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Power Hammers |
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Organized in 1978, the
Appalachian Blacksmiths Assn. is an affiliate of ABANA. We represent blacksmiths,
bladesmiths, and farriers in West Virginia and its surrounding states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky.
Appalachian Blacksmiths Association ©
2009 Nothing herein
may be reproduced unless permission of the submitter and/or the Appalachian
Blacksmiths Association is given.
NOTICE: The
Appalachian Blacksmiths Association does not design or build power
hammers for sale. The ABA has built a Rusty and a Dusty power
hammer based generally on these plans, and then raffled both power
hammers as fundraisers. The plans for Rusty, Dusty, and Super
Rusty are owned by, designed by, and sold by Jerry Allen of The Wizard's
Forge and are presented here as a pubic service by the ABA for
blacksmiths looking for an inexpensive alternative to commercial power
hammers. As with any such project, you could be injured when
building the machine or using it after it is completed.
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The Appalachian Power Hammer--a power hammer that you can build from new or used stuff no matter where you live.
Just what is an Appalachian Power Hammer? Appalachia is the eastern mountain region of the USA and West Virginia is right in the middle of it--we're the Mountain State. And wherever you find mountains and mountain people, you're guaranteed to find two things--ingenuity and a scarcity of goods. You can build the Appalachian Power Hammer anywhere in the world because blacksmiths are ingenious. Just look through the junk piles and you will find everything you need to build a cheap, hard-hitting power hammer for your shop. To save on steel, we used bolted timbers for the base. If you want to raise or lower your hammer, it's a lot easier to add or subtract wood than re-weld the entire frame. Since we raffled this hammer, we did purchase new steel leaf springs. But those from an old car will do. Or make your own--you're a blacksmith! We used an old Maytag washing machine motor to power Rusty so don't think you have to spend $200 on a new motor. And while the hammer head weighs just 15#, Rusty hits harder than any factory built 25# hammer. The idea behind Rusty was to build it out of what was available. And that idea works just about everywhere. Rusty has now evolved to Dusty, the 50# power hammer, and Super Rusty, the simplified #35 version of the original. Check them out while you're here.
Go to Appalachian Blacksmiths Assn. Need more information? anvilwork@aol.com
Photo credits: RUSTY--L. W. Allen; Welding--Matt Giffels.
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