[TheForge] Coordinated Hammers (was: Light weight forging equipment)

[Daniel T Hayes]

Problem #1: The two hammer setup set up doubles the work required to get the
same result. Whatever work you put into lifting the one hammer also has to
go into lifting the opposing hammer.

Problem #2: It will be impossible to get the timing perfect and the result
will be like Frosty's example of holding the work off the bottom die in a
power hammer. The work together with the two hammers would act very much
like a three pendulum "executive pacifier" (those swinging clacking
suspended steel ball toys). The work piece will not ride along in contact
with the first hammer to strike but rather bounce completely off (toward the
second hammer). When the second hammer hits the back and forth action will
begin.  Neither safe nor efficient from a mechanics/physics perspective. Red
hot steel would have about the same rebound as using lead balls in the
pendulum toy but placing cold work would be exciting.

I'm sure you could work out an arrangement to control/minimize the problems
but in the end I doubt the result would be either safe or smaller/lighter
than the original anvil-hammer combination. As a minimum you'd double the
work required. You last sentence pretty well sums it up; "But, I can do the
same thing with ONE hammer and an anvil!"

Dan

-----Original Message-----
From: TheForge [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce
.
Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2014 2:36 PM
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: [TheForge] Coordinated Hammers (was: Light weight forging
equipment)

The safety fix could be to have two parallel striking surfaces.  Either the
hammers strike the workpiece, or, if somebody goofs and doesn't insert the
workpiece, the secondary striking surfaces hit each other.  These latter
would be made of unhardened steel, so might deform but wouldn't shatter.

The secondary surfaces could be remote from the primary hammers so as not to
be in the way.  The gap between the primary hammers could be made adjustable
by adjusting the secondary ones  -- which could be a neat feature if you're
trying to forge to a set thickness.

Of course, if you build a mechanical hammer like this, somebody is gonna
complain that they can't swing the hammer by hand!  (Voice of experience
speaking here.)

Which brings on the next thought.  Suppose you took two hand hammers (or
thing that were nearly so) and connected them through some guidance
mechanism vaguely resembling a lazy tongs or pantograph such that the faces
come together at the workpiece.  Use a tool balancer (to take the weight and
to allow some motion of the mechanism) and you could suspend this mechanism
on the far side of your work support (the mental equivalent of the place
where your anvil is now).

So you grab one hammer in your left hand and one in your right.  These could
be BIG hammers because the mechanism would support the weight.  You then
swing the two hammers together against the workpiece, one from the left, one
from the right.  The mechanism would ensure that they'd strike from opposite
sides at the same moment.

I can just see perfecting this only to hear somebody complain, "But, I can
do the same thing with ONE hammer and an anvil!"

Bruce
NJ

On Sun, Dec 28, 2014 at 10:28 AM, Andy Gladish <anjgladish at gmail.com> wrote:

> Maybe it's old hat, but I just realized, sitting here looking out the 
> window at lake Michigan at our vacation cottage, that the physics of 
> forging might not require a heavy anvil if you simply had two 
> coordinated hammers hitting above and below.
> Lots of safety considerations, don't try this @home, kids.
>
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