[TheForge] Tongs & power hammer - a safety issue?

Mon Jan 12 16:17:00 2004

Dave,

I see you're suffering from Mondayitis too.  See previous reponse.

Bob Patrick did mention not to have the tongs in line with your body. 
Apparently a well known smith got a tong rein through his leg in a power
hammer accident.  Tom Clark puts a ball end on his commercial tong-reins
to help prevent such an accident.  

Bruce
NJ

>>> [email protected] 1/12/2004 1:57:11 PM >>>

Bruce, I like others don't yet see the safety issue you talk about --
at
least not with the tongs I use unless you are so far into the dies that
you
are well past the pivot point -- and this is something I am not likely
to
do.

At our December meeting of the AACB we had Steve Jordan demonstrated on
the
power hammer.  He is from Ohio and has quite an extensive industrial
experience using power hammers.  His big safety message was to think
about
where you hold the tongs -- NOT IN FRONT of YOUR BODY but always to
the
side.  (Same applies to stock if not using tongs.)  He has see cases
of
tongs or stock being pushed into ones person in the case of a
misaligned
strike of a large hammer. Rather serious accident, in one case all the
way
to the backbone. (By misaligned I mean on the near edge of the dies so
it
pushes the material towards the operator.)  Most of us hold stock or
tongs
in our dominate hand when under the power hand rather than in our off
hand.
In my case this is my right hand.  If holding stock and a top tool I
hold
the top tool in my  hand left hand most of the time too.  Steve point
is
that for a right hand person like myself I should then use my LEFT foot
to
control the treadle.  This puts my body so that it is natural to have
the
stock on my right side and not in front of me.  I thought this was a
really
good safety message.  I had never given thought to which foot I used on
the
treadle of a power hammer.

Dave Smucker

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce Freeman" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 8:39 AM
Subject: [TheForge] Tongs & power hammer - a safety issue?

> Just back from Gichner's Hammer In.
>
> Bob Patrick mentioned a danger of getting tongs under a power hammer
> (by accident, of course) - hammer slams the jaws together, and if
you've
> got a finger in the way, you lose it.   Solutions:  Don't put your
> fingers between the reins, and don't get the jaws under the power
> hammer.
>
> But of course I immediately "invented" a safety tongs for which this
> wouldn't be an issue.  Question is, is there any real need for such
a
> safety tongs?  0pinions, please.
>
> Bruce
> NJ
>
>
> --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
> multipart/alternative
>   text/plain (text body -- kept)
>   text/html
> The reason this message is shown is because the post was in HTML
> or had an attachment.  Attachments are not allowed.  To learn how
> to post in Plain-Text go to: http://www.expita.com/nomime.html  ---
> _______________________________________________
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  [email protected]
> password:  anvil
> ___________
>
>
>
_______________________________________________
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
theforge mail list group photo site is
http://www.photoaccess.com
Login:  [email protected]
password:  anvil
___________

--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
The reason this message is shown is because the post was in HTML
or had an attachment.  Attachments are not allowed.  To learn how
to post in Plain-Text go to: http://www.expita.com/nomime.html  ---