Someone found and bought the hammer pictured ( guy is a hotrodder not a smith)... I've never seen anything similar... perhaps it was cobbled together from pieces of a factory made hammer or maybe it's just that old ?  Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

looks shop built to me.

There were some kits available back in the day, you could buy a shaft, pulley,  pitman, spring, etc.  and assemble as you liked.  Could be one of those or could be a home built.  I like the wooden anvil!

The hammer head is rail track! Some one put in a fair amount of time on that one. And probably very little money. Probably helped some one out a lot in there shop!

Must have been a special use hammer built for a specific function... I thought it would be interesting to show others. It isn't the first "home built" I've ever seen ,but it was certainly  well done. Here is another closer shot of the assembly...

 

I thought I had it rotated ,but it posted just like I found it..Sorry

Looks well built I bet it saved the smith a whole bunch of labor and time. 

That is a treat!

I can't see any welding on it, let alone electric- all bolts and brackets.

Reminds me of the Steve Zentecki contraption in the "Grandad's Junkyard Tire hammer 1940's" thread.

 

keep them coming.

AndrewOC

Neat contraption.  It would be interesting to either rebuild it or clean it up to use.  Definately unique.

Some where in older posts there is a similar hammer, I think it is a factory built machine. It will take a lot of searching to come up with that post but it was in Northern California unless this is that same hammer.

 Owner is in Atwater,California which is near SF,Calif. so it might be the same hammer.

Probably is the same hammer then, thought it looked familiar.

I would love to get a set of blueprints for that hammer.  I love the combination of wood and iron, especially now that she's got some age on her!  

 

A lightweight hammer, to be sure, but more than enough for any hobby smith, even the ones that want to do damascus.  The only downside I see is the dies facing straight into the main beam.  If you could figure a way to angle the dies or pass through the beam, you'd be well ahead of the game.

 

And I just happen to have some long pieces of rail track.....

Should be simple enough to replicate from the photo. "Pounding Out The Profits" shows several similar "homebuilt" kits also.

 

As far as the throat depth... probably need to find a huge beam to start with and notch it where the tup & anvil meet.

 

Here's another home made hammer that has similar design though in steel...

 

@AndrewOC - I just used that hammer you reference this past weekend for 12 hours straight - Still works great, but there was definately a learning curve.

I think we've all seen still photos of that hammer... It's cool to actually see it in operation... Thanks.

 

If you know of any video of the entire assembly of that hammer in motion I'd love to see that too. I've seen pics from all angles and always wondered at the wild accumulation of parts and how they reciprocate. The tup seems a bit stiff as well as a bit sloppy in operation...probably needs to be run more and the leather strap probably needs to be replaced.

 

Exceptional video anyway...

I'm going to use it again this weekend to draw out a billet. What kind of photos/videos would you like to see?

Step back from the anvil and take some overall action shots of the hammer in operation. More "how it works" video instead of what it does would be interesting.

 

We've all seen pictures across the internet of this machine for years and to actually watch it in operation would be a wonderful treat. Watching it hit hot iron is great,but to actually view the way it functions would be excellent. Some video of the crank assembly would be great.

 

Let's face it... We are all addicted to the antique machinery aspect of these tools and that particular contraption exhibits some qualities that none of the factory 100+ YO machines have.

 

You have a chance to actually record it's operation and share that with all of us who until now have only been able to imagine what someone fabricated many years ago and exactly how the pieces interact to do what we know it does.

 

Thank You for sharing this with all of us. I find the machine interesting as hell & have wondered many times exactly how all that metal,wood,& wheels works. The curved top guide arms are wild.

 

You are Lucky to be able to play with such a piece of history.... Most of the time such things are behind a chain and are only allowed to be viewed NOT TOUCHED....

 

What I find really interesting is this is the earliest example of a "Tire Hammer" just maybe not quite as compact a package....LOL... It breaks a lot of the given rules about what is or isn't possible.... Interesting anvil (:>) The builder was sure thinking outside the box at the time it was fabricated...

Ok...got it. I should have done that Sunday when my boy was working on a rr spike. Will try to this weekend if he lets me in.