Bo T Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 From the little bit of reading that I have done, a drop hammer suffers in that it is to slow for metalwork. I am thinking of a spring assist, leg powered hammer. I have no idea what such a hammer would be called even though I am confident that they have been around for centuries if not millennia. Any leads on current or past designs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Ivan Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Type "treadle hammer" in the search bar. That should find you what you are looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo T Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 OK, I'll give that a try. ThanksBo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Like this one ?Forge on and make beautiful thingsJim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 You could also look up the term "Oliver hammer" or just Oliver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 (edited) I can't think where you will have read that a drop hammer is too slow for metalwork, as far as I know that is all that they are ever used for. Most of them i believe are used in conjunction with die work rather than free hand forging with plain pallets, though I have seen that done perfectly successfully under one...The particular advantage of the drop hammer is the length of stroke and therefore the acceleration and impact speed of the tup which has the effect of forcing the metal into very fine detailed dies, witness coin and medal stamping.There are a few advanced designs and some pictures of my very basic "oliver" "Tommy" "treadle" or "foot" hammer in the this thread:-looking for "oliver" treadle hammer images/historyAlan Edited February 22, 2015 by Alan Evans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo T Posted February 22, 2015 Author Share Posted February 22, 2015 Jim,I'm not sure. If it works off of leg power then it is a step in the right direction. I can't tell for sure, but it looks like the hammer follows your foot down and hits with the same force that your foot presses down with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo T Posted February 22, 2015 Author Share Posted February 22, 2015 Alan,You're right. I was referring to hot working steel - like flattening or drawing out. The opinion that I read indicated that, increasing the power of the blow required increasing the height of the drop, and decreased the number of blows per heat. But, it seems a drop hammer might be the easiest to build and one could always increase the weight of the hammer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Mullins Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Like this one ?Forge on and make beautiful thingsJim Jim - is that your hammer? A friend and I are about to buil a treadle and power hammer and we wanted to go with an inline treadle, very similar to the power hammer. I have not seen one that was so close to what we had in mind until this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 The one I watched being used as a forging hammer with plain pallets was very simple, but it was a two man operation. The hammer man held a rope which was attached to a steel band about 100mm (4") wide which went over the top of the drive wheel which was on shafting driven by a motor at the end of the shop. The other end of the band had a rope going down to the tup. When the hammer man pulled on the rope the band gripped the wheel and lifted the tup. The hammer man just followed the movement keeping the tension on the rope. when the tup was at the required height he just let go the rope; the band was released and dropped the tup. Looked a bit like a bell ringer in the church tower…campanologist in a campanile to those in the know...Christoph Friedrich, the introducer of the split cross to ABANA, has a drop hammer that he restored outside his water powered forge in Switzerland. He demonstrated it when I last visited. I will see if I can find a picture of the drive mechanism.For starting out general blacksmithing though I would definitely go for a foot hammer. A sledge hammer pivoted on a shaft with a spring return is definitely the easiest to build and gives you the all important - both hands free for workpiece and top tool. They do not generate energy so you will find that you can draw metal out faster with an appropriate sized and shaped hand hammer...and do it all day. Trying to use a foot hammer like a power hammer, standing on one leg for a long time is not advisable. They are great for repetitious jobs like chain and nail making and for using swages and butchers when forging tenons: great for lining/chasing with chisels; great for dabbing a scarf weld together; great for thumping a bowl or shovel blade into a hollow blockI still have mine over in the corner, even though I have fly and hydraulic presses and three power hammers in operation, some things it still does very sensitively.Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Greetings Ed,Yes that's mine... Matter of fact I have 2 the same.. It was built by Richard Shepard and I believe it to be one of the best designs .. I have others and prefer the in line design... Good luck in your build..Forge on and make beautiful thingsJim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 I've seen a board drop hammer used to great effect to start the forging of a hoe blade from some 2" sq stock. Looked to be about 500# and it was used to squish part of the starting blank out sideways where it was then refined using a power hammer. In a german water powered smithy---water powered air hammers, screw presses, board hammers, very interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) Greetings Ed,Yes that's mine... Matter of fact I have 2 the same.. It was built by Richard Shepard and I believe it to be one of the best designs .. I have others and prefer the in line design... Good luck in your build..Forge on and make beautiful thingsJimI got to play a bit with Jim's treadle hammer pictured. I've used a few different treadle designs before, and thought Jim's was the best design I've tried. Edited February 24, 2015 by Black Frog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo T Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 Thanks for the lead on the treadle hammer. I am going to track down some leads on the plans for the Marx-Gade design. Treadles seem to make more sense than trying to hold a hot piece of metal between your legs while hammering on it.Bo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Mullins Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I got to play a bit with Jim's treadle hammer pictured. I've used a few different treadle designs before, and thought Jim's was the best design I've tried.Glad to hear that. I have only seen a couple in person and its good to know that this design works well. I found a very similar design example from Warner Knives. Both are only slightly different in my mind from the Appalchain style guided helve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I managed to find the photo of Christoph's water powered drop hammer, like the one Thomas described it is board lifted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 For some reason the photo of Christoph Friedrich's water powered hammer did not upload/display...fourth try lucky?Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo T Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 I have been going over the 2 sets of plans for Clay Spencers treadle hammers. The original (1984) and the current set being sold by ABANA. I'm most likely years out from building one. I am leaning towards the earlier one as my fabrication skills are somewhat lacking. If I understand it correctly, I should be able to use top and bottom tools as long as I size them correctly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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