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I Forge Iron

Our "new" 50# Little Giant


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Well we finally found a nice hammer. Bought this rom Danny Downs in Louisville..Great guy. He had rebuilt the hammer, machined a new ram guide, built the cage and added a brake (thats works perfectly I might add)..Just genrally redid the hammer all around. It runs like a sewing machine. I was very impressed with what he had done..We got the hammer and all the extras laying on the base.It came with drawing dies in it, three extra sets of flat dies(various sizes); tool holders, keys and some various tools..Monday I got a backhoe coming that Ill use to get her in the shop..cant wait..
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If in good condition those extra dies are in my opinion worth half the price of whatever you paid for the hammer. Learn to swap them out early and often and that hammer will will be way more versatile and able to make you more money than the way most folks run their mechanical hammers. That guard looks like those inspired by the Clifton Ralpf design- did the former owner do the other Clifton mods to the spring and arms? If so you scored!

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If in good condition those extra dies are in my opinion worth half the price of whatever you paid for the hammer. Learn to swap them out early and often and that hammer will will be way more versatile and able to make you more money than the way most folks run their mechanical hammers. That guard looks like those inspired by the Clifton Ralpf design- did the former owner do the other Clifton mods to the spring and arms? If so you scored!

The dies are in good condition...I have heard of Clifton Ralpf but do not know what his modifications are? Could you elaborate please?
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Only Danny Downs could say for sure but this hammer looks like my old 50 that I sold to Danny back in the 80's or so.

It was a good running hammer then.

I would remove the large guard myself. The danger from these hammers is waaaay overstated. If the pins are all in good shape the only 'danger' is the spring breaking or coming out. This can be guarded with a piece of radiator hose and a couple of hose clamps or a cable as some have done.

my .02

Bob S

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Only Danny Downs could say for sure but this hammer looks like my old 50 that I sold to Danny back in the 80's or so.

It was a good running hammer then.

I would remove the large guard myself. The danger from these hammers is waaaay overstated. If the pins are all in good shape the only 'danger' is the spring breaking or coming out. This can be guarded with a piece of radiator hose and a couple of hose clamps or a cable as some have done.

my .02

Bob S

Bob, Danny did say he bought it in Minnesoat back in 83'..Probably was yours..Its a great hammer, we'er very pleased with it..Danny said he did a lot of work to it over the years like milling a new guide, drilling out the pin holes and making new tighter tolerance pins. Forging new adjustable toggle links and some other parts..He never said it needed any of it, I think he just did it to be doing it...
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  • 3 weeks later...

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