VaughnT

You can tell that you're young! We all had that sense of immortality at your age.... and are regretting it today. What's that old saying, "Youth is wasted on the young!" So true! Without harping on the PPE, let me just say that some saw horses and gloves will make your job actually go easier and faster, and that makes it far more fun to do. I have big hands and use some very thick leather gloves when stick welding. I found that my control is really good because I can grab the fresh stick near the contact point and "write" with it while my other hand is feeding the stick into the puddle. Maybe not orthodox technique, but I absolutely stink at welding otherwise. Don't try to reinvent the wheel or think that you're somehow immune from all the things us old codgers are dealing with today. That gate looks great and I'm sure you've earned some good karma for it. Donating time/materials to a worthy cause is a noble thing. And if it means there's a good meal at the end, that's even better!

Very nice work. If you decide to dress it up with some kind of plating, you might think about using a piece of burl for a base. Since it is a spike, I'd get a chunk of wood with a nice twisted grain (you can buy chunks of raw burl) and drill/gouge a hole for the first inch of spike. Epoxy it together. There are a lot of nice burls available that are really gnarly..... and they look awfully reminiscent of a mountain top. A silvery cross sitting atop a dark mountain peak. Yea, that'd shine.

Wow. She's sure seen better days!! Can't wait to see the "after" pics!!

All kinds of neat things you can make for the house if you have a way to heat and beat iron!

If you can get some provenance to show that it came off the USS Enterprise, that would be worth something. A Vulcan anvil gets a bad rap, but they were still a good anvil for the most part. Might not be as good as a Fisher, but certainly worth having in the shop if you can get one for a decent price. $2/lb is a decent price.

Looks like step 1 of a leaf. Now that you've got it roughed out, you need to take a chisel and cold-cut the profile you like, then forge some veins in and call it done. A lot of leaves are longer like that, so don't think you've failed at all. It's just the beginning and gives you a chance to practice other aspects of the blacksmith's craft.

I'd buy it. Vulcans don't get the best reviews because there are far far better anvils out there. BUT, Vulcans were still a top-tier anvil; they were just at the bottom of the ranking among top-tier anvil makers. If the face is good and flat, and the edges aren't dinged up beyond hope, I'd jump on it. For a beginner anvil, or an every-now-and-then anvil, Vulcans are good and the price is decent. A key thing to remember??? You certainly won't lose money on it if you use it a bit and then turn around and sell it in a month or three.

That's some very good work and well worth entry into that club. You've done well.

Awesome bit of fabrication! As for the length, it depends on what you want to do with the forge. If you're trying to bring long blades up to temp for heat-treating and tempering, then I can see it working well. If you're going to be starting out learning general blacksmithing, making hooks, scrolls and basic tools, then it's way too big. You'll be burning a metric ton of gas to heat that entire chamber when you can only reasonable hammer on a small portion of the metal at any given time. A forge half that length, with that beautiful oval cross-section, would be great with just one burner. And if you want to make another one, I would be interested in discussing the purchase of said forge......

You can do a good bit of fullering using the horn of the anvil, and the varying radii of the horn will help to smooth thinks out. As for using round stock on the anvil face, anything round will work. It depends on how fast you want to move the metal. 1/4" round stock has less surface area in contact with the work, so it will sink in deeper with a given hammer blow than a piece of 1" round stock. A variety of sizes will work best, imo.

Excellent idea. I just happen to have some short scraps of 1" square stock.....

Wonderfully neat and a clean presentation. I wouldn't have thought of cutting in the barbs. I have my Wilkinson anvil on a "stump" made from 6x6 lumber and held in place with chain and turnbuckles. Can't stand how it looks so I'll give this a whirl. The combo is plenty light enough to be moved as a unit.....

Those are some great looking stands, Jake. Your Vulcan anvil has the same rough measurements as my Fisher, and it weighs somewhere between 300 and 350.

I just picked up a Fisher that's in the 300-350 range and it's become my go-to anvil. While I don't need an anvil this big, having learned on and worked with anvils far lighter, I really appreciate how the extra mass helps move the hot metal. And being a quiet anvil is truly a blessing. Now, I'm spoiled!

My main hammer is a 3# cross pein that I bought years ago. I'd love to try a hammer in the 4-5 pound range, but have yet to find one. The 4# sledge that I have really moves metal, but the plastic handle is extremely thin and uncomfortable. One of these days I'll get one of those fancy rounding hammers!

Impressive, to say the least! Too bad that folks don't respect someone else's tools...

Or, make it a rotating anvil so that whatever die you needed could be spun to top-dead-center and the whole thing locked down......

Beautiful anvil! Those lines give you a sense of the countless hours sledging and hammering on that anvil, with no idea what they were making. Just wait until you want to dish a sheet or even out a curve.... then that anvil's gonna shine! Wonderful that you got it for such a pittance.

If you put a layer of silicone caulk between the anvil and the stump, you'll kill 95% of the ring without needing other contraptions. Your stick in the hardy is actually called a "mute" in some of the old books on blacksmithing. Like you discovered, the vibration gets changed and the ring diminishes. A really neat one is to take a length of 1/4" round stock and form a coil on one end. The other end is bent so that it sticks down in the pritchel hole. Every strike makes the mute dance a bit! A magnet placed on the heel and horn will also kill the vibration a goodly sum. Great project you're working on.

Dumb as all get out to pass that by!! Less than a nothing for a two-horn anvil with a nice sway to the face.. What's the question? Infinitely serviceable as a general-purpose anvil. And it looks to be quite old, too. Could be worth a mint if taken care of until a "collector" comes along!

This is going to be a fun build to watch! One suggestion, though.... Instead of burying the wood posts, use the metal brackets to fix them to a poured footing. I've done this on countless outbuildings and it's stronger than you could ever need without sacrificing the wood to rot from below-grade moisture and bugs. You can sheath right over it and nobody will ever know it's there. Can't wait for more pics.

Personally, I love the look of a forge with a hood. It's something traditional....... But, in picture 2/7, those pots have separate hoods and a blower to evacuate the smoke. Picture 3/7 looks very nice for a hooded forge, single pot, and I'd love to have it for my own...... but we don't know how he's set up. Might be a very windy location that naturally draws the smoke from the chimney, or he could have blower assist. Not to say you shouldn't give it a whirl, though. As good as you are with the fabrication (can't believe you're tigging that thing!!), I'm sure you'll succeed at whatever you come up with.

If it's brick and mortar, it would be short work with a hammer and chisel to chip through the mortar joint so you can pull a few bricks free.

What size face are you looking for? There's a fella on ebay with a large chunk of 4140 for sale (150#!!), but it's cylindrical. He does have some heavier plate, but it's all rectangular and smallish. Definitely worth keeping an eye on his store, though.... http://www.ebay.com/sch/Metals-Alloys-/29402/i.html?item=400411526755&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&_sac=1&hash=item5d3a630663&_ssn=power-boater&rt=nc

If I were only closer..... Til then, here's a good link to your local blacksmithing group. Lots of professionals and hobbyists, and I'm sure they could provide you with all the help you could ask for. Hurry up with the pictures! http://www.appalachianblacksmiths.org/