VaughnT

Good to see you back, Ausfire! Bedding the anvil in silicone caulk or masonry adhesive (basically any goop you can find) will kill the ring to an amazing level. You don't even need to add any chains or magnets to it. I used masonry adhesive on my Wilkinson anvil and it ended up sounding more like a Fisher than I could have believed. I can't say about sand, but caulk/adhesive between the anvil and stump is definitely better than magnets or chain wraps by several orders of magnitude.

I would dearly love to have a shop like that nearby. The atmosphere comes through in the photos, but I can't imagine what it would be like in person. Glad to see it preserved for posterity.

This is why they coined the old saying, "Strike while the Iron's Hot." Sadly, there are times when we can't strike while the iron's hot and we lose it. Truly sad.

I'd certainly shorten those shafts. Unless you have a support right behind the pulley and chuck, you're just asking for a ton of wobble when you apply any kind of load.

Dealing with kids, you're going to have to overbuild just to counter their ability to break bowling balls with rubber mallets. Kids are great at finding the weaknesses in any design! Also, I'm strongly inclined to do something that's more complicated, but demonstrates the abilities of the trade. While a screw-in pintle would certainly work, this puts most of the visual in the wood. The timber wraps, on the other hand, show you a lot of various smithing techniques and can be decorated to add some serious decorative flair. The number of gates is a bit disconcerting. To have 4 swing-out gates seems rather overkill because you just won't be moving that much stuff. Even if you pack it all away for the winter, you can still do all of that with one gate and a small tractor. What I would suggest is that you have pullout knee walls for three of the sections. You could still use the timber wraps as fastening points, tying the entire motif together with the pintle hinges on the swing-out portions. And, they would be a lot stronger as well as cheaper to build. As for the size of the pintles.... I'm all about going big. 1" pintles might seem massive, but you know you'll have dozens and dozens of kids putting their weight on the gates. Over a few years, the wear and tear will be rather significant. Plus, big iron makes a strong visual statement. If you use 2" stock to make the timber wraps, a 1/2" pintle will seem rather dinky. And, you're dealing with kids that are fully capable of breaking just about anything. Using big heavy stock might make the job harder on you, but kids really don't care how hard an adult has to work. Your job as an adult is to counter the natural inclination of the kids.

I'd definitely enjoy having an anvil like that. Contrary to popular opinion, there are a lot of curving and dishing exercises to be done by a blacksmith. It's not all straight lines and smooth tapers! That anvil's seen some work on her, and there's no telling the things she's seen. Clean her up and give her a steady diet of iron to work.

Very nice work, Matthew. But, when do you ever do poor work? Even your photos are great.

I've always heard them called "courting" candles, but haven't found anything to substantiate the claim. While I can certainly see them being used as a timing device after a fashion, it's important to remember that they are from a time when laws were rather lax and most fathers would have ready access to a firearm, cleaver or hatchet, and the knowledge to use them effectively. Somehow, I don't think cutting off a suitor's visitation time would have been a problem. It's real easy to motivate a suitor to head home when he knows you could always blame his demise on a roving band of brigands.....

Great link, Thomas. I've referenced that study in the past. Interestingly, I took an IQ test the other day. Just woke up and was working on my first cup of coffee when I started on it. 40 minutes later, I was ranked as "average". That really got me thinking - half asleep and groggy without my coffee.... and I'm still as cognitively functional as the average person? It sure explains a lot about this world, though.

Honestly, you can build a better propane forge for the same or less money. It doesn't take any fancy tools to bend sheet metal and screw it together with self-tapping screws. While I agree that propane is a lot easier/faster/cheaper than running a coal forge (unless you live near a coal supplier), most commercially-made propane forges leave a lot to be desired. They certainly work, but the drawbacks are there, too. The number one problem I've seen with all of the commercial forges is the lack of insulation. I'm currently running a Majestic forge and it's the absolute worst for insulation. You can temper blades by leaving them sit on the top of the forge! I definitely agree with buying a quality burner like the JF1, but the forge body can be put together for little more than the cost of the insulation. Something to think about....

Aldo is good people and a heck of great resource if you want quality alloys for making blades. He's the New Jersey Steel Baron and has been supplying quality metals to folks for quite some time. I think it says a lot that he'd reach out to the smithing community for insight into how he can help them even more.

I would gladly pay $2000 for an anvil like that. Nearly new in all respects, and it has some nice deep church windows. You can't get church windows on newly made anvils, and 400# anvils are definitely hard to find - new or used. Do the church windows add value to the anvil? Well, as a swage, yes. You can use them to form bowls and curves, though they probably won't get used very often unless you make a line of product that just happens to need that curvature. However, we can't discount the value that beauty plays in our tools. Anyone can fabricate an anvil, but creating an anvil that is beautiful and inspires beauty in the shop... well, that's worth a dollar or two in my book. If I had a decent paycheck coming in, I wouldn't hesitate to pay $6 a pound for that anvil. Maybe I'd even go to $7. The size and shape are perfect for general blacksmithing tasks, and she's a genuine beauty to behold. Very rare tool, so why not spend good money to acquire it?

If it will work for a knife, is will work for a hammer. Heat-treat is up in the air because you're dealing with mystery metal and don't know the alloy. Could be air-hardening or brine-quench.

Rather timely post, Thomas. I'm seeing far too many novices, or complete strangers to the craft, asking the same basic questions over and over again, easily demonstrating that they didn't bother to take a few minutes out of their day to search for the million answers already out there. While we've discussed this on IFI in the past, I still hold to the opinion that someone that refuses to do even the most basic research shouldn't be encouraged to start playing with power tools and fire.

The new horn looks fantastic. How are you planning to attach it? Gonna drill a hole and use a pin between the two, then a perimeter weld?

Having that artistic eye certainly helps. Understanding how proportion and perspective play into a design, and being willing to go that extra mile to file and sand a piece until it looks right... well, that's half of being a blacksmith. If you're smart enough to ask the question, you're probably smart enough to do a good job at it.

That piece looks like you're trying to pound the stock down into the hardy hole, using the hole to force the iron to shape. That's just not going to work out like you're thinking. If you have a forge and anvil, heat the metal and draw a taper on the end so that you have about 3" of stock sticking down into the hardy. Then you can upset the shoulder a little bit to create something to sit on the face of the anvil. Stock the size you have will be great for all matter of things, so don't fret if it sits in a corner for a year or two while you wait for the opportunity to use it. As others have said, car repair places are a great resource for larger chunks of metal. Garbage dumps and recycling places should also have goodies. There's a lot of good metal in old washing machines and the like. Folks don't often see it, but it's there if you look.

That's a good anvil. I have a Wilkinsons that needs to be welded up, but I really like the size. Rings like a church bell unless you put some caulk or other adhesive between it and the stump. In the condition yours is in, you should probably expect a few hundred years of good service from her.

If smithing was a great workout, I wouldn't be so fat! It's great fun. And, I do work up a sweat while doing it, especially in the summer, but I wouldn't call it a proper exercise regimen. If you want to study the trade, great. It certainly won't hurt.

I use the flat face of the hammer regardless of how the impact end of the chisel/punch is shaped. The idea that you might get a mis-strike isn't entirely accurate because you can also get a goof by using a rounded face. If your hammer is rounded, that really narrows down the sweet spot and anything even a little off-center will throw your hammer to the side. With a flat face, you can get a solid contact even if the hit is a bit off-center. It will twist the hammer in your hand, obviously, but it won't be nearly as glancing a blow as if you used a round-faced hammer. Does that make sense? Definitely want to use a soft hammer so you don't end up marring your good hammers. Even if you anneal the end of the punch, it's still a pretty hard surface.

I haven't had any problems with the Pakistani tongs, either Toms or Centaurs, but I'd buy Quick-n-Dirty or Fiery Furnace Forge since they cost about the same and are made in the US.

Very nice work, hoss. I was a bit worried when I saw the first photo, thinking "Dude, you'd better ease the corners on that face." Then I saw the other photos. The scaley texture is absolutely gorgeous and really makes the hammer stand out in the crowd.

Certainly a hoss of an anvil! That hardy hole looks to be every bit of 2" across.

Beautiful score, hoss! She'll definitely be a great addition to the shop!

Another way of considering things..... Cement has been around since the Romans a few thousand years ago. Considering how much cheaper and easier it would have been to fill a metal shell with some cement or epoxy, the fact that all these big businesses didn't do it should be rather telling. If it was a good idea, hammer and press manufacturers would have been doing it for ages. Sure, you can weld up a bunch of plates. And, it would be a better anvil than a cylinder filled with cement. But not by much and wholly dependent on the quality of your welds and the gaps between the plates. A stack of plates on end would be a better solution than a stack laid up like some flapjacks.