One year review of my 12 ton forge press

Chris Railey

Chris Railey

Well-Known Member
I am a hobby blacksmith who also makes knives here and there. I bought the Coal Ironworks 12 ton press about a year ago. The press came with everything except the hydraulic fluid. It also came with flat dies and drawing dies.
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The dies look like this and are extremely easy to make. They are welded to a simple 1/4 inch piece of steel with bolt holes drilled. Thus far I have welded up fullering dies and squaring dies easily. If you slot the bolt holes the dies are very easy to change out.
I mounted the press to a heavy duty cart and it easily rolls into a corner when not in use which is great for a small shop. It plugs into a standard 110 volt outlet. I have found the press to have plenty of power for my needs. I have made a straight peen hammer with it and it would have over pressed my hammer blank quickly if I got carried away. I have forged 2x2 and 3x3 canister billets with it and again it will over press if you get carried away. Big fat stack for a damascus billet? No problem. It is an H press so width may be an issue if you want to make extremely wide billets.
Coal Ironworks was great to deal with, they answered all my questions quickly and were eager to help even after I bought my press. At one point they discovered a supplier may have sold them faulty hydraulic lines so they not only sent me three new hydraulic lines free of charge they also sent me two big wrenches in case I needed them for the fittings. That is class in my book. I of course kept using the faulty hoses until one broke but I had the new ones ready to go so I was back up in a matter of minutes. I have done a lot of forging with this thing and I still love it. For the hobby shop or even a part time situation for the money I do not think you could go wrong with the 12 ton press. I would not recommend it for a full time production shop but I bet it would still get the job done in that setting too.
The one thing I do not like is that because it is a smaller press you really cannot make a large set of combo dies for it. They make a set but in my opinion they are just too narrow to have enough of both die types. Not a deal breaker for me though, changing dies is not hard. Like I said in a full time shop I can see this being a negative.

The only other downside I can see is that I am now addicted to forge welding billets and canisters.
 
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How much noise does a press like this make? Also I'm curious about how you mounted it to a moveable cart. I've only used a press once. It was very large and extremely noisy. It shook the whole building or at least the surrounding floor.

I doubt I'll ever get around to getting a press. But if do, this sounds like one I would consider.
 
I thought about this press but thought the angle iron frame was a tad light for the press. what size is it. Its hard to tell from the pictures. Obviously you haven't had an issue with it so I guess my concerns are unfounded? Thanks!!
 
Gliden07 said:
I thought about this press but thought the angle iron frame was a tad light for the press. what size is it. Its hard to tell from the pictures. Obviously you haven't had an issue with it so I guess my concerns are unfounded? Thanks!!
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Its a 12 ton press. Think more I-beam than angle iron on the frame it is substantial.
 
Sean Jones said:
How much noise does a press like this make? Also I'm curious about how you mounted it to a moveable cart. I've only used a press once. It was very large and extremely noisy. It shook the whole building or at least the surrounding floor.

I doubt I'll ever get around to getting a press. But if do, this sounds like one I would consider.
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The only noise is from the motor/hydraulic pump. My shop is in my garage and I doubt my family can hear it inside the house. They provided a mount with the press and I simply drilled a couple of holes in the plate steel at the bottom and bolted it to my cart. When I first got it, I used C-clamps to mount it to the cart and that worked fine. The mount or cart do not receive any load other than the weight of the press.
 
Chris - thank youi for the review. You sure are tickling my fancy with that press. Could you provide a couple of photos of the press on the cart? That's how I would want it also. Did you get the foot control? OR, do you move the "up/down" lever by hand?
 
KenH said:
Chris - thank youi for the review. You sure are tickling my fancy with that press. Could you provide a couple of photos of the press on the cart? That's how I would want it also. Did you get the foot control? OR, do you move the "up/down" lever by hand?
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I did not get the foot control and to be honest I really cannot see a need for it but that might be because I have never used one with foot control. I will take pictures this weekend because currently my shop is torn apart as I am having it wired for 220 and such so my press is trapped until they finish the job. At first I wanted to buy the 16 ton press but I took a chance on the 12 Ton simply because of the price. I do not regret buying it. Man, it makes welding up billets much more enjoyable. I used to set and draw everything by hand.
 
Coal Ironworks sells many different dies but they are a little cost prohibitive for me. Especially since they are easy to make for this model. I do like the pre-made die plates they sell though because they have a slot milled into them which allows you to weld your piece form he bottom and the welds will not show which is a slick look to me. The dies I made look like a ten year old welded them but they work well so if I can do it almost anyone can.
 
I was thinking both hands might be needed for holding the billet, but thinking a bit more, perhaps only one is is required for holding the billet, leaving other hand to work controls?

Boy, that press sure is interesting - I could swing the $3K (bit more shipped - $250?) and it's small enough to roll into garage when not in use to store with the forge. How often do you use an anvil when forging with a press? My anvil could be moved, but would be a bit of a hassle. The forge is easy to roll around to move from anvil area to press area.
 
Because I started as a hobby blacksmith I have a good selection of tongs to hold the different billets with so I have no trouble using one hand even on a large can. Now if I were working on a power hammer I would for sure want both hands holding the tongs but my press does not seem to require that. I normally do not use the anvil very much when drawing out stuff on the press except maybe to brush scale or straighten a piece occasionally. Both my forge and my press roll around where I want them so its not a problem for me. If you are ever in the Augusta area holler, you can come squish some stuff but be warned if you do you will have to go buy a press.
 
KenH said:
perhaps only one is is required for holding the billet, leaving other hand to work controls?
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This is what I do 99.9% of the time. I will say that having a foot control would be nice at times. This would allow the use of hand held top tools for certain operations instead of making specific dies (which is what I've been doing).
 
Good for you sir. I do not think you will regret it. There are things I left out of the review but all were positives. Truly the only negative I have discovered is not having large combo dies. If you slot the bolt holes on the die plates then you can change dies quickly by loosening the bolts just a little. Then changing dies is no problem. I have not experienced any bolt seizing with my press as of yet and I have put nothing on the bolts. I think I will hit them with a little anti-seize just in case though. Please let me know how you like the press.
 
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