[TheForge] Sow blocks. Why?

[Roger R Degner]

I was always told the removable sow block was designed that if something
happened to the dovetail i.e. the dies broke out it was an easier fix
just to take out the block and replace.

Was told never to remove the block and place the dies down below because
when the large piece you are forging is out of the hammer and you would
continue to hit it could severely damage the hammer as is bend and brake
valuable pieces.

But then I have been told a lot of things that weren't true both good
and bad sometimes I listen and sometimes not.

On another topic any blacksmith events in the US this winter/spring
other than UMBA in Feb and March, Northern MN in April and BAM and UMBA
in May

Roger R Degner



--

Hello all,

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.