Antique powerhammer restoration EXTENDED EDIT

Follow along here with the months-long process of restoring this 1910-era Dupont (Fairbanks) model C power hammer.

This hammer was purchased from a blacksmith closing up shop in Delaware and hauled back to North Carolina on a 16-foot trailer. Once I got it home, it had to sit on the trailer for a month while I constructed the gantry crane, seen at the start of the video. The crane is made of recycled light posts and salvaged I-beams. It can be easily disassembled and moved to the next workshop, yet tall enough to accommodate an antique five-ton chain hoist. Getting the hammer off was the easy part, rolling it on pipes Egyptian-style to the concrete pad gave me a few grey hairs.

Overall the restoration process was a simple cleanup, besides all the parts being so heavy and difficult to move. Only a couple pieces needed to be repaired. Fixes included bushings added to one of the toggle arms and shims added to the brass taper wedge on the ram. The hardest repair was finding a properly sized spring. Then to run the hammer, I built a two countershaft system with some of the line shaft parts I had accumulated and a restored early 1900s Westinghouse motor. I had just enough equipment to get the speed right, so I decided to spend the extra time restoring and setting up the flat belt countershafts too.

Using a power hammer has tremendously improved my efficiency. It draws out metal faster than would ever be possible by hand. It opens up the doors to producing a higher volume of work and larger-sized commissions, and therefore possibly blacksmithing full-time in the future.