[TheForge] press, riveting, air hammer

[Steve howell]

Ben- 
'The Batson Book' is what you want for building a forging press. I believe the movement started with a bunch of guys using log splitters and converting them into presses. A lot of homemade designs are still based on that concept. I have an 'H' frame press http://ballardforge.com/images/60tonpress.jpg<http://ballardforge.com/images/60tonpress.jpg> that to the best of my knowledge is close to 60 ton. With the 2-stage log splitter pump the ram just flies down to the work. Lately, I've been using mine for some large scale riveting, validating techniques and such; http://ballardforge.com/web/rivets.html<http://ballardforge.com/web/rivets.html>. I've actually been doing quite a bit of work to that end as my company www.sahale.com<http://www.sahale.com/> is possibly going to be rebuilding/retrofitting an 1890's riveted truss near Decatur, Ga. Obviously we'd like to complement the historic aspect. Most chord members would be press-riveted here in the shop, final connections made on site via pneumatic hammers. 

Bob- as others have mentioned, prices have decreased a lot since the turn of the century. I paid more for vises and anvils 12 years ago than I have lately. 6" vises available today for 150$ in the NW is a bargain. That was close to 300-350$ in the past. Same goes for hammers. I've been hearing about prices in the 1-2000$ range for little giants. I'd lean towards that if I had to have a hammer. Of course, you could build a kinyon or junkyard hammer for that much or less. What's your time worth? When I built my kinyon it took 6 months and too much time scrounging yards for material. I wound up having to buy some stuff new , although at that time steel was 45 cents a lb. Ancient Chinese proverb say '... a machine is only scrap metal unless it's running...'

Steve Howell
Seattle
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