In amongst other work, I have been updating the dies on my home-brewed Appalachian style "Rusty" power hammer. I'm replacing all of the dies that I had made from railroad track with dies made from brand new 4140. The railroad track dies have served me well and I have gotten a lot of work out of them, but they were beginning to deteriorate and it was time to replace them. I had a good machinist whom I know rough out the blanks, then I gave them the proper radius with my angle ginder, heat treated them, and then welded them onto the baseplates (yes, with proper pre- and post-heating to avoid cracking the heat affected zone). I'm making three sets of dies right now, but so far only have one completed.
A photographer who just moved in next door asked if he could take some pictures of me working and I agreed.
"can't you read the sign?" :)
Tested these out today forging the blade of a bush sword. I need to tweak them just a smidge, but they worked admirably.
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