[TheForge] Fw: Fw: Power Hammer for Nicaragua

Sun Jun 28 19:55:55 EDT 2009

I gotta say, that, for $2500, in most parts of the USA, you can buy a  
pretty decent 25lb or 50lb Little Giant, and that would be hands down  
a better hammer to export than a homemade junkyard hammer.
Little Giants are not my tool of choice, but for the money, they are  
hard to beat, and most of em have already survived 50 years or so of  
neglect, hard work, and adverse conditions, and there is no reason to  
suspect they wouldnt survive another 50 in Central America.

Whereas a cobbled together frankenhammer would be harder to repair,   
and less user friendly. Little Giants are designed to be pretty idiot  
proof, speaking as an idiot.

ries

On Jun 28, 2009, at 4:48 PM, David E. Smucker wrote:

I should correct two things I said -- as I think about the cost of  
complete
tire hammers it is about $ 2500, not $2000.  (There is a lot of labor  
to get
from the material cost of $ 1200 to the finished hammer.)

Also I was all wrong on the ABA -- I think the America Blade  
Association is
more likely.

As to finding the "spare" tire in junk yards -- a lot of those mini vans
have made there way around the world.  Also making the tire hammer using
trailer axels and tires has worked very well too.  Lots of options for
these.  Most likely the hardest thing to find would be the coil spring.
Clay has had these made just for the workshops but you might well find a
spring shop in many countries that could make the springs.  I have  
known the
dies to be made from railroad rail, (the head) or from heavy truck axes.
While the anvil mass has been made from heavy rounds (6 inch typical)
several piece of heavy stock like railroad rail would also work welded
together.  Lots of ways to skin that cat.

As I said before this is a hard hammer to beat for control.

Dave

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Dick Snow" <dick.snow at pobox.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 3:13 PM
To: "'Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA'" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Fw:  Power Hammer for Nicaragua

> There's a CS Tire Hammer for sale in the Raleigh area of NC for  
> $2500. It
> was made at our workshop a couple of years ago and has never been  
> used. I
> hesitate to publicly publish a phone number but here's his email  
> address
> p.lowjr at att.net (Parks Low). I think Clay may have some for sale  
> also so
> you
> could try him at clay at tirehammer.com .
>
> Dick Snow
> Datalytics, Incorporated
> Efland, NC
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of David E.  
> Smucker
> Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 2:59 PM
> To: TheForge
> Subject: [TheForge] Fw: Power Hammer for Nicaragua
>
> Terry,  To the best of my knowledge, the ABA is the Artist Blacksmith
> Association -- a British group similar to ABANA, but with a higher
> percentage of professional smiths.  (different history)
>
> As to the cost of a power hammer, i.e.. the Clay Spencer tire hammer,
> finished they cost about $ 2000 plus shipping etc.  Material is in the
> range
>
> of $ 1200 based on new, but with scrap can be much less.  High cost  
> items
> are the anvil, and motor.  Followed by the spring and bearings.  The  
> spare
> tire if from a scrap yard can be low cost.  This is a very good  
> hammer --
> I
> would say the best mechanical hammer out there today because of the  
> very
> good control.  (I have one of the early ones made in a workshop.)   
> There
> are
>
> very good plans for this from Clay for $ 25.  Do a Google and you  
> can find
> a
>
> lot of information.
>
> Dave
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "terry l. ridder" <terrylr at blauedonau.com>
> Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 2:33 AM
> To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Power Hammer for Nicaragua
>
>> hello;
>>
>> okay, sounds like a worthy project. i do have various questions  
>> that i
>> would rather ask here than of a person i do not know.
>>
>> what does 'abs' stand for?
>> does anyone know burt foster?
>> does anyone know of the missionary mike diebert?
>>
>> depending on the answers i would be willing to underwrite a hammer or
>> two. it is not clear to me what type of hammer he is looking for. i
>> assume a treadle hammer. however, he does use the phrase 'power  
>> hammer'
>> throughout the e-mail.
>>
>> does it cost $3,000.00 usd to build a clay spencer-style power  
>> hammer?
>> i honest do not know, i have never looked at the clay spencer-style
>> power hammer.
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 28 Jun 2009, Dave Mudge wrote:
>>
>>> Dave,
>>>
>>> I'm not an ABANA member, I'm an ABS mastersmith, but I have  
>>> something
>>> that might be near and dear to a lot of ABANA folks. I want to know
>>> if you'd be willing to post the following thread on the ABANA forum.
>>> If not, that's cool. I just thought that North American blacksmiths
>>> would probably be in a position to help out a good cause in a
>>> not-so-great part of the world. Thanks, Burt Foster
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hey guys,
>>>
>>> I need some help with something. Anyone who's an ABS member saw the
>>> story about Jason Knight going to Nicaragua last year to work with a
>>> guy named Mike Diebert who's an American missionary running a
>>> blacksmithing trade school in Nicaragua to teach a valuable trade to
>>> men who have very little options when it comes to supporting their
>>> families.
>>>
>>> After Jason got back, he and I talked several times about returning
>>> together to work more with Mike and his students on different  
>>> aspects
>>> of making knives. A big part of our reason to return was the idea of
>>> building a power hammer for the school (specifically a Clay
>>> Spencer-style spare tire hammer). These guys do a ton of forging and
>>> it's all done by hand. Large work is done by gang hammering with 2  
>>> or
>>> 3 strikers and one man holding the steel. It works but it's not
>>> efficient and it takes a lot of time. Another problem is that Mike  
>>> is
>>> training these guys so they can return to their home towns, open up
>>> shop for themselves and become self-sufficient. This is hard when  
>>> they
>>> face the possibility of going home and having to figure out how to  
>>> do
>>> the work of several men alone.
>>>
>>> However, the more we thought about, it, Jason and I weren't sure we
>>> could find what we would need and build the whole hammer in the week
>>> we were there. I've committed to Mike that I'll get him a hammer one
>>> way or the other, and the best option as I see it is to buy one here
>>> and have it sent down on a container. One obvious benefit of this
>>> style of hammer is that once these guys get a hammer down there and
>>> start using it, along with a set of Clay's plans, they can figure  
>>> out
>>> how it works and begin to build others. This way, when a guy returns
>>> home, he can take with him a tool that he can use by himself to run
>>> his own shop and support his family.
>>>
>>> What we'd like to do is to raise $3000 for this project so that we  
>>> can
>>> buy a hammer in nice condition and have enough left over to send him
>>> some grinding belts and other things they very much need. (And Mike
>>> has connections that will allow us to ship the hammer for no cost to
>>> either him or us).
>>>
>>> I think we can send money through his parent organization so I don't
>>> have to personally take the money, and you can use it as a tax
>>> write-off if you're so inclined.
>>>
>>> For those interested, Mike's web site is:http://www.esvoministries.com
>>>
>>> If you can give anything at all, please do. $20, $100, whatever.  
>>> This
>>> is a great cause, this guy has a big heart for God and wants to show
>>> the love of God to these people in a very tangible way.
>>>
>>> Contact me at burt at burtfoster.com and we'll nail down all the  
>>> donation
>>> information.
>>>
>>> Thanks Guys,
>>> Burt
>>>
>>> P.S. If anyone has a line on a hammer, please let me know.
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>>
>> -- 
>> terry l. ridder ><>
>
>
>
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Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist
http://www.riesniemi.com/