VaughnT

Ya know, I've always wondered about lining the inside of the water tank to prevent rust-out, but getting the innards coated completely seemed something of a chore. Thought to use hot roofing tar that I could kind of roll around to get all the nooks and crannies. Car under-body spray might work, too. I wouldn't think the heat would be an issue. With the water tank full, you'll have a lot of mass to absorb any heat transfered up the metal and I just don't see it getting up in temperature any time soon.

The way I see it, you have a great anvil as-is. The hardy and pritchel can be nice features, but they surely aren't all that important when you consider that most shops are going to have a vise nearby that can be used for holding tooling. If anything, I'd weld up the edges to repair those chips and then call it good. For 99% of what you could want to do, that anvil's fine.

There is a guy on ebay that sells "tuyere plates" for about $20. You can certainly make one of your own out of mild steel, though. All it takes is a bit of mild steel and a drill and/or mill. What type of coal forge do you have? Does it have a deep firepot made from cast iron, or is it a shallow dish with a flat plate tue?

I would definitely vote for making it into a cone mandrel. If I had the tools, I'd forge it conical to maximize the length and then turn it on a mill to get it concentric. I wouldn't want the point any smaller than 3/16". Welding a hardy stub on the bottom is the easy part. I sure wouldn't sacrifice any of the length to forge an integral hardy stub, though.

Your problem isn't that you don't have the right swage, but that you don't have the experience to control your hammer and make the metal move the way you want it to. Swages can help, but they can also be limiting. Here's a vid of our resident master smith making a pair of tongs in no time at all, and using nothing more than basic tools. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH980wjMyaM

Here's a video from the Woodwright's shop where they make a Roubo and other types of hold-fasts. Considering the thick cross-section of the "thin" portion of so large a hold-fast, I don't see there being any appreciable flex in the steel from a single wallop with the mallet. http://video.pbs.org/video/2292087803/

That's a sexy piece of kit! I was looking at an old blower w/ rheostat not too long ago, but the price was crazy high. Really want one of those, too!

What period did these hashmarks fall in? Is it possible that they were there at the request of the wholesaler/retailer buying them?

That piece doesn't look at all complicated to me. Were I to guess as to how it was done, I'd say that the smith wrapped a tapered piece around a bit of pipe to form a coil. He then pulled one end to get it relatively straight, forming the bit to the right of center in the pic. The part to the left of center is just a few coils that were bent hither and yon. Not saying I could do it on the diamond or with so few hammer marks, but that's definitely the technique I'd use before I'd even think about making jigs.

I could certainly be interested in this!

No idea. Just love the idea of a WW2-era anvil with hash marks like a fighter jet!

Ya know, I'm half a hair away from taking back my earlier statement regarding the top plate. Anyone else notice how high the top plate is above the main body right before the hardy hole? Compare that to the height of the main body from the cutting table just prior to the horn. It looks like the step up from the horn is a solid .500".... and then you have another .500" from that to the top of the remainder of the top plate. If you were to continue the line of the top plate all the way across the anvil, it would be a good jump up from the cutting table. I've not seen many anvils with such a large leap betwixt the two, and the thickness of the heel is substantial. The combination of the two has me wondering.

Looks like she took down seven Zeroes! You go, girl!!!

The tuyere sticking deep into the box means that you'll be moving the actual fire over to the side of the box where you don't have any cut outs for access. The fire starts where the pipe stops and you will be working about 4" from the end of the pipe, in the neutral zone of the fire. And if these forge works anything like a bottom-blast, you'll want another few inches of burning coal on the far side, making for about 8" diameter of fire with your work piece smack in the middle. As for the chimney, I've really been impressed with the performance I've seen in 10" and 12" pipes. Even without a hood, those suckers draw the smoke away like nothing I've ever seen. Of course, a lot depends on the finished height from the roof peak, too.

Very nice set up, and a great job on those hammers. Who made the swage block?

Hard to say anything about the dates. The forge is a very common farm-type forge and you saw them on farms and construction sites. They are often called rivet forges because they were used to heat rivets for building sky-scrapers. Watch the old footage with them building the Empire State Building as you'll see them in use. The anvil could be a Peter Wright, but I'm no expert on them. I can tell you that half of the tool-steel top plate is missing so you'll be beating on the wrought-iron under body for the most part. That doesn't mean that it's a waste, though. It sure beats a piece of railroad track!!

Jerbear, you did real good! Your second post on this board and you say several times in that post that you read and researched the site for a long time.... That right there is worth three beers! Then you apply what you learned, and shopped for a decent anvil? That's a win ten times over. The PW anvil that you wound up with is in good shape, with good edges, and is of a decent size that it will last you for another couple of generations. Anytime you can get an anvil in the 100-200lb range, and it's in good condition, that's a win. That you got the anvil for less than $2/lb is a super-win.

I have seen countless examples of people leaving things as they found them because they assume the person who set it up before them knew what they were doing. Psychology texts teach about this behavior trait.

a web site we can not mention shows a schematic of a side-BLAST with the pipe pointed down, so I'm guessing it's common even though all the ones I've seen were perpendicular to the water tank even if they outer pipe was tapered. I don't see any reason that your pre-cut pipe wouldn't work as long as there is enough room between the pipe and the floor of the forge for you to form a good ash bed and coal. You show solid craftsmanship in your pics, so I don't have any worry that you'll do less than smashingly! error corrected, a side draft is an exhaust style, side-blast is a tuyre variation. Also links and referances removed, because Jock does not allow link to his web site.

Awesome purchase! The damage at the pritchell hole is completely irrelevant and won't affect the use of the hole. That you have such a clean horn and face is priceless, though. Imagine all the stories that anvil could tell, having lived since the 1800's!!

Just got a rack-and-pinion log splitter. Waaaaay better than a hydraulic splitter and light years better than a wedge/maul! Very recommended.

Very good job! The face plate looks very good, and I"m confident that you'll get years of service out of it. Keep us updated on her performance.

A stocking full at Christmas, or a mind full after a visit with Brian??? I'm thinking that the latter is worth far more than the former, and I envy you that. Just watching Brian's videos has opened my eyes far more than I would have thought possible.

LR, you'll go far in this field if you keep that level of thought foremost in your mind! The problem with unknown metal is that the key to making a good knife is in the last step. Heat-treating the steel is what makes it a winner or a loser as a knife. Yea, you'll see people making knife-shaped objects out of just about anything, including lawnmower blades and railroad spikes. But note that they are never really great knives. Simply put, you have no idea what the ingredients in the steel are or how to do the heat-treat to maximize the capabilities of the knife. Or, you can shell out a whopping $20 and have some good quality steel from a vendor delivered to your door. With the former, you "saved" $20 by using some mystery metal you found laying on the shoulder of the road. With the latter, you spent a few bucks and actually have a very good chance of producing a finished product that works like you want. I recall a story where a Master smith had an apprentice take a piece of half-inch square stock and turn it into a length of perfectly round stock. No hammer marks. Even diameter the whole length. It was a tremendous waste of the apprentice's time and the shop's fuel. The shop didn't need that length of round stock for a job and could have bought a similar length for pennies compared the the energy wasted to make it. But, it did demonstrate the apprentice's skills. He showed that he could manage a fire, select his tools and create an unblemished product in a timely fashion. The goal wasn't to produce a steel rod, but to show that the apprentice was skilled enough to move up to journeyman status. Got a peavey hook? Well, how about using it as a pattern and make a duplicate? I honestly get more of a kick out of making tools that I can reasonably expect to use than yet another knife. http://video.pbs.org/video/2178676894/