Twisted Iron

I finished my first knife! 1095 steel with madrone burl handle. I got a little impatient and put the handle on before I finished polishing and sharpening the blade. Next one will be better. Any thoughts?

That's the problem. The babbit was 1/4" thick on one side and 3/8" on the opposite. The clutch shoes would grab part of the time or grab and stick. Hopefully sometime this spring I'll have a good running machine.

Sooo, after 3 1/2 years this is how the machine is looking. A boat anchor and a tray of parts. It was completely put together and running but the main pulley had a wobble. Had I known what I was looking at I would have replaced the bearing before reassembling it the first time. The pulley and spider are at the machine shop waiting for a brass bushing and the clutch surface to be turned. At that point it should run smoothly. I'll post a video of the pulley running.

It's been quite a while since the last time I posted anything so I thought I would post an update. I finally finished reassembling the power hammer but when I fired it up the die block and bottom die loosened. I decided that I would spend the money and have a new die block made. That's what this picture is, the dovetail being machined. It holds tight now but the motor has a problem so it's off to the rebuild shop, on Monday, to be repaired. So far it's cost about 2.5 times what I paid for the machine to rebuild it. I figured if didn't rebuild it it would probably end up at the scrap yard and what the heck its only money... When I get the motor back I'll start posting more pics and videos of this 90 year old beast brought back to life.

It's been a little over a year since I bought this old machine. I found out it was built sometime during depression and will soon be brought back to life. I got the ram and ram guide as well as the flywheel, counterweight, and clutch installed this afternoon. Tomorrow I should be able to get it running. Can't wait!