bodgerman

I'm left handed, horn to the right. If it was to the left, I'd have no place to lay the hammer.

I tried building up the broken edges of a beater 150# anvil I've got. I used 7018 to build the most wasted area, planning to top off with hard facing rod. The 7018 didn't really bond, and I'm thinking the base metal was absorbing too much heat, and not allowing the rod metal to flow into it. I quit when I saw what I was trying wasn't going to work, and didn't want to make a bad situation worse. I have a 200a ac buzz box. I'm not really thrilled with the design of this anvil anyway, the horn's not round enough, but it's twice the weight of my Wright anvil, which I really don't want to abuse. Do I need to use better technique, or different rod, or just live with it as it is until I can find a better anvil.

Across the river in Vancouver Wa. is Fort Vancouver, a rebuilt Hudson's Bay tradepost/ fort that was later taken over as a US Army fort. I spent several hours there probably 10 years ago, they'd rebuilt the forge there, as well as several other buildings.

I'll also add, think your proceedure through first, what will happen if things don't go as planned.. I use a 7inch hand held grinder alot, it's very fast, with alot of torque. If it hangs up in the work, I want to know which way it'll try to go, and I want to to pull it's self out of trouble. One I learned from my dad, with a large drill motor, the trigger hand holds it so if the bit binds, the finger is pulled from the trigger, not into it, especially if it's in low gear. Develop good work habits, so it's natural to do the safe thing. I spent 20 years in construction, whenever I laid the skilsaw down, the saw blade pointed away from the body. I automaticly do it now.

Hi folks, I found this site with a web search. I'm primarily a muzzleloading gunsmith, but dabbling more and more with blacksmithing. I've recently moved my forge indoors, so I can use it when I want now. I look forward to communicating with you all.