Smithin Magician

[ThomasPowers]

Why I have anvil stands in a variety of heights.  Blasted 6'4" students are a pain though....

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Thomas

Or sand stands!!!

Randy

that guillotine looks pretty slick! 

[George N. M.]

I have used my gilloutine tool under my treadle hammer and it has worked well even though it does cut down on the travel of the hammer.  I just have to push with my leg a bit harder.

I would say that a design where you can pass the work piece through the jaws at either 90 degrees or parallel would be the most useful.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Glenn]

The overall height of the tool and the target area height for the hammer is a consideration.  

If the tool is used much, the top die may mushroom under the repeated impact of a hammer.

Depending on the design of the tool, slag and debris may collect below the bottom die or collect in the rails.  An easy to clean tool is helpful, but the tool can be simply tuned up side down, and the debris dumped out.  This is fine for a time or two but under heavy use gets bothersome.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I was thinking bout just blowing it out once in awhile with the air compressor from the shop

does anyone use a stand alone tooling stand in their smithy like I’m thinking about building?

[BillyBones]

Ask and ye shall recieve. 

yes i know, i need to take a grinder to the tops of the dies, actually the one in my C frame needs a new shank. I have ground it so much that it does not close all the way now. However it has been a long time since i have used it so i will put it off until i need it. My H frame i bought the same weekend as Quadstate '21, so just over a year old. The amount of mushrooming on the top die should give an idea of how much i use it. One of these days i will also replace that missing bolt. 

The H frame one was made by Bob Cruikshank before he passed on. 

On the C frame one you can see how the height effects how you hit it. 

Also on the C frame one, i have re-orientated my anvil since the last time i used it so my hardy is on the "wrong" side now. Just have to stand on the "wrong" side of my anvil to use it now. 

I can not remember for the life of why i cut the 2 notches in the dies on the C frame one either. 

 

Edited December 13, 2022 by BillyBones
Forgot to add maker

[George N. M.]

Billy, I think it largely depends on the amount of room you have in your shop.  If you've got lots of room having a different station for each process has something to recommend it but if you spread out your work area, particularly where you work with hot metal you start to loose heat between stations.  There is the usual work triangle of forge, anvil, and vise but if you start adding things it becomes a work square, pentagon, etc. and spreads out.

I think it depends on how often you use a particular tool.  My treadle hammer is outside my normal work triangle but I don't use it as often as the other 3.  My gillotine tool hangs on the wall and can be placed on the anvil or treadle hammer when I need it.  I don't see using it often enough to give it a specific location.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Shainarue]

If I recall correctly, this is how Billy's space is laid out. I added the "tool post" where I thought it would fit best with the flow. But I also recall there being a treadle hammer somewhere to the right of the anvil - so it might impede the path to that ...

Now that he's explained why he thought he'd mount it to a post, it makes complete sense. And for me, if that tooling post was close by the anvil, then even better.

[Frosty]

I understand your desire to use the sq. hole plate Oklahoma Billy and was surprised to see my 45* guillotine tool again. The only things on it that aren't light steel are the steel base plate and shank. The dies are from a straight flat spring and when the top die gets too mushroomed or I need something else I still have the leaf spring to make fresh dies from. A bimetal blade in my cutoff bandsaw and a little grinding does it, call it 10-15 minutes depending on how long it takes to find the leaf and clear the saw. 

I made it a 45* C frame so I can work stock across or parallel to the length and clear up to about 3" between dies and frame. It didn't need to be a heavy frame because I don't strike it at an angle or hit the frame. 

If I've got lots of work for it, cutting, fullering, swaging, whatever I lay the swage block on it's side and roll the NARB forge over so my work triangle includes the swage stand. 

Were I to make another I'd made some changes but I'm happy with the basic layout and function.

Frosty The Lucky.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

2 hours ago, George N. M. said:

If you've got lots of room having a different station for each process has something to recommend it but if you spread out your work area, particularly where you work with hot metal you start to loose heat between stations

I got the room George!

loosing heat isn’t really an issue either cause I’ve got a lot of different forges to work with I can just set up another forging station next to the tool post

2 hours ago, Shainarue said:

But I also recall there being a treadle hammer somewhere to the right of the anvil - so it might impede the path to that

Your spot on Shaina that’s the setup in the west corner!

An your right the treadle hammer is over in that direction so a tool post will have to be setup elsewhere and have a separate forge to use with it,

that all being said with the exception of the treadle hammer nothing is bolted down and I have tractors!!!! Lol 

so I can reconfigure the smithy an play around with placement on stuff if I don’t like where something is! 

 

[Frosty]

You're my kind of guy Billy!

Frosty The Lucky.

[PHDforge]

I happened upon 12 x 12 x 1 inch plate and decided to make a stand for it. Have access to a milling machine and milled a 1” square hardy hole. I set the height lower than my anvil to make it easy to use with my guillotine tool. (Lowers hammering height)

Only problem is that I wished a drilled some additional holes in the plate before welding it to the stand. 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

That’s Awesome Bob!!!

I’m curious, what would you use the extra holes for?

[PHDforge]

I came up with an idea to mount various pipe sizes to a hardy shank

I can change to different pipe sizes to form different radii with the adapters. What I didn’t include was a stop to hold the piece close to the pipe.

if I had holes in the plate, I could mount an adjustable stop- like ones used on milling machines.

I may grind out the welds holding the plate to the tube to be able to bring the plate back to the mill for extra holes someday.

 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

That’s interesting Bob!

I wonder if you can’t make an adjustable pipe jig that has the extra holes In it that you couldn’t weld a hardy stem on an leave the tooling post alone?