VaughnT

Very nice work. You might try "Cold Blue" to darken the stainless for an older look. I use CB and bleach to rust parts all the time.

Very good work. If you were closer, I'd think seriously about having you cut me a big chunk like that and jet the hardy out!!

Wait til you get to Brian's for your class and search that region when you're not hammering. I use search tempest dot com to speed up the CL searching.

You won't go wrong with it. The worst thing I see is a thin face plate (as evidenced by the peening of the edge) and that's certainly not a worry. It sure beats a section of railroad track!

My biggest problem with swage blocks is that the majority are made for industrial use. I can think of no need in my "smithy" for a block pierced with holes over an 2" in size. The perimeter swages are certainly nice if they are within the range of metal that you normally work, but I rarely work stock in all those ranges. Up to 1", okay. Over 1", it's getting scarce. Over 2" just doesn't happen. I'm still keeping my eyes open for a block at a reasonable price. Like anvils, I'll buy them all day long if I can afford to.

There's nothing fancy about that blower, though it is a good model and looks to be all original. I wouldn't go over $150 for it.

Well, if you have access to the tools to bring the edges back to square properly, and there's a lack of anvils in your area, jump on it. He's asking less than $2/lb and that's a good price. Be prepared to pay the full asking price, however, so it doesn't go to someone else. Good size anvil for general shop work and I'm sure you won't loose money should you decide to sell it in the future.

Oil won't hide blemishes, but it will make them stand out for a photograph. I wouldn't worry about that. Overall, the anvil looks in very good shape, and it's a very good size. The sway in the faceplate actually comes in handy for straightening stock and I'm not seeing too much area that's heavily pitted or chipped so you won't have to do any major sanding. If anvils in your area are scarce, jump on it. It will certainly do better for you than a railroad track and you can always weld up the face sometime down the road if you wanted to restore her.

I've been wanting a rolling stool for awhile now. Like 99% of my projects, I procrastinate a lot and re-do the design in my head a half-dozen times before I even think about cutting metal. I knew I wanted a tractor seat and large rubber wheels. The tractor seat is very comfortable, something you can sit on for hours while doing tedious filing or such, and the bigger the wheels the easier it will be to roll over an extension cord or other small obstruction. Other than that, I'm open to ideas. I'd like some height adjustability because my wall-mounted bench is higher than my metal table. But, I don't really need a lot of adjustability. Is there a happy medium? What's stumped me..... how to connect the tractor seat to the body of the stool. If the connection isn't flexible, the thin sheet-metal of the seat would rip out when you lean to the side. I like this design, and my seat has a hole in the center for just such a joint, but the height is then fixed. And, I don't have the tooling to make a spring that size IMG00161-20110624-1601.jpg Or, I could use an automotive coil spring. Still have to figure out the best way to join the two, and I lose height adjustability. picture.php In keeping with the "shop" motif, I had thought about using a small bottle jack or a scissor jack for raising the seat a few inches. Still can't figure out a decent way of joining the seat to the rest of the stool that will prevent undue stress on the joint. I'd hate to have something give and drop my fat butt to the ground! Am I missing something simple?

Don't wait to cut that pass-through in the back of the hood. A lot of simple beginner projects require a bend or texturing in the middle of a long piece. Making a simple bracket, for example, to support a shelf uses 12" of stock with a bend in the middle... and that's only for a small bracket.

I like the idea of an inverted wheelbarrow body. A few straps and rivets to hold it to the lawnmower deck..... cut a hole for a bit of stove pipe to get the smoke up above your head. Now you have a shade to better see the color of the steel, and a bit of overhang to cover the entire forge table. It would certainly look incredible!

The edges look pretty chewed up, but you can radius them with a sander and get them functioning better. The face looks good and flat, and the horn isn't buggered. I'd try to get them to come down on the price, personally. But, what is the anvil market like it your area? Do you see a lot of anvils coming up? Is this your first anvil? Generally, I like a light anvil like that because they are easy to move but don't really hamper you in the scope of work you might want to explore. $1/lb is a great price for an anvil in that condition. $2/lb is reasonable considering that the condition of the edges. Over $2/lb is simply too much, however, unless you just don't see a lot of anvils coming up for sale. I'd probably buy it just to save it from being scrapped. It will come in handy in any shop, even if it's as a weight or prop for another project. New smiths can use it and not be afraid of banging it up with a missed hammer blow. Just be sure to check it for ring and rebound to make sure it's a sound anvil.

Itsme, The rail anvils are notoriously poor performers in the horizontal orientation, but you can make them work better by adding as much mass as possible. While using the tubing to make a base will work, using other pieces of track will add significantly more weight and make the anvil perform just that much better. Cutting and shaping track into other tools, basically using it as a raw material, is very labor intensive and you'd be better off buying new stock that's closer to the size and shape of what you're trying to make.

Yep. Being an asymmetrical hammer, the actual working part is unfazed by the overabundance of heat. Grind off the bad parts and do the heat-treat from the start.

That anvil is almost-new condition from the picture. Lighter anvils go for a higher price than heavy ones because they're more mobile. Having said that, I wouldn't hesitate to pay $2 for her. $3/lb would certainly be fair depending on the actual location and condition. $4/lb isn't unheard of, or unwarranted. The condition is great and the weight is right. Should be an easy sell.

I really like that. I remember a video on the net that showed a european smith with a similar apron. Personally, I would prefer a cross-back strap style, but the y-style isn't too bad. What's he charge? He make xxl, or xxxl?

I wouldn't pound on it to drive it into a hole in a stump. Any deformation to the face will only need to be dressed up, like the peening from its hammer days, and you run the risk of chipping it. I'd drill four 1/4" holes in a square pattern, to make the corners of the square hole, and then eat out the center with a large bit that matches the thickness of the shaft. A few minutes with a chisel to clean it up, and you should be able to drop the stake right in. A tap or two with a rubber mallet might be needed, but certainly no heavy sledging. Awesome find! I'd love to have luck like that...

All very good advice, so far. I would definitely make the upper windows so that they could crank out. In the summer, that high ceiling is going to be wonderful, and those windows will let in some good light. Getting rid of the people door is critical. My dad built his shop with three garage doors (two opposing for drive-thru capability), a people door and a motorcyle/golfcart door. Next thing you know, there's no room on the walls for tools, and no room on the floor for anything that might block the various doors. You can just as easily open the sliding door to enter as you can a traditional door. A half-wall around the lean-to? It's only going to hamper you in the long run, and it won't do much to keep the weather off of anything under the roof. That's not to say that I wouldn't recommend a full wall along one side as a wind deflector, though. I don't know if you need that in your locale, but it's something to think about.

All of the chainmaker's anvils I've seen had the side "horn" replaceable. It acted a lot like a hardy tool, but was stuck through the side. A variety of changeable bits were needed depending on the size of the links you were forging. You might be working on an anchor chain today, but tomorrow you would do smaller chain with, obviously, smaller links. At least, that's how I reasoned it from what I've seen in the old videos. Of course, I should say that I've never seen a wheelwright or cooper working on an anvil like you have, so I don't fully grasp why they needed or liked a second horn like that. Here's a neat video of a chain-maker in action.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zn6HSuO-VY

Smaller anvils seem to go for higher simply because a lot of folks want that portability that you mention. Looks like a torch cut on the heel, but the overall condition is very good. Nice edges, minimal sway in the face plate, good practical weight..... I wouldn't think twice about offering $2/lb for an anvil in that condition and size. Even $3/lb isn't necessarily a bad price, and I think you could easily recoup that should you sell the anvil in a year or so. A lot depends on where you are and how many anvils you're seeing for sale in that area. Like real estate, location has a lot to do with the price.

Repetition is the key to learning any skill, but you have to be a good critic of your work, too. I see this a lot with folks that make their first "knife". They're proud of it, but they leave me wondering about their work ethic. It's not like there aren't millions of examples and tutorials on the internet, and nobody would expect a newbie to make Excalibur on the first go. BUT, a lack of skill doesn't mean you have an excuse for leaving deep scratches from the previous grit paper. Or giant gaps between parts. Or a juvenile design better suited to a comic book than a workpiece. The maker knows in their heart of hearts that that's sloppy craftsmanship, but they don't want to admit it. Instead, they pass it off as "okay because I'm new at this". That doesn't float, in my book. If you want to be lazy, that's fine. Just call it what it is. There are craftsman in third-world countries working without 90% of the tools, materials or resources that we have, and they turn out some topshelf kit. Neanderthal and Cro Magnon did great things with next to nothing. Someone built pyramids. What's your excuse, again? All that is to say that it takes a real desire to improve, and you have to be severely honest with yourself. Otherwise, you'll ingrain bad habits into yourself. Work that project and expect it to be lousy, but then go over it with a fine-tooth comb to pick apart where you failed. And take lots of notes while the experience is fresh in your mind.

I always find that my limited stockpile never has the stock size that I want for a given project! That said, I try to keep a lot of 1/4" round stock on hand because that gets used for a ton of things. 1" square and round is very useful for tooling. 1/8"x1/2" or 5/8" or 3/4" is very useful for collars, and the wider selections are great for back pieces on wall-mounted things like shelf brackets or light fixtures. Rebar is also very handy for a lot of stuff, so don't pass it up if you get a chance. I just grabbed a few short pieces of 5/8" rebar that are going to be perfect for making into tongs when I need them! If you can get cheap metal from your dad's work, drops and the like, that's a serious boon to you! They might scrap everything that gets cut off, but even a few pieces of free or near-free bits can make for a good day!

Don't have a job? Look into utilities locating in your area. All buried utilities (water, sewer, gas, phone, cable, power) need to be located and marked prior to any excavation, and it's a great job to get into! There's always a need for new guys, and the pay's pretty decent (and you usually get a take-home company truck!) You have internet, so do a search for videos of smiths working for a living in india, africa, pakistan, etc. These nasty third-world countries don't have anything close to our resources (excepting detroit, I guess) and yet those smiths are able to produce fantastic tools. Don't have leather for a bellows? Use canvas or carpet scraps. Don't have an anvil? Buy a used sledghammer at the goodwill store. Don't have a forge? Cut a bit of a hole in the ground and use that to contain the fire. It's not rocket science, and this website will provide you with countless examples if you open your mind to the possibilities.

Is the rebound 60% or better? If so, run with it. A quality cast steel anvil will always beat a cast iron tractor weight. A junk cast iron anvil, though, isn't any better than the tractor weight. The difference between cast steel and cast iron is big.

Wonderful opportunity you're providing here! I've been trying to learn how to stick well with a modicum of ability, but it's not working out too well. Went out and bought a welding helmet that has the auto-dark lens AND a cool flame paint job. My welds still suck. Went out and bought brand new welding gloves, fire-engine red leather, don't you know. My welds still suck. Wear long pants or short, my welds suck. Boots or sneakers, my welds suck. Shoes match my belt or not, welds suck. I've tried just about every combination I can think of. Hate to think something's wrong with my machine!