power hammer or press first

C

Charley

Joined
May 4, 2018
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2
i am new to knife making ive only done stock removal but i have a chance to buy a new tool. Im kinda wanting the press more so i can do some damascus billets and just work on my hammering abilities.what do you think is more important for your first piece of machinery?
 
Do you have a proper grinder and a drill press?

If not that’s what I would get first. When I have enough space I’ll probably go for a hammer first, just because I want one more.
I think a press is probably a more versatile machine to have, but I just think power hammers are so awesome that I really want one WAY more...

Anyway, I’m just an amateur, these pros around here who actually have these tools will give you the real skinny on things!

Good luck regardless of which you choose, they are both awesome tools!
 
There are plenty of machines what should come before a hammer or press. But given the choice presented, Go for a hammer.
But thats coming from a guy who is more Blacksmith/Millwright than Knifemaker.
 
Depends on your approach to making knives. I rely a lot on my power hammer to forge my blades, but what I do is kind of oddball. I forge as close to the final shape and leave the forge finish. Been working on some big cleavers where I am using the power hammer to forge as much as possible to the final shape and only hand hammer to straighten.

But, if your primary desire for forging is to make patternwelded billets, go with a good press. There are some good options out there these days that can move a big chunk of hot steel surprisingly quickly.
 
For me it was a press and there is not a day I regret it. But let me preface that with stating my press is quite a specialized monster. It’s got upper and lower limit switches as well as foot control. This alows me to set the exzact spacing of the dies to what I want. But I built it my self around what I wanted and it’s wicked fast in automatic mode . So with that being said if I had to buy a press off the shelf and it was a slow high tonnage press I would probably pass and pick up at least a 50lb high quality hammer. You need to move steel fast, strike while the iron is hot. I see so many presses falling into the pitfalls of thinking thy need more tons becaus the steel is not moving easily. The slower the press the colder the steel gets and the harder it is to move. So press it fast at full tons and it moves like butter. I’m sitting at 24 tons@ 2” a sec with a 10hp motor. If I had to use a smaller motor like a 7.5hp I would dump the tonnage and get up past the 2” a sec speed. But at these kinds of speeds you really need to be solonoide controlled with limit switches. It’s very easy to hold the foot control just a hair to long and whoops.
 
I started with a press because I knew I could build one quickly for <$1000 that would have a huge impact on my forging throughput. I still think in terms of value, a press is more capability per $$ on the lower end at least, that may change if you're buying not building. But even 25lb hammers are expensive (or deals are rare anyway) in working condition.


You can open up a hydraulic catalog and build a press tomorrow with very little knowledge. You could even do it without welding. Hammers are either amazingly expensive for new, or moderately expensive and old and hard to find, and much harder to build a hammer capable of moving metal as quickly as a 20 ton 5hp press.

If price wasn't a concern and I could only have one I would rather have a 75-100lb hammer though. I think they're more versatile having used both. Eventually I'll have both. Right now I'm waffling between building a bigger, badder press (having seen what JT's can do) before building a 100lb tire hammer.
 
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I started with a press because it was what I could afford to get me making Damascus. If I had waited until I could afford a hammer, I might still be waiting. Of course, if I'd had a line on an amazing deal on a good hammer that was ready to go to work, I might have chosen differently. As it is, I certainly made the best choice for my situation.

Bob
 
For making damascus a press is more versatile. A press can be used with patterning and forming dies, squaring dies etc. A press is slow for drawing though.

If you want to forge mono steel knives or san-mai a power hammer will be best.

No matter which one you get, you’ll want the other one to go with it.

I’ve taught at several “hammer-ins” that only had a press, was always a very slow demo.

Sell everything you have and buy a hammer a press and a rolling mill, then save and spend more money on bigger ones.

Even more impressive is if you collect several non-running machines as lawn ornaments.

Hoss
 
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Here is my press chomping on a Damascus billet. Set to auto mode and the stroke is lowered so I take tiny bites. This draws the steel out lengthwise and reduces how much it widens the stock.
 
They all work fine AS LONG AS THEY ARE BIG ENOUGH!!!! That is the problem that I have with my current press and the 25 pound hammer I had in my shop for a while. Not enough grunt.
 
I have neither, wish I had both ;) I have been to a shop where both were in use though. There is a not insignificant volume difference between the two, so that may be a part of a consideration. If you are in an area where you need to be concerned about noise, the press may be the better choice on that alone. The hammer I was watching in use was a beast, so I don’t know if a smaller hammer would be more palatable.
 
Presses are quite loud as well. Not nearly as bad as a hammer mind you but that high pitch whine can be heard for a good distance outside the shop. If you where to use it in a neighborhood your neighbors might not like you much if you fire it up in the morning or night. My 25hp rotary phase converter dims the lights rather bad when I kick it on. I don’t onow if it affects the neighbors or not as thy are a good distance away.
 
A press will not cause your neighbors dishes to “walk” off the table . :D
 
True trur. But my wife can feal mine when it cycles real fast. I can’t but she can when she is trying to sleep in the bedroom that’s about 20ft away from the shop lol.
 
I can feals Salem’s hammer when he fires up the 300 pounder.
 
jdm61 said:
A press will not cause your neighbors dishes to “walk” off the table . :D
Click to expand...
Haha!
Our hammers create a self sweeping floor. All the swarf vibrates along to fall into bottomless cracks in the concrete.
 
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