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Hey guys, 

I am just starting to get into forging. I want to start making knives and billets of Damascus steel to machine into all sorts of stuff. My question is if anyone out there had any mechanical power hammers for sale? I have been looking into making one, but thought I might see if anyone had a hammer for sale.

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Hi Sven,

Few quick questions, have you done any blacksmithing yet? Do you have an anvil and a trusty hammer, tongs, and a forge? Also, what is it you are actually trying to make, is it just Demascus billets you are really interested in making?

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12 hours ago, MarcyOHH said:

Hi Sven,

Few quick questions, have you done any blacksmithing yet? Do you have an anvil and a trusty hammer, tongs, and a forge? Also, what is it you are actually trying to make, is it just Demascus billets you are really interested in making?

Well, define anvil. I took a big piece of I beam and welded a 5/8" thick plate on top for an anvil. I do have a decent hammer. No tongs. I weld a rod onto the end of my pieces and stick them in the forge. 

I am trying to make Damascus steel knives and billets. Not trying to sell anything. Possibly sell some knives depending on how they turn out. I'm guessing it is going to take a while before they start looking good enough to sell.

 

ThomasPowers, I am looking for a foot powered treadle hammer or any kind of mechanical hammer. I do have equipment to move a hammer, I do have access to 3 phase power (although I'm not sure if I want an electrical hammer). Budget max is probably about $1000 USD.

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How long have you been making pattern welded billets? Made ONE? Made a forge weld?

You might consider learning to blacksmith before trying to move into a highly specialized type of blacksmithing. Seriously, you don't even have the terminology straight nor know what an effective anvil is.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Powerhammers are not foot powered.  Powerhammers generally come in mechanical hammers run off motors and air/steam hammers run off compressed gas.  Larger ones, (I know a guy with a 2000# hammer---the hammer head is 2000 pounds the whole thing is many tons...)

I think a treadle hammer is about your speed right now; did you ask at a meeting of a local ABANA Affiliate if anyone had one for sale or if a workshop to build them was going on locally?  I really don't think one for sale in Australia would do you much good.  Building your own is a great way to get one and you *know*  you can fix anything on it cause you built it!

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As Frosty said, you should get the basics of blacksmithing down first. Forge welding is its own beast and using a power or treadle hammer are not good ideas for making damascus. In reality if you wanted to make billets without taking the time to learn how to forge weld you would need a press, not a power hammer.

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Hi Sven,

Welcome to IFI and the world of blacksmithing.  I'm guessing that you posted this here in the NEB section because you are from RI and would love to learn more.  Take a look at the New England Blacksmith's website and try to hook up with someone in your area, one on one is the best way to learn.  In addition we (NEB) will be having a get together in early June in New Hampshire.  If you can make it it will open your eyes!  See the website for details.

Thomas and some others who answered you above didn't mean to sound as snarky or rude as they did, it's just that we have answered hundreds of almost identical ignorant but well intentioned questions like yours.  This trade can take a decade or more to learn, read a bunch, practice a bunch,and with time will come the understanding of the terminology that we all use to talk about tools and techniques.  

By the way a power hammer is not a magic pill.  If you can't forge by hand, then you can't forge with a power hammer, only faster.

edit: Specifically didn't want to call Marcy rude.

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24 minutes ago, Judson Yaggy said:

edit: Specifically didn't want to call Marcy rude.

Just for the record Judson, Marcy is never rude besides being a blacksmith she's too hot to be rude. Because I say so. :ph34r:

Frosty The Lucky.

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10 hours ago, Frosty said:

Just for the record Judson, Marcy is never rude besides being a blacksmith she's too hot to be rude. Because I say so. :ph34r:

Frosty The Lucky.

Haha, thanks Frosty! And yes I agree with you Judson, if I come off as seeming rude, it is not my intention.  And I also agree that basic principles of blacksmithing need to be acquired before getting into crazy difficult things. I can say with certainty that I can made a knife, after a year and a half of blacksmithing, but it is crude at best. I can also say making billets is much harder than just beating some metal together. 

Blacksmithing is a trade of love and failure, once you start, you cannot stop, but it will frustrate you to no end. 

Forge welding is about knowing how to get the metal clean enough, hot enough, and how to hit it soft enough to stick.  I know that last line seems backwards to what you would think blacksmithing is, but not all hammer work is hitting hard, it's about control.

I would say to start small and work your way up because starting big and complicated you aren't going to find your real passion, you will just get extremely frustrated.

Marcy

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I just calls em like I sees em Marcy. B)

Learning blacksmithing is about failure analysis and practice. Things WILL fail to do what you want and YOU need to be able to figure out why and adjust.

It's all a LITTLE knowledge and a LOT of practice. A good place to get your pragmatic stubborn up.

If you're lucky you'll run across a ladysmith if you do watch her CLOSELY. Without as much upper body strength ladies need to rely on technique and accuracy and those are where it's at.

Frosty The Lucky.

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I completely agree with what everyone is saying here. Like I said, I am just starting to get into blacksmithing. Yes I need to brush up on terminology. I have messed around with a couple of forge welded billets, but non have turned out as well as I have hoped. I have been looking at NEB website to try and find someone I could go and learn some stuff from. And I have also been looking into coming to the get together in June. 

I was able to talk to Glen over the phone before starting this post and he had given me a lot of useful information. 

I didn't mean to come into this thread and post some questions that have already been answered. I was simply looking to see if anyone had something for sale in the area. I know that blacksmithing is a talent and something that takes a lot of time, talent, metal and physical capabilities. I love making things out of metal. I have welding and machining under my belt, and now its time to get blacksmithing under my belt. 

I expect to be forging by the beginning of this summer. But I don't expect to have a finished piece for a while. I know what I am getting myself into and I know that I am going to fail. I want to fail because I know I am going to learn from the experience. There is a reason why there aren't as many blacksmiths in my area. I know it is not an easy thing to pick up. But it is something that takes a lot of knowledge, patients, and hard work, which I am willing to do.

I appreciate all the comments here even if they were a little snarky or rude. I understand the reasoning behind it. 

 

If anyone is in RI or close to RI that knows of somewhere I can go see for more knowledge, please let me know

 

Sven

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No sweat Sven, sometimes we get a little irked and an unlucky new guy pops up at a convenient time. The message we sent is pretty common one nothing personal. There is a perfectly logical reason there aren't that many blacksmiths in RI, it's. . . TINY. :rolleyes:

If I came across a little snarky I wasn't doing it right. :P See? I'm in a MUCH better mood tonight.

Sorry, I'm no help with finding equipment for you, different neighborhood by probably a good 4,000 miles. If you think finding blacksmithing tools in RI is hard you should try it in Alaska.

Frosty The Lucky.

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I have been surprised that there isn't as much blacksmithing in RI as I had thought. But hopefully I can change that. I will probably end up building my own hammer just to save some money. I have a ton of scrap metal laying around that I can weld together. 

I have seen some posts on different hammers and this is what I think I am going to build. (sorry it is side ways!!)Alan_Evans_Foot_Hammer2.jpg.2328ab657f0f

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37 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

An Oliver  type of treadle hammer.

An Alan type of Oliver Hammer. :)

Well good on you Sven55, you have done some research. You will be able to spend a happy few months of evenings reading up areas of interest on here.

Alan

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