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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 16, 2008 - 08:04pm PT
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Well, after much dithering and difficulty I beheaded my A5 hammer today in order to get the project back on track. Lewis McNeal at the handle company needs just the handle and given Mineral's is pretty dear to him we had Lewis send his back and mine got decapitated. Hopefully it hasn't died in vain as I've gotten pretty attached to it as well...
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couchmaster
climber
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Aug 16, 2008 - 10:04pm PT
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Talk about takin' one for the team Joseph! wow!
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 3, 2008 - 06:30pm PT
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Thanks to 'Brian in SLC' who accidentally connected with Conrad Anker's admin Pamela Hainsworth at OR last month and sparked her remembering they had stashed some A5-related boxes in storage which turned out to harbor a bunch of handles and a folder of info on the A5 Hammer. Among the gems was an original 1996 O.P. Link invoice for the handles! So between sending my decapitated handle and a copy of the original invoice we appear to finally be on the road to clearing the whole handle roadblock and will soon be able to get back on track with the project.
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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yep, I sent all that stuff to Bozeman perhaps in 2001 or so.
How's it looking with Ajax Forge?
Don't forget that there is a lot of machining and finishing and heat treatment of the hammer heads after the forging process, you will need a good shop space to do the work.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 3, 2008 - 07:31pm PT
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Hi John!
Theron is on it and he has a shop where he's also been doing the Beaks with Bryan. He's not committing to doing the finish work himself, but he is lining up a heat treating resource and we'll just have to sort out what gets done where. I'm sure figuring out drilling the funk hole will be the next big challenge. At least this bottleneck will be out of the way. The Ajax guys can spin up the heads anytime.
Hey, how about posting up a new thread on life in Tasmania - would love to hear how it's all been going so far.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 29, 2008 - 11:52pm PT
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Thank you Conrad and Pamela! Hot damn if now we aren't finally getting some traction. This box came today from Manhattan, MT; that, and Lewis McNeal of the Seymour Mfg. / O.P. Link Handle back in Tennessee has both my A5 handle and one of John's original invoices and claims he will track the handles or the design spec down soon.
Time to call Ajax and get a requote on the heads...
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T Moses
Trad climber
Paso Robles
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Sep 29, 2008 - 11:56pm PT
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JACKPOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Sep 29, 2008 - 11:57pm PT
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Hey, Do you need any money up front yet?
Zander
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Sep 30, 2008 - 12:07am PT
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There's my old red hammer notebook! I'm glad it has been found, because that's the only copy of the many aspects of hammer production.
Let me know if you have any questions about any of the info therein. In particular, there are some specific aspects to the heat treat you will want to specify carefully. I'd have to look at the notes again, so let me know when you are about to place an order for forgings and I'll hopefully point you to the correct notes regarding the spec (there was quite a bit of trial and error back in 1986 to get the hammers correct--the first batch of 30 heads had to be redone).
cheers
John Middendorf
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 30, 2008 - 12:13am PT
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Not quite yet Zander, but probably to put in the head forging order we might. Thanks so much for asking.
Theron, I'll give you a shout in the next day or two.
Thank god, I now have a shot at putting my A5 back together now...
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grover
Social climber
Canada
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Sep 30, 2008 - 12:13am PT
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"Thank you Conrad and Pamela! Hot damn if now we aren't finally getting some traction."
Traction is the word of the day.
Nice score with the handles!
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T Moses
Trad climber
Paso Robles
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Sep 30, 2008 - 12:14am PT
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I don't foresee a problem with Ajax forging the heads. They have the die and the capability. The price of steel has risen over the last year so I expect the bid to be higher. The Tabs that protect the handle and attach the handle to the head are no problem for me to fabricate. The drilling of the biner hole is also not an issue. A power shear for the tabs and a mill for the hole.
I will probably just build a fixture to hold the head while I face the striking surface and drill the biner hole.
Edit: I have a Heat Treater I deal with who can do this.
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WBraun
climber
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Sep 30, 2008 - 12:18am PT
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But you have no head.
That's 99% of the hammer.
Scotty Vincik made his own head and handle in a couple of days.
You guys are like the govt. ---- takes forever .....
Years forever, and all you got is a handle so far.
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T Moses
Trad climber
Paso Robles
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Sep 30, 2008 - 12:23am PT
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Yeah, but now we have a handle on the situation. That's more than you can say about the government!
Besides, perfection takes time.
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WBraun
climber
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Sep 30, 2008 - 12:27am PT
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Hahahaha good one.
Thanks for following the flow ......
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 30, 2008 - 12:42am PT
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John, I am just blown away looking at the contents of your notebook on the hammers. Almost speechless really. Daunting footsteps by any measure, on or off the rock.
So, Theron and I will be sorting through all this material, copying and digitizing what we and the vendors need, and then how about when we're done we send it all back to you (and yes, we'll post a few too if that's alright with John). Or, if you don't want it back, then my suggestion would be that it go to Ken Yeager and the Yosemite Climbing Museum with one of the hammers so the notebook could be archived and available in case others wanted to resuscitate your hammer sometime on down the road.
P.S. Werner, I know you're just yanking our funkness - lot's of other paths would have led to 'a' hammer, but not to John's hammer. In the end, the long delay is entirely my fault...
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Sep 30, 2008 - 12:59am PT
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SO, what is the proposed date for actually FINISHING this Molinjar worthy creation?
I'd STILL like to wield one before I die. IF only to bash Lois on the big toe.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 30, 2008 - 01:09am PT
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Dirt, now don't go and unreasonably incent us or anything.
Once Lewis gets back to us and let's us know the handles are a go from his end, then Theron and I can put together a game plan and finances for seeing these babies through to actual cudgels.
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Sep 30, 2008 - 01:36am PT
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HEHE, I guess the thought of giving Lois a whack on the toe with one DOES carry a certain charm about it, n'est-ce pas?
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Sep 30, 2008 - 02:22am PT
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Hi Joe-
I really don't want the notebook back, but I'd be happy to find room for some of the digital copies on my computer. Otherwise, I'd toss it out. If you think that notebook was interesting, you probably would have liked the 5 boxes (yep, five big shipping boxes--I was a major packrat) of old design notes I tossed out earlier this year. Though in the recent case I scanned a bunch of them with a Fujitsu ScanSnap as some of the ideas may still be useful to climbers if I ever get back on a mill and and/or a sewing machine!
cheers
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