Serious question, saw something wild at the old mill museum in Pittsburgh

I was checking out the Rivers of Steel site last month and they had a working trip hammer from the 1880s. The guide fired it up and the rhythm was way slower than I expected, maybe 40 beats a minute. He said the smiths would work the piece on the anvil between each drop, not just let it pound away. Made me totally rethink how I use my power hammer for drawing out stock. Anyone else ever seen one of those old beasts run?

3 comments

3 Comments

lunag302d ago

A buddy of mine who does blacksmithing had a similar moment at a living history farm. They had a water-powered hammer going, and he said the same thing about the rhythm. It wasn't just a fast pounding machine, it was this slow, heavy beat. He came back to his own shop and said it changed how he sets the pace on his modern hammer, using more deliberate hits with hand work in between. Made him feel like he was wasting a lot of motion and energy before.

the_emery2d ago

Forget the slow beat, speed is the whole point of progress. That water hammer was slow because it HAD to be, tied to a creek's flow. A modern power hammer lets you work ten times faster, hitting hot metal before it cools. Your buddy feeling "wasteful" just means he wasn't used to the right tool yet. Trying to copy a two hundred year old rhythm in a modern shop is just romanticizing the past when we have better stuff now.

harpery472d ago

Watch the metal, not the clock. Speed just makes bad hits faster if your timing is off. The old rhythm teaches you to feel the work, not just beat it.