Iron Clad

I'm not an expert on anvils, but this almost looks like a sawyers anvil to me.

That is correct Grant. Jack-out screw force is amazingly powerful. I have tested this many times on aircraft parts. What's amazing to me is that the brass used to braze the screw into place can handle this force. I don't have any data with me at the moment to calculate tensil/yield strenght of brass, however counting the friction in the threads, the axial load, and torque applied, brass must have sufficient if not impressive numbers for the application at hand. It would be interesting to figure this out. EDIT: I should clarify that screw force is amazing. I used the term "jack-out" because I do a lot of testing jacking out inserts from aluminum and titanium. I was thinking of a jack-out condition if the brass gave way resulting in pulling out of the threads.

800 ANVILS !!!!! Are you serious?? That's impressive. Nice anvil by the way. The largest anvil I have seen in person was 600 lbs. and that made my 275 lb. anvil look small by comparison. Then again, it should considering it's over twice the weight. <_<

Moxon ?? I have a lot of blacksmithing books but I don't recall this one. Moxon must be the author, what is the book?

That's right Thomas I see you did post that already! So would you agree that welding two bars together (overlaped in the center) would be the probable traditional method?

If you are good at forge welding, why not just forge weld two bars in the centre and punch and dift the centre hole? This seems the most economical and quick way.

Another one...."forged by fire" Your turn....

Okay, here is an old one...."One must be either hammer or anvil".

Now Grant, that was funny ! :lol:

How many blacksmith related phrases (in origin) are there? How many can you think of? I'll start off with the easy one..."Too many irons in the fire." Add to the list.....

Very nice tongs Brian. I guess I'm making tongs soon. :P

The interesting thing about blacksmithing tools in general is that if you keep your trained eye open tools pop out of everywhere. I look at many of my tools and cannot even remember where I got them. A few months ago I was in a second hand store just looking around and saw two pair of tongs buried under a bunch of wrenches on a shelf. Bought both of them for $3 a pair, and in great shape! I was in another second hand store and passed by a wooden box sitting on something at least 3 or 4 times. The next time I was passing by I lifted the box and there was a 150lb. (approx, I'm guessing about the weight) Peter Wright. I left without buying it, a week later I went back and it was gone. Stupid me........ Oh well, I have three anvils anyway. Leave no box unturned I guess!! ;)

That is cool. However, if that were a real anvil in use it wouldn't be a happy home for the mouse! :blink:

Thanks Hillbilly. I haven't had enough time with the hammer yet to use it to it's potential. I have lots of plans though. Actually I didn't build it. A friend of a friend built it and I bought it from the latter. I couldn't pass up the deal considering how well it was made. I have been buying spring dies from Grant at the NWBA conferences and I will use some of these in the treadle hammer. One die I will be using soon is the grape vine die since I have a project coming up with grape vines as part of the design. If anything, it will be a good leg work out !! :D

Well, that's too bad for the hammer. Was it just worn out and not worth fixing? I thought that was an older video.

Grant, I was watching one of your videos on YouTube in which you were using a steam hammer. Do you still have that hammer? What kind of boiler are you using. What kind of foundation did you set up under the hammer? It was amazing, your camera was shuttering when you stepped on the hammer hard. This one: I may have the chance to help set one up and I need to learn a lot.

Thanks Bras. This hammer was totally designed and built by a metal fab guy. He's a friend of the friend I bought it from. (Hope that made sense.) I met the designer once, a real smart guy. Anyway, the friend I bought it from is selling his house and is going to travel with his wife for a year or so, he offered to sell it to me and I couldn't pass up the deal considering how well it's built. I especially like the "I" beam construction, really adds rigidity, so it doesn't wobble during operation. The dies line up perfectly, and the "inline" operation, in my opinion is the way to go.

This is my new treadle hammer. I bought it from a friend a few weeks ago. It's well built and hits hard. The base in which the bottom die sits upon is solid to the ground. This hammer is HEAVY and was hard to move between my son and I. http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/45

Jeeze man, you don't mess around do ya !! Nice job, looks better than new... ;)

I found this picture on the net of the building front side. http://www.auburnchamber.net/VISITINGAUBURN/HistoricalTour/AuburnIronWorks/tabid/119/Default.aspx

Do you have any pictures of the drill? I would like to see what it looks like... I kind of collect post drills and I'm interested in looking at brands I have never seen before. Thanks.

Nimba. Great anvil. Large, wide face and lots of mass. I cannot remember the weight, I think it's around 275lbs. http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/44

For some reason I find "The Shed" kind of funny! :D

That was fun to watch. I cannot believe how many revolutions that went around before finally shearing in half. Looks like it was getting hotter as it went as well. Thanks for sharing the video with us!

Mark, another thing I like about this design is that it can be slightly adjusted to fit snug in the hardy hole, or for that matter, hammered down to fit a slightly smaller hardy hole. The hardy hole in my large anvil is right at 1". Apparently I didn't fold over the material quite tight enough and it didn't fit at first, easy thing to fix by just hammering down the fold slightly, taking in account for heat expansion. No problem with a snug fit. :)