[TheForge] press, riveting, air hammer

[Andrew Vida]

Worthy pursuit!  I am a long fan of riveted construction.  Strong, 
durable, looks good... what more can you ask for?  Ever consider writing 
a manual?

Steve howell wrote:
> 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 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. 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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-- 

	-Andy V.

You made them strong.
We make them Army dead.