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I Forge Iron

jdawgnc

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Durham, NC
  • Interests
    Welding, blacksmithing, generally abusing hot or cold metals, wood, and stone

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  1. Here's my 300lb PW(I think) and it's little brother the 100lb mousehole. Check out the stand for the big guy, it's filled with sand and the anvil rests on a floating board so I can raise or lower it as necessary. Between that and the silicone on the heel I reduced the ring to a somewhat bearable tone. Before it was totally deafening. I did notice the rebound suffered a bit when I dropped a ball bearing on it after sitting it on the sand. It still moves metal just fine though, and I'll take a little less rebound in exchange for my eardrums!
  2. Yep, now I just have to build it a suitable stand and get to work. The stump I have my 100lb mousehole on isn't near big enough! I'll take some pics once I get it all done. Gotta build a new coal forge too to go with it. I think the shop is about to get a MAJOR facelift! Woohoo!
  3. Haha, I got it! Weighs in at 296 pounds. Took some finagling, but I got a scale that seems reliable.
  4. I checked out that mark and I'm pretty sure it's just a gouge... That middle area is just so beat up it's hard to tell for sure though. It's funny, bathroom scales all weigh over 300lbs now, but they are also all made of glass. Gently sitting a 200-some-odd lb anvil down is kinda hard! I'll let you guys know as soon as I get it weighed though (I'm leaning towards the 281 myself,) thanks again for all the help and insight.
  5. Yeah, there are literally no surfaces on this anvil that don't have hammer marks. I swear they must have had it on a swivel or something and laid it over on the side at times to use it. Given that though, it's still in remarkably good shape. Only one bad gouge on the side of the face near the horn, not even much sway. Maybe all that side work kept the sides from compressing... Anyway, it looks like its a pre-1850 Peter Wright from what I've been able to mine from the interwebs. Around 1850 they started marking them as "Solid Wrought" and there is no lettering at all on this bad boy. I'm sure SOME of it would have survived if it ever existed. Anyone know much about pre-1850 PW's? I appreciate all the help so far, this has been a fun little adventure
  6. Found a couple more marks! They are totally spread out and still make no sense... although the 2 could signify 200 some odd pounds. The "I" and the "Y" still baffle me though, same style of lettering on punches though, so at least there's that.
  7. Thanks Black Frog! After looking at other pics those handling holes do look AWFUL similar to other American's. With as much abuse as the sides have taken I could totally see that emblem being slowly ground away, even the pics of nicer ones I've been able to find tend to have a pretty faint "American" mark. Anyone with more knowledge on them maybe? Not a lot on the net I've been able to dig up so far, but I'm at work...
  8. I just brushed it some more and couldn't find anything that resembled a number. There are a couple nice dings that theoretically could have obscured a number, but I don't think so. It's beat up, but not THAT beat up if you get my meaning. Although in a hundred plus years of hammering you never know... I did manage to find this though on the right foot as you look under the horn. It may have been an 8, or something similar, but nothing on either side, and there are no big dings that look like they may have hidden anything
  9. Not that I've been able to find. I know that's a typical place they might have put one, but after a lot of cleaning nothing has popped up. I'd be really surprised if there was a string of numbers anywhere there as at least one or two should have survived. It's seen a rough bit of side hammering, clearly whoever owned it before was a firm believer in using every spot on an anvil, not just the face... but still, unless it was deliberately removed I don't think it has a serial #. Could it just be so old as to not have one? Anyone seen that Y before?
  10. Thanks for all your help! Looking at pictures it does seem to have more in common with the HB style, and with the total lack of other distinguishing marks it would make sense that it's pretty early. The sides are pretty beat up and worn, but I think SOME trace of a serial number would remain if there ever was one...
  11. I'd say a total of 4 handling holes? There are the two under the horn, one on the bottom and one under the back end. The bottom is pretty flat, not concave like some I've seen I looked a little closer under a light and you can definitely see where the face is a welded plate that looks to be around 1/2" thick. Nowhere have I been able to find anything resembling a serial # or anything other than the one nice and fairly neat "Y"
  12. I'm pretty sure the O shaped thing is just a gouge. There may have been a letter there though, but if so it's been obscured
  13. So I just picked up this anvil to upgrade the old shop a little and was wondering if any of you anvil identifying geniuses could give me any ideas about this beast? The guy I got it from says he calculated the weight to between 280-330 lbs, which from handling it seems about right. I don't have a scale that goes that high... not that it really matters all that much anyway. It sings beautifully and aside from a few dings and a decent gouge on one corner of the top plate it's in amazing shape. It did have some paint and years of grease on it as well, but once I wire brushed all that off the only marking I could find was a Y stamped near the base on one side. It's been pretty abused on the sides though, as you can see, so it's very possible there were more markings that were beaten off. If you can't read the tape, it measures 12" tall, was probably 30" long originally before it got dropped and smooshed a bit on the tip there, and is 5" wide. If there are any other pics or measurements that could help let me know and I'll be happy to post them. Thanks again for any help,
  14. Well, had to step away for a minute. I WAS asking a very basic question, and thanks Frank, that was actually the exact response I was looking for. Sorry if it was too basic and not using the proper terminology, but I think a lot of heat treatment varies so much and so many people have their own methods. The advanced books I have assume you have an already extensive knowledge of metallurgy, and the basics seem to vary so much as to be a matter of personal preference at times. All I was looking for was the "normal" steps taken to make and treat a punch or other tool out of a piece of S7 steel. A relatively simple question, that needed a very simple answer... As for my "cryo" question, it was based off of an earlier thread and is considerably more advanced... I was just wondering if anyone had any further experience with this. From what I've read, S7, being air hardening, is a prime candidate for cryo treatments of this sort? It's not something I'd be interested in, except that the lab I work in has a virtually limitless supply of dry ice so it is easily sourced and used. I'm not just trying to do something fancy, but to use the tools I have readily available to make the most functional and durable equipment I can. If you have some information or advice I'll gladly listen and learn as much as possible, but if you don't... I know there are a lot of idiots on the internet, don't make the assumption that because I ask basic questions I'm one of them. I needed to cool off after reading this... I thought I was pretty clear about why I was interested in the cryo treatment using dry ice... Maybe if you had read my question instead of just adding a useless 2 cents? Sorry for any misunderstanding there... So for a design punch like I'm wanting to make would you just harden the work end and leave the struck end softer or would you treat the entire punch as one unit? I have read opinions going both ways, and it seems to be a lot of personal preference. To me it seems that having the struck end a bit softer would allow it to mushroom more, but may help it prevent chipping or breaking? Again, this isn't an atomic clock or something my life is going to depend on, so is it REALLY that big a difference?
  15. Sorry, the eye I was speaking of is a shaped end. Different ovals to make eyes that are stern, happy, sad, etc... Or leaves, simple rounded ends, or a hot punch even. All different tips I can grind into this already annealed 1/2" S7. For the chisels and hot cuts, do they need to be treated any differently after letting them cool after I forge and hammer the basic shape, then grind it to the final bevel? Can I just go straight to the hardening and tempering then? Thanks for your help!
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