the ground out underneath. :) The water wheel runs off a pump. It used to power the bellows but since the leather dry rotted I disconnected it. Friday that whole bellows is getting torn out, my forge is going to move about a foot over to the right and I'm going to place my large grinding stone back there. I'll probably connect the wheel and the stone and just leave it running continuously. If that doesn't pan out at the very least it keeps my fish and frogs entertained. :)
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WOAH WOAH WOAH!

you have a water wheel and you have not harnessed it's power? yes the treadle hammer is all good and dandy and does what it needs to do but there isn't a whole heck of a lot of evidence for them. that being said, you could easily modify it into a maglio!



this is just some of the footage I shot in Italy last year. This Maglio has been in use since the 12th century producing buckets. the maglio (hammer) itself is water driven and is has variable speeds. the air flow for he forge (not the propane one) is water powered. they had water powered shears, and water powered maglietti (planishing hammers).

constructing one is deceivingly simple. if you get the gears/ratios down pat you could easily do a 100 lb head... it's just a helve hammer on steroids. shoot me an email if you want more info on them and I can send you tons of pics drawings and a description of how it all works as well as more vids if I can dig them up.

Kudos for making it all more period and I very much like your simple but effective design.

Aaron
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WOAH WOAH WOAH!

you have a water wheel and you have not harnessed it's power? yes the treadle hammer is all good and dandy and does what it needs to do but there isn't a whole heck of a lot of evidence for them. that being said, you could easily modify it into a maglio!



Wow.. that's really impressive! As far as the water wheel goes though - somehow I was talked into repairing my double bellows which is powered by it.. it's going to be a fun day tomorrow.. somehow I know it's going to be more work than I want to do.. :) But that maglio! If only I felt like felling a telephone pole. I'd have to redo that water wheel too - it seems to leak more water than it holds..

-J
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Here is a couple of pictures that I found somewhere on the net. They show a closer look at a powered helve like the one from Italy. I think you could scale it down so you don't have to take out a telephone pole to make it. I have been toying with the idea of making something like this but not using a cast iron drive and hammer. Thanks for sharing the treadle design.


Brian

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  • 2 weeks later...

you certainty would not need a telephone pole. I would think that a good quality 6X6 or even a 4X4 would suffice depending on hammer head weight.

make something where you can change dies out though to make it more versatile. oh and as fr as the water wheel is concerned, the several that I saw over there were geared down so much, that you could probably lift the hammer by peeing on the wheel. I'm seriously not exaggerating. it was incredible the small trickle that moves such a huge hammer. I think making one of these would be something very worth while to do.

let me know if you need some help.

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