Old style power hammer, Himachal Pradesh, India

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE8O32_Z2eo

I cant believe how accurate he is with that big swing. And I love how minimalistic their setup is. 

The striker is laying down some power with that hammer at one hit per second.

Did you see the blacksmith talking to the striker by using his hammer?

yeah man, those two are working like a machine. I wonder how long they have been working together.

2 hours ago, Glenn said:

talking to the striker by using his hammer

*light hit* here, *hard hit* there. Universal language of quick communication.

A great piece of evidence that you don't need all the fancy stuff to be a blacksmith. A heat source, a chunk of steel, some iron, and manpower can get you where you need to go.

Don't forget the safety flipflops.

But indeed, with some skill and ingenuity you can get further then by having a fully stocked workshop. 

Did you see the one I posted under "improvised anvils"?    Much the same set up; but it was his wife swinging the sledge while he sat with the little hammer.

Now that's a strong marriage.

Just don't forget your anniversary and then ask her to strike for you. 

A hard drive or two ago I had a picture of an eastern smith who had both his wives striking for him.  Got a strong NO! from my wife over that suggestion...

When that image was rendered in my minds eye, several children were also working in the background. Tending the fire, cleaning up the forgings with hand files, etc. 

Also, I may not be an expert on the female species, but I am going to go out on a limb here and say that if one wants to convince her to strike for you, one should not pose the question in conjunction with the potential addition of another wife. Perhaps, it was an issue of nomenclature and at the time you misinterpreted the term swinger...? 

was that over the hammer thingy, or over the second wife thingy?

YES!

I found a video of an Indian woman swinging a sledge and she could out work most men I've seen. I'll post the link in a moment. 

Pnut

On 11/19/2020 at 6:38 AM, ThomasPowers said:

an eastern smith who had both his wives striking for him.

This remind me of the Chinese ideogram for trouble. A roof with more than one woman under it, the worse the trouble the more women.

Frosty The Lucky.

Here it is. 

Pnut

 

India is an interesting place.. I couldn't even imagine seeing a couple forging knives barefoot on the side of the road with a sledgehammer and a block of steel here in the States.

Thanks for sharing, she does indeed handle that sledge quite well.  

Did you notice their hammers? 

Pnut

Did you notice they didn't even have a box for their JABOD? We should start a gofundme site to provide 3rd. world blacksmiths with boxes!

Frosty The Lucky.

8 hours ago, Frosty said:

you notice they didn't even have a box for their JABOD

Then they'd also need a chair to sit on. 

Pnut

Their JABOD doesn't need a box, chairs would just clutter the shop, wouldn't they?

Frosty The Lucky. 

Just A Bunch Of Dirt.. JABOD still applies. 

And JASWTSASH: "Just a Spouse Willing To Swing A Sledge Hammer".  In my neck of the woods that is a rarer find than an old powerhammer!