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I Forge Iron

TechnicusJoe

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    TechnicusJoe

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    Male
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    The Netherlands
  • Interests
    Becoming the best smith I can be.

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  • Location
    In the Netherlands
  • Biography
    I'm 17 years
  • Interests
    Blacksmithing, casting metal, making things out og wood and model live steam engines
  • Occupation
    Still in high school

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  1. This is not how anvils used to be heat treated or should be heat treated. This is similar to hardening a hammer all the way through or fully on the surface, which really is not a good idea. The flowing water is key, that is desirable, and with large sizes even a must. I would approach the quench differently. But I suppose this works well as well. That, they understand at least. I have had comments from people on my anvil videos saying they would heat treat the anvil upside down and leave it in the water (no water flow) so it could cool down. These individuals really don't know and/or understand the circumstances and how heat treatment works, let alone on an anvil. You will get a steam jacket around the anvil and it will never cool down fast enough to heat treat the face, that it actually becomes hard. In the case of anvils, hammers and alike, it is the working surface that needs to be heat treated to provide a lasting work surface. The body needs to be tough to support the heat treated the face and absorb the impacts and vibrations, so that anvil doesn't want to break. Nobody here will have to think about why a glass hammer, anvil etc. is not a good idea. The same applies to heat treating an anvil all the way through or simply the entire outside surface, depending on what alloy is used here. You can tell me about tempering the body, or trying to temper the body, but it is not a good way, nor is it efficient. The face (and horns) needs to be heat treated and the body underneath needs to stay cold enough to not heat treat, leaving the body tough. Thus you have to heat less material for a shorter period of time with less energy or fuel. If required, tempering can be done much easier and faster, without the risks of the body getting cracks during the heat treatment. Now the video is cool and it is nice to see something like this. But, in this day and age with so much info. available and anvil production having been an incredibly well established process, it boggles my mind to see such an undesireble heat treatment as this. There is so much more to anvils than being a block of iron. Not that anyone here says that just now, but it boils down to that most of the times. I best stop now, before I continue my rant into a books worth amount.
  2. Here are a few. Having the side shelf in the same location as the hardie hole. With this lay-out any hardie tool will obstruct a pass over the side shelf with the face. On the forged anvils and proper cast reproductions the side shelf is just before the hardie hole, so it can be used with hardie tools. The added benefit on the forged anvils is that with the side shelf located back slightly, it lands exactly on the forge weld of the horn to the body, reinforcing this weld. This is really favorable, and hence it was done intentionally. It has many benefits. Putting the breast on the near side of the anvil. The breast is a far edge reinforcement, to be used to draw out stock on the edge of the anvil. On the near side will function, though it is easier to pull material ontop of the anvil, then to push it ontop of the anvil from the near side. Considering the striker does the bulk of the work, it benefits the striker to be able to well see how the stock is positioned on the edge. On the near side, this is not as easy to see. An unsupported breast. The breast is either forged back from the main body from anvil or forge welded on, with a forge welded on support under it, a "nose" or almost like an extra foot. Also for support for the far edge, against having the anvil wanting to rotate with heavy strikes on the far edge. The upsetting block on the near side of the anvil The choice to have it on the far side, striker side of the anvil, is a better choice, than on the near side. Upsetting, particularly larger stock, will throw quite some hot scale/sparks towards the smith. Even with a long apron, tends to end up on, and in your shoes. On the far side, the upsetting block also works like a colonial "fifth foot", resisting the anvil from wobbling/rotating towards the striker. Try it out. It is easier to rock over an anvil on the side with just two feet, than the side with a colonial foot or upsetting block. And when you upset either alone or with a striker, the sparks don't land in your shoes. Really thinning out the waist of the anvil. This makes the anvil work more like a shock absorber. The anvil can be narrow faced, but the rigidity then has to come from a wider waist (maintaining the narrow face). Particularly with long skinny horns or heels. Which they can be. But there is a proportion, where the horn or heel maintains a proper taper, with which it can be skinny still. If they taper too little, and are more like a bar, they also act like a shock absorber, instead of a support for your work. Or the waist needs to be thicker. A too hollow of a taper on a horn is also going to work like a shock absorber instead. Some have the features of the anvil on the opposite side of the anvil, not for a left handed person where it is mirrored. But partially a few features swapped, such as a hardie hole and upsetting block. Looking at the designs of the older anvils, they are laid out in such a way that you can use all parts pretty much at the same time. This is more efficient. No wasted time having to take out a hardie or other tool. Taking it out once or twice, fine. But if you have to do this 1000 times in a production run, that is time wasted 1000 times. Smiths made many of the same things, certainly if they were good at it - returning orders. This is what I find fascinating in the last generations of hand forged anvils. They understood incredibly well how form and function worked together, putting features, material and proportions in the right place, so the anvil worked for the smith. With so many applications, it gave birth to many patterns. Though... For the hobbyist, enthusiast or professional where forging is a side thing, it really doesn't matter so much. A block of steel will already suffice for the majority of work.
  3. No, it should not. Not even on the London pattern anvil you speak of = table next to the face and hardie hole in the heel. "table next to the face and hardie hole in the heel." This is however far from a London pattern definition, merely two features. There are many other anvil patterns, having one or both of these features. Every country has their own anvil styles (Yes, not just one pattern of anvil), with their own hole lay-out. The London Pattern is a common one, though I would say it is a group of anvil patterns with similar features. There are fatter, thinner, longer versions, with hardie hole and pritchle hole lay-outs as demanded by the company who ordered the anvil from the anvil manufacturers. There are French, North-, South German, Italian, Russian, etc. Patterns. Designs became standard, as they worked for many smiths. What doesn't work well or does not work at all, gets fased out. Though there are no guidelines where hardie holes, pritchle holes or other features should be. Any pattern adopted as standard can be changed to the customers wishes. Or at least, this is how it was when anvil manufacturers still (hand) Forged the anvils and could easily make changes. It can however be discussed if the location of certain features such as hardie holes, pritchle holes, horns, shelves, upsetting blocks, etc., are located in the right place for the smith, depending on the type of products the smith needs to make AND if a feature doesn't inhibit another feature's function. Apart from that, anything is a go. I see this in many newly produced anvils, mashing various anvil pattern features together. Though, I can see that in functionality, it was not well considered. Features on old anvils are functional, they have a purpose. Iron was too expensive not too long ago to mash a funky looking anvil together. Some of these new anvils have features, that I would say are "on the wrong side". Of course they can be anywhere anyone wants, the customer pays for it after all. But having studied anvil patterns and the use of the features, to me. Some of these newly designed anvils look like cars with the driver facing the rear of the vehicle, with 5 speeds backwards, and 1 forward. Again, if anyone can do what they want. But from a design and usage point of view, some things are installed backwards or "wrong".
  4. Simple. The pictures don't match. The first one is a Kohlswa anvil of the earlier logo type. The other two pictures are pictures of a hand forged German anvil. Evidence: Look at the chamfer from the feet that run over the body and chamfer the body and till the transition to the horn. The Kohlswa anvil clearly does not have this. On the Kohlswa anvil the feet lines blend into the flat of the body of the Kohlswa anvil, with relatively sharp edges. Whereas the German anvil has this long flowing chamfer from the feet over the body till the stepped transition of the horn. Texture doesn't match, color doesn't match and some other details. Whoever claims this is the same anvil is evidently mistaken, or not honest.
  5. Fantastic job! I personally would recommend spinning the blower clockwise, so that the bronze gear is pushed down, meshing with the spiral gear better over time. Turning counter clockwise (as your red arrow points) pulls the bronze gear up and as the bronze bushings wear, the mesh will decrease. And thus I recommend reversing the arrow on your blower for a longer life.
  6. Videos regarding the older style of anvils have been taken out of private viewing only.
  7. Simply put. There is NOT a single anvil in the world that will not chip. All brands will chip. Some very soon, other, usually higher quality ones will chip much later in time. The main causes for chipping is improper edge dressing of the anvil, improper edge dressing of the hammer, smith hitting the edge, striker hitting the edge. The biggest culprits are smiths themselves (accidently) hitting the edge, causing a small piece to break off. This can happen during operations around any edge.
  8. They are called a "round hole" in the various languages. What you describe is a problem with cheaper anvils often but as well with some higher quality brands. They make "anvils" or rather, anvil shaped objects. But they have not at all studied anvils and what will benefit a design. If they knew what a round hole is often used for and can be used for, they would never have placed it in such an awkward location. Anvils were made with functionality in mind and the various blacksmithing techniques were considered. That is however not always the case anymore unfortunately.
  9. A pritchel hole is a hole for a pritchel, which is a tool used by farriers to size the holes in horseshoes. This hole is located near the hardie hole and small (in most cases). Studying German and other European anvils, the round hole is not layed out in the same location, nor does it even have the same name, nor the same specific function as the pritchel hole on a London Pattern anvil. The round hole is not made square to save costs. And often the round hole is seen as a round "hardie" hole and used so. Calling every round hole a pritchel hole is like calling a straight peen hammer a cross peen hammer, "cuz it's got a peen and flat face". They have similarities, but are definitely not the same. Just like not every round hole in anvil face is a pritchle hole, despite similarities.
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