Jim Kehler

Lead is also useful in Martempering (if one wants to go down that rabbit hole).

When I worked in a Railroad Blacksmith shop we made follower blocks from 1060 steel, I think this is an ARA spec. but not sure if all follower blocks are made from the same stuff.

When I have done these I wrapped two spirals on at 90 degrees to each other. This was on a tapered mandrel, one at a time. Then the two spirals were twisted into line. This takes more material than you think. Hope this makes some kinda sense.

I personally would be ok with 56-57, that said, I doubt that it's the quench how accurate is that 375, maybe drop the temper by 50 or so. Unless it is 5160H (guaranteed hardenability) you might have some variation in your steel.

I'm not sure but I don't think it will matter. The air and gas mixture is under pressure and a difference in area will give you a difference in pressure, you will be adjusting the mixture anyway.

I stand corrected.

As far as I was taught; it's either hardened or not, what quench medium you use (oil, air ,water, brine, caustic soda) depends on hardenability .

If you haven't already, you should check out Mark Krause. He has a website I think it is hammerwhisperer. He wrote a booklet on a self contained that he built.

Depending on what grade of stainless it is it might work harden. At the railroad we used 304 stainless as wear plates.

That would be Roger, nowadays his beard is usually dyed some strange colour.

Each of my nephews have recieved a knife for their 13th birthday, this is the latest. He has some scandinavian blood so I used that as a design influence. 1080ish steel, copper, deer antler, moosehide and cherry wood. His nickname is Moose so I wanted to use moose antler but couldn't find any close by so I put in a moose leather spacer .

If you are going to use the saw in a permanently upright position, I would suggest you check the rectangular box that contains the worm gear and make sure there is enough lube.(ask me how I know this)

I will also vote for reduced flow from the tank, kind of like those low flow shower heads that you have to take a drill to the orifice if you want to get wet.

When I was at the railroad we would temper springs (5160 or 1095) to 42 - 44 HRC plus or minus a bit. 36 would be IMHO too soft.

Very, very nice!

If you heat up your pieces in your forge they will be black.

the Northern Minnesota Metalsmiths have a hammer in their shop at Itasca which is I think a 33 Anyang.

Yes, the holding hand often has a harder job than the hitting hand. Tong rings can help. I have some old chain links of various sizes that I use to slide over the reins to keep the tongs tight on the forging.

Nice looking hammer, I like to grind a radius on the dies to avoid cold shuts when drawing down stock. A 3/8" radius should be fine for a 100 lb. hammer.

I would think there's probably some nickel and chrome in there as well.

Looking good, nice to see that those dies will have a new life.

It's really not that hard to forge braze a thread into a tube to fix that.

I have some Bradley dies that would probably fit but they aren't flat.

Talk to a shipper, ask how much a 1/2 pallet would cost, they don't care about the weight, only how much space it takes up.

I have two pieces that were the bottom dies from a 1250 Lb. steam hammer. They weigh approx. 560 lbs. each. I am asking $2.50 lb. (Canadian) which comes out to $1400.(much less in US$). I would of course prefer local pick-up but will be as helpful as I can if we need to ship. Located in Mitchell, Manitoba, Canada.