VaughnT

I don't think there is one ideal anvil that covers everything you might want to do. I have a Paragon 66lb, a Wilkinson 120lb and a Fisher 350lb. All three are made with different types of manufacturing (cast steel, wrought under tool, and cast under tool, respectively) and all three are very nice to work on. The smallest one isn't the greatest because it's a portable anvil for demos or learning smiths. It's a lot softer than my other two anvils, but it's one solid chunk of steel and I can grind the face down should it get too dinged up and not have to worry about thinning down a tool-steel top plate. The Wilkinson is also small enough to be reasonably portable for demos and the like, but big enough that any smith could use it for a shop anvil and not feel like they are handicapped. The Fisher, though, is a hoss at somewhere around 350#. She's not portable in the least, but she sure does look pretty sitting there on her stand! Absolutely wonderful anvil for all-purpose working, and I'm so incredibly happy to have her around. :D

That's a very neat idea! I built a 5# fullering sledge (one-hand sledge) out of a stone-mason's hammer and it works a dream. Good control but one heck of a wallop!!

Thank you for the kind words, Gentlemen. I'm thoroughly pleased that my design has been found useful. Having worked with it a bit more, I have to admit to becoming even more enamored with it. So far, I haven't had to cut any notches for holding round stock as the small surface-contact area provides a substantial bite. I'll still put in a notch or two for safety, though. Hate to have a hot rod get spit out! :o Feel free to post photos of the ones you build.

That is a genuinely beautiful arrangement you have there! Seven vises adorning the wall and a handful of nice anvils in the cupboard.... you're a lucky fellow!. I can't imagine how nice it must be to work in such a wonderful setting. All that history, and plenty of room to grow? Wow.

That blower reminds me of the scene in Apollo 13 where the nerds at mission control dump a bunch of scraps onto the table and says, "Alright, this is everything they have on board. How do we make it scrub the CO2?" Figures that someone in the heart of rocket country would come up with that!

I like it. I would have opted to build up the sides instead of cutting them in, but that's me. The end product is going to look very neat. The only thing I would suggest is that you weld a section of fork lift tine to the face plate. You can do this without pre/post heating and it won't take the heat-treat out of the tine if you take it slow. It will, however, add mass and durability to the top. You end up with a heavier anvil that performs well and looks awesome. What more could you want?

I wouldn't even think about paying a dollar a pound. Even if the edges and horn were in pristine, as-new condition, the anvil isn't complete. And we know the edges won't be perfect. The weight of the anvil gives you a good starting point, but you need to subtract from that the fact that you're going to "need" an leg vise to use your hardy tooling (sob story for the seller). If this is the best anvil you've seen in your area, and you don't already own another anvil, offer him something on the order of fifty cents a pound with the explanation as to why. Be willing to go up to a buck, maybe, if everything else is very very good, but make sure that's a buck a pound for the actual weight and not the stamped weight. Anvils vary in price depending on location and condition. Can't say what it's like in your area, but the condition doesn't sound worthy of much over scrap prices.

What a great deal you got on that baby! Any time you can get an anvil in that good a condition, and not pay more than a buck a pound, you're doing great. As for getting it ready for work, don't do anything. The top is in excellent shape, and she's ready for working on right now. Spend quality time with her and learn her idiosyncrasies. She'll do ya right!

An Australian anvil? We need pics! Everything above still stands, though. You might be limited in thickness of stock (nothing over an inch thick), but that leaves an entire encyclopedia's worth of stuff to make. Just be sure to cinch her down to a heavy stand to maximize her capabilities.

A picture frame would be fantastic. I have a photo of my grand-dad (arguably the greatest man to ever walk the earth) and it hangs prominently. He's drinking a beer in it! If I could be half the man he was, I'd consider myself a success in life. To have some of his old tools, that would be over the top. If you have your family anvil, I think the generations past would be more than satisfied to see you actually using something that they themselves spent hours at. God Bless.

"im sorry, I dont have the ability you describe" I beg to differ, good sir. I have looked at many a rusty hitch ball and never once thought it would make for a good cheekbone or chin! Making that tail out of welded chain was simply brilliant. The mane? Yea, I'd never have seen that coming! Truly there are few in the world with an eye like you possess and I'm sure looking forward to seeing how this all pans out. Thank you for bringing this into the world.

Congratulations! Sounds like you're well on your way and will be doing great things soon. I'll look forward to seeing your work.

The general rule of thumb I use is...... small anvil, small work. That's not to say that you're limited, though. While I wouldn't try to sledge away on that battleship-anchor project you've been musing over, a 90lb anvil is perfectly suitable for making gates, latches, hinges, spoons, hooks, hammers, tongs, chisels, knives, forks, trivets, fire dogs, and a whole host of other projects. A lot of the anvils used in America, back in the day, were less than 150lb, and they got used for just about everything you can imagine needing around a homestead. The biggest thing to remember is to mount that light anvil very firmly to as heavy a stand as you can come up with. If all you can do is pressure-treated pine lumber, fine. But if you can make a stout stand out of something iron-ish, or bury the end of your lumber stand a few feet into the ground, you'll make a light anvil perform like it was a much heavier anvil.

Absolutely amazing work. I cannot imagine how neat it must be to be able to look at a pile of rusty scrap bits and pieces, and see a horse and rider. Fantastic creation, sir.

Looks like that soil has a good clay content so cement might not be necessary if you tamp it good. How is gum wood in terms of rot? And don't fret, I have a brother that's about as helpful. You get used to it.

Never even thought about guitar strings! A lot of the wraps I see on projects seem like too much, either the scale or mass of them is just too big or too cluttered or too bland for the rest of the piece. I'm going to have to look into getting some strings and tinkering with them. Great idea!!

Americans never cease to amaze me, and the ingenuity displayed in this project is simply too big for me to wrap my brain around. Absolutely beautiful form, and the goal has element of nobility to it that I really like. Inspirational, to say the least. Didn't see anything about the Long Now project on IFI so I thought I'd share. http://longnow.org/

Don't think about the flammable nature so much as the look. One thing about moms, I've noticed, is that they like pretty things. An industrial-looking outbuilding might be a tad much for her when there are already strong industrial-looking areas around her house. If you can find a way of making something that's pretty, or blending it into the background with good landscaping, you'll be one step further towards your goal. When I was doing landscape design, we had a lot of customers call us in to fix what they had tried to do themselves. A lot of the problem was that they didn't pay attention to perspective and how the plantings looked when viewed from various angles and distances. While I don't know what your particular lot is like, if you could do without electricity, you might be able to build the ugliest building ever if you put it 100yd from the house in the far corner of the lot. At this distance, for example, the building might be ugly as sin, but it's so small to the eye when standing at the house, that it's easy to miss those flaws and overlook the building entirely. Put a decorative tree in the yard, with a nice planting surround, and you effectively make the ugly building invisible. Does that make sense? If you have to build close, build the part that's most visible from the main windows and driveway to be as attractive as you can. Then put some nice landscaping around it to blend it in. Draw some sketches of what you'd like to do and how it will look with the rest of the homestead, and get her input on it. Sounds like mom doesn't like the industrial look cluttering up her home, and a mom's home is something that mom's take a lot of consideration in.

Well, that's a dandy of a build! The stoutness of it is great, in my opinion. The worst thing you can do is think small, however. Don't think for one minute that you'll only be using small stock, because you WILL get a wild hair one day soon and decide to try forging something big. It happens to all of us. The notches on the sides that allow you to access the fire more easily are necessary for when you're working on a lot of projects, even if those projects use small stock. A ninety-degree bend in the middle of a length of stock is needed to make a wall-mounted plant hanger, for example. Overall, you did great and I'm looking forward to seeing your work.

You're a lucky fellow to have a dad in the metal bldg business! Think outside of the box. Saw pics of a guy's shop in a silo and thought that was the cat's meow. A yurt certainly looked good, too, and might be something mom would like because it's easy to take down and move.

Hoss, that is one seriously good-looking forge! I liked it before, but the new arch front is dead sexy! It looks like it could have been there for a hundred years. Are you going to pinstripe it again?

What would it take to tie the stove's piping into the forge's? The extra piping in the shop would help radiate some heat into the shop for those cold winters and help move the forge's smoke up and out.

If you offset the top to leave a 2" upsetting area, you'll have more than enough room for anything you might do. Having 2 1" areas isn't particularly useful because you can only use one at a time. Another idea would be to center the top and cut out another upsetting block that you can move around as you need. Sometimes, having a block on the ground that you can drop a long rod on (to upset the end) is far handier. A heavy block is very handy, and down the road you can file/grind in various shapes to make yourself a swage block. Is there any way you can get the alloy of the metal tested? Does your company keep notes on that kind of stuff? A heat-treat where you don't know what the metal is..... well that's kinda like taking a shot in the dark. Is it A36? Something more esoteric to handle all that prolonged heat? Air hardening? Water quench or oil? Lots of variables..... In any case, I'd think long and hard about doing a heat treat on the top portion before you weld it to the base. The less mass you have to heat up, the easier things will be on you.

Good job. If you don't allow for failure, you can't grow from your mistakes. The tongs work, and you made them by your own hand. That's a success. One key detail that a lot of people forget is that the area around the rivet should be the thickest part and everything else narrows away from it. Starting out with half-inch stock makes for a small set of tongs, but certainly very useable tongs. Ya did good!

That was certainly the most ingenious set up I have ever seen! The line shaft is beautiful, and that hit/miss engine is far more pleasing to the ear than a modern generator. Looks to me that there is a pulley at the front of the drop gate and the impact driver was turning a windlass that spooled up the line, pulling the LG forward into position where it was then through-bolted to the gate. With all the flex in the foundation, the hammer would have to be very inefficient, but certainly good enough for general tinkering at a show. Overall, very impressive. I'd love to see more details.