VaughnT

Beautiful anvil! Looks like it's fresh of the showroom floor. I'm going to steel your tool holder idea. :D

Sounds way overbuilt. I don't mind a forge with a decorative facade, but lining the downspout with refractory cement and then a steel pipe is super overkill. With the pipe attached to the firepot, what's going to burn through steel and then burn through regular mortar and brick? Maybe I'm not understanding something. As for being portable, it either is or isn't. You're looking at a lot of weight and fragile joints, and that doesn't generally make for easy moving. Even with rebar, the facade would likely spall off and all of the mortar joints would crack.

Anything that's got some mass to it. I don't like rail tracks, but they'll do. Forklift tines or drill rod are great....

Love it! I wouldn't worry about building a steel anvil now that you have this baby. If you find that you need a harder surface, bury a sledgehammer in the ground and use the face like you would a stump anvil. Can't wait to see how the granite takes to being an anvil!!

Well, being a blacksmith certainly won't make you rich and famous. And the women don't swoon over you like they might a successful hockey player. But what I think you're experiencing is typical school bullying. Good on you for beating that idiot something good - you did yourself proud. I wouldn't worry one jot about what they think about you as long as they know you can and will stand up for yourself and don't mind showing them just how tough all that hammering has made you!

Great story, Stewart.

The broken anvil would be neat to own, but way too expensive. It's not a "sword making" anvil, it's a london-pattern anvil that's been heavily damaged. Yes, it will work for making a lot of stuff, including knives, but it is also limited because it doesn't have the horn or hardy and pritchel holes. Of course, you can make do with a vise and buy some tooling to make up for the loss of the horn.... but you can also buy a far cheaper hunk of steel at the scrap yard that does everything that broken anvil does. Why spend all that money when you don't have to? The Vulcan anvil doesn't have the best reputation, iirc. While it looks to be in great condition, I would opt for a slightly more worn Hay Budden anvil. The size and weight of the anvil will mean a lot in terms of what work you can do (the larger the anvil, the heavier the stock you can reasonably work on it), that being said, though, there is a point of diminishing returns. You're not going to enjoy forging 1" stock with a hand hammer, regardless of what size the anvil is. Get the biggest anvil you can afford and learn to smith on it. Either one of the Hay Budden anvils look very good and come attached to stumps. That saves you a bit of work, and both of them are very reasonably priced. The larger one has some bad edges, but nothing awful. At around $2/lb, it's a good buy. The smaller one.... the price is very very nice, though, and I'd be hard pressed to pass up on it. That Marc took good care of it and knows how to treat an anvil says a lot. Getting a sweet forge/anvil combination....... that's almost too good to be true. I would seriously consider that option. My only anvil is a 120# jobbie that has some awful edges, but it does everything I could ask of it. Coming in between 120# and 150#, they are both right in that sweet spot that's awesome for the hobby smith. Small enough to move around, but big enough to do anything you could reasonably want to do. I don't think you could go wrong with either.

Gorgeous! I'd love to paint my blower.... just haven't gotten around to it, yet.

Well done, Jeremy. You've got a doozy of an anvil and, now, a great anvil stand. Are you planning on putting the stand on legs or leave it on the ground? I'd be tempted to leave it on the ground to eliminate a lot of bounce that legs might give, but.... Now get to making something out of that rebar you mentioned!

I've been aching to find a large Fisher for ages. Something about that quiet anvil just demands my attention. What wire did you use to weld it up? Did you try to match the tool steel top of the horn? Looks like a top-notch job and I'm sure that she appreciates the attention.

Great find, David. Old drills like that are as much a work of art as they are a tool. Being a utilities locator I have the good fortune of walking around a lot of properties and always seem to find some really neat stuff. Today, I was working in a subdivision that's being built and found an iron gadget that I have absolutely no idea what it could be. I think it's off of a train because there's an retired bed (no rails) about 300yd away, but it could also have come off of some of the heavy equipment being used to grade the land. It's a very odd piece that I can use to form rings and sheet metal with. Just wish I knew what it was. Wouldn't have even found it if I hadn't stumbled over it as it was half buried and thoroughly rusted. I'll post pics as soon as I can.

I can't speak for the burner, but the body is incredibly overbuilt and that shows in the price. That heavy angle used to support the fire bricks is completely unnecessary and you'll note that he had to build up the entire bottom of the forge to make the angle-iron shelves work. Why? The bricks as a door is time-honored, but these ones stick up an inch over the top. That means all of that metal below the forge's kaowool floor is not needed. Cut all that off, sit the bricks on the tabletop and the door seal would be just as good as what he's got now..... and the forge will weigh a ton less. Wonder what all that 1/4" steel weighs? The smaller forge looks like it could be made using a large mailbox instead..... Personally, I'll admit to being scared to make my own propane forge. All the prints and tutorials available still don't give me the courage to start messing with highly explosive gasses, so I keep my eye open for decent pre-made forges. But this one is just a bit over the top. I'd have to pass on it even if it was local.

I was thinking that 3.5"x10" is a pretty good size for a cone to mount on an anvil or in a vice. So, were it I, I would take an angle grinder and cut off disks and take off large chunks until I had something cone-ish in shape. Then I would try to forge it round and relatively smooth. Then I would take it to the belt grinder and use some flap wheels to clean it all up. What I ended up with would, I hope, be relatively conical. Knowing my skill, though, it wouldn't be truly conical or even pretty. So I would opt to have a machinist turn it to shape and then weld a stem onto it. Or just buy a small cone from one of the supply houses.

Never seen a pair before, but I can sure see them being useful. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blacksmith-tongs-self-adjusting-/130687827094?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6d99fc96#ht_500wt_1021

I haven't been able to find any coal sources in SC. I prefer coal to propane, but I don't know that I can buy a ton at a time when I do find some.

Greens, I'm not sure I like that mix, but I can see how it might be handy in a classroom setting where you have multiple people needing the same gear. Probably work well for a farrier, too. Looking at your anvil and stand, I would get rid of the 1x6" lumber on the bottom and turn the section of track so that it's on end. This will give you the most mass under the hammer as possible (and you only really need a bit of steel directly under the hammer), cutting down on the noise dramatically while increasing the performance of the track section as an anvil. Then, you would have room to mount that nice Rock vice you have in the background. I could see the combo being rather handy for light smithing needs, especially if room is at a premium.

Very nice! To say that I'm jealous would be an understatement, but I wish you well with your future hammerings. Can't believe how great a shape that baby's in!!

$1200 isn't a bad price for an American-made hunk of iron. A bit out of my budget, but I like the size and the quality looks really good. In their favor, the Papa Rhino is right at the top of the size requirements for a hobbyist. A lighter anvil might be handy in some circumstances, but a 242# anvil is just about perfect for anything a smith might need to make. Buy once and never have to wonder or worry again!

Excellent. I'm always on the lookout for a good auction, but never seem to run into the good deals. Good on you for helping a new smith out!

Yea, that qualifies as a good deal! Heck, tell him I'll triple his money and cover shipping if he wants to part with it.

Love to read your daily activity logs, Tom. Your work is certainly impressive! One thing I've noted is that you haven't built a hold-fast or "third hand" for your anvil. Working by myself, I find both to be invaluable for holding stock while I punch/drift/groove stock. Can't wait to see how your anvil stand works out for you.

High-pressure soap-n-water to knock off the loose dirt/mud/crud. Fresh grease in every nipple. Wire brush/vinegar to get rid of the rust patina if you're going to paint it. Great find!

Beautiful, Newb. Clay the pan and you'll have something that will last for several more generations!

That's a great yard you've got! I couldn't get into a scrap yard to save my life and turn green with envy at posts like this. I'd be hard pressed to not buy all of that scrap and resell them as anvils for starting smiths. Heck that driveshaft, or whatever it is, would be great for a dozen or more post anvils for hand work or power hammers. Never seen the like of it around here!

Looking at the photos in the article, it looks to me like he started with some thick rectangular stock and drew down both ends, leaving a thick portion for forming the corner. Note how rough the stock appears near the tongs.... this would seem to indicate a lot of hammer strikes to bring the shaft down and round it off.