Hello from Afghanistan!!!

[woody7001]

Hey guys I am new on here and just wanted to say hey, My name is Kevin Woods and I live in North Topsail Beach North Carolina, I am a USMC Veteran and I am presently deployed in aafghanistan as a civilian working on the MRAP platforms for the military. (Mine resistant ambush protected). I am trying to learn as much as possible while overseas because as soon as I return home I want to get a power hammer and a planishing hammer built. I have good fab skills and excellent welding skills I just dont know how to do alot with sheet metal. so I am interested in learning and from what I have seen on here so far I am certain that I will learn alot, so if any of you have any advice on building a power hammer, planishing hammer, and an english wheel then please look me up. I have already built one power hammer but it is for blacksmithing and not sheet metal and all of the info that I am finding on the sheet metal hammers is elusive or simply vague. take care and look foreward to working with you, Semper Fi !!

Kevin

[David Gardiner]

Welcome to the site!

There is a guy on here built a fantastic power hammer not so long ago, took him a lot of time and money but it was incredibly good his name is NATE do a search and you will find it I am sure. Kerry is your man for building a wheeling machine do a search or click his name and look though his posts he gives out lots of information about building top notch machines.

One thing, if you have not shaped any metal I think you are trying to run before you can walk, a lot of parts need hand work and if you have not learned the basics all the machines in the world will not allow you to make panels. (IMO)

David

[Kerry Pinkerton]

Welcome to AllMetalShaping Kevin and thanks for your service.

Look around in the various forums you'll find the info your looking for. If not, ask. Buy David Gardiners DVD for sure. You can shape a lot of metal without a power hammer.

[thingsthatfly2]

i second what is said before me. davids vid is the best money i have spent in a long time. I work at a place supplying parts for your hummvee's though i work in the shop on the cars and h1 civilians. Thank you for your service!

[HEATNBEAT]

Hi Kevin and welcome!

[Peter Tommasini]

HI Kevin welcome to the forum
Peter

[woody7001]

Thanks for the advise guys, and all of you are right I am definetely putting the cart before the horse when it comes to seeking out machines before skill. One thing I can say though is when I put my mind to something I always follow through. I have been reading about the theory of sheet metal working and the principals as well. as soon as I get to the house I am certain that there will not be a safe piece of sheet metal for miles. I have done alot of auto body repair and auto body modifications but I am looking to build a skillset with sheetmetal to allow me to do a project from zero to hero. Meaning simply a car from scratch, no aftermarket panels no store bought anything. So I will take the advise and work by hand for now. I always have a habit though of seeking out the info first, meaning info on the machines, I will build a folder of info and when the time comes to build it, after the handskill set is attained then all I have to do is pull the trigger and go. I have plans to attend as many siminars as possible the first month I am home so thanks for all of the advice and look foreward to hearing more, and thanks for the tip on the dvd! take care and have a good day.

[David Gardiner]

Hi Kevin, I hope you did not take my comment as a put down it wasn't meant to be one. By all means build all the machines you can, I admire anyone with those skills. The machine Nate built was incredible. Look it up if you have not done so. I have quite a few machines myself but I spend a lot more time working the metal by hand, welding, wire edging, metal finishing etc than I do on my wheeling machines or my pullmax's, shrinkers ect. These are things that can only be done by hand I believe.

Well welcome once again!

Oh and thanks for the mention Kerry and Brent!. Much appreciated.

David

[woody7001]

There was no offense at all, I appreciate it. If there is anything that can be said that is really wrong with the world today it is for the ability of a person to be honest, forthecoming, brutally honest whatever.......... you guys are right.........start basic. but I am a tools guy so I will look up as much info as possible and when I return I will start by hand only with the enthusiasm to have enough hand skill to justify building a machine as well, I have a 35 piece right hand so machines help keep me from hurting so much, I am still relatively young (33) so I try to save that hand as much as possible because I know that the closer to 50 I get you will hear me whining about it hahaha!!!!!!!!!!!! I built a powerhammer for blacksmithing, it works great when I get back to the states I will post a picture on here for you all to look at. But it saves me a lot of pain with working large stock into small stock so I guess that is why I focus on the machines. I try real hard to be ambidextrious but it does not alway work out for me. thanks again and I will get the dvd ordered.

[sevt_chevelle]

Welcome to the site and thank you for your service...Eric