[TheForge] Re: steel vs. concrete

[Thomas A. Troszak]

> From: Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer <artgawk@thegrid.net
> Your arguments are convincing..excellent...but my hand still hurts.
> Mass it is... am I correct in assuming  high strength reinforced
> concrete will do? It'll be a lot  cheaper than  a massive slab of
> steel..(I'm assuming).


Dear Peter and Phoebe,

Hmmm... A ton of concrete is better than a ton of wood, but a (single chunk)
ton of steel will still work the best, IMHO, but you do what you gotta do.

Big slabs of steel can be $0.15/lb at the scrapyard ($300/ton) or even less
if you dicker.  Downright reasonable, if you ask me. You can drag that
sucker home on a U-Haul trailer, drag it into the shop, slap that hammer up
there, and go to work. Figure $0.50 - $0.75 for new steel delivered
depending on your location.

Compare that with the effort of digging, and mixing, and pouring a ton of
cement, and the steel gets my vote every time. Your experience may vary.

With the steel slab option, you can move the hammer if you want without
digging a new hole... You can take it with you if you move and keep your
investment.   Just thoughts.

Remember to put the mass (whatever it is) directly under the blows (centered
under the anvil part), not under the back frame of the hammer, won't do any
good back there.

If you simply must dig, then I suggest you go deep rather than wide.

Tom Troszak