Chain making and hammers.

Ah....... Peter
Your monologue in your last post on using hammers says a lot more than
the words.
I suspect you really enjoy using the hammers you have perhaps more
than the other work you do.
I certainly use the hammer more than any other tool despite having
just about every other metal working tool here.
The hammer is certainly the most direct tool for metal working and a joy
to watch in skilled hands. Its probably mans oldest tool tho someone is
bound to mention another or contradict me. When youve made something
with a hammer youve put yourself into your work. It always shows.
Seeing students use one for the 1st time is painful, , my general
comment is "Dont be afraid to hit it"
It was the 1st tool I used at the age of 2. I borrowed my fathers hammer
and chose to mend his car. Needless to say I broke all the tail lights
and I was never allowed to forget it.
As for chain making, many chains are put through a rolling mill to
change their shape , with grooves in the rolls to suit the final shape
curb chain is just one example.
A much more controlled way of delivering energy is to use a fly press.
This extends the use of the simple hammer and die block for reforming
chain or twisted wires from their initial made shape to half round or
whatever.
One can never have enough tools in this trade. How you use them is is
only limited by your imagination.
In joking Ive often said the bigger the hammer the better.
The ultimate hammer has to be the drop hammer. My favorite is a 275lb
one. I found a piece of ships drive shaft in a scrap yard 12in in
diameter and 4ft long. Has a job to find someone with a lathe big enough
to cut to length and machine it. Its Easy to control; and big enough to
do serious hot and cold work. Shakes the ground a bit.
Its agood job ive no neibours otherwise id be banned from working!.
Ted Frater.

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 02:34:03 -0700, in Ìô Ted Frater
wrote:

I suspect you really enjoy using the hammers you have perhaps more
than the other work you do.

Not really. I enjoy a good hammer, and have a pretty decent selection, but I do
mostly jewelry scale things these days. Been a long time since I seriously
pursued hollowware, or serious forged work. Nevertheless, a hammer is a
wonderful tool. Personally, unlike you, though I've some very nice big ones (My
favorite of these is about a 3 pound cross pein "engineers hammer" type of thing,
though it's a Peddington, not the hardware store brand. With a polished face you
can see yourself clearly in, it's a joy to use. But I actually use the smaller
ones a lot more often. A standard "goldsmiths" hammer, a medium sized chasing
hammer, a watchmakers type interchangeable head mallet set up with brass and
nylon faces, and a good german planishing hammer... Those are my standard ones.

I will readily admit to being a tool-a-holic. While I love a good hammer, as I
said, I don't actually enjoy it any more than any other good tool. I'm rather
happy, for example, with my skills with a traditional jewelers saw, which can be
used for a lot more than just cutting things out.

And then there are the "toys". needle files are nice, but put them in a good
die filer handpiece, and you've got a really fun and fast tool. Not one commonly
seen, but nevertheless, a very cool tool Brings the speed and ease of a flex
shaft with it's rotary tools, to the precision shaping of good needle files...

and while a well sharpened graver is a wonderous precision tool and extension of
the hand, put that graver in a Lindsey air graver handpiece, and for me at least,
it takes on a whole new dimension. another very very cool (and beautifully made)
tool...

and of couse then there's the new guy on the block... I think I'm addicted to
laser welders. Now this may not be a good thing. They make some things so darn
easy one tends to get lazy...

enough.

cheers

Peter

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 09:46:20 GMT, "Peter W.. Rowe,"
wrote:

And then there are the "toys". needle files are nice, but put them in a good
die filer handpiece, and you've got a really fun and fast tool. Not one commonly
seen, but nevertheless, a very cool tool Brings the speed and ease of a flex
shaft with it's rotary tools, to the precision shaping of good needle files...

My rotary tool has a special chuck for needle files.

--
Marilee J. Layman

G.W. Bush says "results count!"
That's why I'm voting for Kerry.

"Marilee J. Layman"

My rotary tool has a special chuck for needle files.

Most files are designed to reciprocate. Is there some sort of conversion
device for rotary tools?

js


--
PHOTO OF THE WEEK: http://schmidling.netfirms.com/pow.htm
Astronomy, Beer, Cheese, Gems, Sausage, http://schmidling.netfirms.com

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 05:40:26 GMT, Jack Schmidling wrote:


"Marilee J. Layman"

My rotary tool has a special chuck for needle files.

Most files are designed to reciprocate. Is there some sort of conversion
device for rotary tools?

That's what the special chuck does. (It appears to work on the
ratcheting screwdriver principle.)

--
Marilee J. Layman

G.W. Bush says "results count!"
That's why I'm voting for Kerry.