Mark Wargo New2bs

Thanks Phil. I will have to keep that in mind. The current owner says he bought it from a state surplus sale from one of the old State Hospitals, which had a blacksmith shop. If that is true, I would think it would have to be older than that. Being freshly painted like that concerns me right off the top, but I'm willing to take a look at it. I might be able to get my brother-in-law to swing over and take some good pictures of it to send me if I'm lucky. Mark

Any thoughts on the maker of this anvil? It is 3.5 hours away and the owner isn't sure. This is the only picture I have at the moment. Any help is greatly appreciated. Mark

Thanks for the in progress commentary, I really appreciate you and your hammer looks great. Mark

Thanks Brian. I truly had a blast and I learned a lot. I won't be able to attend the ABANA conference due to work and family obligations, but I look forward to working with you again soon. Be safe on the road to ABANA. Mark

Yesterday I forged this new hammer with much help from Brian Brazeal and LDW so I thought I'd forge a hardy tool like we used in the class. As you can tell from the photo, my anvil is sorely lacking any square edges and the step has a melted appearance. I fired up the forge today and forged this hexagonal hardy tool from a piece of pry bar that I picked up at the local scrap yard. I will slightly radius a couple of the edges, but will leave two as they are now. Mark

That is a good looking hammer. You'll be happy with the way you move metal with that. Mark

Brian, I'm trying to follow your forging steps here...it looks like you started with perpendicular half hammer face blows on the near side round dies to isolate, then moved to 180 degree from your original isolation with half hammer face blows on the far side round dies. Then did you move back a bit with perpendicular half hammer face blows on the far side round dies, or did you do the angled hits over the far side square dies first? Mark

Thanks, I will probably do that. I used a spring steel because it's a spring fuller LOL. I live and I learn. I will probably make a fuller like the one you did, I like that alot. Mark

Well, while working at the forge today I grabbed those two broken pieces and normalized one, while leaving the other as a control. After three cycles of successively lower heats I brought one piece above critical and quenched it, then broke it with a hammer. Lo and behold, the grain structure was small and silky smooth. I'm amazed, they don't even look like they are made from the same material. I was worried that just eyeballing the color would not produce good results on normalizing, but wow was it much improved. Thanks for all the advice. Mark

Well, here is my colonial pattern Fisher (joking). It was broken off at the hardy when I got it and the jagged back was wearing on me aesthetically. Functionally, all of the edges were so chiped I couldn't use them for fullering because my work kept sliding into the crevices. I took the back off evenly at the front of the hardy and radiused the edges as much as I dared. I ground the surface a bit so that I could have a couple of areas with no pitting. You can tell from the photos that there are still some deeper pits, but I didn't want to risk grinding too deeply. I'm very pleased with the results and I think it will make the edges more useful. I checked the rebound with a ball bearing before and after and noticed no difference. I look forward to firing up the forge this weekend and giving her a workout.

Wasn't he asking like $1200 on e-bay for that?

I would like to see pictures if you come across it. Thanks much. Mark

That is fantastic! Mark

Thanks Martensite. That makes sense given the area I live in. Appreciate the quick response too! Mark

Anyone know what this tool is? By boss's husband found it and thought it might be a blacksmithing tool, so they brought it to me. The roller appears to be made of a course porous material and the arm it is on is hinged. Mark

"Ouch" "Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot!" Mark

nice anvil indeed. Mark

There are many places where even mild cursing can get you terminated from a job. I work for the state, and you really have to watch what you say because being offended is up to the recipient of the language, regardless of your intent as the deliverer. Sad, but true. How's the anvil? Mark

that is awesome. Really appreciate the close up of the blade. Mark

Man, that looks fantastic. Mark

Nice. I'd like to see pictures of the finished anvil when you get time. I walked by a pile of tines about 4 feet tall at a scrap yard not long back. Was really tempted to pick up some.

Thanks Thomas. I was searching the web and it looked like 4140 was the only steel I saw mentioned. Didn't know if that was rather standard or application specific. Mark

I like it much. What type of steel is generally used for fork lift forks I wonder? Mark

With a rusty style helve hammer, what would be the minimum weight for the hammer that would be effective for hobbiest work? I was considering something in the 15 to 20 pound range. I don't want to move too much metal with each hit, but I'd hate to make it too light, and not move much at all. Mark

Nice blade, especially for a 2nd go. Mark