[TheForge] cheap top swages

[Rob Fertner]

I got mine too. I only ordered one set of two. The larger of the two has
it's handle wedged with a wooden wedge. The smaller had a barely dressed
branch driven through the eye with no wedge. They both have 3/4 inch swage
groove. The larger one is 3.2 lbs with a 2.25 X 2.75 inch face. It looks
more roughly forged than the smaller one, but is stamped iron city inside a
6 sided star. The smaller one is 2.2 lbs with a 1 5/8 X 1 7/8 face and it
looks unused. The face has clean sharp corners and no markings. They both
have some surface rust. 
The smaller one could easily be made into a set hammer and the larger one
could be reforged into a flatter.
All in all, I think they were a good deal.

Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of dann at wctatel.net
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2012 1:37 PM
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] cheap top swages


Two "sets" ( 4 handled swages ) arrived yesterday.  Handle length varied
from 16 inches to 23.5 inches.

The two most similar were stamped with a 19, and  had 19.5 inch handles, and
neither of these  had ever been wedged in to the head. Two of the swage
heads simply fell off, as I took them out of the shipping box. The two heads
that didn't fall off had their handles loosely wedged in the way nature
intended.

None of the heads have ever been struck with a hammer's blow.
They could be 5 years old, or they could be 50 years old.  The machined
surfaces have a very light surface rust on the faces.  With black paint on
the sides of the heads.

I'd think that these swages are intended to have about a 1 kilo head weight.
Of the 4 that I got, the lightest head weighed from 2 pounds 3 oz and the
heaviest head weighed  2 pounds 10 oz.
The radius of all 4 of the swages appeared just over 3/4 inch diameter.
The two most similar looking swage heads varied by 4 oz in weight.

I ordered the 2nd set when I noted that  cost of shipping appeared to be the
same for ordering  two sets, as on one set.  My first thought was that these
might have come from Russia, or India  but one handle had a partial sticker
( old looking - label  ) attached with French words on it.

Dann


> This isn't so bad, I've been in Museums that managed to misidentify 
> everything but the anvil. One in SE Alaska had a manakin (sp?) wearing 
> a leather apron holding a drill bit on the anvil and a top swage 
> upside down in it's right. The forge was set up with the blower crank 
> on the far side and the shield nearest the "smith." Oh yeah, it was 
> wearing yellow safety glasses. Gotta be safe you know.
>
> A misidentification that saves a fellow a few bucks is a good thing.
>
> Frosty The Lucky.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Albin Drzewianowski" <dski1045 at qis.net>
> To: <blakkpawss at yahoo.com>; "'Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA'"
> <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2012 5:03 PM
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] cheap top swages
>
>
>>I got that same catalog in today's mail and got a big chuckle out of 
>>the  fact that they were describing these as British  Military WWII
hammers.
>> You'd think someone would have tipped the copy editor to the fact 
>>that  they  were blacksmith tools.
>>
>> D-ski
>> Westminster, MD
>> The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.
>>
>>
>
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