Hey guys I was wondering if someone could help me figure out why some of my material is twisting in the power hammer. I finished building a power hammer tire hammer recently and have been making sets of tongs but when drawing out, sometimes the tapers will twist on me. any ideas?

One of the things that causes twisting, at least in hand forging, I repeatedly turning the work in one direction while drawing it out. 

You might check carefully and see if this is what you are doing. 

I'm a total novice and have had exactly 5 sessions with a power hammer, so take this with a bucket load of salt...but when I was learning to use it I had trouble with the part twisting until I took off the glove on my right hand.  Apparently I wasn't able to maintain a good enough grip on the piece, so as the hammer came in contact with it, the rod was free to twist away, and it did.  Removed the right hand glove, had one bare hand able to get better control, and away we went.  Like I said, take that with a grain of salt and I'm sure someone more experienced will chime in, but for me that was the ticket. 

Are the dies perfectly parallel?  If so the way you hold it  may be the issue.

1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said:

Are the dies perfectly parallel?  If so the way you hold it  may be the issue.

It’s possible its not perfect, but not off by much. I think its more likely not haveng good grip on the material. I use round stock often which may rotate in the jaws of my tongs. I will focus more on keeping things stable. I will look at the dies too. 

Thank yall for the feedback everyone, all suggestions heeded. 

When knife smithing I often first forge the "holding end" of a piece of stock to a convenient size/shape for the tongs I like to use.

Perhaps you could forge a square on the end of the stock to have more control in the tongs---given that you have a set of tongs suitable.

Even if the tongs are holding tight, the way you feed the stock (canted) will sometimes cause the twist.

Several possible causes in no particular order.  To be more accurate we need to see pics (close ups) of the machine and its particular parts and the resulting work piece.

1.  Ram (tup) guides too loose allowing the dies to shuck sideways upon impact.  Even a little slop will start to affect the WP.

2. Dies not perfectly parallel.  Could be in the machining of the dies, could be in the fit-up of the whole machine.  

3. Operator error.  Not rotating perfectly 90 deg. per turn or holding the stock out of level with the dies.  Film yourself working with your phone, it'll be an eye opener.  

4. Aysmetrically heated work.  

 

We need more info.