[TheForge] Hydraulic Forging Press

[Bob Ehrenberger]

Dan,

We made our press primarily to make damascus and it is great for that.  It
also works great for reducing large stock.  I have made spacers/stops and
they work great for making tennons a spicific size. Last week I made a set
of spoon swage dies and that has worked real well.

The one thing that it really stinks at, is working anything real thin. Once
you get down to about 3/16th it sucks the heat out before it moves.  Also we
don't use it for any cold work, the idea of all that power with no where to
go is kind of scary. Maybe once we get more experience we'll try it.

The longer we have it the more uses we find for it.

Bob Ehrenberger
Shelbyville, Mo

irontree@visi.com wrote:
> okay...This is gonna sound foolish...what do you use a forging press for?
I
> can think of a few uses, but most of the ones I can think of could be
better
> done with a hammer.  Most of the conversations about various machines have
> given me ideas about how I could use them in my shop to make better
curves,
> better welds, or increase speed of production runs.......
>
> so besides pressing on bearings, and bending something between some dies
(which
> is why I has a hossfeld).....What is this for?  can you weld with it?  Is
it
> better than a powerhammer?  I seem to remember something about damascus
> billets.  Are they fast?  I have seen plans for homemade hand operated
ones
> that use carjacks.  Will these do the same job?...I guess the practical
upshot
> of this is....why should I want one?
>
> dan
> http://