In With The Old - Out With The New

I have been putzing around with the hammer the last couple weeks but knew that a few major issues had to be accomplished.  The frame needed to be drilled for a motor mount which I was in the process of creating.  After looking around the shop to see what materials I had available, I came up with a suitable mount idea.

A piece of steel strong enough to support the weight of the motor and mount was needed, so I decided to use a piece of channel.  There will be no flexing this stuff when it is in place.  Next I had to actually drill into the hammers frame.  A quick look online gave me enough information to do this myself. 

First I made a drilling guide from some scrap oak I had.  It needed to have a pilot hole guide and the final hole guide.  The guide also had to be clamped to the frame so it wouldn’t move.  This was an easier process than I had anticipated. 

Next, the holes had to be tapped.

This is how the channel will be bolted to the frame.

For the motor base plate I found an 8 ½”x11” frame made of angle iron.  To this frame I welded a piece of ¼” steel plate and drilled holes to bolt the motor to.  

The clutch pulley had to be put in place to find the motor location.  This wasn’t very easy.  I had to carry the shaft, flywheel and pulley assembly up a ladder and put it on top of the frame.  Then I lined everything up and marked the location of the hinges needed to connect the motor frame to the channel.  Holes were drilled to attach the hinges, nuts and bolts were tightened up and she is ready to be painted.

Got it all painted and let it set overnight.  Next day I put it all together and measured for the drive belts.  Wouldn’t you know…the store only had one belt of the size I thought I needed.  Turns out they measure these belts by the outside and not the inside dimensions.  The belt I bought was a little too small.  Call’m up and order two of the right size belts.  Getting so much closer to Hammer Time!

I was really hoping for this project to be complete by today, Dec. 31, 2013.  All that is left to do is to get the ram or hammer head to ride properly in the guide.  Hook up the toggle arms to the flywheel and set the ram to the right height, so it hits the way it is supposed to and give it some electricity.  Lets see what I can accomplish today.

Happy New Year to all of you! 

  Talk To Y'all Next Year

Thanks for being part of all this.

Knife Guy From Waynesboro, Tennessee

The end of the year is always a busy time.  My posting comes long after I jotted all of this down. 

The weekend after Thanksgiving a guy named Dan called me wanting to look at my knives.  His cousin had one of my knives and gave him my card.  He told me that he tried to Google “Knife Guy From Waynesboro” which didn’t come up with my name.  So…I figured if I posted this it may come up in the future.

Dan picked out two knives, one as a gift and one for himself.  I also get to make a second sheath for his cousin who had his own idea of what he wanted.

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Planned a trip to Milwaukee to see our newest grandson, Henry Jack, long before he was born.  I headed up to Nashville in the midst of inclement weather throughout the plains and Midwest.  My plane was lucky enough to fly over the storm so there were no delays.   

Had a glass or two of Single Malt with my son.  Check out the buffalo horn scotch glasses I made for Sam a few years ago.

My folks drove 200 miles south to Milwaukee to see me.   

We had breakfast together with all my brothers.  Makes a son feel special.  It was so nice to see everyone.  My dad was about to turn 89 so seeing him was a top priority for me.  Then I took mom to see her great grandson for the first time.   

She held Henry for 2 hours and I didn’t even get to hold him…go figure.

Had a great Turkey dinner with my daughter Jess & Bob, son Sam & Mara, li’l Bobby and Henry on Saturday night.  I got to hold Henry for hours.  Babies sure give you a whole new perspective on life.  Hope to see all of my family again real soon.

Witnessed the aftermath of two large pileups on Hwy 894 in Milwaukee.  The first one was on the other side of the road and about 12 cars.  They were all over the road in all states of wreckage.  The second pileup was another 7 or 8 miles away.  We noticed that there were no vehicles were on the other side of the freeway and figured it wasn’t a good thing.  Between Lincoln Ave and Greenfield Ave there was close to 30 vehicles strewn about.  It was utter chaos.  Apparently there was a death at each pileup.

On the way back from this excursion, I saw a guy smash into a light pole and it ended up across the hood and windshield of his car.  Left Milwaukee to go back to Tennessee.

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Took a couple of days for me to adjust back to the slower lifestyle.  Finally got to spend a few hours in the shop so I laid out some hunting blades and measured the motor I picked up, for the pulley.  I need a double pulley so I’ll head to Etheridge, TN.  There is a machinist that makes pulleys for the Mennonite community.  On the way I saw two dead COWS on the side of the road!  They were gone when I came back to get pics.

 I stopped at Sweetwater Machine on the way back from Etheridge and picked up the pins that I ordered from Binford. You can see the difference 100 years can make in steel.  Binford also broached a keyway into the new pulley for me.  That will keep it nice and tight on the shaft.  I always learn so much at the machine shop.  The pins fit well and there was only slight modification needed to another part for perfect fit in the whole assembly. 

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Within the last week we took a bunch of product out to the Rivers Edge store in Clifton, TN to stock it for the upcoming "Stroll Through Clifton" Dec. 20-21, 2013.  I'll keep the goods there until shows start next March. 

Leslie does such a great job of displaying everything to make it look more appealing to the eye.  Rivers Edge is only open Fridays and Saturdays, but it gives my work exposure during the off months.

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I recently finished a Christmas gift for my co-worker at the sewer plant.  I couldn't post this till he opened it.

It's a small damascus knife with buffalo horn handles and a black leather sheath.

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And last but not least...

Only in Waynesboro can you stop at the bank to do your weekly transaction, and someone you know asks you if you would like a dead coyote.

The pelt looked in fine condition, it was small and it was free!  After a little work in the shop I transformed it into a beautiful piece that will go on my show table.  I'm trying to get a bunch of different hides on the table for people to touch.  It really draws folks in to the table.  

That's it for now.  Trying to get the hammer ready before the end of the year.  When I do I will try to get a video of its first use.  Till then, hope Y'all get what you wish for!!!

November Was Busy

Well, November is over!  Thought I'd post the last of the happenings before they are gone from my memory for good.

Started work on a few Chef knives.  These are the first large kitchen knives I have worked on.  Trying out some 154CM high carbon stainless steel on two of them and the third will be made from 1095.  I'll post pics when they are looking pretty.


Thankful for a kiss from my beautiful wife at our Thanksgiving celebration with so many good friends.


Thankful for the deer that my buddy Tony dropped off at my house on Thanksgiving day.  I am a very lucky man.

Finished a display for a customer that wanted something to show off the knife she bought from me.  It should be in her hands soon.  Have to beat that Christmas rush.

Have got most of the parts together for the hammer.  Need to find the motor and make a mount for it.  Hoping to have it running by the new year.  What a way to start 2014.

And Something To Chuckle At.

Oodles of Poodles!

 As Leslie and I were going to pick up a few things at our not so local Walmart store in Savannah, TN, we spotted a minivan with at least a dozen furry little poodles inside.  They were laying about in all sorts of crazy ways.  You can see 8 in the picture but there were more in the back.  I just had to take a pic of them.  We actually thought they were stuffed animals before we saw them move.  Hilarious.

All Dressed Up - LGPH Pt5

Nov 11

After cleaning everything up and assessing the damaged parts, it was time to start makin’ her look pretty again.  I stopped at the hardware store to pick out the color I want it to be.  My initial thought was a green as it had a green base color to it after I stripped it all down.  The final color ended up being Ace Safety Blue.  Next was to paint all the parts, giving at least two coats to protect every bit of it.

The frame was the first thing painted.  What a dramatic difference in appearance.  It didn’t take long to see how good this machine still looked. 

Next I painted the flywheel or Faceplate.  I can’t believe this is the same ships anchor I found in the woods.  A few of the other parts were also painted safety blue.

While I was elbow deep in blue paint I talked to Roger from littlegianthammer.com.  He gave me the only piece of history they had on it…the original Ship Date and Buyer.

No. 16 was shipped to F. Peterson of Madelia, Minn. on Monday March 9, 1908.  What a lucky guy.  Wish I knew what it did for most of its life.  I’m pretty sure Mr. Gene and his father had it for 40-50 years.

Nov 12

I had to use a die grinder to get a couple of the parts free of rust and grime.  Completed painting all the blue parts.  Now I need a little warm weather to paint all the smashy parts.  That would be the ram, toggle arms and the tread.  The tread also needed to be beaten back into shape as well as a mess of grinding to make it look good.

The rest of the night I spent racking a big double batch of beer into 2- 5gal carboys and 1- 2gal carboy.  These will help me through the holidays.

Nov 14

The weather warmed up enough to paint some of the last parts.  I went with a gray for contrast to the blue.  Parts were ordered from littlegianthammer.com and took drawings to a machinist to make 5 pins.  When all the parts come in I will be able to pre-assemble the hammer.  The only thing it need is a motor.  I placed an ad on Craigslist to find a used motor.  We’ll see if that pans out.

Nov 16  Homestead Work

Got a pic of the beast on the trail cam, a couple weeks ago, that’s been tearing up my barn and eating all my cats food.  Haven’t seen much of him lately.  This morning I finally caught this big ol’ possum.

Ain’t he scary?

 Leslie and I went over to a friends farm to help butcher a steer that I put down the week prior.

 There were seven of us and it all went very fast.  We dealt with one quarter at a time.  Ribs and steaks were cut out of the quarters before we cut the rest.

Most of it was boned out and ground into burger or left cubed for stew meat.

I was really surprised at how similar it was to butchering a deer.  Which I do myself a time or two per season(Five times last year).  The steer was on a different scale though.

When we returned from the farm I dealt with Mr. Possum.  His pelt was prime after all the cold weather we’ve had.  After skinning him I fleshed the hide.  This was not my first attempt at fleshing but the first successful attempt.  If I was going to sell the hide I would have case skinned it, but I want to put it out on my show table for people to touch.  The hide was stretched on a flat board and borax was rubbed into the flesh to preserve it.  After it dries it should last through years of shows

The Move And CleanUp - LGPH Pt4

Friday afternoon, Nov 8^th, a friend came over to help me get this hammer standing up after at least 15 years on the ground. 

We got the trailer backed into the shop with little to no room to spare.  I couldn’t see a thing once the trailer was partially in the shop, but Chase directed me in.  Hooked it to the 2 ton chain hoist and as it was raised it started to pull itself off the trailer. 

As soon as the base came off the back of the trailer, we attached the wooden platform/base.  After that it was easy to move.

Here it is still hooked up to the hoist, in the air, waiting to be moved around into position.  I decided to set the whole thing on a few 6x6’s so I could work on the base first.

It has been a long time since she has stood on her own legs.  This is a happy me after touch down.

Took apart the whole front section of the hammer and disassembled everything.  I laid it all out on a table with cardboard so I could make notes about how each piece was configured.  I stamped a few parts with an “X” to mark position.

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Saturday  11/9/13

Muzzle loader hunting started this morning.  Before getting to my stand, a deer busted me by snorting and running off.  Only saw the ghost of a deer a little later.

Lots of stuff to do before working on the hammer.  Finally, I got to work on taking the bearing tops off.  This lead to the shaft- John Shaft.  For some strange reason this thing did not want to come off.  I hooked it to the hoist because it is heavy and too high to manipulate safely.  Hoisting it up it would raise one end off then the whole machine with me on it would raise off the blocks.  I tried and tried and tried again until it released its grip and raised up.  At that point I lowered it to waist height and unhooked it. 

Now it is almost completely disassembled.  She looks kinda naked.

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Sunday 11/10/13

Today I put the LGPH onto my pallet jack to move over to the shop door.  My plan is to clean all the parts off with a wire wheel.  Big issue is lead paint used back in the day.  I started cleaning up all the moving parts- toggle arms, clutch fork, clutch collar, clutch pulley, crosshead, pitman, ram guide and ram.  Getting years of rust and crud off was very satisfying but took a couple hours of work.  Everything looked so different by the time I was done you wouldn’t have thought it was the same parts.

Next thing to clean was the frame.  For safety I wore a respirator mask and had a strong fan blowing to take all the lead dust out of the shop.  So I’m thinking they used lead based paint…but it was actually LEAD painted on!  Hate to be the guy who had to do that painting, talk about a deadly job.  It took a good while to get all the crud off the main frame.  After that I had to clean the lead paint off the flywheel.  The spider is also on the shaft with the flywheel and it needed to be cleaned more carefully. 

When I was finished I was covered with all kinds of soot and crud.  Time for a long hot shower.

Before The Move- LGPH Pt. 3

As I document the rebirth of this machine I just want ya’ll to know that I have been on a quest for a hammer for a many years.  The way I work is to find things in a raw condition if I can, to not only minimize my initial investment but to put as much of myself into it as possible.  So it goes with this hammer.  You saw in the first hammer post my initial view of this hammer.  It was partially engulfed by mother earth, whose clutches entomb many pieces of our history.  Just having the chance to make something this old work again is an undertaking many would rather not bother with.  I hold onto the ways of our forefathers as my guide through life.  Create things of Substance.  Build things that will Last.  Keep things Simple.  Be responsible for Yourself and Family.  Be as Self Sufficient as you can.  Make what you can instead of just buying.

On Nov. 6^th I felt the need to look at the LGPH as it was on the trailer.  This was really the first chance I’ve had to check it out.  Since it’s still covered with plastic to protect it from a couple of rains we had and strapped down to the sled, I was limited to looking at the left side of the machine.  My main reason was to locate the serial number. 

In the book “The Little Giant Powerhammer” by Richard Kern, he lists dates of manufacture for all the Little Giant models.

Before locating the serial number I applied penetrating liquid to all the spots I could reach.  My choice of penetrating liquid is a home made concoction of Automatic Transmission Fluid and Acetone mixed 50/50.  It looks like it will also take quite a bit of elbow grease to make dismantling easier.

I found the flat spot on the back of the main riser.  It had to be cleaned out with a wire brush for me to read the number…

This is only the 16^th 25 pound Little Giant Trip Hammer built.  It was produced in 1908 in Mankato, MN.  The 25’s just don’t get any older than this.  After looking at the website littlegianthammer.com and scouring through all the information and links I decided to give Roger a call to make sure parts were still available and to ask for this hammers history.

Roger told me that the older hammers were really built strong and he himself would prefer the old style.  His opinions made me feel better about the age of the hammer.  It is in great shape too without cracks and welds.  The term trip hammer was changed later as it is really a power hammer.

I know a lot of this may be boring to some but when you can work with something that has so much history it helps you see into the lives of those that may have used the machine before you. Next installment will be getting her to stand up for the first time in years.

First Base or LGPH WIP Pt 2

My new(old) Little Giant Power Hammer(LGPH) is still on the trailer that it was brought home with.  That doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on the project. 

First thing to do is make a wooden base for it using 4x4 lumber.  All eight pieces are cut to length and laid out so I can mark four drill holes for each piece.  Then pilot holes were drilled in each board.  After those were done I drilled the inside holes for 3/8” all-thread and the outside holes for ½” all-thread.  The all-thread rods were tapped through the 4x4’s until they hung out the ends.   Washers and nuts were put on each end and the extra rod was cut off with a cutoff wheel.  Everything was tightened up with my air impact wrench.  Miss Kitty did not help one bit!

I had done a rough dimension drawing of the base the day I brought the beast home.  To lay out the holes to be drilled into the wooden base I physically took a piece of paper and cut it around the holes in the bottom of the hammer.  This was then easily transferred to the wooden base.  Pilot holes were drilled.  11/16” holes were then drilled and a ¼” deep square was chiseled on the underside to countersink the head of the 5/8” carriage bolt.  It was offset to allow for the motor and pulleys.

Considering this hammer weighs almost 800 pounds, I figured once I attached it to the wooden base it would never be taken off.  Being the resourceful(cheap) guy I am, I found a can of rubberized undercoating spray for vehicles and decided that would be a great way to protect the machine base.  I gave it a couple coats and now have to wait a few days until help comes to get it off the trailer.

Right Place, Right Time

After the Ames Plantation show we took our time returning home as we don't get out much.  Just so happens that we stop at the Crump, TN flea market.  We saw a neighbor of ours and as I was asking him about needing roof tin, he asked a friend if he had any.

As it turns out the fellow, Mr. Gene, says he has some.  He asks me what I need it for and I tell him it is to build an overhang off my workshop so that I can bring my coal forge outside.  Then he asks if I had a hammer.  My reply is "Oh yeah, I got a dozen hammers from 2 oz to 8 pounds."

He sez...No Do You Have A HAMMER?

I immediately say "Power Hammer?"

He sez "Yeah!"

I say "Not yet but I'll have yours real soon"

One thing led to another and in two weeks I was standing over a Mayer Bros. 25# Little Giant Power Hammer.  It was in the woods next to a house 45 miles from home.  I asked the man what he wanted for it and paid him as soon as the number came out of his mouth.  Mr. Gene is such a nice man.  We talked of many things that afternoon.  Mostly about how things have changed and how we try to live by our own hands.
*The hammer in this photo appears smaller & lighter than it actually is.

Without knowing the full specs on this machine, the inspector of my new sewer plant said he'd help me get it home.  That poor guy.  We had to tromp through briars and brambles just to get a look at this thing and it darn near tore us both up.

There was a bunch of cussing as we found out we couldn't budge the thing with bare hands...which I was counting on.  So many things fell into place even though the project seemed doomed.  I built a sled to put the hammer on so we could more easily slide it out of the woods.  Mr. Gene brought an old farm jack which we used to hold it up along with a &#@% come-along so we could get the sled under. 

It sounds so much easier as I'm writing this.  We were huffing and puffing and spitting and cussing the whole time.  Mr. Gene asked the neighbor if we could drag the hammer into his field where we could get it easier.  Well that would have been the ONLY way we could get it.  There was NO way of pulling it out through all of his piles of stuff.

All spoken, it took two hours to get it on the sled and dragged out into the field with a truck and chain.

OK, I'm thinkin' the hard part is over.  Will I never learn?  We had this 800 pound machine on a wooden sled.  Now we have to get this whole contraption up and onto the trailer. 

This is where more fun starts.

I hook up my come-along to the truck and to the hammer.  Next I start cranking on it and see it moving about 3/4 of an inch with each crank.  NICE!

Come-along is too close to the trailer rails.  Can't get it to release tension to bite up on it.  More cussing and fussing.  Got it.  Move stuff around, no problem.  Crank it some more.  Can't get it to release tension to bite up on it.  Dang come-along.  Got it.  Can't get it to release tension to bite up on it.  #@^^&^ come-along.  Finally got it.  Cranking very slowly by now.  This goes on for an hour. 

We moved the whole thing almost 13 feet with that come-along and finally got it strapped to the trailer and ready to head out with it.

Here is Tim thanking his lucky stars he doesn't have to deal with this monster any more.  Back to town with the hammer still on the trailer. I must say that I was totally impressed with how the three of us figured out all of the challenges of this project.  Again I have to make this disclaimer:
*The hammer in this photo appears smaller & lighter than it actually is.
  
I was really beat from all this work.  Couldn't stop when I got home.  

 The base had to be cleaned off so I grabbed an angle grinder to take off years of dirt, rust and moss.  Here you can see that the base is an inch thick and is almost 3 feet wide.  

You may not think much of this but just a couple hours prior to this picture, there was only enough room for one person to squeeze through to the garage door.  This was a major undertaking!  Now I have to back the trailer in and hook it up to the 2 ton overhead chain hoist.

Looking it over as well as I could there weren't any noticeable welds anywhere.  When the foot lever moved, the clutch pulley moved.  That was a good sign.

This will be a WIP (Work In Progress) for Arcadia Knives blog as a way for me to document the project from start to finish.  I want to get this hammer working and pounding out some steel as soon as I can.

Thanks for everyone's support.