[TheForge] Period power hammer?

[David E. Smucker]

Philip,  I may be in error by a 100 years.  Here is a quote from an article 
I did for the AACB Newsletter back in 2003.

This past January I had the good fortune to take part in a Treadle Hammer 
workshop that was held in Birmingham, Alabama.  I have lots to tell you 
about that workshop but first I want to take some time to look at background 
on the Treadle Hammer and discuss some of the engineering behind the Clay 
Spencer In Line Hammers that we built.

I have heard some folks say that the treadle hammer is a rather modern 
invention since "blacksmiths used to always have strikers, so why would they 
need a treadle hammer - labor was cheap you know."  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.)  Anyone who has tried making chain will see the 
advantage of having two hands to hold the work while "striking" with your 
foot.  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.

The Old Sturbridge Village Blacksmith Shop in Sturbridge, MA has a treadle 
hammer that dates from around 1830.  It used a "wooden spring", treadle, and 
had its own custom anvil set very close to the floor."



So much for using your memory.  But Cromwell was 1600's and the name would 
have come somewhere close to the English Civil War of 1642 - to 1649.  What 
I don't have in front of me is my orginal notes and where I got the above 
information.  Most likely from an internet search.  I do some more looking 
for that.



Dave Smucker



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Saint Phlip" <phlip at 99main.com>
To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 5:37 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Period power hammer?


> Dave- do you have some documentation for treadle hammers from about
> 1600? Inquiring SCAdians need to know ;-)
>
> On Jan 2, 2008 3:31 PM, David E. Smucker <davesmucker at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Consider both a treadle hammer and / or a flypress.  In a one or two 
>> person
>> shop you can do almost anything you can do with a small power hammer --  
>> only
>> slower with more heats.  Treadle hammers date from the 1600's and were 
>> used
>> in making chain.  Flypress are newer, but at least 200 years old.
>>
>> Dave Smucker
>
> -- 
> Saint Phlip
>
> Heat it up
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> Priorities:
>
> It's the smith who makes the tools, not the tools which make the smith.
>
> .I never wanted to see anybody die, but there are a few obituary
> notices I have read with pleasure. -Clarence Darrow
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