[TheForge] Chain & Treadle Video -- Great

Sat May 1 21:14:00 2004

Great video Mike !

I have now watched a whole bunch of times -- still trying to see what he is
doing with his right hand when using the treadle hammer.  It seems to me
that he can position the hammer head itself from right to left by the lever
he works with his right hand.  ???

When I did a article last year on Clay Spencer's Treadle Hammer Work Shop I
found a few interesting things about the history of treadle hammers.

"The fact is that treadle hammers have been around since at least the 18th
century and most likely a little earlier.  Records show that they were used
in the chain making trade in the 1700's in England.  The Royal Navy, British
merchant ships and industry were using a great deal of chain in general.
The largest chain tended to be made by men but most of the common size chain
was manufactured under sweatshop conditions by women.  One of the tools they
used was a 25 to 50 pound treadle hammer that they called an "Oliver".
(Named after Oliver "the hammer" Cromwell who led the Parliamentarian
victory in the English Civil War 1642-1649.)   British chain making was a
cutthroat business and even with cheap labor there just were not extra
hands.  Work was done as piecework and workers paid directly for their
material and fuel out of the wages they received for finished chain."

Thanks again Mike for putting this video on the AFC site.  This guy could
beat even Tom Clark -- make sure he is not in the Forging Contest at
Tannehill !!!!!

Dave Smucker

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Linn" <[email protected]>
To: "ArtMetal" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2004 10:17 PM
Subject: [TheForge] Chain & Treadle Video

>
> All,
>
>          I got ahold of an OLD movie on chain making at the Netherton
> Ironworks of Noah Hingley & Sons Ltd. over across the pond. This movie
> dates from early last century and shows various craftsmen making chain,
> anchors and the like. Ive pulled out a 53 second snippet and converted it
> to mpg and placed it on the AFC website for all to enjoy. This particular
> excerpt sows a guy making a link with that aid of a unique treadle hammer,
> and lemme tell you the guy can dance a jig on that hammer.
>
> anyway the video is about 4.7Mb which was about a small as I could make it
> and still be visible. The entire movie is about 20 min and 750 Mb.
>
> I cant figure out how to get the thing to launch by clicking on it but you
> can right click on the button, select "save target as" and save it to your
> drive.
>
> Enjoy   http://afc.abana-chapter.com
>
> mike
>
>
>
>
>
>
>             Mike Linn
>       Artist Blacksmith
>           McCalla, AL
>         AFC Webmaster
> http://afc.abana-chapter.com
>
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