Making BALLS, a blacksmith tool

[Sam Salvati]

Here is a spring swage for under the powerhammer, called a ball swage, used for you guessed it making balls. Forged the swage itself all from one piece no welding, then I heated up the ends and hammered in a 5/8" ball bearing, then used a little taper and hammered that in too, so it makes a ball with a neck on the end of a 5/8" round bar. Swage is mild steel.

 

[echo-7]

Cool

 

[butcher_block]

sam i thought your balls woudl have been bigger

cool tong ball end finisher

 

[mgysgthath]

That is a really cool idea I've gotta try making one of those !

 

[Sam Salvati]

Butch I wasn't plannin on making tongs with it but that's a good idea!

thanks guys!

 

[Salem Straub]

Nice job. How long do you expect this to hold up, being mild?

I'm sure Sam knows this, it's a great tool for forming grapes to make clusters for ornamental work. The fact that it leaves a little stem on the ball makes it easy to weld the grapes together inside the bunch.

 

[jonnymac44]

Very cool, Sam:thumbup: I bet you could use that to make some very cool pirate sword guard ends!

 

[butcher_block]

i think he will, make a pair of cherrys for all his lady friends

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

How cleanly does it close? Could the same method be used to make a lead shot mold for slingshot ammo or musket balls.

 

[Sam Salvati]

Very cool, Sam:thumbup: I bet you could use that to make some very cool pirate sword guard ends!

That's a good idea! I can also turn these balls into diamonds if I want.

Chuck, not clean enough it would spill lead all over.

Salem, it should hold up a good long while, it's not a very precision tool so as long as it makes a 5/8" ball within a 1/16 I am happy with it hehe. Couple years atleast, I have known some guys with mild spring swages that they still have after 10-15 years of full time use, advice given was as long as the steels hot it won't make a difference.