Was looking at India presses and noticed one manufacturer using mild steel for their screws. Rationale? I'm thinking liability. So it wears out? At least it's not gonna explode? Cheaper for company to produce too, no doubt. 

Thoughts? Or is this a perfectly normal way of making these and I'm just uninitiated?

 

Greetings 313,

         I have had my P 6 Karachi for years with no problem.. lookin to buy one from OWA?  Great folks.. 

Forge on and make beautiful things 

Jim

Jim, 

Thanks for the feedback! I will definitely keep them in mind; their website was super informative.

Hi !

I would like to buy a fly press in EU.
The problem is that import of US fly press is too expensive.
So I am looking for Karachi single sided fly press #6 but I am wondering about quality.
Is it correct for blacksmith ? Can I try to make damas with it ?
Does it last over time?
Would you agree to publish a photo of your fly press?

 

A flypress it not the best tool for making pattern welded damascus steel.   Quite slow and hard on your body to draw billets out with it.  A properly sized hydraulic press or mechanical or air powerhammer would be better when you want to step up from doing it all by hand in my opinion.

11 hours ago, John88 said:

The problem is that import of US fly press is too expensive.

Try looking in the UK. A web search for "fly press for sale UK" (without the quotation marks) will help you find what you need.

That said, I agree with Thomas that a fly press isn't the best option for pattern welded steel. Great for many other things, but not that.

It is my understanding that Karachi is the mfg for fly presses sold by Old World Anvils, and they seem to be a well made product. For a dealer in UK look for the site usedflypresses.  (I hope that is a legal reference per IFI terms). Ditto on what Thomas and John said re the appropriateness of fly presses for pattern welding. I've seen it done by someone who knows what he was doing, and it was a long hard tedious process. It worked, though.

Steve

16 minutes ago, Stash said:

look for the site usedflypresses.  (I hope that is a legal reference per IFI terms)

Yes, it is. IFI prohibits live links to commercial websites, but mentioning such sites by name is perfectly acceptable. 

Agree with all of the above. I have a karachi #5, but having just now (again) looked at the UK site, I would certainly go for several of the used ones currently for sale...

Robert Taylor

Edited September 3, 20214 yr by Anachronist58
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Now where a flypress may come in useful is in patterning a billet.

Ok not for damas steel but you say it is still useful.
Is it worth its price ?

 

Thank you all

That is a question that depends on YOU, what YOU do and how YOU do it and what YOUR finances are like.