VaughnT

All that... and he only gets an inch? Personally, I wouldn't even bother to try. Who's impressed with that show of wonderment? If I need the anvil moved, I'll find a way to do it that uses all the wonderful technology that man has invented over the millennia!

Or........ Why not make the working bit out of a large bolt. The tong ends have nuts welded to them and the two pieces are screwed together when needed. A thin locking nut on the bit could be cinched down tight to prevent unwanted twisting. Adjusting the length of one bit relative to its partner could be very handy for some applications. Did that make sense?

Thankfully, my newest anvil is perfectly clean of any rust (well-kept by an engineer that appreciated his tools!), but a largish bucket like that would come in handy for a lot of odd-size stuff that doesn't fit in a 5g pail. I'll have to hunt down my battery charger and get to work on cleaning that old blower I have!

Love the idea of the multiple bits for one base. Rather like having a dozen bits for a hand drill instead of having a dozens stand-alone drills. I would drill a hole through the shafts just before the ends (the part in the socket) so I could wire the two matching halves together when I wasn't using them. Then you could simply hang them from a hook on the wall. The hole should be large enough that the set screw seats deeply, though it sure doesn't need to be threaded. Now, my question is do you start with a section of tube and work it down into the reins, or make the reins out of solid stock and weld the sockets on at the end?

Fire pots are a whole lot thicker than the pan on a rivet forges. When cast iron is only a 1/4" thick, differential heating can cause it to crack rather easily. Combine that with stresses in the metal from being banged around over the years and it's a recipe for disaster. The good news is that it can be fixed and clayed for future use.

Very excited to see how it comes out. And I'm thinking I need to invest in one of those tubs! What setting do you have the battery charger on?

Definitely the best stove I have ever seen!! The overall design is solid, and I love the way you brought it all together. I could see that beast being equipped with a grill so you could use it to cook burgers, too.

Legs? Fill them with sand, and then back-fill that with oil. The oil fills the voids between the sand granules (haven't gotten to use the word "granules" in a loooong time) and prevents rust from the inside out. The angle of the legs is, in my opinion, dependent upon the height of the anvil and the weight of the anvil. My 300lb anvil's stand is approximately 32" off the deck and the legs are only 8 degrees from vertical. This is plenty of spread to prevent a tip-over without getting in the way of my feet. A lighter anvil might require more spread because more umph is applied to the stand through the hammer. You technique for determining the angle of the legs is solid, but you lost me at Paragraph 3 because I'm not a math guy and really don't understand anything about all that sign and cosign business. I drew a life-size drawing on my table saw's table that intentionally kept the legs inside a box that measured 2' on each side. Knowing that the legs would emerge from the top plate's edge, and the dimensions of said top plate, I only had to decipher the amount of divergence from plumb to stay within the boundaries required. That turned out to be between eight and ten degrees. As for quieting the anvil, filling the tube legs with anything will certainly help... but the biggest issue is the anvil itself. I found that chaining the anvil down doesn't do anything to reduce decibel levels. A large magnet on the side also does nothing to help (at least until it's covered in scale, and then it's the scale that absorbs vibration!) Placing two magnets, one under the heel and one under the horn, eliminate almost all vibration. Removing the magnets and seating the anvil in a bed of silicone caulk will silence the anvil even more. No chains needed!

Very nice. What's your fire pot made from? That's not like any brake drum I've ever seen! I really need to get me one of those and put a Tureyer in it just a bit proud of the floor.

Great job, hoss. With MS, nothing is easy... and this is sure to provide you with hours of good times. If I was to recommend anything, I'd have the anvil at the back wall and the anvil/vice at the front corners. The anvil can't be hurt by rain, to be honest, and the vice needs to be out of the way of 80% what you'll be doing on the anvil. The "triangle" dictates that there be 6' between the forge, vice and anvil. You've about nailed it perfectly! Rock on!

My opinion... the stress of use combined with the compression of the wood's cells when the wedge is driven in, doesn't do that joint any good. Add in age and dry-rot and you've got a recipe for a break. Any time I get an old tool in, the old handle gets a good long soak in thinned linseed oil to, hopefully, rejuvenate the wood. I mix 1 part of Boiled Linseed Oil with 3 parts thinner to get something that's really watery. The thinner it is, the easier it is to penetrate the pores of the wood and get in deep. Glad you weren't hurt.

That was easy? Shoot, I just built my stand using the same process of elimination you did and ended up drawing a full-scale "map" on the top of my table saw!

What I find most interesting is how, in both the hammer and tong videos, they work together without a word spoken between them. For the most part, the guys remain silent, each going about his task as needed and when needed. Even during the making of the anchor, things are strangely silent. Oh, and anyone note how all of the european videos seem to show anvils in very good condition compared to what we see in the states? Odd that these anvils were made a century ago and still look new.... but our century-old anvils are chipped, beaten, swaybacked, and such to the point that we make a special note about the lack of such damage when bragging on the newest anvil acquisition.

Hadn't seen this video in all of my searches. Love the idea of hammering while the metal's still in the forge fire! I'm thinking the odd bits of square stock welded into the corners were for adding meat to the joint, though I would have thought the welded mortise-n-tenon would be sufficient. Of course, they've probably made a few more anchors than I have, so I'll bow to their experience.

I really need to get some of that luck off of you!!! A FREE anvil?! Wow. Definitely a lucky fellow you are. And now you can keep the mint-condition anvil in mint condition without worry. Your new anvil looks superb and I can't wait to see how your electrolysis works out.

Well, if that's the case then I would expect the anvil to weigh at least 200lb. My newly-acquired Fisher shares those dimensions close enough, but is thicker in the heel, so I could see this anvil weighing less than 300.

Fantastic find. I need to set up an electrolysis tank to clean my forge blower and see if I can get it to turn, so I'll certainly be watching to see how your new tank holds up!

Personally, I think I'd try to find a collector that wanted that anvil enough to come up with some serious money. Yea, there's not much you can do to hurt it, but one bad swing of the hammer could chip the edge and decrease the value because the anvil is "as-new" condition. Maybe there's a collector out there that would part with some case AND a similarly sized anvil in a more used condition? I just hate to see something that rare get banged on. I'm weird, I know. Great score overall. You've got some very valuable tools in that pile of stuff and will have years of good times ahead of you.

What are the limits in size for induction heating?

That's a sweet little setup. I won't pretend to understand how you make one, but I could certainly entertain the notion of having one for my very own. Are you looking to go into production? Any ideas as to price-point?

Very nice, Pugman. I've been thinking about using some steel like that for the sliding door on my folks' barn, but don't have any experience with it. How much did you have to overlap the sheets? Use self-tapping screws? How'd you cut it to length? Need a table that doesn't take up too much room, and prevents you from cluttering it with stuff? I'm really keen on the drafting table concept. The angle allows it to sit tight against the wall, and the lip at the bottom catches your stuff. You can easily lay out a gate or grill, etc, on it. Best part is that the angle also prevents the dreaded pile o' stuff! It's not a welding table, per se, but depending on how you build it, you can certainly use it as a clamping surface and weld on it. Underneath it, you can adapt a little and fab some storage so you don't lose anything from the taken-up wall space. Just an idea.

I use searchtempest.com to search craigslist and ebay at the same time. It's a very handy tool, but you have to be careful what key words you choose because not everyone selling an item might be using it. For example, "anvil" is very blacksmithy-ish, but it also brings up a lot of hits for people selling food prep stuff and music cases. "blacksmith" is a good one, but you'll get people trying to sell figurines or paintings with a blacksmith in the description. The biggest expense you should be looking to spend on, though, isn't tools. You really need to attend some smithing classes to get a hang of the basic moves and establish a network. Who knows, you just might run into someone that has some gear to part with.....

I absolutely hate when I run across a giant anvil and can't buy it! Though, if it's at a museum I guess that's alright. At least it's being saved for posterity and not being abused. Old coil springs from cars can make very good punches and chisels. The bigger ones from large trucks are often thick enough to make hammers, too. Keep an eye out for old axles and tie rods and anti-sway bars.... ya might not know what type of steel they are, and can't do a solid heat-treat as a result, but you can fudge that a bit and come up with some great tools.

Yep, $2/lb is a good price for an anvil in that condition. The anvil has rolled edges, which isn't a bad thing, and a bit of a sway-back, but it's entirely serviceable and in the "ideal" weight range. You won't go wrong with that buy!

And you didn't buy the swage and anvil why?