[TheForge] Re: 1018

[Mike]

> ...tell me the best steel for dies/the main anvil for an air hammer?

Not *the* answer, just an anecdotal aside:

We [1] had a meet here last week and I had a chance to try a 250#
Beaudry that David Rahman has spent a lot of time tuning up.  He had
made large, flat, mild steel dies and had found, predictably, that they
got dinged up really easily.  So he faced both with (what looked like)
ca. 1/4" of hard steel.  They were doing fine with no visible warping
or cracking of the welds.  This hammer doesn't bash out heavy work all
day long every day but I gather he uses it pretty hard when he uses
it.

- Mike



[1] "We..."

Dean & Eileen Piesner got a blacksmithing group going years ago before they
moved to Ontario but it faded away from lack of active participation.

Wayne Jay and Brad Allen have done all the tedious, boring stuff to
get it restarted and with great success.  We had our first meet last
fall at the Ross Farm Museum blacksmith shop with demos, hands-on for
beginners etc.  Last week a dozen or more folks showed up despite the
fact that it was snowing steadily and the whole province was still
digging out from the the worst blizzard in recorded NS history.  Some
of the antique engine club guys are showing an interest, too.

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer@tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^

--