[Miluso]

Hi all, new to hydraulic presses and though i understand the basics and have read a lot of posts about what bladesmiths use what press and some of the stats, I have a chance to build a dream hydraulic system that should run my whole shop.

I recently acquired a demil 50 hp self contained hydraulic power unit. It has about 100 gallon reservoir and it is 3 phase electric. i think the lines are 3/4" and 1". The unit has 2 separate pump systems with individually adjustable flow rates and filters for both systems.

I know that’s a bit of overkill, but for $200 I couldn’t pass it up… What I need to know is, just what would be the most bang for the buck in cylinders for forging Damascus blades (knives, axes, swords).

I see the forums and everyone talks about tonnage of force vs speed vs stroke and lots of other things that are over my head at the moment. It seems with this system I can basically set it up for the best of all options.

Fast stroke speed for more working time with enough force to spare. The question is how do I do that? What bore, rod and stroke for cylinder size and do I use bigger or smaller lines for gpm and psi?

Also need to balance speed and power with control. Won't do me any good to have 50 tons at 5 ips and turn my 4" damascus billet into a 1/32" piece of plate damascus in one pass...

What would you do if you had a 50HP hydraulic unit to play with?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.