stuarthesmith

can someone tell me what the letter "N" stands for on the back foot?

progressive resistance in anvildom?

I was at josh kavett's museum and saw his 800 pound behemoth

I was at the flea market this morning, and purchased this fisher anvil there. It weighs about fifty pounds, has a big 5 under the horn, fisher on the front foot, 1882 under the heel, and the letter N on the rear foot. Here are the pics

I am saving up my sheckles as quickly as possible, in order to "rescue" the entire yardful of anvils. I intend to use only two of them, the 300 plus pound trenton, and the small hay budden. All the rest of them I intend to make available to folks on this website, reasonably!

ok, cool glenn

THREAD LOCKED what gives? Is this what I get for trying to help folks out?

here are the pics

what is totally annoying to me is the lack of standardization of hardy hole sizes. Seven anvils in my shop, four of them have 1 1/4 holes, one has an 1 1/8 hole, one has a 1 inch hole, and one has a 3/4 inch hole. Sheer idiocy!

my seven hundred pound hay budden has an inch and a quarter hardy hole. Of course, I can forge the shanks slightly larger, since I am starting out with 2 3/8 inch rounds

At flea markets, auctions, etc. there are a plethora of tongs, hammers, and even anvils for sale. What folks do NOT usually find are anvil tools, especially anvil tools for large anvils. I recently traded three forge blowers, a 300 pound anvil, and two six inch heavy leg vises for approximately 1500 pounds of 1080 tool steel, in two and three eights diameter five-inch length drops. Perfect for forging hardies, swages, etc., by forging the shanks at both ends, then cutting it in half, then forging the business ends of the tool. I am making three sized shanks, 1 1/8, 1 1/4, and 1/3/8. Pictured below is a large hot cut hardy sample that I made yesterday, and a half-inch round bottom swage sample that I also forged yesterday. These heavy duty hardy-hole tools weigh a minimum of two pounds apiece!

I have at least two each of every hand hammer and pair of tongs in my shop, just in case I lose one

I recently traded for 1600 pounds of two and three eighths round 1080 steel. I was getting ready to forge a run of inch and a quarter shanked hot cutting hardies for anvils. I have a rather large Cast Iron Champion Industrial forge, with thick cast iron legs, which sports an electric rheostat directed champion 50 blower. I have been using this forge since 1977, putting thousands and thousands of hours of use on that blower. My wife recently toured my shop, and asked me, "just out of 'curiosity" "what would happen if that blower stopped working". My laughing response was "these blowers are heavy-duty, and this forge has been used for the last 90 years continuously". Well, lo and behold, with a two and three eights 1080 bar being heated in the fire, the motor started sparking, and then died. The gravity of my wife's question immediately sunk in. With a giant pile of blowers in my spare storage area in my shop, not ONE of them was a Champion 50. It turns out, after testing the unit, that this is a no-fix situation, with the motor windings having been burnt out, according to my electrician friend who tested the failed unit. Lucky for me that I have FRIENDS in the business. A very dear friend of mine, who had the same questions about his blower that my wife had, showed the good sense to buy four extra blowers, just like mine, just for spare parts. I qu8cky bought one of them, with rheostat, while my electrician friend is replacing the burnt motor on my failed unit. My good friend also said to me that I should get a spare hand cranked champion 400, while I was "at it" I left his blacksmith shop with that blower too, pictured below!!!!.

hahahahahaha

I know josh kavett, who has about that many anvils, lol

Yesterday, I bought a big beautiful leg vise from a guy in pennsylvania who has been hoarding tools in his backyard. I posted a picture of the vise yesterday in the thread in this forum "first come first served". The good news is that he has ten anvils in his back yard, all reasonably priced, including a 300 lb columbian, a 300 pound swedish paragon, peter wrights, hay buddens, etc. I will be posting pictures of his anvils. I might just buy the whole load and make them available to members of this website.

20 mule team, or that stuff that centaur sells

Just watch the second half of the video in which you can see his right hand!

ted, take a look at the MIDDLE of the video, not the beginning............his thumb is above the handle

before I use it at a demo I am doing on december 3, I am going to clay it in. I am not going to risk cracking the pan

I re'cently bought this rivet forge pan at a farm auction for fifty bucks. No grate, no ash dump, no inlet, no nothin' ! First I drilled out three holes in an old concrete saw blade to match three holes drilled in the forge pan. Then, with a hole saw, I drilled a hole on one pipe for an ash dump. Then I ground a second, identical pipe, to match the hole in the ash dump for an air inlet pipe. Then I welded the two together at right angles. Then I welded the entire ash dump set up to the saw blade, which I bolted to the bottom of the forge pan. Finally, I took a piece of half inch thick plate and drilled it multiple times for a grate. Then, and this is the good part, I welded a round ring matching the big hole in the cast iron forge pan, making this grate removeable and interchangeable. I am immediately applying for a patent for this "grate" idea! The whole job took me an hour and a half.

his tables are very sturdy......almost as sturdy as his knowledge on fisher anvils!

Yesterday, I attended Josh Kavett's tailgating event and lecture at the Fisher Eagle Museum at NJANVILMAN's place. His kind hospitality was only surpassed by his scholarship on the subject of Fisher Anvils. I am posting some pictures, including those of his sequentially arranged behemoths, an 800, 700, 600, 500, 450, and 400 pound Fisher Anvils. I also took pictures of some of his wooden patterns for these anvils, including the 800 pounder! Thank you, Josh, for having such a wonderful event! I am also happy to report that I have joined the New Jersey Blacksmith's Association, and met some of them at this event. KUDOS!

1. Stuart Geisler 2. Montrose, Pennsylvania 3. Tool Forging, Restoration Hardware, and anything that looks interesting and challenging 4. April, 1976, served a five year apprenticeship in a tool forging shop 5.A 512 pound peter wright in the shop I served my apprenticeship 6. I still have the first forge I ever bought, a champion industrial forge with a rheostatically controlled electric blower 7. Fyodor Czub, who I served my apprenticeship under, and my younger brother 8. Getting HIRED! 9. My triphammers 10. Wear Hearing Protection 11. tell folks to wear hearing protection and goggles 12. seeing a 601 pound peter wright sell on ebay for close to 8 thousand dollars 13. I would like to teach someone who becomes so good, he/she can outproduce ME at the forge and anvil

some folks from IFI recently visited my shop and commented "the least you could do is have a fire going since you knew we were visiting"! Funny thing is, I had a fire going, but I have zero smoke in my shop. Reason: first, my flues are twelve inch diameter round pipe, which creates an enormous updraft, and secondly, when I am first lighting up, because I have turbines atop both of my flue pipes, they create negative pressure which creates upddraft