[TheForge] Treadle Hammer Springs

[Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer]

Hi Marc;
I went the other way with longer arms and about 95 # falling 
weight. As you surmised, it's slow but has the mass behind it 
for deeper penetration...when i need to do a lot of lighter, 
faster blows,i insert a longer, smaller spring inside my rebound 
spring resulting in a much faster cycle time....pete f

Marc wrote:
> I used Clay Spencer's plans as a basis for TH and used his spring
> concept. Basically, they're half-springs from a garage door. You heat
> the center with a torch until you can fold the spring in half, then cut
> it and make a hook with each cut end. My hammer has three of these
> half-springs, and they're constantly under tension.
> 
> One difference I made was to go with a lighter hammer head, only about
> 35 lbs., and the three springs would normally be used for a 70-lb'er.
> But I wanted to get a quick return that way and get a higher rate of
> blows per minute. It's also easier to control light blows for things
> like veining leaves. I don't usually work anything heavier than 3/4", so
> I don't need a real big mass. This thing will draw out a 5/8" RR spike
> just fine. Much, much easier than by hand.
> 
> --Marc
> 
> On Sat, 2007-03-17 at 19:28 -0700, Bruce Freeman wrote:
> 
>> If a spring doesn't have an initial tension, this is
>> not an issue.  That is my guess as to why some people
>> prefer small springs to garage-door springs.
>>
>> Bruce
>> NJ
>>
>>
>> --- xlch58 at swbell.net wrote:
>>
>>> Steve Smith wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Bruce Freeman wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Rumor has it that multiple small springs are
>>> better
>>>>> than one large spring, and you see some treadle
>>>>> hammers so constructed.  I haven't given this
>>> enough
>>>>> though to explain why this should be true.  
> 
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