[TheForge] Sow blocks. Why?

[Rick Korinek]

Hello all,

I have been thinking about the height limitations between the dies of Little
Giant power hammers since seeing Ralph Sproul's demo in Minnesota last Fall.
Ralph, and perhaps others have made air hammers with longer throws to allow
for the use of more diverse tooling with flat dies.

Well, I have a 50 lb LG with a removable sow block.  The height of the sow
is 6".  It looks like the dovetail slots at the bottom of the sow are the
same as that of the bottom die.

It seems to me that removing the sow block would give a person an extra 6"
of height for tooling and stock between the dies.  It's not that this setup
would allow one to forge larger stock that the hammer is physically capable
of (about 2" for my 50 pounder).  It's that one would simply have more room
for the tooling above the stock.  So, for example, a person could forge 3-4"
pipe into round balls or really big cattail fronds...  

My question to members of theForge is:  Is this kind of work the kind of
thing the removable sow block was designed?  Perhaps the question might be:
What is the purpose or reason for the manufacturer to modify the original
hammer design to add the removable sow block?  Probably would have been a
good question for Fred Kaylor, alas.

If this approach is possible, there is a whole other level of use for this
type of hammer than I have been aware of.  Until now, I have been thinking
that the hammer was limited to the use of low-profile tooling between flat
dies.

Most interested in your thoughts,

-Rick Korinek

Ps.  It was great to see you in MN, Ralph.