Forging Press

[J. Piontek]

I have been thinking about building a forging press from a bottle jack. I have seen some smaller forging presses made from a harbor freight 20 ton bottle jack. Its just a small h frame design and the bottle jack moves the bottom die up and down. Does anyone have any experience with these things and are they worth building? I am looking to use it for forging down bigger stock and making Damascus.

I also currently have a 50 ton full size H frame but nothing else for it.

Thanks.

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

Someone is going to tell you that air-over-pneumatic is too slow. I think the air-over-pneumatic deserves some debate. I like the speed of the 12-ton and use it to set welds on san-mai with no problem. The 20-ton is more powerful, but also much slower. You'll definitely want a bigger, faster press after a while, but I believe it's a great starting point. There are plenty of videos on youtube, take a look for yourself and see what you think.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

As Charles pointed out, there are people who like the idea because of the low price. Most knifemakers don't.

I am one who goes with the "you get what you pay for" idea when it comes to building a press.
An air-over bottle jack is to a proper forging press in knifemaking in the same way a pocket knife is to a scalpel doing heart surgery. It may do the job in some cases, but the results may be poor, or failed. If you have the skills to do the task, get the right equipment.

The speed and actual delivered power are not suitable. Also, the numbers given as to the tonnage on those bottle jacks is pretty much fantasy. Sort of like the 6HP vacuum cleaners they sell.

 

[J. Piontek]

Thank you both for the explanation I may look more into a proper forging press before I go any farther.