VaughnT

Painters use large sheets of heavy canvas to protect the inside of houses when working. Boat sails are often synthetic material now, but canvas was used in the old times. Denim, like jeans are made from, are a form of light-weight canvas. http://www.google.com/search?q=canvas+painter+tarp&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=5rJsUKXyOYqn0AGpl4DQCA&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1095&bih=925

Suboc, that's gorgeous work!

Looks like a great price to me. I was half afraid you'd say you got if for twenty bucks because nobody else wanted it!

And notice how the anvil never moves. That's a key component, folks.

Use the hardy hole to hook it to your key ring! :D

Don't get to see one of those everyday! I'm thinking about bidding on it just so I can say I have two F/N anvils in the smithy. :D http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-FISHER-NORRIS-JEWELERS-SALESMAN-SAMPLE-ANVIL-/110958439732?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d5a36d34

Coupla hundred died there, if memory serves. I think the anvil is where it was meant to be. The whole setup appears like the anvil was the anvil for a power hammer of some type, and just to the other side you see a pile of iron that appears to be the remains of the forge. When it all collapsed, all you have left is a pile of tongs that were hanging around the edges.

Saw one of those in a french (?) vid. Thought it was odd that they moulded the top plate to curve around the horn like that, but I love the look. I really need to get a four-legged anvil for my shop.

Hard to say much about their value considering the currency difference between our two great nations. However, I will say that all three anvils are in fantastic shape and I wouldn't have a second of hesitation if they were asking me $2.50 USD per pound. They all exhibit clean lines, with crisp edges around the face and no swayback. That the horns are almost perfect is icing on the cake! The double-bick'd anvil is probably the more valuable of the three simply because it offers something different. The first anvil you show has a thick heel, which is my preference and I would gladly pay $3/lb for her. Depending on your needs, I fail to see how you could go wrong with any of the three. Were it possible, I would counsel you to buy all three of them, clean them up and then re-sell two of them somewhere down the road. They certainly all appear to be top-shelf anvils with just a bit of rust on them. Could have been made yesterday, and larger anvils are getting harder and harder to come by.... at least that's what it seems like here in the States.

Love this thread. Here's a video of a great hold-down if you're smithing solo. \

Awesome work. You make it look so easy! I really need to get one of those hammers.....

Beautiful! If that was a solid hunk of steel, and I've seen pieces that big at the mills, it would have to weigh better than three tons. Would you need to use a 12" ball-bearing to test rebound on an anvil that big?

You should try the electrolysis technique for removing the rust from that lass! The rust-preventing paint isn't nearly as good as an occasional rub down with an oily rag, you just need to get her down to bare metal first. Electrolysis seems to be a great way to clean rust off, particularly for men of a more sedate nature. Let the electricity do the work for you! Either way, she looks a sure beauty, for sure, and I wouldn't mind having it in my shop should you decide to donate it to the cause!

Well, that's certainly a great birthday gift to yourself! I can't speak to the dates on the anvils, but I will say that you shouldn't do anything to them until you've worked on them for a few months and can better see where issues might lie. The act of pounding iron on them, and the abrasive nature of the scale, will go a long way towards refreshing the face! That forge looks dreamy. I've never used a side-blast forge, but I'm curious enough to give it a whirl if I ever run across one! That baby looks very well built and should last you another generation or two!

What did you do to earn that kind of karma? Sheesh, I have never known anybody that would just give me kit like that! Congratulations on living life right!!

I've made giant wall hooks out of those giant nails before. Upset the point, punch a hole, curve it so the head is up and the throat is fairly generous, and you have a great garage organizer that guys like because they look like a large nail! Good for coat racks, too.

Great food for thought here! While I certainly agree that standards should be maintained, I can't help but wonder how one would go about that. The American Bladesmith Society has a structured set of rules to earn your Journeyman and Master status. Maybe we could adopt something similar and meet at Quad State every year to officially certify folks and authorize their JM or MS stamps? That would certainly be better than nothing, even if there are thousands of 'smiths' out in the world that never get the stamp. As for training, I just don't see how that can work. As far as I can tell, there are no schools for blacksmithing and smithing is such a small niche market/skill that you just can't put people to work doing it all day. In olden times, apprentices were kept busy making nails or cutting stock or making generic parts for later fitting, but what could you do with an apprentice today? How would you structure the class? How many times could you practice upsetting a bar or forming a tenon all the while having nothing really practical to apply that knowledge to? Does that make sense? I'm certainly keen on the idea of establishing a set of standards and holding people to them if they want to join the club. The ABS has hundreds of journeymen and masters, but that doesn't stop thousands of other knife-makers from making truly stunning pieces on their own. What it does do, though, is raise the bar of what can be expected in the eyes of the educated consumer.

Yup, just don't let the positive and negative touch. You can wire the parts to be cleaned on a piece of all-thread, or put them on a tray, or use grounding wire and clamps.... just don't let the red lead (and whatever it's connected to) and black lead (and whatever it's connected to) touch each other!

I thought the heel was replaced. The transition from curve to flat on the underside just didn't sit well with me. Might me that the shop that was using the anvil didn't need the pritchel hole. I could see someone sledging away on a hardy and missing one too many times......

Go with the bigger one if it's a choice between the two. While larger anvils are getting harder to find, that one also appears to be in better condition than the smaller anvil. Both look to be in workable condition, and I love that both are less than $2/lb. I'd definitely go with the larger one, though..... or both.

Well, at least we know that it's been tried before. Looks like a good bit of kit!

Funny, here in my region I've noticed at least three old anvils at various houses (my job keeps me moving!) that have perfectly flat faces. I couldn't believe they were so flat and perfect after all these years so I took a closer look. You could clearly see that the faceplate was less than an eighth of an inch on all of them. Turns out, one of the common habits was to sand and file the face to keep it nice and flat regardless of how you abused the anvil. They all still had ring and rebound, but you could see minor separation and chipping starting to become an issue.

As long as the expanded metal tray doesn't touch the sacrificial metal, you're okay with putting all of your punches on a 'tray' of some kind.

As cheaply as they can be found, they are well worth having around. A bit of grinding on the cheeks and some reshaping of the edge... and you have a hot-cut that will last for a thousand years!

Nice apron! It's weird how I seem to be focusing on aprons lately, but I think you can tell a lot about the smith by the apron he wears. Here's one of Bruce Wilcock forging some wrought iron chain into mooring rings. Love his shop.