Thread: Rons new toys.....

Today I drove to Rochester, Minnesota to visit with Ron ( Utopian). I wanted to see his new toys.
Here is a link to some pics........

Rons-Little-Giant-Hammers - a set on Flickr

Looks that Ron has made a great acquisition there Randy!!

Ray

Very nice! Maybe one of these days I will have a shop big enough for "big boy toys".

Randy, Thank You. 'Worth it just for a visual on Ron. He patiently helped me learn. What's he gonna do w/ the presses?

He is going to sell one, keep the other, then start doing some blacksmithing in his off hours. First he needs a forge. Then start making more tongs. Maybe a few hammers? He already has the anvils.
If you guys think tooling up for razors is bad just wait til you try blacksmithing!

I'm glad Ron is doing well enough to want to sink his teeth into such a project. I can't imagine him tackling something & not doing well at it.

I Know nothing about forging etc,But are those machines also known as trip hammers??
DOH, just saw one says trip hammer on it, sorry
why are they called trip hammers??

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

I Know nothing about forging etc,But are those machines also known as trip hammers??
DOH, just saw one says trip hammer on it, sorry
why are they called trip hammers??

I guess that was because they hang on a sear and the foot bar trips them to drop for a stroke. They are powered to lift the ram but have almost a pure gravity strike. Any one trusting that sear at all times would usually get the nickname lefty.
Just my take on the subject.
~Richard

Keep the one with the hole in the frame!! I had one just like it & they can hit far harder that the newer versions. I sure wish I had NOT sold my hammer back in the day. I wonder what the serial number of that hammer is? Mine was built in 1901 I think. It was the first hammer built after Little Giant foundry burned & they started over. Ron I can give you tips on that hammer!
Those are 50Lb. hammers meaning the ram weight was around 50 Lbs. & were sold all over the world. Many including the one I owned were used for drawing out plow shares & planter runners They usually had the top die smaller & fairly well rounded for that type of work. For knife & razor making flat dies of the same size work better as it is easier to use tooling . Also a brake makes the hammer more useful so you can hit a good single blow. Many other makes of power hammers had a brake built into them.
Little Giant made 25, 50,100,250 & 500 Lb hammers but sold more 50 & 25Lb. Hammers. I am thinking of getting a 100 Lb. hammer when I start my shop again.
If you can get the Clifton Ralph videos on Power hammer get them & learn & watch them again to learn more. Cliff was a blacksmith in the steel mills in Gary Indiana using huge steam hammers down to 25Lb. little Giant hammers. He taught me a lot about forging hammers of all types & is a great guy to boot.


Slawman

Originally Posted by Geezer

I guess that was because they hang on a sear and the foot bar trips them to drop for a stroke. They are powered to lift the ram but have almost a pure gravity strike. Any one trusting that sear at all times would usually get the nickname lefty.
Just my take on the subject.
~Richard

Geezer,
Little Giant hammers do not have a sear system that would be a drop hammer. Little Giant hammers have a clutch that allows you to feather the speed & power the hammer hits with. It has power both on the up & down stroke. Drop hammers are used mainly for closed die forging.