Stash

All the Champs I have had have been fine. I currently have a Canedy-Otto that I really like. I've heard good things about Buffalo blowers. My electric blower is a re purposed bath vent fan. You might stand a better chance finding one at a local ABANA affiliate if you're here in the US. The online vendors usually treat them as if they were made of gold. They are out there, though. Steve Edit to add- I expect the mods will shortly be moving this thread to the 'bellows, blower' section.

I picked up the Bader B3 with a combo tip and a 1.5 hp motor for well under your price point. Upgrading to a 2 hp or a vfd might push it up a bit more, just depends on what you need out of it. Steve

He used recycled industrial vacuum pumps for the blower, with a pivoting blast gate on the intake. He also used a copper tuyere, set 1 1/2" into the furnace, with no melting or degradation over 2 smelts. Actually 2 smelts going on concurrently for a total of 4 smelts over 2 days. Not sure about the Irish smelt, but I expect it was similar- not hand pumped. Steve

You might want to check out Lee Sauder's site. (Just google him.) He has ben doing a lot of current bloomery smelting research, and there's lots of info on his site. I was involved in 2 smelts with him this past fall. one smelt we used ~80# of roasted ore (limonite- sp?) and got a 25# bloom. He said he used some bog iron not too long ago in Ireland, it was some of the best ore he had used. Steve

Thanks Biggun- that's about what I was figuring. I was speculating with the guy I bought them from, he was shooting for 1040-1050ish. Steve Great deal on the punch and dies, too!

Grabbed these saw blanks from CL- they came from a company that made diamond- abrasive blades. 4" to 18", ~ 14 to 20 ga. I think I will go into the Odd job hat rim business. Steve

Don't be overthinking things. It's just a pivot. As long as the jaws are lined up properly with the existing pin in place and the holes are not wallered out ( yeah, it is a word!) you're good to go. You could just slide a washer over the bolt end and drill a hole for a cotter pin to hold it all in. My vise is older, with no threads on the pivot pin. There is just a hole and a tapered pin hammered in to hold it. I've done repairs with another bolt from my bolt pile. You just don't want it too loose that jaw alignment is affected. EZPZ Steve

I should think that if you got it warm and gave it some bees wax, blo or a mix you should be fine. It will probably be in a pocket or purse and out of the elements. I don't think just the brushed- on brass would suffice. Steve

Collect scale from around your anvil and put handfuls on the hot work as you hammer. Steve

Doesn't look very rough from my vantage point- just looks well used, as expected. Sounds like a good deal unless there's major chunkage missing from the other side. Steve

I'm concerned about the gauge of the steel in the firebox. Looks kinda thin in the pic. I would think 1/4" as an absolute minimum, better at 3/8" or 1/2". My cast iron box is ~ 3/4". The table itself looks fine. Like Grouser said, good start. Steve

Well, the crud and rust on the top could disguise any kind of ring or rebound, as well as sitting in the dirt. Looks kinda like a Soderfors, cast steel and measured and stamped in pounds. Looks well used with nice round edges. I'd clean the top off with a wire brush real good and give it another tappy- tap. It should bounce your hammer back at you and ring like a bell. I do see what seems to be a horizontal crack just below the face that bears investigating. It gives the appearance of an applied steel top, but this is a solid cast steel anvil, so..... Make sure you know what you have there before whipping out the wallet. An anvil like this without any issues in my neck of the woods could be worth $3-4 per pound (US). Steve

Hey Jerry- apparently there are several variations on the Trenton logo. One of the members here has been documenting the different ones, and I hope he will be around shortly to answer your question better. I know he will ask, so maybe you could post a pic of the logo so he can see it. Steve

Thomas- for John's time in Vail, does that include a lift pass? Steve

Chris' idea is a good one, re the concrete. Another thought in the same vein would be to make a simple pad of pavers- flagstone, garden steppers or even bricks. Compact the soil and level them out on a sand base, then set your stump on top.Bob's yer uncle. And it is easy to reset if it settles. When I make Adirondak chairs for outdoor use , I always coat the bottom of the legs with a thin epoxy, allow it to wick in, and apply more till it won't absorb any more. You could also use a medium or thick CA glue, or even polyurethane. That will keep water from wicking up. Then use ideas from above for treating the rest of the stump. Basically there are two kinds of wood in outdoor exposure- the ones that are rotting, and the ones that will rot. All you can do is slow the process. Steve

Very nice! Does the blower spin freely? Steve

I concur with the previous 2 responses. It just won't end well. I love my wife and she loves me. She doesn't buy me things for my blacksmith shop, and I don't buy her things for the kitchen. We both know specifically what we need for our respective shops and don't presume to know what is needed in the others. This eliminates the awkward " gee, just what I needed......." on Christmas morning. (Unless we provide specific lists to each other). Steve

I like to make sure things are pretty cooled down before I leave the smithy. Blower off, ash dump opened, pull off the top layer of cooler coke chunks on to my forge table. Do some cleanup. Then I go back and pull more cooled coke from the firepot onto the table. By then I can open a clear path for air from the bottom and things cool down from there. It is still warm in there but definitely out. Finish cleanup, tool dressing and storage and leave. The routine doesn't take long, and has been the routine for a while now. If I an taking a lunch break, I open the ash dump and pile some green coal on top of the hot coke. The open ash dump allows a thin trickle of smoke to sneak out and keeps things alive till I come back and keeps any volatiles out of the airstream. That is what works for me. Steve

Not a Fisher. Looks kind of Mouseholey, or another older English brand. Looking at how close the pritchel hole is to the rear, I'm wondering if that was user- added at a later time. If that's the case would put the mfg date pre 1830ish. Never the less, is is a well used older English. If any ID or weight stamp still exists, it generally would be on the other side, horn pointing right. Steve

Hey Nathan. no need to worry about ruining the HT on your sledge- you're just grinding or filing. If you're grinding, use a flap disc and kiss the sharp edges and feather them in. As far an your air supply, I'm using a recycled bathroom vent fan going into a dump valve made from a 4"pvc 'y'. One branch of the 'y' goes to my forge, the other branch goes to a sliding blast gate. I control airflow by closing the gate down (so more air goes to the forge) or opening it up (so more air goes out and away). The fan was free, I had the electricals and pipe fittings laying around. Works well for me. Steve

No offense taken, Karl. This forum has seen many well meaning folk take a damaged but perfectly usable anvil, and make it unusable. Welding and machining skills are great, but there is more to these things than filling a few divots and milling the whole thing flat. This has been discussed ad nauseum on a buncha threads. We want to make sure you have all the info you need in order to make and follow thru on the decision to repair or not. Unfortunately, anyone asking the questions like you asked is akin to throwing rocks at a hornet's nest. I hope I speak for the gang when I say we weren't offended, and I hope you weren't, either. There is a lot of accumulated experience around here, and basically we want you to succeed. Again, pictures of your anvil would help, so we can give specific advise. Remember, this is supposed to be fun. Steve

You're on the list, Charles, as well as Sandy. Shalom Steve

My personal thought is that it seems to be a lot more work than necessary. I don't know enough about the alloy to say how possible it might be. Steve

I concur with Irondragon- clean the crud as you have it now, put it back together and lube. Only if there seems to be a problem at this point do I consider more apart- taking. Then again, you might be more mechanically inclined than I am, so have fun. That was a good deal you got there. Painting is a personal decision. I wirebrushed mine then spilled oil on it, and decided it was good to go like that. Steve

Is the upper wheel in the rear adjustable? It looks fixed from what I can see. That is the wheel I would want to use to adjust the tracking. Looking again, it does look adjustable. Have you ran thru the available adjusting range? Steve