Greebe Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 BTW, from the looks of your video, it seems like a tire hammer would not necessarily hit any harder then yours. Plus this one is much much cheaper then building a tire hammer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba682 Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 Nice hammer it hits great and real good control whats the over all cost do ya figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 Cheaper yes; but factor in longevity? We don't know how long that one will last; but there are a goodly amount of data on tire hammers. I hope the builder is keeping a log book on it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greebe Posted March 2, 2021 Share Posted March 2, 2021 (edited) Probably the longevity would be fine, since it is simple and cheap to build / repair. A tire hammer would be nice, but last year when I checked prices to build they were around $3000(probably a lot more now because steel prices have more then doubled in that time) vs probably $500 for this hammer. If a $500 hammer lets someone get more work done so they can sell more product, that allows them to grow and eventually upgrade. Without anything though, growing is harder and affording the more expensive hammer would be harder to reach. I think it is a cool concept and glad to see him building it Edited March 3, 2021 by Mod30 Remove excessive quote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba682 Posted March 2, 2021 Share Posted March 2, 2021 (edited) I wish i had of seen this hammer before i bought my anyang i think its a bit of a game changer for the more serious back yard guys shop cause its cheap to build and run and thats the play of the game for alot of folks.I think he done a great job and if it holds up ok great if you got to do some maintenance once in awhile so be it they all require maintanace.I agree with you Greebe cool concept and glad he built it. Edited March 3, 2021 by Mod30 Remove excessive quote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Topp Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 Sorry for late response everyone, The bearing thing is a little smoother than what I had other wise. This hits surprisingly hard. About the same as a 40-50 lb tire hammer I’d have to guess. Give or take. id have to estimate cost at around 600-800 using almost all new materials. Definitely can be made cheaper. But a tire hammer would cost about 3500$ to make. Just for the fact I’d have to drive a few hours to get the anvil and a lot of other factors. So far so good for longevity. No issues other than my electric motor appears to need replacing. But it was an old motor that was salvaged so I’m not surprised. I’m sure a tire hammer will outlast this by far. But this should hold up decently well. Easy to repair if there is an issue though. It’s definitely good for what it is. And it’s much faster than hand hammering. That’s for sure. I think I’ll upgrade to a tire hammer eventually. This works for now though. It’s also really easy for anyone to build in a garage. You don’t really need any fancy tools. About the fanciest tool I used was a welder. I cut all the 1” plate for the anvil and ram using a standard 7-1/4” circular saw. Something most people have. I would much rather have an Anyang but those are less budget friendly. Being 16 and only working part time I don’t exactly have as many funds as I’d like. One day I’ll get an Anyang! Overall it’s a great tool that’s a benefit for my productivity. And I look forward to using it more and experimenting with it. Apologies if that was lengthy or hard to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Use the Rent to own method. That is rent your blacksmith area, and throw a percent of any sale into a tin can or kitty. Another trick is to use the it was only a quarter method. Not as fast but it adds up quickly. As summer is about to start, look for odd jobs that are quick, easy, and you can enjoy doing. Making yourself useful has its advantages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Topp Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 Already putting a bit into savings each week for an Anyang. Similar to the quarter method. But not with physical cash. It will likely be a few years still . But I’m working on it! There are two week sessions in the summer for agriculture research here. Planting and working on those small test plots. They pay rather well. I’m planning on doing at least one to help pay for a larger power hammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 It is amazing how many times you pass on something because you have no use for it *now* only to need that same item later. That is why the scrap pile to some is a resource center to others. Plastic buckets are great for carrying things and for storage. A 5 gallon plastic bucket will hold about 35 pounds of coal, a 55 gallon metal drum is a source for 16 gauge, 18 gauge, and 20 gauge sheet metal, etc. Do not look at things for what they are called, see them as possibilities and how they can be used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Lol, I was going to post this but Glen beat me to it. If you do this you will find your anvil height is very close to knuckle height. Differing body designs create slight variations. As far as setting up your personal anvil to fit a special situation has prolly never happened anywhen during our history. In a large multi man shop it is common to have a forging station for a specific function, but certainly not every anvil set up for a striker. Lol, what's the "proper height if you have a 4'2" striker and a 7'6" striker? More to the point, anvil height should be set to where you spend the most time. So, my question is where do you spend the most time when working your anvil? Many will jump on the gold and say it's turning scrolls on the horn, working an edge doing half faced blows as in tong making, separating mass on a hardy or simply cutting off a piece. How about after your striker is done? Perhaps it's working your power hammer? Even after turning scrolls on your post vice with scrolling wrench and bending forks? Well, actually, it's none of these. At the end of a heat and before you put your iron back in the fire, or in the done pile, you nearly always go to the face of your anvil and correct for such things as edge bend and twist, level your horseshoe or scroll, remove and clean up the edges etc. Or just plane "get 'er straight". This mundane, never thought of step is nearly always done. This is where you want to set your anvil height. Knuckle height here is where it's at. This means you, the nut behind the anvil, does not have to bend over too much or forge above your center of gravity. Why? Because having to forge low or high is very hard on the back. Thus, knuckle height is a good starting point to determine your individual anvil height. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 I've known several people that built tire hammers and none of them spent more than half what you keep quoting. I feel you are using that as a strawman argument; or have not investigated methods of doing it cheaper. From tirehammer website: "The cost of a hammer in workshops has been between $1200 and $800 depending on how much low cost or free material that was found." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 The one thing you need to do is measure the final height of the face of the anvil on YOUR body. This height is good for many things and can change with different size projects, strikers, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Topp Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 Scrap yards don’t sell to the public here. So I’d have it buy all new metal. A proper sided piece for an anvil for a tire hammer is a 4 hour drive each way. I priced out the anvil and it was about 1200$ Alone. This was before steel prices increased. Plus all the other parts. If I could reasonably build a tire hammer I would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 So what about the places that send their metal to the scrap yard? A scrapyard's buy price is usually 1/10 or lower than their selling price. Find the right place and offer them the same price you would pay a scrapyard... Also see if a scrapyard employee can keep an eye out for stuff and dump it "outside" where you can buy it without going inside the fence. I've got a nice piece for an treadle or PH anvil: medium carbon steel 5.75" diameter 41" long. I had a friend that worked at a place that was going to scrap a bunch of them and would allow him to buy at scrap price. I asked him to buy 4 of them; 300# apiece. I took two to the next ABANA affiliate meeting and sold them for twice as much as I paid and so had 2 for zero dollars---I gave one to a friend of mine and have the last one for my treadle hammer build. (Nowadays I would have sold them over the net and have them come and pick them up...) The base I bought from the scrapper who bought it as part of a big load from the university surplus sale 2'x3'x1", 244#, $40. He didn't even have to load it; I bought it on the ground at the auction from him. Basically it seems you have made up your mind and so focus on why you "can't" rather than how you might be able to "can". There is an old saying "If you believe you can or if you believe you can't---you are always right!" Feel free to put me on your ignore list; but perhaps this will help other folks to widen their methodologies. I think the wooden hammer was a neat idea and well executed; I just don't agree with the "whys" given. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Topp Posted March 9, 2021 Author Share Posted March 9, 2021 I looked around for shops that may use large sized stock to no avail. I’m sure they are out there. I wasn’t able to get in contact with the larger shops and the smaller ones don’t deal with steel stock big enough. I’ll try again. Believe me I tried to find some big enough stock but it just wasn’t happening at the time. I believe the local steel supplier sells 1”x6” bar stock. Which was too costly at the time of my build. But I could likely afford fairly soon. That would make a good enough anvil welded vertically I suppose. My apologies if I come off as rude or as if I don’t appreciate your advise. Because I do value your help. Your definitely right that there’s stuff out there. It’s just hard to find sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 I don't know if there are any oil field supply and repair places that far east in ND but if there are they deal with some large pieces of metal. Even water well drilling places use some heavy items such as very thick walled pipe which go behind the drill bit as weights. There may be a term of art for them but I can't recall it. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Topp Posted March 9, 2021 Author Share Posted March 9, 2021 Oil stuff is pretty much all out west. Only things I can get easily from the oil fields is sucker rod and well casing. I’m going to see about contacting a coal mine. See if there’s and scrap, an axle or something. I went to an auction and there was a drag line axle that had to be 12-16” in diameter and a good 8’ long. Huge. Something like that would be fantastic I imagine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Topp Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 Changing my dies to a standard bolt on system. Welded to the plates this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Topp Posted March 17, 2021 Author Share Posted March 17, 2021 Bolt on dies and bolt on spring tooling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 On 3/8/2021 at 2:06 PM, ThomasPowers said: There is an old saying "If you believe you can or if you believe you can't---you are always right!" It was Henry Ford and nobody knows just what he said originally. Henry Ford said, “If you believe you can do something or you can’t do something, you are right.” There isn't much for "industry" in Alaska though folks here break lots of stuff and need a lot of special stuff so there are shops aplenty. Finding stock for power hammer dies was a matter of a couple phone calls to find a machine shop that made parts for heavy equipment and a 25 minute drive. I picked up enough 4140 to make half a dozen die sets for my 50lb. LG. for less than scrap. The guy told me $20. I said thank you and he said come again. Justin: People have been suggesting places to find suitable steel for some time now. If you keep telling them how they find stock won't work they'll stop suggesting things to you. Please, don't explain how insurmountable finding stock is for you, I've heard it more than enough already. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Topp Posted March 18, 2021 Author Share Posted March 18, 2021 Fair enough, your right Frosty. I’m sorry everyone. I do appreciate the suggestions even if it came off like I didn’t. here’s a hammer forged under the beam hammer. Only hand forging was slight planishing and the drifting, along with the stamping. All the stock prep, fullering, and punching was under the hammer. Each side was fullered in 2 heats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 Suggestions are posted for more than just the poster; they are broadcast to the world and may help others with similar problems thousands of miles away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greebe Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 Justin-- Nice it looks like it is working out well for you. Glad to see that. I bought a Leeson 2hp 1750 TEFC Motor to build one of these, but still am trying to get my press shipped through Canada so I am waiting on that first. On 3/17/2021 at 6:08 PM, Frosty said: Justin: People have been suggesting places to find suitable steel for some time now. If you keep telling them how they find stock won't work they'll stop suggesting things to you. Please, don't explain how insurmountable finding stock is for you, I've heard it more than enough already. To his defense I am in the same boat here as well so it is an issue depending on where you live. I live far out in the country in MN, and the closest city, 2300 people, is about 40 minutes away. There is pretty much nothing out where I live and the few farms that are still around have sold off anything made of metal to help "save the farm". For a few years you would see scrappers driving around buying anything they could for cheap to sell as scrap. As a result there is really nothing around here. The one guy I knew that had a potato farm had a large pile of scrap, but he would not sell any of it to me, because he wanted to have it hauled to the city and auctioned off. I thought that was quite weird, but to each his own. Not trying to create an argument, just stating that there are areas that are iron scarce, I can attest to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 22, 2021 Share Posted April 22, 2021 Granted, there are places where the only steel was/is brought in. There are many places in Alaska where a piece of angle iron has to be flown in as an external load on a ski/float plane or on a sled behind a snowmobile in winter. If you live in one of the large towns you can have it air freighted in or freighted on a barge a couple times a year. I understand hard to get, I live in one of the largest cities in Alaska and have to special order many things folks in the lower 48 think of as off the shelf. The point I was making, evidently not clearly enough was. If all your responses to offers of advice are negative, eg. that won't work. People will stop offering ideas and advice. That has nothing to do with the reality of your "situation" it has to do with human nature. Seriously, if none of my ideas are any good why offer them? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greebe Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 On 4/22/2021 at 12:01 PM, Frosty said: Granted, there are places where the only steel was/is brought in. There are many places in Alaska where a piece of angle iron has to be flown in as an external load on a ski/float plane or on a sled behind a snowmobile in winter. If you live in one of the large towns you can have it air freighted in or freighted on a barge a couple times a year. I understand hard to get, I live in one of the largest cities in Alaska and have to special order many things folks in the lower 48 think of as off the shelf. The point I was making, evidently not clearly enough was. If all your responses to offers of advice are negative, eg. that won't work. People will stop offering ideas and advice. That has nothing to do with the reality of your "situation" it has to do with human nature. Seriously, if none of my ideas are any good why offer them? Frosty The Lucky. Yeah it is all good. I understand the Alaska issue as well. I lived there most of my life until 2009 when my wife and I moved out to buy a large piece of land in the lower 48. It is nice to have land, but we regret leaving Alaska most of the time. The last three years there we lived in Nome, and I worked for the state traveling all over western Alaska to villages. Blacksmithing could be a challenge up there though because of having to try to find equipment to buy and fly in. When we moved I sold pretty much everything off because it cost so much to fly it back out. Funny part is though if you were a scrounger there was more metal up there from old mining then I could ever hope to find here. Now I have a machine shop which is something I could never do up there, so that is nice, and I am building up a blacksmith shop again. Every place has its advantages and disadvantages I guess. Edit: Found the old thread when I first came to the forum and talked about leaving Alaska. We talked on the phone or through email back in 2003-4 about doing some smithing together, but never made it happen. Time flies. Sorry for derailing the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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