Drop-Forging?

Lycosa

Lycosa

Joined
Aug 24, 2007
Messages
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Hi Gang- I remember that A. G. Russell's Sting boot knife was drop forged. Is this a practical way to make a knife and is this still being done? Just curious.
rolf
 
Rolf ,
Lots of things are still drop forged. Look up photos of drop forge hammers. A 5 ton (not very big) will fill up your back yard.
 
It would be very cool to do it ala Gransfors Bruks

[video=youtube;E89nlVmPeeU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E89nlVmPeeU&spfreload=10%20Message%3A%20Unexpected%20end%20of% 20input%20(url%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com% 2Fwatch%3Fv%3DE89nlVmPeeU)[/video]

You would need quite the setup..
 
One year for the Scout Show, I made a drop forge. I made steel dies with the scout show date, the BSA symbol, and out troop number to forge coins the size of a penny. The copper planchet was set in the die holder between the top and bottom dies, the 100 pound weight was hoisted to the top of the 8' tall drop tower by a group of six boys, and the boy making the coin would pull the trip lever....WHAM!!!
The die holder was then pulled out, separated, and the coin given to the lad pulling the trip. Every boy who wanted one got a chance to make one. We made one every couple minutes during the entire show, maybe 300-400 coins. We were not very popular with our neighboring booths. For some reason, on Sunday they moved us outside by the lashed together signal towers ;)
 
One year for the Scout Show, I made a drop forge. I made steel dies with the scout show date, the BSA symbol, and out troop number to forge coins the size of a penny. The copper planchet was set in the die holder between the top and bottom dies, the 100 pound weight was hoisted to the top of the 8' tall drop tower by a group of six boys, and the boy making the coin would pull the trip lever....WHAM!!!
The die holder was then pulled out, separated, and the coin given to the lad pulling the trip. Every boy who wanted one got a chance to make one. We made one every couple minutes during the entire show, maybe 300-400 coins. We were not very popular with our neighboring booths. For some reason, on Sunday they moved us outside by the lashed together signal towers ;)
 
That's an awesome scout activity, they never fought so hard to work as they did that day.


I'd love to see any phoots of the dies or the hammer / press

How did you hoist, just a rope and pulley / any no reduction? / any safety pawls on the way up ?
 
Thanks, Gentlemen.
Very interesting info.
I was thinking that for mass production of a knife model, and less finishing to do, this would be the way to go but it seems like no.
Thanks!
 
12345678910 said:
That's an awesome scout activity, they never fought so hard to work as they did that day.


I'd love to see any phoots of the dies or the hammer / press

How did you hoist, just a rope and pulley / any no reduction? / any safety pawls on the way up ?
Click to expand...



It was a good while ago, and the are no photos that I know of. The tower had a double pulley at the top and bottom. That provided a force multiplier. The rope was pulled by a group of four or five boys and the force needed was probably only 40-50 pounds.

This was a simple drop forge with four 1" pipe guides and a 4-5" round stock hammer that was about two feet long. The drop hammer was captive in the four guides. It was hauled to the top and a pawl locked it in place. There was a lock pin in the ring at the top of the hammer where the hoist ripe was attached. A "trigger" rope was attached to this pin. Once the drop was hoisted up and all was ready, the boy pulled the rope...pulling out the lock pin and allowing the hammer to free-fall about six feet.
 
12345678910 said:
That's an awesome scout activity, they never fought so hard to work as they did that day.


I'd love to see any phoots of the dies or the hammer / press

How did you hoist, just a rope and pulley / any no reduction? / any safety pawls on the way up ?
Click to expand...



It was a good while ago, and the are no photos that I know of. The tower had a double pulley at the top and bottom. That provided a force multiplier. The rope was pulled by a group of four or five boys and the force needed was probably only 40-50 pounds.

This was a simple drop forge with four 1" pipe guides and a 4-5" round stock hammer that was about two feet long. The drop hammer was captive in the four guides. It was hauled to the top and a pawl locked it in place. There was a lock pin in the ring at the top of the hammer where the hoist ripe was attached. A "trigger" rope was attached to this pin. Once the drop was hoisted up and all was ready, the boy pulled the rope...pulling out the lock pin and allowing the hammer to free-fall about six feet.
 
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